Buy Firefox at your own risk!
I really wanted to title this post "Don't buy Firefox", but it hasn't come to that yet.
I had recently purchased the Viper from Firefox Bikes. See my earlier post about the same.
Firefox says that its cycles are "designed in UK and manufactured in Taiwan to the highest international standards". That seems true. So where are the flaws ? One word : Service! I was always wary of the service that I would get once I purchased the bike - and recent developments have proved that my gut feeling was right.
Beat the Power Cut
You might have read the newspaper reports on unscheduled power cuts that have been planned. That affects us Bangaloreans too!
Few go for inverters, but many people resort to rechargeable lights. And these are available at reasonable prices. But hey wait, many people nowadays have computers at home and most of them buy a UPS too. Is it possible to use the UPS the same way as an inverter ? I had mulled over this fact for quite sometime, and had enquired with an electrician too. He had replied that tubelights will not work with the power supply given out by the UPS. However, he had opined that CFLs should work.
Welcome the Viper
Flash news : on Sunday, my impulses got the better of me. I gave in to temptation and bought the Viper. Can't help remembering the words of an IBM executive here:
People buy by impulse and justify with reason.
I won't do that, I promise ! Before I get into the pros and cons, a few pictures:
Technomania@BDT
Raghava and me had gone to Davangere last saturday. The occasion was a two day state-level technical festival in our engineering college, B.D.T. College of Engineering.
The mode of transport was a motor-bike - Raghava's Pulsar 150 DTS-i. We had chosen it hoping to get good mileage, but that was not to be. The Pulsar returned about 32 kms/liter - blame the high speeds and the good roads for this.
The road from Bangalore to Davanagere (260 kms) is largely good. The best stretch on NH4 is from Tumkur to Sira. The segment from Chitradurga to Davangere is the worst. Not that it is rank bad, but at many places, the road is still under construction. We started at around 4:15 in the morning on saturday. We were in Davangere on 8:45, inclusive of some tea breaks. We were largely riding at speeds 90+ - 110 is the max the bike was capable of.
Bangalore to Mangalore
Many things have happened since my last post : I spoke at FOSS.NITC, we rode to Nandi Hills one fine Sunday. However, I am tempted enough to post only what I did last weekend...
Warning : this is a long post and generally makes more sense to a cycling junkie 😉
Ugadi being a Thursday offered a golden opportunity for a trip. I converted Friday into a holiday and took off towards Mangalore on my cycle (tempted to say "what else" ? wait for my next post ).
My first goal was to reach my Uncle's place, which is near Madikeri. The challenge was to do it in a single day. The problems are many : the sheer distance (240-250 kms), the bad roads and the ghats. I had tried it two years ago - and failed. Would I succeed this time ?