The Cent Ind Vintage Automotive Association (CIVAA) today felicitated Mr Vernon Franklin, aged 68, a Nagpurkar, now settled in Australia for doing the Nagpur- Leh-Ladakh in September 2018 and now the Nagpur-Kanyakumari and back adventure, solo with his Royal Enfield Bullet Classic 350. He was awarded a memento and a citation.
Adventure is in his genes and his bike is fitted with fabricated accessories for load carrying and powerful LED lights for the trips. He covered 600 kms a day and drove all night continuously, on some sectors. All praise for his new RE Bullet, which he says did exceedingly well all through, though he got tossed twice in the hilly J&K sector and just missed hitting a State Transport bus near Adilabad, as the bus he was following took a sudden “U” turn on NH 44, while moving southwards to Kanyakumari.
The solo trip from Nagpur to Leh-Ladakh had commenced on 19/09/2018 from 7.30 am onwards in the morning. He returned on 29/09/2018 night, back to Nagpur.
He again ventured on the Nagpur to Kanyakumari and back solo ride on 05.06.2019, starting at 7.15 am from home. Vernon took up all challenges posed by the inclement weather and faced it bravely. The Nagpur and Central India temperatures were hovering around 44 – 47 degrees Celsius then. Reaching Kanyakumari on 09.06.2019 night, he started back on his homeward journey, after halting here for about 30 minutes only.
And on 10/06/2019 by 10.00 pm, in about 24 hours he was back home, after his six day trip (5.06.19 to 10.06.19) covering some 4000 kms. Other than an oil leak from the front shock absorber due to a defective oil seal, he has no complaints from his equally muscular bike that endured the entire run doing 100 – 120 kmph on many sectors.
CIVAA members were all praise for the splendid record created in the biking world with his unique adventure at the age of 68 and wished Vernon well for many more such adventures in future. Shahrukh Cassad, Dr Anjan Chatterjee, Jagtar Singh Sethi, Arvind Gorle, Dr Ravi Sawarbandhe, Ram Khorgade, Ajay Pandhe, Arif Iqbal and others were present.
Dr Anjan Chatterjee, Secretary, CIVAA, Nagpur
