Rides from Chennai to Kashmir, travelling across 15 states while overcoming challenging road conditions and braving erratic temperature from 50°C to -10°C

Silencing his detractors, Chennai based Nagarajan Adithya undertook his first road trip on his daily companion – Aprilia SR 150 and travelled almost 10,000 km from Southern India to Northern India in 40 days.

Beginning his trip on June 4, 2019 from his hometown Adyar (Chennai), Adithya travelled through 15 states:

• Tamil Nadu,

• Karnataka,

• Maharashtra,

• Gujarat,

• Rajasthan,

• Delhi,

• Haryana,

• Punjab,

• Jammu and Kashmir,

• Himachal Pradesh,

• Chandigarh,

• Uttar Pradesh,

• Madhya Pradesh,

• Andhra Pradesh and

• Telangana

to reach Ladakh (Kashmir) and returned on July 13, 2019.

Over the course of the month-long road trip, Adithya and his bike overcame challenging road conditions and endured harsh weather – in Rajasthan they braved temperature around 50°C, rode through dust storm in Rajasthan and Delhi. They also faced chilly winds and travelled through snow covered roads around Leh, Ladakh where the temperature was -10°C. Throughout his journey, Adithya cruised at the speed of 80-90 kmph on the highway and maintained a speed of 50 kmph on hilly terrain.

Nagarajan Adithya is a mechanical engineer and a research associate at IIT Madras; he bought the Aprilia SR 150 in February 2018 and had clocked around 8000 km till June 3, 2019.

Since his road trip, the speedometer and the rider have a different story –

Adithya says, “I wanted to experiment and see how my Aprilia SR 150 would fare on a pan-India road trip. Many well-wishers were concerned about my trip, but the trip was planned to the last detail and Aprilia SR 150 proved to be a strong and faithful riding companion. In the 40 days, I had to service my bike only twice and I faced no puncture or any untoward incident. The Aprilia SR 150 is a powerful and aesthetically appealing bike and in the small town of Zangla, Kargil the locals were impressed to see a 150-cc scooter making through undefined paths (no metaled roads); they had never seen an Aprilia SR 150 before!”

He adds, “This is the first and the longest trip I have undertaken, and it was an amazing experience. Right from starting early in the morning to visiting new places and witnessing new cultures, I have only received warmth and hospitality throughout. This trip has inspired me to embark on more road trips and I hope to undertake an international trip to Bhutan.”

The Aprilia range of bikes are available across all Piaggio dealerships and Motoplex. Piaggio is expanding its premium dealerships network and aims to open around 300 retail outlets by 2019 to bring the premium Italian experience to the doorsteps of their potential patrons.

About Aprilia:

Aprilia was born into racing and is the real sporty flagship brand for Piaggio Group. With 294 Grand Prix races won in Road Racing World Championship, Aprilia holds the record for the most wins of any European manufacturer in the history of maximum motorcycle competitions. These are joined by an impressive 54 world titles: 38 in Road Racing World Championship, 7 in Superbike and 9 in Off Road disciplines.