Bike Shifting in Basavanagudi

Picking the right day

Start by looking at the calendar, the temple one as much as your own. Big festival days, the days of the Kadalekai Parishe, and the weekends around them are the ones to avoid if your home is near the Bull Temple, DVG Road or Gandhi Bazaar. Roads near the temple can be closed or crowded, and kerb space disappears.

Ordinary weekdays are much easier, and early mornings best of all, while the bazaar is still setting up rather than in full swing. The flower and vegetable trade starts early around Gandhi Bazaar, but a pickup at seven on a weekday usually finds a lane clear enough to work in.

If you're not sure whether your date clashes with something local, ask a neighbour. In Basavanagudi someone always knows.

If the date is fixed and does clash, tell us. We'll plan to collect earlier, before the crowds, or agree a standing spot further away on a quieter road.

Old lanes and where the carrier stands

Basavanagudi's older streets weren't drawn for trucks. Around the market and the temple they're slim, lined with parked scooters and shopfronts, and plenty of them simply can't take a full-size carrier. So we pick the loading point ahead of time, on a broader road a short walk away, and the bike is wheeled or ridden along to meet it.

Many of the older homes here keep the bike inside the compound, in a portico or a side passage, sometimes up a step from the street. If yours is behind a gate or a step, mention it so the crew comes ready to lift it down.

The newer apartment buildings on old plots bring their own puzzle. A tight, steep basement ramp and very little room at the entrance. The bike comes up the ramp and out to the road, because a carrier can't turn in a space that small.

Small buildings also mean neighbours notice, in a good way and otherwise. If the bike's way out crosses a shared driveway or blocks a neighbour's gate for a few minutes, a word the evening before keeps everyone friendly.

Long-kept bikes in old family homes

Basavanagudi homes have often been in the same family for generations, and so have some of the bikes. An old scooter kept running by the same mechanic for twenty years, a motorcycle that belonged to a grandfather. These are moved with the same care as any bike, and more padding where the paint or chrome is old, if you ask for it at booking.

Papers on an old bike are sometimes in the name of someone who's no longer around to sign a note. That's a matter to settle with the transport department before the bike moves to another state, and something to ask about rather than guess.

The condition photos matter more on an older bike too. Old paint has faded patches, small chips and repairs that look like damage to anyone who doesn't know the bike, and the photos settle any doubt before it starts. Show the crew every scratch and chip you already know about, so each one is photographed before the bike leaves.

Scooty shifting from Basavanagudi

Scooters are the everyday vehicle here, the ones that go to Gandhi Bazaar for the morning shopping and park outside the temple. Being light, they're the easiest bikes to walk through a narrow lane to the carrier. On the carrier they're handled like any two-wheeler, photographed, cushioned at the bars and mirrors, wrapped and strapped upright, and they usually cost a little less to send.

If the scooter carries a basket, a hook or a small bag for the market, take it off. And check the seat box, a scooter used for pooja shopping tends to hold a few things that shouldn't travel loose.

Bike and two wheeler transport from Basavanagudi

Being central-south, most local moves are short. To Jayanagar, Banashankari or Girinagar the bike is there the same day, and the hard part is the lane rather than the drive.

Further away, Chennai, Hyderabad and the Kerala cities see vehicles leaving all the time. Hometowns off those main routes can be reached too, though they're slower to arrange since we wait for a load going that way, something you'll hear at the time of booking. Once the bike is booked, its arrival day is agreed in writing before loading.

Let the fuel run down towards the end, as the tank is emptied for the journey. Copies of the registration and ID card go with the bike and your originals stay in the house. The survey costs nothing, and the figure that comes out of it, GST included, is the one you pay. For an old family home moving as well, see our Basavanagudi packers page.

And if the bike is staying in the family but changing hands, from a parent to a son or daughter in another city, sort out who will be riding it and whether the insurance covers them before it goes.