Bike Shifting in Begur

Mirrors: fold, remove or pad

Most mirrors are the widest point on a bike, and on a narrow lane they're the first thing to touch a wall. Stock mirrors on most commuter bikes and scooters can be turned or folded inwards by hand. Do that before the crew arrives, or ask them to, and the bike is noticeably narrower.

Some mirrors don't fold, and some have been replaced with aftermarket ones that stick out further or sit on long stalks. Those are usually safer taken off. Most unscrew with a spanner, and a small bag with the mirrors and their nuts can travel with you.

Bar-end mirrors are different again, and owners who've fitted them usually know exactly how wide they make the bike. They're low and out at the sides, and they're the part most likely to scrape when the bike is wheeled through a gate. If yours are bar-end, mention it at booking.

Whatever stays on gets padded. Mirror stems are among the places the crew always cushions before the wrap goes on.

Windshields and visors

A windshield on a touring bike or a scooter is thin plastic, easy to scratch and possible to crack if a strap is pulled across it. If it comes off with a few screws, take it off, wrap it in a towel or an old blanket and pack it with your things.

If it's fixed firmly, leave it. The crew pads it, keeps the straps clear of it, and photographs it at pickup so its condition is on record.

Small fly screens on naked bikes are usually fine where they are. A tinted visor on a scooter's headlamp cowl is too.

Don't forget the screws. Put them in a small bag, tape it to the windshield's wrapping, and you won't spend your first evening hunting for them.

Out of Begur's lanes

On the village side, near the lake and the temple, most lanes won't take a carrier at all. It parks on the closest road with room, and the bike comes out to meet it, sometimes past a compound wall on one side and a row of parked scooters on the other. That's the stretch where the folded mirrors earn their keep.

Some of the old houses here keep the bike inside the gate, in a passage beside the house or even on the verandah. Getting it out means a gatepost, a step and maybe a turn, and a mirror sticking out at handlebar height is the first thing to meet the gatepost. Fold it, and the crew will thank you.

In the newer apartment blocks, the run from the basement or the stilt to the gate is simpler, and in most cases the carrier can stand close by. First move-ins into those blocks often come with a society move-in register, and it's worth telling security that a bike will be arriving or leaving on a separate day from the furniture.

Hosur Road and the Bommanahalli stretch back up at the office peaks. An early pickup gets the carrier moving before that, whichever way it's headed.

Scooty shifting with a windshield fitted

Scooters in Begur are more likely than motorcycles to have a windshield, usually bought after the first monsoon of riding to work along Hosur Road. Same rule as before. If it comes away with a few screws, take it off and wrap it in an old towel. If it's riveted or bracketed in place, leave it for the crew to pad, and they'll route the straps round it.

Scooter mirrors usually turn inwards by hand, which narrows the scooter enough to get it through most village-lane gaps without a scrape. A few older models have mirrors that don't turn, and those are worth unscrewing.

After the pickup photos, the scooter is protected the way any two-wheeler is, foam over the bar ends and mirror stems, several layers of wrap, then straps that keep it upright in its own space. It's the lighter of the two, so the price generally lands a little lower than a motorcycle's.

Empty the seat box and take off any hook or phone clip before the crew arrives. They catch on wrap more easily than you'd think.

Bike and two wheeler transport from Begur

Within the southern belt, over to Bommanahalli, Hongasandra or Hulimavu, the bike is there the same day. Further afield, Chennai and Hyderabad see vehicles leaving often and the Kerala cities are regular. For a smaller town, finding something going that way can take longer, which you'll hear from us when we quote. From Begur, Hosur Road gives anything heading south a quick start.

At the other end, put the mirrors back on and adjust them before you ride. It sounds obvious, but plenty of first rides after a move happen with one mirror showing the sky and the other the rider's elbow.

Let the fuel run down in the last few days, it's emptied before the bike goes on the carrier. The crew needs a photocopied RC and ID card for the journey. A free survey, then a price on paper with GST that holds. For a whole household leaving Begur, our packers page for the area covers it.