[samschenker]

Originally Posted by shreeda

I too can smell petrol when the tank is filled up to the brim. Also noticed a small fuel spill once when I jumped over a road hump. According to the service center guys, the fuel level should be at least 1-2L lesser than the brim level

My bike is going for the first service tomorrow, I will get it checked along with some other things as listed below.

1. Very faint coolant spills though the level is still holding around MIN mark. (According to service center guys this is normal, is that true? This is my first liquid cooled bike, so want to get it confirmed.)
2. Twice in past 2 days I heard the chain hitting the swingarm when the bike jumped.
3. Front suspension stiffness (Too stiff for me)

Probably they mean to say we can't fill it to the brim like we do in our bikes, there is note in the owners manual as to what level we need to fill that should help, have been following that so far & haven't faced any petrol spill . One or two liter less than the max doesn't seem logical

Although have heard from one other owner & from the SVC guys about coolant leaks, it doesn't sound normal to me.

Which is the service center you are talking about?

[NikhilB]

@ebono

I have faced the fuel smell issue, but it was only on a full tank (petrol attendant had filled it till the filler cap).
Went straight home from there and parked the bike. On tilting, there was a significant leakage of petrol over the left radiator cover and the leg/crash guard.

I thought it must be the pipe connecting the fuel filler cap to the actual fuel tank (or the seal, if there's no pipe).

But the petrol smell lingered on due to the spillage. The smell went away after the next wash.

[SunnyBoi]

Originally Posted by shreeda

I too can smell petrol when the tank is filled up to the brim. Also noticed a small fuel spill once when I jumped over a road hump. According to the service center guys, the fuel level should be at least 1-2L lesser than the brim level

My bike is going for the first service tomorrow, I will get it checked along with some other things as listed below.

1. Very faint coolant spills though the level is still holding around MIN mark. (According to service center guys this is normal, is that true? This is my first liquid cooled bike, so want to get it confirmed.)
2. Twice in past 2 days I heard the chain hitting the swingarm when the bike jumped.
3. Front suspension stiffness (Too stiff for me)

OT: 6 days and 1000Km done with no significant trips to mention. I think I'm riding alright

Get the tank cap checked/replaced. There is a rubber gasket that prevents the leak from happening, that is defective/missing in your case.

Regarding coolant leaks, there should be none. Absolutely none.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by SunnyBoi

Get the tank cap checked/replaced. There is a rubber gasket that prevents the leak from happening, that is defective/missing in your case.

Are you sure about this? Why have an overflow pipe fitted in the first place then if fuel above a certain threshold is not supposed to overflow?

[shreeda]

Originally Posted by ebonho

That is the limit and am sure is misinformation. I would be very surprised if its indeed a bug.

I mean, come on! First you have a 10.5 liter tank. Then the last odd liter plus is unusable. Then on top of it you are to fill 1-2 liters below brim.

Which means your usable tank range is what? Around 6-7 liters?!!!!!!!!!

Totally agree with you! Even I asked the same question to them. Answer was, "It's not difficult to find a petrol bunk, sir". That was a bad response I'm sure. Out of necessity, I will go to Khivraj tomorrow. That will probably the last time for a service, unless they come up with something magical!

Originally Posted by ebonho

Are you sure about this? Why have an overflow pipe fitted in the first place then if fuel above a certain threshold is not supposed to overflow?

I think Sunny is right there. I remember reading about that in some other forum. I will update whatever happens tomorrow.

[samschenker]

Originally Posted by ebonho

Are you sure about this? Why have an overflow pipe fitted in the first place then if fuel above a certain threshold is not supposed to overflow?

AFIK its known as a breather pipe not overflow pipe used in Non-MF batteries.

This is what i got to read when i searched for fuel breather pipe in google:

Fuel breather pipes is to relieve the vacuum created when fuel is pulled from the tank

Just my thoughts

Any updates on the air box modification?

[Starscream1188]

Originally Posted by ebonho

That is the limit and am sure is misinformation. I would be very surprised if its indeed a bug.

I mean, come on! First you have a 10.5 liter tank. Then the last odd liter plus is unusable. Then on top of it you are to fill 1-2 liters below brim.

Which means your usable tank range is what? Around 6-7 liters?!!!!!!!!!

Thats exactly what the service adviser in blore told me during delivery!!!! Was surprised aswell!
I read elsewhere that for the fuel injector to work efficiently there should be 4 litres of fuel at all times, so going by what is told only 4 litres is usable! How does that work???

[SunnyBoi]

Originally Posted by ebonho

Are you sure about this? Why have an overflow pipe fitted in the first place then if fuel above a certain threshold is not supposed to overflow?

overflow pipe for fuel? that sounds weird. It must be some kinda outlet so that water will not collect near the tank cap/surrounding areas.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by SunnyBoi

overflow pipe for fuel? that sounds weird. It must be some kinda outlet so that water will not collect near the tank cap/surrounding areas.

The water should not be getting in there in the first place - not if Bajaj have managed to sort out the design issue (O-ring) in the fuel tank caps of the first lot Pulsars of 2001 (I believe they have/did - eventually).

Any biker would rather have extra fuel mistakenly filled in and/or accidental tip-over overflow flow out than water naturally (and uncontrollably) flow in.

Even the bike suddenly shutting off reported by many Duke owners would lead one to suspect a throwback of the vapor-lock of the old Pulsar tank caps ..... but for the fact that these on the Duke now apparently are more stallings at low speed/revs than shutting off.

[Shubz]

Originally Posted by ebonho

throwback of the vapor-lock of the old Pulsar tank caps ..... .

For the vapor lock, there are a set of holes on the tank cap to facilitate the same. The SA blew compressed air through the holes just to clear it of any muck.

At the next tank fill, I did have some smell but for much lesser period than my earlier tank fill, no spillage when bike on stand though.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by samschenker

AFIK its known as a breather pipe not overflow pipe used in Non-MF batteries.

This is what i got to read when i searched for fuel breather pipe in google:

Just my thoughts

Any updates on the air box modification?

Its not a breather pipe buddy.

All tank caps of all bikes have a built in breather valve mechanism to equalize pressure and prevent fuel vapor lock. Try tightly covering the fuel tank cap of any bike with plastic and riding and you will know

Refer to the link you posted for the Spare Parts Manual: Frame (page #11).

The pipe in question is Part # 90107013007 (Fig 36) - Tube Drain Cup Cap.

It drains fluids (hopefully only petrol - not water) from Part # 90107008044 (Fig 3) - Cup Cap with Gasket

For the air box mod, refer to the previous page (#10).

What has been cut and directed/shaped (downward - to pick up pre-heated air above the exhaust cat con can) and smoothened out for laminar air flow (as far as possible with rough tools at hand - scout knife and file) is the Part # 90106040000 (Fig 3) - Air Intake.

[samschenker]

Originally Posted by ebonho

Its not a breather pipe buddy.

All tank caps of all bikes have a built in breather valve mechanism to equalize pressure and prevent fuel vapor lock. Try tightly covering the fuel tank cap of any bike with plastic and riding and you will know

Thanks for the explanation Doc, just added the fuel smell from the bike as an item to be checked during the first service.
Do keep us posted if you come across a way to fix it

[ebonho]

Just having this discussion offline with another Duke rider friend.

What, after the 1st service, should be the ideal shift rpm for each gear?

Provided of course you have the road and/or are not short shifting ....

Would like the views of guys here. Want to play around with rpm1 shift points (when the red light starts blinking) and see whether it affects shifts and acceleration/top speed.

Please let the suggestions flow!

[shreeda]

First service update guys!

I mentioned about the fuel and coolant spills today. The service adviser was way too reluctant to accept the logical reasoning behind why these should not be happening. I didn't like it at all.

But the KTM store guy (sorry, I forgot his name) who had come to get the test ride bike serviced, was all ears when I was talking about the issues. He clearly agreed that these should not happen and encouraged me to report if I see such issues again.

And got an explanation about coolant spills. Loose coolant cap it seems! Let's see how true it is. So far no signs of any spillage. (15Km done)

Gear shifts feel even better now. Need to ride more to notice more differences.

Regarding gear shifts, IMHO, Duke feels sweet and happy when I shift at 5.5k and thereabouts. You can listen to the engine sound transforming into bit of a grunt and then shift. That's the point I'm talking about.

Personally I have set RPM1 at 7500RPM and I don't intend to go there for my shifts (Not often at least). And RPM2 at 10000.

[Ricci]

Doc, gauging the ideal shift point takes either seat of the pants feel to get a feel of the engine at various RPMs in each gear, or a dyno graph to check the torque/power levels at the desired RPM range ( limiting to wide open, else this will vary with throttle opening too ).

At what RPM are the peak torque and peak power made ? IIRC, max power is 9500 and max torque at 8500, so I'd suggest shifting just short of limiter in 1st and 2nd, then 10000 in 3rd , 4th and a little under 10000 in 5th if 5th and 6th are very close ratios.