[ventoman]

I had been to HSR Agencies, KR Road, Bangalore along with my friend to pick up his classic 500 after service. Whilst waiting there I was casually asking the service manager about the faulty instrument cluster in TBTS. According to him, they are awaiting new clusters from RE in a month's time, following which they'll call all new TBTS owners for a replacement free of cost (even if warranty expired). Not sure if its an "All-India" initiative.

[as_jamwal]

I've been following this thread for a while now. Till around a week back I used to be an unregistered lurker on these forums, but I finally got around to registering.
First off I would like to thank the patrons for their informative posts which helped me a lot. It was reading stuff on this forum that made me decide that I wanted to get a Thunderbird and not an Avenger. It was also here that I learned the finer points to note when the vehicle was delivered to me.
So now, thanks to all of you amazing folks I have sitting out side my house a brand new TB 350 cc (I got the 350 cc model, since I don't do a lot of touring).
Once I get the hang of this forum's culture after a few odd posts I'll probably make a new thread about my experiences from booking to delivery and beyond. Till then best regards to all of you from a newbie.

After 14 days of hibernation, the Blue Bird electric-started in the very first cranking. The tyre presssures were less by 4 psi and got them filled to the specified pressures. I have to take the Blue Bird for a long ride to clear the backlog!

[vaibhav amlekar]

Hello sir. Congrats for your Thunderbird. I am also planning to buy a royal enfield and deciding amongst the bullet and tbird. I am told by a lot of people that REs are not reliable. Is it true? What are your experiences?

Originally Posted by vaibhav amlekar

Congrats for your Thunderbird.

Thanks a lot, vaibhav amlekar.

I am told by a lot of people that REs are not reliable.

My Thunderbird 500 Twilight is already 8 months and 5,800 km old. I have already ridden some long-distance one-day trips, the latest being Chennai>Kanniyakumari>Chennai without any issues. I enjoy each and every minute and metre, when I ride on my Blue Bird.

Is it true?

No.

What are your experiences?

This thread will answer your queries.

My Blue Bird took me for a very big ride on 19/20 December 2013.













My first port of call was Aliyar Dam. As a high school student, I visited there with my late father, who had worked as Assistant Executive Engineer [Mechanical] in Tamil Nadu PWD at Sholayar Dam Project, which was part of Parambikulam-Aliyar Project. The project guest house, called Aliyar House, played a major role in Tamil superhit Kadalikka Neramillai [1964]. This film was remade into many other Indian languages later. Here is a song filmed at Aliyar House:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmeSmwlX8To

Here is another superhit song from Kadalikka Neramillai, filmed at the same ghat road:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oscylVvZ-w8

More to come.

[Majumdarda]

Ravi sir, Great road trips you have. Waiting for the second lot of images and story very eagerly.

Best regards,

After entering Kerala, the road turned out to be very bad for the first 20 km or so. The potholed road was full of gravel, which was dangerous for the two-wheelers. My original plan was to return by the same route. But, I didn't want to ride on that gravelly potholed road in the night time. So, I changed the route via Thirssur bypass and Coimbatore bypass.























This was the reading after returning home:

The return journey was a hell-at-loose from somewhere near Thrissur bypass, where the 4-lane NH ended and 2-lane with work-in-progress started all the way to Avinashi. The road condition was bad, traffic volume was at its peak, trucks and buses coming in the opposite direction did not care 2-wheelers and came directly in front of me pushing me off the road, even a few mm meant life-and-death.

After Walayar, the Blue Bird had tankful at BP COCOO on the Coimbatore bypass and I had stomachful at BP Ghar Dhaba Gowrishankar and we continued our ride to Chennai.

On the new flyovers at Avinashi and beyond, the construction joints were placed at a higher level presumably anticipating a few more layers of wearing coat. But, now they acted like back-breaking speed-breakers! The diversions were full of craters. By the time, I crossed Avinashi, I felt totally drained, was losing concentration and felt like sleeping. So, a few km before Vijayamangalam [Perundurai] toll plaza, I found a nice covered bus shelter, where I parked the Blue Bird at the side, locked, removed the tank bag and used it as a pillow, stretched my legs and plunged into deep slumber immediately. I started dreaming, details of which I cannot recollect now. At one stage, I was in the midst of flood lights pointed at me. Illumination everywhere. Then, I heard some voices. At that point, I woke up. No, it was not a dream. A highway patrolling policeman was pointing his torch at me! I got up, introduced myself and explained the situation as to why I was sleeping there. He warned me of unsafe conditions prevailing there. They received a lot of complaints against some groups of truck-drivers robbing a single person of his valuables including wallet, mobiles, etc. They would even take away the bike in their truck! He advised me to go to the next toll plaza and rest there. I thanked the cop. The time was ten past midnight. I had slept for more than 45 minutes or so. So, I continued my ride without any further rest other than refuelling at BP COCOO after Ulundurpet toll plaza.

Here is a melodious duet in Tamil film Punnagai Mannan [1986] filmed at the picturesque Athirapilly Falls.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlJBzOKTblU

My Blue Bird fully co-operated with me during this trip as usual not giving any room for any complaint. Helmet-off to my Thunderbird 500.





Thanks for reading. Travelogue concluded.

Instead of entering the Trip A distance, I wrongly entered the odometer distance in the Excel sheet [in my post # 306 & 309] thus leading to erroneous fuel efficiency [FE] figure. I really wondered as to how I got a very high FE of 33.75 kmpl, that too, after riding hundreds of km on the ghat roads. I am sorry for the goof-up. The FE stands corrected as 31.56 kmpl. Here are the corrected tables as I could not replace the old ones:

Originally Posted by Majumdarda

Ravi sir, Great road trips you have.

Thanks a lot for the appreciation, Majumdarda.

[mobike008]

Ravi Sir, Got to admire your courage, grit and patience for such long rides. Your truly making full use of your BULL. Kudos to you

Unfortunately, I cannot or rather have not tried riding more than 200kms one-way as post this figure i find the riding becomes more of a painful excursion than a pleasurable one

Btw, wanted to check with you on the FE of your bike, not sure if you already mentioned in your previous posts. Iam getting quite a pathetic figure of 22kmpl in city and 25kmpl when I hit the highways

Cheers & Ride Safe !!!

Originally Posted by mobike008

Kudos to you

Thanks for the compliments, mobike008.

I cannot or rather have not tried riding more than 200kms one-way as post this figure i find the riding becomes more of a painful excursion than a pleasurable one

The contoured seat of my Thunderbird 500 is more comfortable than my son's Classic 500's flat seat. Perhaps, that contributes a lot for long highway cruises.

Iam getting quite a pathetic figure of 22kmpl in city and 25kmpl when I hit the highways

Is it attributable to Race Dynamics in your Maroon Marauder? My son's Classic 500 returns a FE of 28 kmpl in Bangalore city traffic and 30+ on the highways. My Blue Bird regularly records a FE of 32 kmpl on the highways [tankful-to-tankful method].

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by J.Ravi

Is it attributable to Race Dynamics in your Maroon Marauder? My son's Classic 500 returns a FE of 28 kmpl in Bangalore city traffic and 30+ on the highways. My Blue Bird regularly records a FE of 32 kmpl on the highways [tankful-to-tankful method].

I strongly believe following are the reasons for my lower FE, not that iam complaining :-

1. My custom made exhuast
2. I love to revv the engine more than necessary as i like the sound of exhaust
3. Racedyamics map always runs on Map 3 which is the strongest one
4. Finally, I have this bad habit of not riding a bull like a bull. I am usually the first to take off at signals, ride at constant 90kmph-100kmph on highways

[ArizonaJim]

If I may, a comment about being the first to take off at a signal:

Occasionally, I also do this but not until I have taken the time to study the vehicles approaching from both directions. If it is obvious that they are stopping for the yellow warning light and the red light that is soon to follow there is not much danger in taking off on the green.

During my 50+ years of riding, on five occasions where it was obvious a approaching car was not going to stop so I just sit there, watching.

On 4 of those times, sure enough! The approaching car zoomed right thru the intersection and continued on down the road as if the light wasn't even there.

On one of those times, the girl in a Volkswagen in the lane next to me assumed the light was green so she could go. POW!CRUNCH!SCREECH ! A collision is a horrifying thing to witness. The entire side of her car was caved in and she was badly hurt.

Anyway, had I not looked in both directions as the light was changing that would have been me plastered on the front of the offenders car.
Just something to think about.

Ride safe.

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by ArizonaJim

If I may, a comment about being the first to take off at a signal

Jim, I totally appreciate your inputs and concern that comes with it. I have driven in the US but, never rode a bike there so I can imagine the perils of such a move at traffic signals in US as speeds are much higher in that country of all vehicles on road

However, in India its a different ball game due to different traffic conditions and mostly congested surroundings in cities. I always look at all directions before taking off at a signal and consider that manveour only if its safe. At most times, that take-off wont last beyond the 2nd gear before i encounter traffic and need to slow down.