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-   -   Royal Enfield Continental GT 535 : Ownership Review (32,000 km and 9 years) (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motorbikes/154912-royal-enfield-continental-gt-535-ownership-review-32-000-km-9-years-18.html)

I forgot to share the details of the in city mileage with a lot of first gear crawling that included two up riding for at least half the distance.

Mileage : Distance covered - 198.3 kms. Petrol consumed - 10.29 litres. Mileage - 19.27 kmpl which is rock bottom in terms of individual tank ups. Like I said earlier, slow moving traffic with a pillion has you searching for that sweet spot - is it high revs in first gear or low revs in second or frequent shifting between the two?

Here are a few more pictures from the weekend ride.

I am very happy with the Ceat Zoom (and Secura combo) and except for one incident, they have been extremely confidence inspiring. The first flyover that you encounter just after crossing over into Karnataka on Hosur Road has seen a drastic dip in the road surface and it appears as though the road has been raked mercilessly. The tires were definitely twitchy though I suspect that most bikes would have thrown up the same nervous feeling as well.


However on the Anchetty loop, I was throwing it around corners much like I have done with the PSDs and not once did I feel that the grip was lacking. I occasionally do only use the rear brake to see what grip is like at slow speeds within the city and the tire hasnt stepped out of line. So far so good though time is the true judge of them all.


All this comes with the disclaimer that I am the sort of rider who likes to stay well within the perceived safety net both of my skills (as limited as they are) and that of the bike.

Endofdayz, I am glad that my thread has been able to help you so far. The test ride bike certainly sounds like it was in terrible shape and the showroom has no business handing out a bike in that condition. However, dont let that sour your overall Continental GT experience.


I have had no issues with the levers or pain in my hands from short rides (long high speed rides are a different story though as vibes come in to play) though I know a fellow forum member has experienced the same with his new Continental GT. He switched to different after market levers (easily available in stores) and found that it made a world of difference to the riding experience. So its an inexpensive fix.


Try out a few other showrooms for test rides before you make a final decision. There is one in Indiranagar, another in Domlur and one on Hosur Road as well. This is one bike that tugs the heart strings pretty strongly though it isnt for everyone.

Endofdayz

By all means, try to find another CGT to try. Your wrist problem may have been due to the way they had the test bike set up.

Then again, it may have been due to the riders more sporting position on a CGT.

The short, forward handlebars and rearward location of the foot pegs on the CGT puts more of your body weight on your arms and wrists and this change in riding position may be causing your problem.

The semi-crouched position on a sport motorcycle like these can also cause back problems for some people.
The only way to find if this or your wrist problem when riding the CGT is due to the riding position is to try riding another one. Try riding as much as they will let you to give it a good test.

Many people don't notice these physical problems until they have traveled several kilometers.

@Jim,

I believe that it had more to do with bike maintenance. Even when I owned Desert Storm, I had same issue till I found sweet spot. Back pain is one thing I need to check. I too had back pain. 10k KMs are more than enough to report any back pain I suppose by riders on this forum.

Received an a SMS from RE and welcomed to RE legacy family. Nice touch. I'm waiting for their feedback call to give this opinion. Meanwhile I would also request them give me longer test ride and give bike in good condition. else as you say no other option but look at other showroom. But what amuses me is, even though I showed them interest in the bike, these guys dint even bother call from past 4 days. and Sales advisor had taken my complaint and promised me to correct the issue and call me for another test ride. Which is Yet to happen. Is it Advised to shoot a mail to customer service mail ID and put forward my queries.

Also when I said I will buy in month of Jan, he informed that Cost of all 500 CC bikes will increase by 10k. Is it true or he taking me for a ride.

@ Niel,
Thanks for those words bro. However do you have any back pain after riding so long. If we get back pain on short or long ride, than unfortunately I may have to look for something else.

@Endofdayz, @neil.jericho came from a R15 to the CGT and I believe that is a reason he did not feel any pain in either of his wrists/hands or back since he was making his way from an even sportier posture.

Usually when you shift to a sportier stance, from a straight up one, with slightly crouched posture, you will feel excruciating pain within a few hundred meters. This gradually gives way within a week or two when your body has adjusted to the new posture and then everything is fine again. This is usually because we tend to put all our body weight through our arms into the handle bar as we are crouched. Within those two weeks, you will end up putting less weight on your wrists and more on your legs and that resolves the issue.

I tell this from my experience with the initial experience with my ex, the R15.

To add to ArizonaJim's and Sojogator's explanation, I have also noticed that most Indian riders make one fundamental mistake while riding bikes with sporty postures - they do not adopt a semi crouched posture. Instead what they do is ride with a straight back and stiff arms. This puts a lot of pressure on your wrists (especially when you brake and hit potholes) and leaves one frustrated with the bike. I have noticed that many R15 riders are particularly prone to this.


Instead what you need to do is arch your back into a semi crouched posture and relax your arms. Let them hang a bit instead of keeping them dead straight. Read up on it before going for your next test ride and you will see that the experience will be definitely better though it takes some getting used to. I was fortunate because I learnt to use the correct posture when I owned a R15 so getting used to the Continental GT wasnt a problem for me.


If comfort is really important I would strongly suggest that you check out the Mahindra Mojo as well. Its got good usable power, attention grabbing looks, a massive fuel tank and most of all a comfortable seating position.

I have been following your thread with some interest. My compliments to you on a very well written thread!

In my opinion, for most people, a good quality Indian tyre from the likes MRF, Ceat, etc. are more than adequate for most Indian motorcycles. There are 2 reasons:

1. Most Indian motorcycles don't have enough engine torque or the brakes to easily or frequently overwhelm the tyres' traction.

2. Most riders, Indian or otherwise, don't have the skill or training to push a motorcycle to its limits. Most riders understand their limits and stay well within them. My guess is that 98% of riders have only average skills, 1% with above average skills, 0.99% with high skills and 0.01% with superhuman skills.

I've had a similar experience as yours on my Pulsar 200NS. I've stuck to the stock Eurogrip tyres despite many criticizing their grip because my experience with them has been satisfactory and also because my experience with MRF tyres of the same size on a Yamaha FZ16 has been the same. Within the envelope that I ride in, both tyres have a similar level of grip in acceleration, cornering and braking. This applies to wet conditions as well. I do admit that I suspect the MRF might have better overall grip.

Happy Deepavali!

I am in total agreement with this. It now putting weight on the arms/wrists makes all the difference. In fact even the manual of the bike gives the same instructions.clap: For me arching the back seems to give less strain during the long rides. It took me a few weeks of riding to change the habit of gripping the bar and putting load on the arms. I still do it sometimes at crawling speeds when I am in first gear and using the clutch. Old habits die hard.

Since I did not hear from Royal Enfield over the last one month, I decided to drop them an email to politely remind them that today marked 90 days since they promised to get me the replacement tire. I received a call from them within an hour and was asked to collect it on Monday. Apparently the tire arrived a few weeks ago but they didnt let me know about it. Sigh! All part of the Royal Enfield experience ......


I was planning on using Christmas as a perfectly valid excuse for splurging on the following modifications (well it is the season of giving after all)
1. The custom stripe down the middle of the tank
2. Bar end mirrors
3. Additional lights to improve visibility for night rides
4. A Race dynamics PowerTRONICS ECU


Frankly, the custom stripe has been pending from the day I bought the bike. The bar end mirrors will let me lower the levers to make it easier on my wrists. Right now I cant adjust the angle of the levers cause I am someone who is quite dependent on the RVMs and dont want them only showing me Bangalore's cloudy skies. As for the lights, I nearly went in for the Moto95 one but couldnt get anyone to club my purchase with so its been on hold for a while. Why a Race Dynamics ECU, you ask? Simple, more POWWWWREEEEEERRRRRRRRRR.


With the shift to Ceats, I decided to cut down on high speed rides and now I don’t venture too far from the ton mark. The tires can handle high speeds but it isn’t what they are purpose built for and Im ok to lose out on top end performance in the interests of safety. That said, I was looking for ways to increase low and mid range performance and only one name came to mind – Race Dynamics.


Over the years, Race Dynamics has built a strong reputation for themselves and their happy customers speak volumes for their work. I read up on the feedback from owners, especially those that owned KTMs with the piggyback ECU and they are all very pleased with the benefits. Those who know of Race Dynamics’ ECU will be aware that you get 5 different mappings but the best part is that you get the option of building custom maps to suit your needs. Given that I stay in the same neighbourhood as their office, getting different custom maps made would be very easy. I am glad that the Indian market has matured over the years and customers no longer have to depend on tuners armed with great marketing spiel that claimed huge bumps in power with the reliability of a stock bike but actually sent poorly manufactured and unreliable products that often reached customer much after payments were received.


I reached out to the Race Dynamics team and they told me that there are two versions of the PowerTRONICS ECU that are available right now. The older one is the regular one for Rs 15,000 and the newer one comes with the addition of Traction Control and costs Rs 18,000. Also they are willing to dyno test each customer’s bike before and after the PowerTRONICS installation to show real world benefits as compared to other tuners who require you to imagine actual gains without really showing it to you scientifically.


They have also shared dyno graphs for three different combinations to show the gains that their ECU brings to the table
1. Stock bike vs Stock bike with PowerTRONICS
2. Stock bike vs Stock bike with a BMC air filter and PowerTRONICS
3. Stock bike vs Stock bike with a BMC air filter and PowerTRONICS and a Red Rooster Performance exhaust
I am sharing these dyno graphs with their permission.

Here's the technique I employ:

• Hold the grips towards its inner side.
• Lean forward taking a semi-crouched sitting position. This should result in your forearms to be almost parallel to the tank
• Relax your grip and shoulders.
• As you start riding grip the tank with your hips.This should result in some strain being transferred from your back to your hips.
• Open the throttle, smile and enjoy the ride :)

I also take breaks often to rehydrate myself over long rides.

Neil, can you help interpret the graphs, to me the gains seem minimal, couple of NM of torque and about a BHP.

I have two of the tuning boxes for my diesel vehicles and I am happy with them. I have been using for more than three years now.
But my riding style of GT results in typical RPM of 2000-2500 in the city and 2500-3200 or so in the highways. I find from the graphs that the increase in the torque or power at those highways are not considerable, not even 10%. For someone who rides upwards of 3500 rpm the box should make a difference. But for me I am not sure if it will be helpful.

HI All,

Thanks for all the advise, support and confidence on this product. Past few days were heart vs mind battle with neither one of them giving up.

Finally I hit the final nail on the coffin and booked Continental GT Yellow. Yes you heard it right. BOOKED IT.

Even after booking, and breaking the news with close friends and relatives, everyone were against it.

I was comfortable with the bike, but poor maintenance of bike at RE brand stores, No follow up at all since I enquired for the bike and famous RE customer care team, took my memories back to 2011 when I had purchased desert Storm. Well I knew in before hand what to expect and what not.

The D-day came they were following up repeatedly for making payment. however I could not convince whether to buy or not.

One fine day I could not hold on any more with my pending decision. went ahead and made full payment.

Now comes the twist. Bike that was allotted to me was Feb make. I outright refused. If they could not get hold of yellow color I had decided to cancel my booking and go with some other bike and some other manufacturer. They even said Yellow color has been discontinued. Yes you heard it right. I refused again. Showroom asked for another day to sort it out. next day they called me and informed the latest they could arrange is June manufactured which will be dispatched from factory if I'm ok with it. they gave assurance if any problem arises, not to worry they will take care. I gave go ahead.

but delivery date pushed by 1 day. When I received the bike, it was September make. Now I have no clue where was the issue. Whether dealer trying all possible ways to push his old stock, or whether RE really stopped manufacturing Yellow GT, whether the latest stock was june only. No answer from my side.

I have travelled 220 kms since then, I have adjusted to sitting style and now I can conclude it was great decision to buy this bike.

Well One thing I can say confidently, though RE has come long way since 2011 to 2015, old habits die hard. lol:lol:

More on that later.

Hi Endofdayz, congratulations on your new bike. I am sure your will enjoy your rides and as well REs service which is as fickle as the English weather. Wish you many safe and exciting rides.n Looking forward to your ownership thread.

Thanks for your words of appreciation, Motard_Blr. As long as riders are aware of the limitations of the bike and their abilities, it is all good. The difference between a good quality Indian tire and an imported one comes out down to the stopping distance of a few feet in emergency situations. I will admit though, after the tire fiasco I have found myself randomly observing tires of other bikes (when you remain stationary for a lengthy duration on account of Bangalore's traffic, you find odd ways to pass time) and it is appalling to see how many riders are on bikes with limited grip or are bald. Accidents just waiting to happen.


Funnily enough, soon after I read your post I was taking a turn on a slightly damp road and I gave it a little too much throttle only to feel the rear end starting to slip away from under me. Fortunately divine intervention and years of riding helped me muscle it back in line and hold things together. So much for the CGT not having enough power to get me in trouble :D !

Sumithb, Im no expert but to me the key things to keep in mind are
1. How much do you gain – In absolute numbers, the PowerTRONICS unit gives you a 4% bump in power on a stock bike, almost 9% if you have a BMC air filter added and 4.7% if you have the filter and a RRP exhaust. Your torque gains are highest with the third option.
2. Where are you seeing the gains - Arulpeem has explained it very well. I tend to to use the bike between 2000 – 3750 RPM in the city and on the highways the rev range goes up (trying to keep up with these darn fleet footed TBHP riders on quicker bikes!). But the maximum gains are between 5500 – 6000 RPM so the question is how often are you going to be riding in that range to make full use of the peak benefits?


That said, the combination of the PowerTRONICS and BMC air filter seems to offer more usable output but many riders are not comfortable with adding an after market filter due to the long term effects especially in a country like ours.


Don’t forget that Race Dynamics will help custom tune your map as per your requirements so a left shift in the benefits is easily possible and that is their trump card.

Congratulations Endofdayz! Like arulpeem I am looking forward to your ownership thread where you detail your adventures. As for everything that you had to go through before getting the bike, I guess it’s all part of the Royal Enfield experience.


Those were my same impressions arulpeem. As a direct fit, the PowerTRONICS unit may not suit my needs exactly. But with a little time spent in getting the map tailor made for my usage, it should prove to be a VFM investment.

Completely agree!!

The rear is begging for a secura / vertigo type rubber. Also, you can try sourcing a flat bar from the FZ and see if it fits

Dont know about the knuckle guards, but see if you can lose that rear fender ...... make it look minimalistic

Do it bud, complete the scrambler look

:)

Belated new year wishes to everyone. May 2016 usher in many miles and even more smiles to each of you and your families. I havent updated this thread in over a month since I had done only limited riding on account of my annual Christmas break.


Sing Hallelujah! After more than 3 months of waiting, I finally received the long overdue front tire from Royal Enfield. When I went to collect the tire, one of the gentlemen there (incidentally he had examined the tire in Sep and I had sent the picture of the tire to him, so he remembered who I was) said that it had arrived a few weeks back and was wondering why nobody called me to tell me about it. Sigh! All part of the Royal Enfield ownership experience :Frustrati


Anyways there was one final twist in the sordid tale. The senior gentleman who I was interacting with earlier happened to be on leave but was available over the phone, and wanted the old front tire to be given back to them as per their internal process! Fancy that. 3 months of communication and not once did they tell me they needed the front tire to be returned. I was starting to get annoyed so I told them that if the policy was non flexible then they ought to keep the replacement front tire as there was no way I could provide the damaged original one. Fortunately for me, the gentleman in the SVC managed to figure out a work around and I signed a letter stating the details. Lesson learnt - if you have a warranty claim with RE, keep the damaged components even if nobody asks for it.


For now I am sticking to the Ceat front tire and will decide on when to fit the Pirelli Sport Demon. The best part about the experience - the sticker shock from seeing the MRP on the tire. A jaw dropping Rs 11,465 which is more than the combined cost of 2 new tires for my Honda Jazz.

While I really appreciate Royal Enfield's customer first mindset and their decision to approve the free replacement front tire (most other manufacturers frankly would not have), the experience since September has shown that their parts management process is woefully inadequate and is their biggest weak point. I was discussing this with an avid biker who owns a Continental GT in Trivandrum and he mentioned that he was yet to receive parts that were ordered at the 2nd, 3rd, 4th free services and 1st paid service! The bike is 1 year old and the ordered parts still havent come. That's inexcusable to say the least.


As for the modifications that I had planned, I had spoken to Rishabh from Biking Spirit regarding Cree LEDs and he had told me that they would be receiving stock in December. He has fitted them onto his Tiger and has had no complaints. I picked up a pair of 10w LEDs for Rs 3,000 each from them last week and handed them over to Raymond to get it fit tomorrow. These are the same ones sold on the a2z motorcycle superstore website and come with a warranty as well http://a2z-motorcycle-superstore.com...ght-round.aspx. It doesnt have a switch though but thats something that can be easily sourced. My experience with Biking Spirit was good and I would definitely recommend them.



I finally got around to purchasing bar end mirrors from AutoQueen in Cochin for around Rs 1100. They will get added along with the LEDs.



On the RaceDynamics ECU, I thought long and hard about it but I just couldnt convince myself to cough up the Rs 18,000 for the new updated ECU mainly because I am happy with the performance of the bike as it is and I am not really using my bike enough these days. Sure, I think it could do with a more power in the 2500 - 4000 RPM range, which is the band that I end up using most of the time. But it isnt something that I think has to be addressed right now. Maybe in a few months time I will change my mind and get it installed.


I missed last weekend's rides as I was down with a fever but my wife and I did a short ride to IPC for lunch today. I was happy to see at least 4 tables with riders that had proper gear and good helmets as well. It was nice to get back on the open roads and the bike was in top form except for the braking which I felt seems to have lost a little bite over time.


Mileage : My trip with the Red Baron in November was one that was quite light on the wallet as the fuel gauge just refused to fall though the kilometers kept getting racked up. Total distance covered - 358.2 kms. Total petrol consumed - 9.92 liters. Mileage - 36.11 kmpl which is my new second best consumption figure and best ever real world figure (since my 45 kmpl ride was done at steady speeds on the highway). Good enough for me to bust out a New Day jiggle.


December's limited riding was in the city, primarily to work and for errands. Total distance covered - 156.3 kms. Total petrol consumed - 7.67 liters. Mileage - 20.38 kmpl which is back to business as usual. Mileage since day 1 stands at 26.64 kmpl.