Team-BHP - The Royal Enfield 500 Classic thread!

Hi All,

First of all, it's been an absolute honor to be a part of team bhp. This is my first post, so here goes.

I have been following this thread for long, well before my induction into team bhp. I will say I was kind of intimidated by the amount of passion certain bikers have for their machine. I've always been a car guy, but in late 2010, I had an urge to get myself a bike. Probably has a lot to do with a verna I'm getting to replace my beloved Palio.

I will save all the td's I took for my initial ownership report, but one test drive of the classic 500 and I was smitten. Booked the classic 500 initially with a guesstimated wait period of 6 months, but I badly wanted a classic chrome. Loved the way she looked in the RE website. Changed the booking to a classic chrome in Chennai at 10.30 am on the day of launch and a month later, she owns me rather than the other way around. It's been a while since I've ridden bikes, my previous one being a rx-135 some 7 years back. I've done about 450 kms till now, and driving the beast to Bangalore (where I'm currently put up) was a joy, even though it took 10.5 hours.

I haven't done any decent mileage in the city yet, but the mileage I got in the highway was about 49.8 doing speeds between 40 and 60. Most of my questions already have answers in this thread, and thank you all very much for that. I will post my initial ownership review once my probation period at tbhp gets over.

Cheers

NV

Quote:

Originally Posted by aussigreg (Post 2579983)

Ok I'll have a shot at all 5.
1. There could be lots of influencing factors in your oil consumption but I think question 2 answers question 1. Your bike is used to light low rpm town work then you load it to the extreme and put it on the highway. It's only 500cc so its cylinder pressures would've been as high as load can get them, plus all the revs you can muster. Simply put, your rings, though undamaged, were pushed beyond their sealing ability in both directions and the oil escaped into the combustion chamber and was burnt.

Thanks aussiegreg, for your response. This gets me worried. During the run in, I didn't cross the manufacturers limits by too much, but my city runs are not sedate. The route I take has light traffic, although nothing like a highway. Is there something I can do to salvage the situation so I don't have issues on loaded long rides? Apart from riding harder more often? Is there a need to worry about the engine now? please:

reswaran,

If I'm right about your oil consumption there isn't a whole lot to worry about but I'll try to explain a common situation in more detail so you can get that piece of mind that we all love.

The rings aren't supposed to seal to the piston tightly, combustion pressure is supposed to creep into this clearance and force the rings out tight to the bore. With carbon build up from rich air/fuel mixture and lower cylinder pressures from extended periods of light load the ring grooves in the piston clog up and combustion gas connot do its job of forcing the rings outward. Then when load and cylinder pressure is increased combustion gas creeps between the rings and the bore and pressurize the crankcase. Some pressure and oil escapes through the crankcase breather and into the airbox, all oil seals come under extra pressure but shouldn't really fail, and some pressure and oil escapes back past the rings into the combustion chamber on the intake stroke where it is then burnt. This whole phenomenon is called "blow by".

Good news is its not too serious, it happens a lot and engines self clean under load, but sometimes we need to help them. Try this,
1. check that you haven't developed any oil leaks yet.
2. check oil breather into airbox for oilly signs of excessive venting.
3. buy a de-carbonizing fuel additive and use per instructions for about 3 tanks of petrol. It may be a good idea to use this stuff at half strength permanently if you town work leads to a gummed up cylinder.
4. find some good hills to work that additive through. You don't have go fast, just get that motor digging its toes in on and off etc.

This should make all the difference but if oil consumption persists the next step is a compression test. Your bike is way too young to have worn out rings or valve guides and I know C5s tend to carbon up easily around town so apart from shoddy assembly carbon is my best guess.

Quote:

Originally Posted by zaks (Post 2580461)

Congrats on your C5 NapalmVader, and welcome to Tbhp. Well I can only envy at how quickly you got your chopper. Thats a very good highway mileage for 500cc bike and depending on your driving and route it could be kept in the 40s.

Are the waiting periods less in Chennai?

Thank you Zaks. I am not sure about the mileage, but for a distance of 269 kms from chennai to a gas station near krishnagiri, the fuel used was about 5.4 liters. I pretty much filled the fuel to the brim at chennai and did the same during refueling. May not be an accurate way of calculating mileage as I didn't go by the auto cut off.

I checked with Teknik motors, Bangalore on the day of launch and I got a nonchalant response of 10 months waiting period for the chrome. Immediately called up a dealer in chennai and the waiting period quoted was 2 months. Told my uncle in chennai to book it right away, and after bugging the dealer with incessant phone calls, got the bike in just over a month.

Cheers

"...The good news is that I have completed all the formalities (including full payment) for C5 Black and I should get my hands on my bull early next week."
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I know you guys have to put up with whatever the dealer demands but when the dealer has all of the money, he has very little incentive to deliver the goods.

Against my advice, my son paid the full amount "up front" to get his cars body damage fixed. 6 months later I had to track the jerks that he paid, down and threaten them with a law suit to get them motivated into repairing the car.

It would be better if you people could say, "Here is my deposit for 70 percent of the total price. I'll pay the remaining 30 percent when you deliver the motorcycle to me."

I know....wishful thinking.

First Service

Got my c5 maroon chrome back from first service after dropping it off at Teknik motors, CMH Road, Bangalore. The front mudguard stickers appeared to have cracked at certain places and totally missing at the edge. The service centre guys attribute it to the water wash! I was heartbroken looking at it. The manager though had promised to get it replaced under warranty, estimated wait period being 1-2 weeks. Waterwash?!

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArizonaJim (Post 2582601)

"...The good news is that I have completed all the formalities (including full payment) for C5 Black and I should get my hands on my bull early next week."
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It would be better if you people could say, "Here is my deposit for 70 percent of the total price. I'll pay the remaining 30 percent when you deliver the motorcycle to me." I know....wishful thinking.

You are right, but we are guilty of pampering the dealers here.

We are so keen on laying our hands on a RE bike, add to that the long waiting period thanks to RE production (in)efficiency + dealers take it or leave it attitude + the notion that full payment speeds the process = dance to the dealer's tune.

I booked my bike by paying advance of INR 1000 when there was around 5-6 months waiting time. For nearly one month, kept quite and then I started following it up, mailed RE, called up even the state sales head to keep track of my booking.

Naturally, within the following month, I got a call saying that my bike was ready to be delivered and they need full payment. They asked for cash or DD, but I informed that I would be paying only through Cheque (took it a little bit far here) after inspecting the bike.

Believe it or not, they agreed to all this, after a little persuasion of course.

Since around the 5000 KM mark, I have noticed a faint humming sound from my engine when I let go of the Throttle. Sounds like a bearing sound. I assume the sound is present at all times but the sound of the exhaust with the throttle open covers it up. I also noticed that if I pull in the clutch while decelerating, the sound reduces in volume and disappears when the engine reaches the idle rpm. It is difficult to recreate this sound when the bike is on center stand in the mechanics place since the engine reaches idle RPM almost immediately when the throttle is released.

I am only guessing that it is an issue with a bearing, but could you provide some tips on what I should have the mechanics inspect?