[Odeen12]

Originally Posted by bigron

Looking Good!
I remember back in 2011 when I got my Fat Gixxer, within 3 weeks of getting it , I stripped the rear end out and painted the rims, foot pegs and pass pegs black. I have the pearl white 1300.

I do agree with you. These bikes are mass produced, so why not make them a little unique, your own etc. And if you get a good paint job, maintain them well and it should last you proper.

I get your point about the vibes. I am going to take a torque wrench to the motorcycle and figure what's amiss. Want to be sure where does the problem lie. Also might help in figuring if it's the map?!

I will update here as i go along.

[Rob UK]

Modern litre sports bikes are too fast to use properly on the road in Europe, let alone India!

You guys are absolutely nuts :

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by Rob UK

Modern litre sports bikes are too fast to use properly on the road in Europe, let alone India!

You guys are absolutely nuts :

Word on the street around here in India is we have better roads than you guys out there.

Do visit

[ethanhunt123]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Word on the street around here in India is we have better roads than you guys out there.

Do visit

I dont know about the the roads ... but UK/Europe surely has better policing and speed limit enforcement than us

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by ethanhunt123

I dont know about the the roads ... but UK/Europe surely has better policing and speed limit enforcement than us

The policing and speed limit is also here in india... Just that its mob enforced

[Rob UK]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Word on the street around here in India is we have better roads than you guys out there.

Do visit

I have seen a fair bit of India - MP, UP, HP, Punjab, Delhi, Andaman, Goa... ridden 350 & 500 Enfields and a load of 100-200cc stuff there too.

You have some great routes, but patchy maintenance and some really woeful driving standards. I'm happy to chug along on an Bullet in India, or even the mighty Hero Passion. I wouldn't want anything quicker than a 390 Duke there really.

If you want to lay the pegs down on a fast bike then the mountains in France, Spain & Italy are the business. Smooth, well signed, quiet, hardly any Police or cameras!

[Odeen12]

Hey Guys,

Another update on the motorcycle. It's been a year and a half since i got her and she’s 5800kms young. Which i think is fair considering it's a proper sport bike..

I am a patient man. I am courteous to people. And i generally avoid making a hue and cry over things. But something wrong with my motorcycle brings the worst in me i guess.

Without beating around the bush, here goes.

I will break this post in 3 bits.
- Problem.
- Paint
- Solution.

Problem

In the time that i have had her, general service / maintenance from the dealer or from Suzuki has left me wanting. I am at my wits end with the so called technicians, and that not necessarily means only Suzuki but most of the dealers who sell superbikes. The lack of knowledge and technical know how is absolutely appalling. These are expensive, well engineered machines and taking a hammer to them for everything is not the right way to deal with the same. I don’t understand why don’t they have a shop manual for every motorcycle dammit!!

Let me give you an example of the pain that i have endured.

As you would know from my earlier posts i got a fair bit of parts to put on the motorcycle. Hence, i went to the service centre. In hindsight I really should not have.
I should have waited at the service centre when parts were put on, but due to work had to leave the bike in their able hands.

Point wise parts added and things to be done.

- New clip ons to be added on the motorcycle. The tech installed the same.

- Tyres were replaced. No one balanced them.

- Had changed exhaust to a full system. I had got this done through a tech I called home, requested the service guys to once go over everything and figure if it was fitted correctly.

Bike was left for a day and a half. Went to collect and the first thing I noticed was the right hand switch clearance, the throttle wire was brushing against the fairing. Some "jugaad" later of moving things around some room was made. I checked if I could turn the handle bar around. Twisted the throttle to see if there was any blockage as such, nothing. Moving on..

I added a Pirelli Super Corsa at the rear. 200/55. Which is obviously bigger than the 190/55 stock. But after fitting the tire on the bike no one checked if there was proper clearance between the tire and the rear fender. At the time of delivery I noticed a streak right through the middle, the damn fender was bruising against the tire. Asked the tech to please remove the fender, clearly oblivious lot that they are!

All work complete so to speak, I took the bike home.

A few days later, planned a ride with friends, short one to a cafe on the outskirts of the city. Might as well, it's a Sunday and why waste it.

As I got away from Bombay and a little spirited riding later, issues cropped up. They are as follows,

- Massive vibrations everywhere, the handle bar. In the pegs. In the seat. In the tail. In my testicles. It was just unbearable!

- Everytime i went over a bump or braked, there was a clacking sound which came from the handlebar / forks.

- At a 120kmph on an open empty road, went into a tank slapper. There was so much feedback from the tires and handlebars that by the end of it my hands felt like lead.

Obviously something wasn't right. Nursed the bike from there on and got her back. Called up the tech and fixed a time to take her back.

In the meantime i also wanted to paint a few parts on the bike. And considering it was to be stationary, i sent the bike in for my paint job instead. Got her almost after 3 weeks. Post which called up the service guy and asked for a time to bring her in. Did that. And I shouldn’t have.

My feedback to him and his solutions so to list,

- After riding, I felt the the clip-ons were set too wide. So asked him to adjust them. He "Eyeballed” it, brought them a little closer. Asked him to measure, as it’s the easiest thing to do. You just turn the wheel straight ahead and then measure from the end of the clip on to the centre point of the motorcycle. They didn’t have a measuring tape. So it was left to his judgement that they were even.Same applied to the clearance of the fork to triple clamp.

- The steering stem was making noise. Now Instead of opening it up to check what the problem was, out comes the hammer and screwdriver. He tightened it, by lightly hammering the discs. Conclusion was, he had kept it way too loose in the first place so he tightened it. Went for a ride, got back and now the problem amplified. The bike started to pull to the right. So the tech went ahead and loosened it because now it was too tight. It got a little better, but then the clacking sound wouldn't go. Asked him to open the steering and check the bearings, but he was adamant that the sound will go, if i keep riding.
Please bear in mind, multiple rides were done in the afternoon Bombay heat of 39 degrees with humidity of 200 percent, on SV road. People from Bombay would know what sort of a black hole that route is. Conclusion problem isn’t solved. But it will go away by itself.

- Asked the service guy about the vibrations. He got the spanners and just tightened whatever was visible. Yep, no torque wrench needed. In other things, they don’t have one! Post test ride, the problem still persists. Conclusion, issue left open.

Basically absolutely nothing was sorted. At least they didn’t charge me for this revisit.


I had to sort the bike out.

[Odeen12]

Paint

I had picked up some chips on the rear wheel and that was bothering me to bits. Decided to get the wheels painted. My friend who owns a Street Triple RS recently got his wheels painted to a matte grey. And they looked lovely. A few conversations later i was on a call with Camraan, who owns "Mutley Motor Works" in Bombay. If you guys haven't heard of them, please do check their Instagram account under the same name.

Camraan and i decided we will have the rims painted Matte Satin Black. He did advise against it, just from a maintenance POV, but heck.
And we wanted to paint the belly pan. And try and make it a little personal as we go along.

Wheels
Have added the pictures in a post above, but adding them again for reference. Absolutely pleased the way they turned out.




Belly Pan
This took the longest to crack. We decided to paint the same red. I absolutely thought the red just popped and made the bike look super cool.

However decided against the red and went with the Triton blue as the Gixxer is. The Ecstar Moto GP bike was the reference. Why not?

Stickers
Wanted to customise the same and here started the back and forth on what goes on. We decided, once the stickers are on we should lacquer over them. It does give that factory finish.
I wanted a racing number put at some point. And deciding the font genuinely took a week.

Here are the iterations we went through.

1st Attempt. Which i didn't like.





2nd Attempt after a week of searching and coffees and discussions






Belly Pan

In her Stock Trim


Reference which we started with was red.


What we ended up with.

https://youtu.be/oTPPgFN7CTA

[b]Picture Time



Camraan was super super patient. Through the all the changes and iterations he and i are quite pleased with how this whole exercise turned out.

Coming up the final solution as you would see from the 2nd Belly pan picture.

[Odeen12]

Finally the Solution

I had heard really good things of this place in Poona, Slipstream Performance. A quick google search and you will have positive reviews from a plethora of people.

Researched further, on their Instagram and Facebook page. And i liked the what i saw. Called them up right away. The place is run by Kunal Bhaskaran and his team. A quick chat about pressing issues with the motorcycle and it was decided that i will get the bike to him. Considering he is some 170kms away from Bombay, in Poona, applied for leave.

Got to Poona on Sunday 02-06-2019. As it's the day off for the workshop, went to him the next day.

Problems listed below,
- Clip on alignment and torque.
- Front and Rear brake bleeding. The rear brake wasn't biting.
- Check Steering bearings.
- Clutch cable needed lube. It was catching.
- Throttle Body cleaning.
- Air filter clean and lube
- The chain was loose. Adjust the same.
- Add new radiator hoses.
- Delete rear foot rests with a new exhaust hangar and block off plate.
- Add new chain adjusters.
- Front and Rear suspension set for rider.

The first thing Kunal did was download the shop manual for the bike. And got to work.

He measured the fork height as per manual. And it was off. So basically when the clip-ons were added, no one cared to measure the alignment.


As he kept looking for problems, the Right handlebar switch was routed incorrectly. The wires were randomly dumped and it would have gotten cut soon. The engineers have designed a cable guide, but the tech decided to just leave it outside.
Apparently he had a Kawasaki recently with the same problem, here are some pictures of what could have happened.



The main issue with the motorcycle was the front. After the disassembly of the thing the problem was quite visible. And definitely not what the Japs intended.

The front being taken apart.




Then we get to the mothership of the problem. Overhaul of the steering stem.


Clearly from the pictures you can see that the bearings are destroyed. But the guys at the service centre remained oblivious to this problem, even after me asking for a look. On another note, when i went through the manual, it clearly states, that the tech should have adjusted the bearings at the first service. Which again wasn't done. I paid the brunt for it.

There was no way i could salvage that. Went ahead and replaced the same.


The fitting process.





Clutch was adjusted.


Radiator was flushed and cycled through thrice. New Samco hoses were added.




The drive chain was adjusted. Added new chain adjusters. And the rear foot rests are out.

https://youtu.be/xxFZT0SEmVw

Bike almost ready.


Finally we set the suspension sag for my weight. Which should tremendously help with handling and the feel of the motorcycle overall.

It took Kunal 3 days to sort the issues which were quite blaring as far as the bike goes. Issues which should have not cropped up in the first place, if only the service guys knew what they were doing. You wonder, is it worth going to them, just because you want to keep the warranty intact? Why can't i decide where i can get the bike serviced or maintain as long as the manufacturer standards are maintained.

Total bill for all the hard work put in, inclusive of applicable taxes - Rs 30,029/-

Left for Bombay the next day, Thursday 06-06-2019, 5am. The ride was pleasant. No vibes. The bike felt as it should, eager to turn in. Smooth and supple. Balanced. It was as if the first day i got her. I don't think i can go back to an authorised dealer again. I'd rather ride to Poona and get things done correctly.

Hope this helps you. Ride safe guys. Cheers!!

[Red Liner]

Kunal is an old acquaintance from my jeeping days, and he is also common friends amongst a group of extremely mechanically inclined DIY friends. I don't think you can find anyone better than him.

Avoid the svc for all such work. To keep warranty intact, you can only ask them to replace the engine oil every schedule and do nothing else. But honestly these jap machines are extremely reliable, you are better off avoiding those bunch of nincompoops.

Until and unless we get to start doing our own work like in the west, along with a cheap non import class availability of spares, india is not the most ideal place to buy and maintain such expensive bikes.

[sukiwa]

Originally Posted by Odeen12

I had heard really good things of this place in Poona, Slipstream Performance. The place is run by Kunal Bhaskaran and his team.

Glad to know about your pleasant experience at Kunal's workshop. BTW, Kunal happens to be 'not so active' BHPian.

[Odeen12]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Avoid the svc for all such work. To keep warranty intact, you can only ask them to replace the engine oil every schedule and do nothing else. But honestly these jap machines are extremely reliable, you are better off avoiding those bunch of nincompoops.

Completely agree. But i don't think i can go back to the service centre again. I am done. Luckily i have a house in Poona, so that makes life a little easy.

Originally Posted by sukiwa

Glad to know about your pleasant experience at Kunal's workshop. BTW, Kunal happens to be 'not so active' BHPian.

I am happy. And i i'd urge more guys to go take their bikes to him. Having said that, a friend who is kind of frustrated with his Triumph should call Kunal soon.

The work carried out was top notch, nothing to complain about. Plus i loved the location too

[Rob UK]

For the head bearings to be in a mess like that is worrying. They should be fine for years with routine cleaning and re-greasing every so often - I suspect one of the seals was faulty or not fitted correctly (or possibly messed about with by a bungling "mechanic" at the dealer). There are clear signs of substantial water ingress when there shouldn't be any. My 20 year old bike has 50,000km on the clock, still has the factory head bearings, and they're fine.

It's not the bearing itself that needs checking & adjusting on initial service, but the steering tension - it will often require adjustment after the running in period as the weight of the bike being ridden will put far more compression force into the bearing than the assembly process, and that can leave some play - the same applies to the new ones as well, you should check after 1000km. It's done correctly with the front wheel slightly raised, steering damper disconnected, and a tension gauge fitted to the end of the grip.

[cjt2012]

Wow , I am surprised to see the head stock bearings in that condition , that too on a bike which is just a year old. Do you stay near the sea shore by any chance, sea salt and humidity, I can't think of any other reason for the bearings to be that far gone in just a years time. I have a 2011 CBR1000RR and recently I have also noticed a slight vibration on the handle on moderate 3 digit speeds, I do most of the maintenance myself at home ,I Guess staying in mumbai, I should now check for play on the head stock and probably open it up for greasing.
It's nice to know that there are some good professional help like slipstream performance in pune for jobs like these, I frequently ride to pune as my folks are staying there and that too near Viman nagar, I will book an appointment pay him a visit next time around .

[Odeen12]

Originally Posted by Rob UK

you should check after 1000km. It's done correctly with the front wheel slightly raised, steering damper disconnected, and a tension gauge fitted to the end of the grip.

True that, will be taking her in once the monsoons pass.

Originally Posted by cjt2012

Wow , I am surprised to see the head stock bearings in that condition , that too on a bike which is just a year old. Do you stay near the sea shore by any chance, sea salt and humidity, I can't think of any other reason for the bearings to be that far gone in just a years time. I have a 2011 CBR1000RR and recently I have also noticed a slight vibration on the handle on moderate 3 digit speeds, I do most of the maintenance myself at home ,I Guess staying in mumbai, I should now check for play on the head stock and probably open it up for greasing.
It's nice to know that there are some good professional help like slipstream performance in pune for jobs like these, I frequently ride to pune as my folks are staying there and that too near Viman nagar, I will book an appointment pay him a visit next time around .

I can cartwheel my way to the sea The issue obviously got amplified because the mechs at Suzuki didn't adjust the same during the first service and then later when they changed the clip ons.
You should speak to Kunal once. I am sure he should be able to sort it out.

Cheers!