[krishnaprasadgg]

Just a small update. Took the bike for a good 60-70kms of riding today. Did not click any pics, the main objective was to see if the bike rode well and no other issues are there and to see how comfortable I am on the bike again, and to just enjoy riding it.

As it turned out I got a bit uncomfortable on it right out of the gate, rode it very sedately for some 20-30kms, and gained back the old feeling and by the end of the ride, all was good.

This is something I feel everyone should be a bit careful with, taking your time to get in tune with the bike post a crash/drop or anything, especially when you had some sort of injury from it. Helps in avoiding any surprises which can cause more issues.

Also discovered that the fairing did take some damage to itself with the drop. Some semi-deep scratches and lines which, from the pattern of it happened when the bike slid a bit when I tried to pick up the bike on my own at first and hurt my wrist.

Don't mind the edit on the photo, Tweaked it so that the damage is clear when viewing.

But I am not bothered honestly. I think a good detailing session by a skilled professional and most of it won't even be noticeable.

Will be observing if any clips have been broken or not and probably replace the panels under insurance. Since there is already damage on the same right-side rear panel and the front mask (right side) from when the bike was dropped while owned by the previous owner.

New mirror and rearsets on both sides(current ones are blacked out and have paint worn/chipped off and looks ugly right now, and the right side rear set was already a bit bent from before I owned it, I had mentioned these in the first few posts of the thread) are going in order soon.

Cheers
Krishna

[krishnaprasadgg]

Did something I have been meaning to do for quite some time but did not have the part in hand and got delayed due to the lockdown.

The Keiti CF design tank pads had worn out pretty badly over the years and the warning label sticker on the tank was such an eyesore and the fact that the tank pad was just stuck on over the warning sticker had me go nuts every time I look at it.

I had got a rubber tank pad along with the Techspec snake grips that I had ordered way back and it seemed like the best thing to do. A few days back I was able to get back the part from Bangalore and decided to remove the old tank pads and that god awful sticker and install the tech-spec tank pads instead.

A hair dryer, a plastic pry tool(did not want to use anything sharp to remove the current tank pad), and some WD40 and rubbing alcohol/ hand sanitizer .

The tank pad came off quite easily and left no residue at all. So that was easy. But on the other hand, the warning sticker gave me a really hard struggle to get it off, it tore off mid pull in multiple places and left behind annoying little pieces of stickers here and there and over the years the adhesive on it had really become gross and sticky that even after heating it with the hairdryer heat did not make it to want to come off. Tried the alcohol method but that also failed, went to the trusty old WD40, and worked like a charm in getting the residue off.

Post that cleaned the surface properly with a wet cloth to make sure no WD40 residue is left behind prior to installing the tech-spec tank pad.

Here are the before, after, and mid pics of the tank.

Nothing else to add on in this post.

Cheers
Krishna

[krishnaprasadgg]

Update.

Took the bike out after quite a long while. Been very busy since the last week of Nov till now. Had to go to Bangalore multiple times so weekends were fully occupied by running between Bangalore and my home in the car.

So finally after almost a month took the bike out today.

Coincidentally hit 26,000 on the ODO too.

26,000 KMS

So almost nearing 5k km since I got her, which to think of it the 1-year mark is coming up pretty soon.

How fast time flies, Out of the almost 1-year ownership around 3k plus km have been done within the first 2 months itself, then came the lockdown.

Would have had some more substantial mileage on the bike if it was not for that.

A lot has changed but this hasn't. Regular visits to the watering hole for her. And she drinks quite a lot too.

Also, I got one of those Mi Wireless Airpump for filling the tyres. Super portable and super silent too, with no hassle of connecting to the bike's battery. It holds enough charge to inflate the bikes' tyres 2-3 times over.

Anyways. Hope you guys enjoy the pics.

P.S: So have been facing this issue with the bike lately. Let's say I stop the bike after riding it for some time and if I try to crack the bike back on, the bike starts up without any issues but almost immediately the bike cuts out, this happens when I crank it up with/without throttle input.

To keep the bike alive post cranking I have to really give a bit of throttle and blip it a bit to keep the bike alive and then pull off, the bike behaves absolutely normal in any other condition apart from hot starts, If I try to do the same when the bike is cold/just warm the bike comes to life and holds idle without any issues.

Can't figure out what it is. I have shortlisted 3 possibilities

1. The Li-Ion battery is getting a bit weak, it is holding charge but might not be high enough for the bike to function when hot and I am not riding it enough to keep the battery at full charge.

2. Air filter is getting clogged. The air filter was cleaned in March during the detailed service and the bike hasn't covered much km(~2k km) or so. But might be worth a try

3. Spark plug. Highly unlikely from my deductions, sparkplugs are fresh and new, changed it this March, once the bike holds idle it runs smoothly.

Don't know if I am missing something. Any ideas or diagnosis are welcome.


Cheers
Krishna

[bigron]

Originally Posted by krishnaprasadgg

P.S: So have been facing this issue with the bike lately. Let's say I stop the bike after riding it for some time and if I try to crack the bike back on, the bike starts up without any issues but almost immediately the bike cuts out, this happens when I crank it up with/without throttle input.

You could be getting vapor lock. Try priming the fuel pump a few times back to back and then crank. See if it behaves any differently.
Also, lift the tank and have a look at the vent hose. If its getting crimped.
Another thing , if you running a PCV, remove it and the see.
I can suggest a few other things, but start with these.

[krishnaprasadgg]

Originally Posted by bigron

You could be getting vapor lock. Try priming the fuel pump a few times back to back and then crank. See if it behaves any differently.
Also, lift the tank and have a look at the vent hose. If its getting crimped.
Another thing , if you running a PCV, remove it and the see.
I can suggest a few other things, but start with these.

Hi Ron,

Interesting points. I will surely look at it and get back.
The bike is bone stock so no PCV.

Cheers
Krishna

[VijayAnand1]

Originally Posted by krishnaprasadgg

Interesting points. I will surely look at it and get back.
The bike is bone stock so no PCV.

Cheers
Krishna

PCV means Purge Control Valve and I reckon you would have thought about Power Commander 5. I am pretty sure they ain't the spark plugs. I'd suggest you start off with the battery voltage check pre, mid and post ride if you can to see if battery issue is the culprit. Usually low battery would cause more cold cranking issues than a hot start, but since your problem arises after engine warm up, the issue could be somewhere.

I would echo what the other Bhpian suggested, vapor lock, this can happen if the fuel vaporizes enough to cause a temporary block in fuel flow and usually this is solved by opening the gas tank cap to vent the pressure for a couple of seconds and then cranking the bike, the bike would fire up instantly.

If the bike still has this issue, to your quote "dirty air filter" perhaps -- just perhaps -- this can be an issue where the intake air can be confusing things a little.

I would suggest this trick. Remove one of the bike's battery terminal and let the bike sit for one hour. Crank the bike after, and let it idle for 10 mins, and don't touch the throttle during this 10 mins. Turn off the bike. Start again, go for a ride, and ride normally as you'd do, see if it helps.

Keep your observations posted.

Cheers!
VJ

[krishnaprasadgg]

Originally Posted by VijayAnand1

PCV means Purge Control Valve and I reckon you would have thought about Power Commander 5. I am pretty sure they ain't the spark plugs.

Yup, my head went to the Power commander. Do the older bikes have the purge control valve to charcoal canisters? I am not sure, will need to check if this model R1 has it or not. I do recall hearing that it was a must for the California region bikes in the US, but this bike is not a US-spec for sure (US spec did not get Hazard lights)

Originally Posted by VijayAnand1

I'd suggest you start off with the battery voltage check pre, mid and post ride if you can to see if battery issue is the culprit. Usually low battery would cause more cold cranking issues than a hot start, but since your problem arises after engine warm up, the issue could be somewhere.

You see, me being stupid I left out some contextual info in the least post by mistake. Even in cold starts while the bike starts up without any hiccups the meter console is getting reset while the bike is cranking. So the starter is pulling quite a bit of power without enough to go around. When hot the same thing happens but this time around bike cutting out. The best thing for me to do is to take a video of the whole thing. Will do that in the coming days.

Originally Posted by VijayAnand1

I would echo what the other Bhpian suggested, vapor lock, this can happen if the fuel vaporizes enough to cause a temporary block in fuel flow and usually this is solved by opening the gas tank cap to vent the pressure for a couple of seconds and then cranking the bike, the bike would fire up instantly.

Ah yes, As Ron said, I have a sneaking feeling this might just be it. I remember when the older pulsars had this exact same issue when parked in the sun for an extended period of time. Will try this out for sure.

Originally Posted by VijayAnand1

If the bike still has this issue, to your quote "dirty air filter" perhaps -- just perhaps -- this can be an issue where the intake air can be confusing things a little.

Going by km ridden it isn't time for a clean, but then again, in our conditions, I wouldn't be surprised.

Originally Posted by VijayAnand1

I would suggest this trick. Remove one of the bike's battery terminal and let the bike sit for one hour. Crank the bike after, and let it idle for 10 mins, and don't touch the throttle during this 10 mins. Turn off the bike. Start again, go for a ride, and ride normally as you'd do, see if it helps.

Keep your observations posted.

Cheers!
VJ

That resets the ECU parameters if I'm not wrong. The next few 100kms will be the relearning process, right? I'll put that as the last resort.

Will keep my findings posted as always.

Cheers
Krishna

[VijayAnand1]

Originally Posted by krishnaprasadgg

That resets the ECU parameters if I'm not wrong. The next few 100kms will be the relearning process, right? I'll put that as the last resort.

Will keep my findings posted as always.

Cheers
Krishna

Yes, the re-learning process. Hopefully, the hiccups if any are "forgotten". Keep us updated.

Cheers!
VJ

[krishnaprasadgg]

The manifestation of a dream.

Originally Posted by krishnaprasadgg

Where it all began

It was in the year 2008-09, I can’t remember which one, that I happened to be left speechless looking at the BikeIndia magazine which had the Yamaha R1 India launch feature, they had a white-red color scheme bike featured. I just had to have that magazine. I still remember the pictures that were featured in the article can’t remember much of the content though, apart from one fact that has stuck in my head since then, the bike capable of hitting triple-digit speeds on the first gear. I was just awestruck blown away by the looks and capability of the bike as written in the magazine.

Remember this post? This is how I started the ownership thread giving a background of where my love for the R1 started. I was a bit peeved that I could only put it in words but not show you what I was referring to exactly.

So why am I bringing this up again? Guess what I found during a deep clean of my room.

Here it is, where the dreams all began

Yup, found the exact copy of the magazine where my dream of owning an R1 began. I had thought I actually lost it but found a piece of my collection of BikeIndia magazine that I was a regular reader of.

Excerpt from the review in case anyone is interested

Might not mean a lot to many but for me, it gave me another wave of pride and joy of being able to own the legendary R1 after all these years. Even though it may not be the exact model. But at least the colors match

Found a small part of my collection of magazines, hopefully, I can find the rest somewhere in my room.

Also as far as ownership update goes
Went on a small 80-90 km circuit ride around my village, enjoyed it a lot. A bunch of new OEM parts order has been placed. Will post it here once I start getting the parts. Some of them are long overdue replacement parts to make the bike look as fresh as possible.

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas. Hope this post added a little bit of joy to your day.


Cheers
Krishna

[//M]

I remember reading this issue of Bike India. The R1 on the cover page made me go weak in the knees. Subsequently in 2010, I got exposed to a friend's R1 in Bangalore. I recall having the motorcycle with me for over 6 months as my friend had gone abroad on a work assignment leaving his prized possession with me. It was a 2008 black R1 with Toce pipes (I'm not sure if legit, but certainly loud), bought pre owned in 2010.

I had my fair share of fun and nightmare with the motorcycle. My daily driver was a Yamaha FZ-S so one can imagine my plight of riding a litre class monster when I was just acquainted with 150 cc motorcycles back then.

The R1 pictures adorned my desktop wallpaper and even cut-outs were pasted on the walls in my room. I just couldn't get over this motorcycle. My only grouse with the motorcycle was tandoori thighs every time I used to take it out for a spin.

But what a memorable experience I had with the R1. Again, the Bike India article was the turning point for me. However as I grew up, I started enjoying touring across states and realised I don't have enough resources to keep multiple motorcycles. Hence zeroed on to the Tiger as I had fallen in love with it the moment I had seen it.

The R1 has probably adorned the walls and dreams of every budding motorcycle enthusiast and I'm glad few of us have chased that dream and pursued it.

Congratulations Krishna, ride safe and keep updating this wonderful thread.

[krishnaprasadgg]

Originally Posted by //M

I remember reading this issue of Bike India. The R1 on the cover page made me go weak in the knees.

Precisely my reaction too. It was just drop-dead gorgeous to look at.

Originally Posted by //M

Subsequently in 2010, I got exposed to a friend's R1 in Bangalore. I recall having the motorcycle with me for over 6 months as my friend had gone abroad on a work assignment leaving his prized possession with me. It was a 2008 black R1 with Toce pipes (I'm not sure if legit, but certainly loud), bought pre owned in 2010.

The R1 pictures adorned my desktop wallpaper and even cut-outs were pasted on the walls in my room. I just couldn't get over this motorcycle. My only grouse with the motorcycle was tandoori thighs every time I used to take it out for a spin.

I can imagine. I never managed to find a wallpaper here but what I used to do was sneakingly take color prints from our desktop printer without my parents knowing and kept it in a personal file, I couldn't paste it on the wall because then obviously my jig would be up. Printer and color ink was an unaffordable luxury for us at that point. Hopefully, that file is also hidden here somewhere in my room.

Originally Posted by //M

But what a memorable experience I had with the R1. Again, the Bike India article was the turning point for me. However as I grew up, I started enjoying touring across states and realised I don't have enough resources to keep multiple motorcycles. Hence zeroed on to the Tiger as I had fallen in love with it the moment I had seen it.

Well luckily for me my brother went and purchased a Tiger just a month before I acquired the R1 so I get to enjoy the best of both worlds.

Originally Posted by //M

The R1 has probably adorned the walls and dreams of every budding motorcycle enthusiast and I'm glad few of us have chased that dream and pursued it.

No doubt.

Originally Posted by //M

Congratulations Krishna, ride safe and keep updating this wonderful thread.

Thanks a lot, man. Will keep updating the thread for sure. If nothing else it'd be a fun compilation of my ownership experience for me to reflect on someday in the future too.

Cheers
Krishna

[krishnaprasadgg]

First of all Happy New Year to all who are here.
I hope this year will be better for everyone with many many miles and trips with your cars/bikes and in general a happy year.

I started my new year with a good early morning ride with the R1. By now I had mapped out an 80-90kms circuit that has pretty much good tarmac and almost entirely traffic-free for my weekend rides.

Anyway, let's get to the matter at hand.

Bike not holding Idle (Troubleshooting)

As usual post the ride I went to fill up the tank with fresh fuel. This time I made sure to check out the vapor lock troubleshooting for the bike not holding idle when hot. So turns out it's not that.

So now I have decided to dig deeper and try 3-4 different theories of mine to try and get to the bottom of this.

The methods I am going to try in no particular order are
1. Try Pro Octane with a full tank of fuel for the next 2 full tanks. I have a very slight feeling if this is somehow related to not good enough fuel, highly unlikely since there is almost no problem in running in any other condition but I am going to try this anyway because I haven't tried the bike with 95RON petrol or better yet and neither has the previous owner too, the previous owner and I too just use normal pump gas from good/reputed pumps.

So I am going to try this product. Pro Octane comes very highly recommended and is being used by many supercar/bike owners too for eliminating any kind of knock that lower-quality fuel introduces and the vehicle runs much smoother.

I have bought 2 bottles of it for now(Each bottle is 300ml and Rs.600/-). Let's see how it fares in the coming days, will give initial feedback tomorrow after 80-90kms of riding. The comparison should be good enough since I just rode the bike yesterday too.

2. Charging the battery to optimal/full charge. I finally got the Shorai Li-ion Battery charger that came with the Li-Ion battery that was installed in the bike.

So will put the battery on charge to its optimal level and see if it brings any change at all in the situation.

3. Use a proper injector cleaner. I don't know when was the last time the injectors were cleaned but this seems to be as good a time as it will ever get. I am planning on using this.
Again, the product comes highly recommended and good testimonials from people I trust. I am not planning gon just trying out anything just for the sake of it.

4. A proper Throttle body cleaning, Throttle body sync, and injector cleaning. I have been thinking over the last 2 weeks as to why I started getting this issue only post this lockdown stage and not during the first few months I had the bike and it struck me. During the first few months, the bike had seen a lot of miles and was regularly used during almost every weekend with the shortest ride being over 200kms, not to mentioned the bike used to be run mostly on highways where the engine is at a higher rpm on higher gears and engine ran stress-free. But ever since the lockdown up to 2-3 months back the bike was not at all used, only basic maintenance was carried out which involved few minutes of idling, a few blips, and rolling the bike around to make sure the tire doesn't get a flat spot. This made me think, usually running any petrol engines for an extended period of time on idle alone and/or sluggish riding (riding pattern within the city which was the majority of my rides once restrictions started easing up) tends to cause more carbon build-up that let's say an engine that gets to run stress-free on higher gears and higher RPMs.

And to solidify that fact there was might be the issue I realized that many zx10r owners faced stalling issues too,m and the symptoms are almost the same, when the engine was warm or when they blipped the throttle (when warm) and the rpm comes back down it goes below 1k and cuts out. The only solution they could find was to get the throttle bodies cleaned and the problem went away.

So this extended period over which the bike wasn't used maybe caused an extended amount of carbon build up in the throttle body and/or injectors getting a bit gunked up.

I do realize it's better to do the throttle body cleaning/sync and injector cleaning first and the rest of the methods later, but like I said I don't have the proper tools for that level of job(read a torque wrench), and also for TB vacuum sync I don't have the required dedicated tool either. But for sure it will be a DIY job along with my friend who has the right tools with him and as always will be documenting it here in detail. Just need to find a time that works for both him and me.

I Will be trying each method one by one to see what works properly, so this might take some time to cover all points.

Meanwhile, I got back the stock lever too.

And in other news, the Tiger hits 7000kms, she just turned 1 year old on 31st December Her yearly service is coming up in a month's time.

Cheers
Krishna

[bigron]

I strongly suggest to avoid using octane boosters. They are snake oil and do nothing other than eventually clogging your injectors.

If you have really bad quality fuel in the tank in which case an octane booster is hardly going to do anything and you would as it is need to work on the injectors and throttle bodies.

[krishnaprasadgg]

Originally Posted by bigron

I strongly suggest to avoid using octane boosters. They are snake oil and do nothing other than eventually clogging your injectors.

If you have really bad quality fuel in the tank in which case an octane booster is hardly going to do anything and you would as it is need to work on the injectors and throttle bodies.

I hear you, Ron, precisely why I have never used any additives or octane boosters yet on any of my vehicles, well apart from Sheel VPower which I used for my CBR regularly, which from what I understand is actual higher octane fuel as opposed to the additives offered by HP or Indian oil. Never had any issues with the CBR injectors to date with over 7 years and 50k km plus usage.

The only 2 reasons I tried this was because

a) It was suggested by a friend who is someone who uses these products himself and has seen the benefit and someone who I trust and won't allow me to use something bad on my vehicles. He uses it in his multiple numbers of cars inc his daily driver and I have read testimonials from a few supercar/bike owners too who weren't "sponsored" by the brand. So thought I'd give it a try.

b) On the flip side if it did nothing but start to clog the injector slowly I would be safe enough as I do not plan on using this in the long run, heck I had planned only to try it and see if it did anything towards the idle issue and it did nothing for addressing the issue. Also TB & Injector cleaning will for sure be done soon(approx 2 weeks tentatively).

Anyways, as I said in the previous post that I'd post my initial findings after using the pro octane product, so here goes. I Added 1 bottle of it to a full tank of fuel, that approx 18-19Ltrs. Ran about 50kms or so in varying conditions from slow leeching movements to a few WOT rips when it was safe to do so.

Disclaimer: Like Ron rightfully said, this whole Octane booster world is filled with a lot of snake oil products. So decide to use any brand/product it at your own discretion and after the required due diligence required. I have stated what made me decide to use it and take my feedback with a pinch of salt. That being said I am in no way shape or form associated with the brand. I paid full price for it and will give my feedback in the most unbiased manner I can.

So here is my finding:

On cold startup Bike is idling as before, I did not feel any difference but where I did feel a difference was in low gear low rpm situations, the bike never liked running in that situation and was very rough to ride before(you'll find me complaining of that in many older posts) but this time it was noticeably smoother, not something along the lines of "OMG what a miracle" but smoother for sure. Let's say the bike felt more chilled out to be in said gear and rpm.

It did absolutely nothing for the idle issue that I have, tried stopping after some 25-30 km of somewhat spirited riding and switched the bike off, waited 4-5 mins, and tried cranking her up, she started quick but did not want to hold idle at all. So yeah, did nothing there.

That difference felt in low gear low rpm riding showed in WOT situations as well. The bike still as amazing and violently quick but I did notice it was with a bit more smoother this time! (Talk about Oxymorons ), for the lack of a better word, so for my judgment, I'd say a slight marginal improvement.

In other news, tomorrow marks 1 year of owning this gorgeous beauty of mine, my only gripe is I haven't gotten to ride her more, only managed some 6k km so far. Hoping 2021 doesn't disappoint me here(looking at you Covid and tyre import ban)

Cheers
Krishna

[krishnaprasadgg]

Today marks the completion of the 1st Year of ownership.

What a ride it has been so far!! It's been nothing short of a "pinch me" moment 1 year with the bike.

Still sends a shiver down my spine at times when I look at her in the garage or while walking away after parking.

Still scares the hell out of me when I pull hard on the throttle.

Still gives me a cold sweat each time I watch the petrol pump machine ticking along towards the 1k mark even after a small ride.

Still fills me with a sense of pride and accomplishment when I see here parked in my garage.

And without a doubt, makes almost every single person happy and curious when they see the bike zipping by or when they see it parked somewhere.

As far as gripes go, as I said in the previous post I only wish I could have ridden it more than the 6k km I managed to put on in the past year.

Hoping to pile up more miles this year.

Let me leave you all with a few photos that I had never posted here but was taken on the day I decided to make her mine.

When she was in getting a new set of shoes before taking her on the test ride

Just before taking the customary Test Ride before pulling the trigger(all gears were worn before taking her out), I was shaking by the time I came back from the test ride. But truth be told I had already made up my mind. I took the loan required to buy the bike 1 week before. Yeah. I have done some stupid things in my life and this being one of them but all turned out well so far. Touchwood!

1st ride after the bike was mine(post-payment and RTO ownership change initiation) was nothing short of dramatic, got caught in a sudden torrential downpour, and with the already bad headlights on the R1 had to ride it up until my friend's house. Mind you till this point I had never ridden a liter-class bike in my life.

Putting her to rest and returning to Bangalore for the next 1 week, that's when I brought her home so to speak.

Picking her up to bring her home a week later

Overall, can't be happier in owning this machine so far, I hope I can hold onto her forever. I still respect the power of the machine and how ruthless it can be and that helps keep me grounded and alive and appreciative whenever I do get to ride her.

Cheers
Krishna