[trumpcard]

Originally Posted by alphadog

Continuing with the thread.
So, I had made a few additions to the Black Hornet, to make it easier to use and also improve on the aesthetics.

I found the turn indicator lights quite plain-jane looking and hence, changed this to LED lights front and back. Each of the light has 3 led lamps and the the transparent plastic has a smoked look. The lamps are also thinner and do not stick out as much as the stock ones. They are quite bright. The only difference I have noticed is that they tend to flash at a faster rate than the stock ones. Maybe it needs some kind of a relay to slow it down. The indicators itself are easy enough to change and there are Youtube videos available for the job. Takes around 30 min to do it.

3 lamp each LED indicators
Attachment 1998241
Attachment 1998243
Attachment 1998242

These were sourced from Aliexpress and have been ok so far, with a few months usage.

Were the led indicators a direct fit?

Also, A bit off topic but the service costs that you mentioned are quite low when compared to Delhi for the 900.

[alphadog]

Originally Posted by trumpcard

Were the led indicators a direct fit?

Also, A bit off topic but the service costs that you mentioned are quite low when compared to Delhi for the 900.

Yes, the LED indicators front and back were a direct fit. If you notice the shape of the indicator base where it meets the brackets, it is the same as the stock. So there was no issues at all in the fitment. Also the plug at the end of the wiring was ditto as the stock one. It was literally plug and play and a half hour job to do.

The service cost, I reckon should be similar through-out the dealerships with minor variations. I could not give you the exact figure as I did some extra mods which involve labour charges and hence these got added to my final service bill.

Cheerio!

[alphadog]

So, having had some free time, I thought I should upgrade my exhausts. The stock one seems quite muted and was not providing me with aural pleasure. Hence, I had ordered Akrapovic full system, few months ago. It was imported in from Slovenia, through a local importer - dealer and took around 6 weeks after placing the order, to arrive.

The box and contents with bar code and patent information. It was an original piece alright. The parts was bubble wrapped and was placed in thermocol. It came with installation instructions and the necessary clamps and springs all with Akrapovic brand embossed.









I decided to get the long carbon end can rather than the commoner titanium shorty, as I was not interested in crazy loud exhaust. I just wanted a deep rumble and growl on opening the throttle and this carbon end can came with a db killer baffle in it. Also, I felt aesthetically, the carbon black end can suited the looks of the bike better.

I am a person who likes to get my hands dirty with the bike and I did not fancy spending another 3-4000 rupees at the dealership to get the full system change done. So, I spent a full sunday afternoon, at my parents place, doing the exhaust upgrade myself. Here are some pictures of the same. Being an Orthopaedic surgeon, and having worked with plates, screws and bolts helped.
The only thing which was a bit fiddly was the repositioning of the O2 sensor. I had to re-route it and carefully screw it to the opening on the Akra which was on the opposite side as the stock.



The final look of the bike with completed full system.



The thing to be said about the full system is that it shaves off between 6-8 kgs off the total weight of the bike. I had changed the air filter to BMC previously and along with this change, the system is now a more free flowing exhaust. This means that the bike was at the risk of running lean. I did not want to get the power commander and tuning done presently. So just to make the mixture a bit richer, I got myself a Booster plug and did the installation, which was simple enough. I had to lift the tank to get to the airbox and had to piggy back the module in to the ambient temperature sensor. The bike certainly rides smoother now and it has lost the twitchy throttle issue. There were a lot of burbles, pops and crackles at deceleration and hence I got a rubber bung and closed off the air intake sensor tube. That sorted out this problem as well. Now, to try and keep away from the Kerala cops, who have a habit of catching exhaust modified bikes. Cheerio!

[krishnaprasadgg]

That just looks menacing! Gotta love the work of the folks at Akra. Nothing short of artistic.
Very few exhausts look good on almost any bikes as the Akra.

Can you also post a video of the exhaust note? I would love to hear it.


Cheers
Krishna

[krishsreedharan]

Lovely. I am now awaiting the arrival of my Yoshimura Slip-on. I also bit the bullet and ordered Michelin Road 5s on Amazon. Landed a pair of mid-2019 tyres for ₹ 30k. Both of these are scheduled to arrive in the course of this week and once those are on the bike, I am hoping that I will definitely see a change in the character of the bike. Will keep posted.

[alphadog]

Originally Posted by krishsreedharan

Lovely. I am now awaiting the arrival of my Yoshimura Slip-on. I also bit the bullet and ordered Michelin Road 5s on Amazon. Landed a pair of mid-2019 tyres for ₹ 30k.

That's great. Two big changes which will definitely help change the character of the bike. Looking forward to some pictures and sound clips. I have done close to 6K with the stock tyres and I will change later to the Road 5s mostly. I think I will ride for another 2-3K kms with stock before changing tyres.
By the way, before ordering on Amazon, what is the way to determine the month of manufacture ?. Did you just message the seller before placing the order and was it cheaper than approaching a local tyre store??.

Originally Posted by krishnaprasadgg

Can you also post a video of the exhaust note.

Thank you. The folks at Akra, do indeed know how to design beautiful pieces with great sound. I have a couple of short clips but do not know how I can share it here. I have seen other people linking a youtube video of the same. I don't have an automotive channel as yet. Let me see if there is an alternative way of posting it here.
Cheerio

[krishnaprasadgg]

Originally Posted by alphadog

Thank you. The folks at Akra, do indeed know how to design beautiful pieces with great sound. I have a couple of short clips but do not know how I can share it here. I have seen other people linking a Youtube video of the same. I don't have an automotive channel as yet. Let me see if there is an alternative way of posting it here.
Cheerio

If you have a google account you already have a youtube channel. What i did with the videos of which i posted was to upload to my channel and change the video settings to "Unlisted" and shared the url here so that only people who have this link can view it. It will not be listed in your youtube account for anyone else to see.

Cheers
Krishna