[parik_ind]

So between September of last year and now I have covered another 4500 kilometers. No long rides in this time but I have made an effort to use it more often rather than just commuting work. The rising fuel prices and lack of parking have definitely forced me to use the car sparingly. Nothing major happened in the last 9 months; had to get the chain and sprocket replaced as it had become really difficult to ride the bike. Gear shifting was a major issue.

Used Motul for the second time and the engine is more or less behaving itself. Some of the problems I am facing are:

1. upshifting is a pain; cannot shift from first to second easily, slots into neutral most of the time
2. False neutral between 2nd and 3rd and this is a pain when I need to shift up after slowing down for a speed breaker
3. The neutral and high beam indicators have stopped working and therefore difficult to bring it back to neutral when I stop. Have to really fight with the gear lever. Dont use high-beam at all so not an issue. Getting these fixed next weekend.
4. Heat from the engine is very obvious sometimes. Its not that I would have travelled any extra distance.

My back tends to get a little sore when I ride back home but this is largely attributed to overall health and fitness. That being said, I think I would enjoy a more upright position.

The positives have been plenty as well and mostly concerned with overall reliability and A.S.S

1. No major issues after changing the sprocket. Has been very dependable.
2. Have ridden the bike through belting rain on a few occassions in the last two weeks and not once did I feel compromised. The headlight illuminated the road well, the tyres gripped really well and despite going through some deep water the engine did not falter
3. The Bajaj guys did a good job with the service when I took it to them at 13k. Bike came back feeling new. The only issue perhaps was that after changing the sprocket the did not fix the gear lever properly so could not shift it beyond 3rd gear but this was rectified as soon as I pointed it out.

More updates to follow.

Parik

[parik_ind]

So the P220 is sold now. The parting was fairly on expected lines as I had never really enjoyed riding the bike over the last 2 years. It served me well since my last update; all I can say is that it met my needs of hauling my backside from home to office and back. I know it is not a fair statement considering:

1. There was never an occasion where the bike broke down or stalled
2. No major repairs other than having to change the clutch plate twice

The biggest learning since my last post that I needed to pay more attention to the bike otherwise my neutral stance towards it would have changed to dislike. The bike was serviced on time, identified potential problems and had them attended to ASAP and lastly I ensured that I cleaned it regularly.

So I put up with the bike for as long as I could before transferring ownership in February 2016. My conclusion is that it was not the right bike for me and I do hope that the new owner gets more out of it than I did. He was very excited when he bought it so maybe there is a positive side.

Would I bad mouth the bike whenever I get the chance? No. The P220 is a very capable bike and as pointed out by others earlier, by limiting its use only for daily commute defeats the purpose of owning it.

I have now graduated to a TB 500 and yes, the first ride made me smile with glee. I have gone on a couple of longish rides and have enjoyed them thoroughly. I even love riding it in the city, to the extent that our cars are used only on the weekends when the whole family needs to go out. More on this shortly.

Cheers

Parikshith