[r_nairtvm]

Originally Posted by wheelz

I picked up an RD last year, which was a Haryana Police vehicle, it's a 1988 model. The seller told me it's an HT, and the same thing was confirmed by my mechanic who opened up the cylinder while restoring it, though it does not have an HT silencer, and on the engine cover it's Made in India, but it has the gearing embossed on it....

I have heard that though the HT's were discontinued after 1984, it was still available with the Police and the Army, and info regarding that.....

I doubt it being a HT. If its a HT and having 1988 papers then there is something even more fishy about it.

The 1988 "Police Specials" were all LT Machines, Even Kerala Police Trivandrum unit had received 6 Bikes from that lot. The engine cover is not an indicator of what is what - my bike 1985 model has a "Made in Japan" cover and yet its an LT. I don't think the Indian Army ever inducted RD 350 in to their fleet.

Ask your Mechanic how he knows its a HT ?

I recall this bike "Haryana Police one" doing rounds for sometime last year. May be Parmod can throw more light on this ?

Now that you've picked it up - restore it by a reliable mechanic, who knows what he is doing and enjoy it

Best Regards & Ride Safe

Ram

[wheelz]

Originally Posted by r_nairtvm

I doubt it being a HT. If its a HT and having 1988 papers then there is something even more fishy about it.

The 1988 "Police Specials" were all LT Machines, Even Kerala Police Trivandrum unit had received 6 Bikes from that lot. The engine cover is not an indicator of what is what - my bike 1985 model has a "Made in Japan" cover and yet its an LT. I don't think the Indian Army ever inducted RD 350 in to their fleet.

Ask your Mechanic how he knows its a HT ?

I recall this bike "Haryana Police one" doing rounds for sometime last year. May be Parmod can throw more light on this ?

Now that you've picked it up - restore it by a reliable mechanic, who knows what he is doing and enjoy it

Best Regards & Ride Safe

Ram

Hi Ram Sir,

Really nice to hear from a Vetran, Respect!!!
Sir as I had mentioned, I bought the bike over a year ago, I had got it transferred to my name then itself. This is not the bike mentioned in the earlier posts.

I got it restored almost 8 months back. I got the bike in pretty decent condition, got it restored as in, got the engine serviced and checked, changed the CDi kit to RDD analog, got the mudguards replaced, fitted disc brake, and did the chrome plating and buffing, re-did the electricals, got the bike stripped completely and got the bush changed and re-painted the entire bike.

I have been using the bike since then, have not had any major issues, though not an avid biker, so have not taken it for long drives, once I did a 350 km ride with it, other than that I use it occasionally for local commute.

I forgot what exactly my mechanic told me regarding the bike being HT, but when i asked him how he can be sure if it's an HT, he told me that he had removed the pistons for cleaning, and had opened the head......

Will ask him in detail, the next time I visit him...

Would really like to meet you in person next time i'm in Trivadrum. Thanks a Lot sir!!

Regards

Ajish

[ku69rd]

Originally Posted by wheelz

I got it restored almost 8 months back.

Ajish

Hey Ajish,
Nice to read your experience, do share your photos of the ride.
Bike being LT or HT, the best possible way is to read the exhaust openings. Apart from there is no other way of reading if the RD is HT or LT.

Nevertheless, I don't think its a must have feature but good to know fact. Enjoy the ride and keep burning that rubber. That's the best way to do justice to your RD. Unfortunately am unable to do the same with my RD :(

[wheelz]

Originally Posted by ku69rd

Hey Ajish,
Nice to read your experience, do share your photos of the ride.
Bike being LT or HT, the best possible way is to read the exhaust openings. Apart from there is no other way of reading if the RD is HT or LT.

Nevertheless, I don't think its a must have feature but good to know fact. Enjoy the ride and keep burning that rubber. That's the best way to do justice to your RD. Unfortunately am unable to do the same with my RD :(

Hi Mahesh,

Thanks a lot!!! Yup thats right, as long as your ride is trouble free, just enjoy, very true.
Well today morning I had a word with my mechanic, and he told me that its a HT, and he's ported it slightly so that bike delivers more power than HT..
Well i'm really not an expert on that, but he's a reputed mechanic here in Cochin.

Will share bike pics soon!!!!

[pramodkumar]

Originally Posted by wheelz

Hi Mahesh,

Thanks a lot!!! Yup thats right, as long as your ride is trouble free, just enjoy, very true.
Well today morning I had a word with my mechanic, and he told me that its a HT, and he's ported it slightly so that bike delivers more power than HT..
Well i'm really not an expert on that, but he's a reputed mechanic here in Cochin.

Will share bike pics soon!!!!

I don't want to bust your bubble, but you should be very cautious of mechs who claim they did things on your bike even without you asking for it. In this case porting. Now let me put things into perspective.

1. Mechanics do what they do for a living, and the more they do it in a given amount of time, the more money they have to sustain themselves. Now I would like to stress on the word sustenance here.

2. Restoring an RD is not a simple job which can just go through all the processes in a month, Even for a guy like me who had nothing else on the plate apart from regular office, I had to wait for months to complete an RD.

3. Most jobs don't end when the bike leaves the workshop, the mechs know this and they use this as an opportunity to fix things they either promised or didn't do with full conviction.

Now, I know some outfits in cochin which are the best in the game. it takes them 3-4 months to finish a bike and they only do things on the need basis. it takes a while for newbie owners to realize that the previous mech took him for a ride ,and how the next mech is paving way to milk you by exposing the previous guy.

By the configuration of your build I can guess where your bike was build. However if they said exactly what you said

Originally Posted by wheelz

"he told me that he had removed the pistons for cleaning, and had opened the head"

You have reached a time in your ownership where you do more research than blindly trusting your mech. Lack of knowledge is not a handicap, it can be acquired, these guys have been ripping off good people, after seeing one of their builds I can only understand how they encash the owners excitement of owning a dream RD 350.

Now the most important point of the day. In Kerala people love HT bikes, not because they are great to ride but because it promises those extra horses which the LT lacks. If you ask me what I prefer, I would say LT with my eyes closed, why? they are the bikes which are the most mod friendly, its easy to remove materials than to add. LT have smaller ports.

Ask your mech what port maps he followed and what RPM range he chose for you to generate max power, and you can call his bluff. An informed owner is always a great owner who will have great fun owning and riding this bike for a longer duration than most newbies do, so if you bought this out of sheer passion I suggest you start reading, internet is a treasure trove. Sites like rddreams.com offer the best amount of info about rds.

Please don't take any of this personally and I am just trying to guide you to see things in better light.

Have fun riding your bike. Good Luck !

Pramod

[wheelz]

Mod note: Please avoid Quoting entire large post, affects readability especially on mobile devices. Thanks.

Originally Posted by pramodkumar

I don't want to bust your bubble, but you should be very cautious of mechs who claim they did things on your bike even without you asking for it. In this case porting. Now let me put things into perspective.
============
Please don't take any of this personally and I am just trying to guide you to see things in better light.

Have fun riding your bike. Good Luck !

Pramod

Knowledge, info & good advice is always welcome, nothing taken personally. Thanks a lot Pramod.

My passion for RD started in early 2000 when i had a guy coming to college on it, he never used to give it to anybody else. I grew up riding RX-100 n 135s... and always dreamt of owning one. There were lots of bike available then, but never had the money to buy one. I have never come across an RD as cheap as quoted in other conversation...

Had I got an RD then, I would have spent half my life in the workshops trying to learn things.............Now the time has come, where I could afford one, but dont have the time for it............I even told my mechanic to assemble the bike only in my presence, but since we could not find a convenient time, asked him to go ahead. It took almost 3 months, to get the parts and restore the bike....

I understand, that these mechanics do what they do for a living, and they cash on people like us, the guy who services my bike is a performance tuner, and he likes to up the performance of the bike that comes his way.

But after reading your advice, I think it's high time I should start researching, i"ll try to find time and do some studying.

Looks like you are from Cochin only, pls pm me ur no, would like to meet you.

Once again, thanks Pramod, for taking time and sharing your views.

[pramodkumar]

Originally Posted by wheelz

Looks like you are from Cochin only, pls pm me ur no, would like to meet you.

I am from Trivandrum, but I am aware of the scene in Cochin. I will PM you my number once I am back from Delhi.

Originally Posted by wheelz

Once again, thanks Pramod, for taking time and sharing your views.

It's my pleasure mate, have fun.

Pramod

[wheelz]

Hi guys sharing my bike pics!!

[r_nairtvm]

Originally Posted by wheelz

Hi guys sharing my bike pics!!

Nicely done up bike.

Pity that the original Carbs are lost/replaced. But as long it runs well small bits and pieces doesn't matter I think.

Test it with longer runs, since she ran well on 350 KM trip I am sure it will be fine for longer runs as well

All the Best & Ride Safe

Ram

[wheelz]

Originally Posted by r_nairtvm

Nicely done up bike.

Pity that the original Carbs are lost/replaced. But as long it runs well small bits and pieces doesn't matter I think.

Test it with longer runs, since she ran well on 350 KM trip I am sure it will be fine for longer runs as well

All the Best & Ride Safe

Ram

Thank You Ram Sir,

Regarding the Carbs, they had to be replaced as the original ones were totally in a mess....I've been contemplating on getting a Mikuni TM -28 fitted, any suggestions on that.

Regards

[The_Mad_Hatter]

Originally Posted by wheelz

Hi guys sharing my bike pics!!

That's quite a looker! Nicely done paint job. Mudguards seem original, too. I've seen a lot of these with replacements. Where did you source the disc brake, if you don't mind me asking?

[r_nairtvm]

Originally Posted by wheelz

I've been contemplating on getting a Mikuni TM -28 fitted, any suggestions on that.

Regards

As I have not done any experimentation with my bike, I cant offer any input in this regard. Pramod can, I think. Get in touch with him, when he is back in Trivandrum.

Best Regards & Drive/Ride Safe

Ram

[ku69rd]

Originally Posted by wheelz

.I've been contemplating on getting a Mikuni TM -28 fitted, any suggestions on that.

That's one good looking RD you have in your garage mate...congrats she is a good looker.

Regarding the Carbs, I would suggest you to avoid the Flat Slide carbs for city usage since their mid range will not keep you happy. They are trigger happy and tuning them is always a challenge to keep all the three parameters under control (Initial/Mid range and top end).
Instead of Mikuni 28TM please buy the Mikuni VM28SC which came with the bike. They give you a very good all round performance and are lighter on the pocket as well.

Do keep us posted on this thread more.

PS: Why have you put a balancer pipe? Original RD's never came with it.

[r_nairtvm]

Originally Posted by ku69rd

PS: Why have you put a balancer pipe? Original RD's never came with it.

Mahesh,

I think the Carbs he is using is not having the interconnection between them and hence use of this external ones through the inlet, I think.

I have seen this done on many

Is VM28SC available anywhere ?

Best Regards & Ride Safe

Ram

[wheelz]

Originally Posted by The_Mad_Hatter

That's quite a looker! Nicely done paint job. Mudguards seem original, too. I've seen a lot of these with replacements. Where did you source the disc brake, if you don't mind me asking?

Thanks bro!!!

Yup nice paint job indeed, I really loved the way it turned out....
As for the disc brakes I have used a TVS RTR disc brake assembly, works for me.