[sridhu]

Saw these documents on which Loctite product to use for what purpose; thought I will share it.

http://www.henkelna.com/us/content_d...king_Guide.pdf

http://www.loctite.com.au/aue/conten...sers_Guide.pdf

[unk9ja]

Originally Posted by Added_flavor

It was green. Loctite 638. Along with the brake and shift levers, engine mounting bolts on both sides have also been loctited. FYR this is what is being used.

Thanks for the information. The green ones right for our application. This is low strength adhesive which can be released with a bit of persuasion. The blue ones are for medium strength and the red ones are like high strength. So if anyone wants to get this done look out for the colour. Do not go beyond the blue ones.

[VW2010]

The pain in the ankles especially on the right in trying to cover the rear brake is easily solved by having the position of the lever adjusted downwards. Did it very early (see my Baby Duke 222 thread early days pages) and never had a problem thereafter.

There are two reasons to it. The boots you wear also plays a critical role. If it has huge sole's expect that to play a part to discomfort your ankle. That again means you can adjust the lever as Doc said but there is only so much you can adjust. Riding boots are perfect and raise your handle bar a bit (rotate out a little bit) and this kind of relaxes the posture and gives some balance. By looks of it the mild movement of handlebar may look ludicrous suggestion to fix leg and ankle pain, but it did give me an overal profile that suits my riding style.

For the legs i do something strange that i picked from riding my bull. I put my foot on the back pegs and get a nice curved position which makes me feel far more comfortable on the bike than anything. This i do only on long stretches where slowing down is with the front brakes and hardly any gear change is required.

In bull its even easier for hardly i change gears once i hit the 4th

And there is nothing as comfortable as a bulls seat which is modified and added with manual cushion. All i do is pack the rear seat with bags and make it a good recliner. Have done multiple trips that starts 5am from chennai to Kanyakumari on Saturday and back to chennai on sunday. Sheer bliss those rides were. Trying to find good partner/s here who will be able to just ride for the sake of riding with no agenda.

[ashkamath]

Originally Posted by VW2010

There are two reasons to it. The boots you wear also plays a critical role. If it has huge sole's expect that to play a part to discomfort your ankle. That again means you can adjust the lever as Doc said but there is only so much you can adjust. Riding boots are perfect and raise your handle bar a bit (rotate out a little bit) and this kind of relaxes the posture and gives some balance. By looks of it the mild movement of handlebar may look ludicrous suggestion to fix leg and ankle pain, but it did give me an overal profile that suits my riding style.

Thanks VW, I guess that could be a contributing factor. I don't have riding boots yet. But as a safety measure I tend to wear Industrial safety boots and these shoes are extremely heavy and rigid ( with full metal strap at top) and they weigh a ton. I ought to get proper riding boots and hope that should alleviate the problem.

Handle bars, I always like them as much down as possible. Every bike I have ridden have rotated the handle bar down ( I think I like that way). Even I tried to do the same with Duke, but it was not possible as the handle bar would touch the tank. But as I said proper riding boots, sitting posture, a little backwards and stretching the legs regularly should do the trick.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by ashkamath

That is surprising that you should say that Doc. Even my pulsar 180 was from the first lot in Karnataka (way back in Feb/March 2002) and you know I am all bones ( weighing at measly 63 Kgs that time and even now after a decade) but I never had any sore butt with my Pulsar. At least not as much as with the duke. I rate the duke seat to be hardest ( May be it feels more so with the hard suspension of duke compared to softer suspension of the pulsar or other bikes). But I also think your deduction comes from riding the GQ under construction with lot of jumping and throwing around and those days roads were nowhere as good as they are now.

I am talking about the famous all-India Dharwad ride - and the return leg back to Pune was torture personified man. One of the big pleasures changing over to the Bullet 500 was the lovely generous seat. The Duke seat for me is actually better.

Firmer is better over long distances. And as you know, its not just the firmeness of the seat but the shape of the seat that matters, as does the overall ergonomics geometry of the handle, footpegs, abd the seat which decides which part of your butt gets maximum pressure for the maximum time. And yes, regardless of weight and build and adiposal padding, no two butts are the same!

Overall, I am more comfortable during the ride, less tired at the end of the ride, and less sore the morning after the ride on the Duke 200 compared to my Bullet 500s (both Doppie, as well as Figgy - my LB500). On the Pulsar, I was in unimaginable pain over the last 100 kms (dark and raining too) of the 500 odd kms.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by VW2010

For the legs i do something strange that i picked from riding my bull. I put my foot on the back pegs and get a nice curved position which makes me feel far more comfortable on the bike than anything. This i do only on long stretches where slowing down is with the front brakes and hardly any gear change is required.

I do exactly the same, alternating between the back pegs and the front crash guard. Only, I dont put my feet ON the rear pegs, but hook the TOP of my feet OVER the pegs (find that much better, and the feet tend not to slip off by mistake like this).

This was exactly what I meant by saying butt pain depends on the triangle your body makes with the handle, the foot pegs and the seat, that decides which part of your butt is getting compressed (and hence losing blood supply) the most. Shifting the pegs changes one point of that triangle - thus letting blood back into the previously compressed butt area (while briefly compressing another). Ditto for changing your feet to the front crash guard.

Best overall of course is to stand on the pegs - for the butt as well as back and full leg stretch.

[man_of_steel]

Originally Posted by man_of_steel

A couple of small issues popped up during this weekend ride. I was quite aggressive on the bike on the highways. And while stopping for a break I noticed 2 things..

2. This is a bit worrying. There are traces of oil from on the cylinder housing. The place of the oil stain/leak is just behind the region of the bend pipe where it is slightly dented for routing through the trellis. I noticed it after having a couple of hours of hard riding on the highway. Although oil is not dripping and level has not come down, it bothers me. In my opinion, no other bikes apart from REs are qualified to have these oil stain marks on their engines! I will try to take a pic and post it in the evening. And I can take the bike to SVC only next week as I will be out of town for the weekend.

Regarding my previous post, now I think I got a bit confused when I saw the stain mark in between the ride. Upon closer inspection today I think it is the coolant that has leaked a bit out and its not the oil. Attaching the pics of the stain.



Earlier there was a stain the the below shown area. But now that seems to have evaporated off and the area is not damp.



Can anyone please confirm if the coolant will evaporate off completely like water when exposed to air? Or will it stay damp and attract dirt as seen in the first pic?

[ebonho]

@Ashok OT post for nostalgia sake .... a DECADE after ..... Mods please delete if not ok!



P.S. That's a 10 year younger me with a lot more hair third from right.



That's me leading the Pune pack extreme right. And I think (?) that's Ashok on the extreme left leading the Bangalore pack. Just before we parted ways on the return leg.

As the younger guys here can see, the influx of good riding gear (jackets, pants, gloves, boots) had not yet happened then (2003).

Photos courtesy Vibhu Rishi.

http://www.angelfire.com/linux/vibhu...d/dharwad.html

[ashkamath]

Originally Posted by ebonho

@Ashok OT post for nostalgia sake .... a DECADE after ..... Mods please delete if not ok!

That's me leading the Pune pack extreme right. And I think (?) that's Ashok on the extreme left leading the Bangalore pack. Just before we parted ways on the return leg.

As the younger guys here can see, the influx of good riding gear (jackets, pants, gloves, boots) had not yet happened then (2003).

Wow !! a zillion thanks to you Doc for the snap. Doc. that is Balaji at the extreme left ( check the jacket color on both snaps) and I am not in the scene. Must be taking snaps or already started to ride. Both Balaji and I had similar Blue Pulsars with Eliminator RVMs ( though I had Elim's rear 130/90 profile on my Pulsar). Raj, Vibhu, Shashvat, Sanjay, Rajshekar (Dyumna, Nav) were all there. and Yes. all complete with riding gears. That was a ride in monsoon. Amazing stuff. Thanks again

and Look at that sign board behind us. Bangalore 421 Kms and Pune 424 Kms. Perfect place to Meet.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by ashkamath

Wow !! a zillion thanks to you Doc for the snap. Doc. that is Balaji at the extreme left ( check the jacket color on both snaps) and I am not in the scene. Must be taking snaps or already started to ride. Both Balaji and I had similar Blue Pulsars with Eliminator RVMs ( though I had Elim's rear 130/90 profile on my Pulsar). Raj, Vibhu, Shashvat, Sanjay, Rajshekar (Dyumna, Nav) were all there. and Yes. all complete with riding gears. That was a ride in monsoon. Amazing stuff. Thanks again

and Look at that sign board behind us. Bangalore 421 Kms and Pune 424 Kms. Perfect place to Meet.

Yes you are absolutely right. I got confused by the Elim mirrors!

That's you in the brown jacket in the center, and that's me in the denim jacket 3rd from back. There's GR too from Hyderabad.



And this is what riders (Pune gang) look like in the morning when they ride till 4 a.m. through rain and pitch black forests and ghats and the most horrible potholed iron ore dumper truck infested roads through a "scenic route" suggested by a fellow biker who conveniently never came (chotu)!



13 riders - and all on Friday the 13th.

Good days man!

[ashkamath]

Originally Posted by ebonho

Yes you are absolutely right. I got confused by the Elim mirrors!

That's you in the brown jacket in the center, and that's me in the denim jacket 3rd from back. There's GR too from Hyderabad.
Good days man!

You are right and Sharath ( sitting on the ground at front) is no more with us. He met with a Fatal bike accident a few years back at Bangalore.

and guys this is another pic of the ride. with head lights ON and Zig Zag position and rain and greens. this is 2003 and we had a perfect ride.Just amazing.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by ashkamath

You are right and Sharath ( sitting on the ground at front) is no more with us. He met with a Fatal bike accident a few years back at Bangalore.

and guys this is another pic of the ride. with head lights ON and Zig Zag position and rain and greens. this is 2003 and we had a perfect ride.Just amazing.

Yeah we heard about that and were shocked. Its a sad day for all riders when one of their own goes down. RIP Sharath.

[Rollin' Thunda]

Originally Posted by ebonho

The pain in the ankles especially on the right in trying to cover the rear brake is easily solved by having the position of the lever adjusted downwards. Did it very early (see my Baby Duke 222 thread early days pages) and never had a problem thereafter.

I trawled through the first 25 pages of your "Baby Duke" thread and could not find it. Could you please be a little more precise?

I am very keen on getting this done...

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by Rollin' Thunda

I trawled through the first 25 pages of your "Baby Duke" thread and could not find it. Could you please be a little more precise?

I am very keen on getting this done...

Its there right in the begining, before we even left for Goa bro. I remember waxing eloquent about how un-anatomical it was for a rider to be sitting in that position and then simultaneously lifting his foot (dorsiflexion) and twisting it inwards at the ankle (inversion) to actually be able to operate the lever once Bulleters like me could actually find it (used as we are to 3 km long big fat hefty levers ..... )

Anyways, just ask the guys to adjust the foot peg on notch down and try. Then one more if necesary. One notch down was perfect for me. On the 390 it came to me perfect.

I have heard (or read somewhere) that this setting was possible on the 200s but not on the 390, because of the ABS. Maybe you could check/ask and let us know as well.

[Added_flavor]

Originally Posted by ebonho

I have heard (or read somewhere) that this setting was possible on the 200s but not on the 390, because of the ABS. Maybe you could check/ask and let us know as well.

Umm not quite sure how ABS would affect the adjustment of a lever position.

I have got the brake and shift levers lowered and handle rolled upwards and I've found my sweet riding position.

Not sure, but I if I remember correct, the process of lever adjustment is also described in the manual.

Also, even after it's adjusted, keeping your toe constantly on the brake lever might result in ankle pain. Plus you might unknowingly be braking when you don't intend to. This will wear out pads sooner and bring down efficiency too. Better habit will be to place your toe parallel to the lever and place it on the lever only when you need to brake. Quite similar to what we do in cars.