Team-BHP - Royal Enfield Thunderbird 500 : Brakes Failed : No Quality Control

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArizonaJim (Post 3303436)

I think Royal Enfields response to your problem by coming to your home to examine the motorcycle is commendable.

I rather doubt they will be willing to extend the warranty for the entire motorcycle for another year but they should be willing to warrant the newly installed parts (and the labor of installing them) for a year.
After all, they will be brand new parts. :)

Yes, it was commendable. The extended warranty part came out of my frustration from the response I was getting from these guys. I have no intention of claiming a full bike extended warranty, but only of the parts that have been & will be changed.

Just to refresh it all : Parts changed till date :

1. ODO
2. Full body kit ( painted parts ) ( changed from twilight - > stone ) ( last month )
3. Rear Shock absorbers
4. lock kit
5. Now, the complete brake assembly.

Perhaps it is a matter of semantics, but if brake "fade" is severe it will be impossible to stop the vehicle.

Another way of looking at the words is, if the brakes became inoperable when they were hot and, when they cooled, they worked as they should, I would describe that as Brake Fade.

If the brakes became inoperable and after they cooled they still refused to stop the vehicle, they failed.

Of course, this is coming from someone who spells tires instead of tyres. lol:

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArizonaJim (Post 3305380)

haha. Nice one :D . We all know you are technically sound or at the very least, very much passionate and dedicated towards your bike. So there goes the tire | tyre :D

I agree on the semantics part. But, this phenomenon is not limited to disk brakes. It applies on drum brakes too.

I am just so worried about people taking their Thunderbirds to Leh Ladakh and other parts of our beautiful country

Quote:

Originally Posted by bblost (Post 3300333)

When riding downhill how do you control your speed and most importantly which gear do you use?

You should be using the same gear downhill as you would use uphill for the same speed. For instance, if you want to be at 30 kph going downhill. You should consider which gear you would require for making 30 kph while going uphill (say, 2nd gear) and use the same gear downhill too.
Safe riding!

So finally, after a very heated conversation with RE people, they decided to change my Entire Rear Brake assembly with Disk. I added with Disk, because initially they were reluctant to change the disk.

I was continuously pointing out that IMO, the disk that came with my TB500 was faulty ( it had a bend ). After taking the disk out, the service engineer confirmed my findings & replaced the Disk with whole of disk assembly. while the whole process of changing the rear disk set was going on, the mechanic who fitted the assembly found out that the DOT 4 oil that came with the new assembly was significantly low, than the normal level. So, the service engineer, very calmly and without hesitation, said, that & I quote:

Quote:

Top it up with the pink oil

when I said, the oil he was talking about is DOT 3. he said " No worries, they both go ok with each other. Not having a good knowledge, I did not have a technical ground to prove him wrong. But using my common sense of judgement, that instructed me to stop him, I told him not to top it up with another oil & use the same DOT 4 oil instead.

DOT4 oil was not in stock & it took them another 3 hours to source it. Really RE ? Is keeping essentials that hard ?

For what it's worth, the DOT 3 and DOT 4 fluids are totally compatible and can be mixed together without causing a problem. The resultant fluid mix will boil at a lower temperature, somewhat like straight DOT 3 fluid.

I am somewhat nervous about mechanics calling the fluid "oil".
Brake fluid is not an oil at all.
(Oil won't eat the paint off of your vehicle but brake fluid will rapidly cause it to wrinkle and fall off.)
In fact, if anyone puts real oil into a brake systems hydraulic cylinders it will totally destroy every seal and hose in the system.

The safe thing to do if your mechanic starts calling the fluid "oil" is to look at the container and make sure it says "Brake Fluid" and is either DOT 3 or DOT 4 rated.

Quote:

Originally Posted by shan2129 (Post 3299974)

suddenly one day, while riding down hill from Mussoorie to Dehradun ( a mere 60 km ride ( 30 uphill and 30 down hill )), the rear brakes on my Bull gave up. Yes, you read that correctly.

I think quite a few people have also mentioned the same in this thread: are you absolutely sure that you did utilize engine braking (= using gears to brake the speed down) while going downhill.

What you experienced is what most people do experience when they rely only on the brakes to reduce speed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArizonaJim (Post 3314758)

That's a relief :D

Quote:

I am somewhat nervous about mechanics calling the fluid "oil".
Brake fluid is not an oil at all.
(Oil won't eat the paint off of your vehicle but brake fluid will rapidly cause it to wrinkle and fall off.)
In fact, if anyone puts real oil into a brake systems hydraulic cylinders it will totally destroy every seal and hose in the system.

The safe thing to do if your mechanic starts calling the fluid "oil" is to look at the container and make sure it says "Brake Fluid" and is either DOT 3 or DOT 4 rated.

Yes, the mechanic called it Brake Oil. But the container said Brake fluid.

Quote:

Originally Posted by alpha1 (Post 3314991)

Yes, I am very much sure. It is now a proven factor that the cause of brakes failing at that time was faulty system. The Disk was crooked and pads were cracked. 70% of the pads were eaten & the engineer confirmed that the pads were in continuous contact with the disk from day one.

So, only a little bit of pressure on the pads was enough to cause this.

Posting in an old similar thread. The same thing happened with me.
From the last two or three days, while riding the thunderbird 350 for 10-15kms, I'm feeling, the bike is not accelerating as it should be. Reaching 70kmph is a big task. The very next day, I took the bike to RE service centre and explained the facts. The mechanic cleaned the pads and refitted every thing and told every thing is fine. Also, my chain was badly damaged and at 21000 kms I replaced my chain and sprocket. Today, on the way to work , after 15 or so kms from home, the same struggle to gain speed was felt. I parked the bike and just touched the disc and my fingers were nearly burned. I poured some water to the the assembly and it was literally steaming. This heat was felt in the previous incident too. At the time of writing this, I'm stranded in highway waiting for the mechanics to arrive. That's how I searched here and got all the information. Will update what's going to happen.

Quote:

Originally Posted by shan2129 (Post 3714616)

Oh God, That sounds really bad. Hope you got help in time.

Yes. The dealership service centre was kind enough to pick my bike up. As mentioned in this thread, I told them to bleed the brake a bit and the problem was rectified. They were clueless what was happening to my bike. Such is the competency of company workshop. The saddest part is, just before this incident, on the previous day, they had reassembled the whole brake system for wheel tightness. Team bhp saved my day. Thank you, Shan, arizonajim and many others who had contributed.