[arnabchak]

@TheARUN

Loved the way you have written your post.

It somehow feels nostalgic and makes me remember my first days on a two wheeler- The modest Kinetic Luna.

The post is earnest and your excitement is evident from it.

Wish you many years of trouble free service from the Activa.

Some points to consider:

1) 2002 Activa will be the first Gen 102 cc engine. Its a robust, build to last and troble free unit. Later Activas were fitted with the 110 cc engines.

2) This will be the Tuff Up tyres(Basically a tube less tyres which was a revolutionary concept in 2002. Yet, would be best to change your tyres depending on the tread pattern. If the tyres are kept for a certain time, they age irrespective of the running.

3) Expect an average of 40-42 kmpl @ Rs. 2/- per km.

4) Change the engine oil and do a thorough servicing.

Really happy with your new possession and once again congrats!!

[TheARUN]

Its almost half a year since I updated this thread, the Activa has been in the meantime exceeding all my expectations

I was using public transport before I moved to the Activa and in the months that I have been owning it, I have incurred an expense of Rs.11,647 on the vehicle, this includes expenses on fuel. Had I stuck to public transport, my expenses on the Bus pass would have been Rs.8,400 in this period. The Activa has cost Rs.3,647 more than public transport on paper, but to give it its due, some of the expenses I incurred were cosmetic upgrades or expenses it could have done without. Having said that, the freedom I now enjoy, the convenience I get and the most important thing, the time I save have all more than compensated for that and the Activa has redeemed itself even when compared to public transport

I have taken it over all kinds of terrain, its been through rain and sunshine, its seen high speeds and crawls, its seen highways and mud paths and in the bargain made me a skilful rider. I can with all humility now say that I have become an Activa expert, at riding that is, and the vehicle is such a pleasure to ride each and every time. I can cover distances in a short time, staying within the speed limits mainly due to its brilliant handling, excellent brakes, road manners and twist and go convenience

The longest I have been on the saddle was for 2 hours at a stretch and the longest ride I have had has been 50 kilometres with stops at traffic signals, it has been comfortable and I have not had too much of dis-comfort, read temporary back ache

I managed to take it to 70 kilometres per hour for a brief while and it felt planted and secure, I am also very impressed with the smooth engine that does not sound disgruntled and has very less vibrations. The real treat has been the absence of the clutch and gears, its saves so much of bother and you don't have to remember which gear you are in or remember to clutch and declutch every time you change gears

I have not had a single puncture or a break-down in this period and it has not let me down at any time. I has always started when I wanted to go somewhere, it has kept going in pouring rain, the lights always worked in the night and I have not had to miss an appointment or be late for one even. It has taken me in comfort to work and brought be back from work with strength enough to play. It has accompanied me to many places where the Bus could not take me to and is my trusted companion

I am posting a few pictures taken today, and will be writing in detail on all the expenses I have incurred and the experiences I had with the vehicle in later posts.

[TheARUN]

The Activa has covered 5,502 kilometres and the fuel that has gone in has cost me Rs.7,500. Doing a back of the envelope calculation, I have incurred a fuel cost of Rs.1.37 per kilometre. I did not capture data on how many litres of fuel I put in every time; had I done that I would have been able to arrive at a more accurate kilometres per litre figure. With the data I have and benchmarking it at fuel prices prevalent today, I have an average kilometres per litre of 49, which makes me very surprised

I have followed a few rules while filling fuel

• All the time I have filled up from a Shell petrol pump
• Most of the times I have filled the tank to the brim
• I always checked my tyre pressure when I was at the pump. The pressure would have dropped a few points every time I checked

I rode the Activa in different styles to check if the fuel consumption varies, but to my surprise, the variance was very less

• I rode it most of the times in the 'economy' marked zone on the speedometer
• On many occasions I rode it very sedately, was very gentle in giving accelerator inputs and allowed the vehicle to glide instead of braking often
• I also had quite a few high speed runs
• Looking back, 60% of the time the Activa as ridden in a 'ride as you please' manner

By feeding the Activa on a constant diet of Shell, I gained two things. The first being the assurance that I was not short-changed on the quantity of fuel and the second the assurance that pure fuel when into the tank. On hindsight, had I filled fuel from any of the Public enterprises, I might have saved a thousand rupees, but I have no regrets of filling up from Shell and will continue to do so. Another factor that I have to consider is that the Shell bunk is 3 kilometres away and most of the time I have had to make a trip just to fill fuel; had I filled up in the nearest bunk, I could have saved some money. I do not want to sound like an accountant; saving of little money is not important, this is just for analysis

In the future I want to see if I can do a run where I can crack the 60kmpl mark, till then, the Activa is keeping me happy and others shocked!!!

[TheARUN]

This is a list of all the expenses that I incurred till now on the Activa


This is a shot of the under-seat storage box. One of the most useful features on the Activa. It holds my full face helmet so I don't have to be carrying it around. I have a cloth tucked in there which I use to wet wipe the Activa. There is no tool kit, I have never thought about that, maybe that is what happens when you are confronted with such a reliable vehicle

The best thing I like about the storage box is that when you buy take-away food and keep it there, it keeps it warm till you get home, meaning, the heat from the engine finds its way to the box
[ATTACH][ATTACH][/ATTACH][/ATTACH]

This is my documents cover. I have photocopies only and have never been stopped by a Cop till now. I carry just the regular ones, my license, the license of the owner of the vehicle, the registration card-book, the insurance and pollution certificate. I ensure all documents are up-to-date because I simply love it when a Cop flags you down, and you show him all your documents and he then has to let you go with a disappointed face
[ATTACH][/ATTACH]

This is a picture of the handle grips that I got. They are soft foam and increase the diameter of the handles, I found it odd in the beginning twisting the thick grips but have now become used to them


This is one of the major changes I made, the old mat was fine, but it had become brittle, the rubber mounts to the chassis were not holding, I tried to manage with the mat but then decided that enough was enough and got a new mat. The new mat fit like a treat and all the mounts fit right in. I think this is one of the important things many owners forget to replace, its a feel good thing


The oil cap that I had to replace because of my carelessness. I check oil every fortnight and sometimes the Activa talks to me, as in I can feel the roughness in the engine when its low on oil. The Activa keeps losing oil, about 300ml every fortnight. I know this is not normal, but there is no excessive smoking or drop in mileage or pick-up, so I am moving on with topping it up with oil all the time. I know there is an engine overhaul staring at me sometime in the future.

One day I forgot to screw back the oil cap after checking oil, while riding to work it fell off somewhere and oil started flowing out of the engine without my knowledge as I rode on, then as it got heated it started spewing itself out, so much so that the back part of the vehicle was covered in drops of oil. I was blissfully unaware of this till a friendly Auto driver at a traffic signal showed me what was happening behind me. I promptly switched the vehicle off, pushed it to work and then got the oil and new cap back on. I shudder to think what would have happened had I continued to ride on, there would have been a definite engine seizure.

This is an issue which Honda might want to fix. Imagine this, you hate someone or are in the mood for some mischief, all you have to do is unscrew their oil cap, that itself will get them into a mini misery


The last bit that went onto the Activa which now makes it complete. The previous Owner had dropped this front suspension cover somewhere and the vehicle only had a cover on one side, I got this on just so that it is aesthetically complete

[TheARUN]

The seat and suspension package literally transformed the way the Activa rode. The Activa in the initial months rode very badly on anything other than smooth roads, I used to shudder thinking of hitting a bad patch since the jolts were directly transferred to me. The seat too was very uncomfortable and gave me back pain.

I approached a nearby suspension overhaul specialist for the job, he had readymade front and rear suspension struts. The front had two and the rear had one. He found that the 'bedding anchor' had lived its life and asked me to have it replaced at a mechanic, once that was done, the suspension went up in about half an hour. I went to the seat specialist to just replace the seat cover, but seeing the condition of the foam which was literally falling apart and was wet, I decided to have a new foam put in with some stylish custom stitched seat covers

These have now transformed the vehicle. The back pain is completely gone and the vehicle is easy to ride on mud tracks or rough roads too. Riding doubles would guarantee bottoming out on every speed breaker and the handling would become wishy-washy, now its very easy carrying oversized adults as pillion. This easily been the most useful repair carried out on the Activa


The speedometer if you see the earlier pictures, had a cracked glass and had the needle missing. I went to a nearby meter specialist and he was able to fix it for me, got 2 new needles glued, reset the meter so that the numbers were better aligned and also got a brand new cover on top


The only thing that is now pending is a regular service. I should have had it carried out when I got the vehicle but kept postponing it. In the meantime I did some DIY repair like cleaning the air-filters after watching a You-Tube instructional video, the gear box was overhauled by the mechanic, the oil got replaced since it spilled itself out, so I'd like to think that too much damage was not done

The next update will definitely be that of the general service. I want to take it to Tara Motors the Activa specialist in Fraser Town, lets see how that comes along, wish me luck :-)

[sanjaykk]

Originally Posted by TheARUN

The seat and suspension package literally transformed the way the Activa rode. The Activa in the initial months rode very badly on anything other than smooth roads, I used to shudder thinking of hitting a bad patch since the jolts were directly transferred to me. The seat too was very uncomfortable and gave me back pain.

I approached a nearby suspension overhaul specialist for the job, he had readymade front and rear suspension struts. The front had two and the rear had one. He found that the 'bedding anchor' had lived its life and asked me to have it replaced at a mechanic, once that was done, the suspension went up in about half an hour. I went to the seat specialist to just replace the seat cover, but seeing the condition of the foam which was literally falling apart and was wet, I decided to have a new foam put in with some stylish custom stitched seat covers

Great to hear this. Would you mind sharing the details of the suspension overhaul specialist? My Activa's suspension too is very harsh/hard.

[TheARUN]

Originally Posted by sanjaykk

Great to hear this. Would you mind sharing the details of the suspension overhaul specialist? My Activa's suspension too is very harsh/hard.

Sorry for the delay in replying. The place I got it changed at is called 'Indian'. It is a shop specializing in shock absorbers of all types. They have their own brand of 'Indian' shock absorbers

The mechanic who works there is plus 40 in age and seems to be very knowledgeable on all suspension systems

The shop is in Kammanahalli area. You have to first come to Kullappa Circle, you can do that by first coming to Kammanahalli and then asking for Kullappa circle. Everybody knows this landmark. Once there, take the road from Kullappa Circle to Patel Public School. The shop is on the left and its directly in front of the only big speed breaker on that stretch, you can't miss it

Also, I first got my shock absorbers changed but still felt uncomfortable, the real riding pleasure came when I changed the foam in my seat. The change in shock absorbers immediately increased the riding height and suspension travel though