[ArizonaJim]

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

Thanks for that informative post ArizonaJim. The oil leak on the right side of the engine is quite noticeable. Im not sure how much the Motul fully synthetic engine oil has to do with it though, the 300V is not reputed to be the best choice for such motorcycles. I finally got around to taking a few pictures last weekend while giving the bike a proper wash.

Attachment 1612172

I was dismayed to find that the rubber pipes are again cracking and will most certainly have to be replaced immediately. There is no real excuse for such poor quality components on a motorcycle priced at this level. Today I realized that the breather pipe (which has been replaced once before) had almost completely broken off at the end.
...

Sigh! All part of the Royal Enfield ownership experience .... It's off to the Royal Enfield service centre tomorrow for the 15,000 km service.

You would be wise to forget buying a new Royal Enfield breather tube and spend a small amount of money to buy a length of clear vinyl tubing like I show in the link below.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motorb...ml#post3864787

Not only is it inexpensive but mine has lasted for several years now with no problems.

The metal outlet size on the motorcycle is 12mm (.472 inches) (below the retaining bead) so if you are looking at tubing made in the inch sizes, you would want a 7/16" tube.

[neil.jericho]

Breather pipe that breathed its last before I could get to the SVC

I was in two minds about taking the Continental GT for the 15,000 km service to the privately owned RE service centre that had recently opened up nearby in Koramangala and a few really bad reviews posted on Google didnt help matters at all. In the end convenience triumphed over the guarantee of getting top notch service at the large company run service centre opposite the Madiwala lake and I ended up going to the Koramangala Motors Enfield Service Centre which is located just off the 60 feet road. It's right next to the large Cafe Coffee Day outlet and there's a big signboard on the main road that will ensure that you dont miss it.

Royal Enfield Koramangala Service Centre

The service centre has just 8 bays and is small when compared to the Madiwala one but they do service around 25 - 30 bikes in a day as per one of the staff. I saw far fewer bikes on Friday though it was Shivaratri and hence it would have been a holiday for quite a few people. I was immediately attended to by the SA and mentioned a list of all the minor issues that were plaguing the bike and was told that the bike would possibly be ready only on Saturday (cue immediate thoughts of regretting my decision to not go to the company workshop). The things I wanted to be checked / done were
- replace all the hoses that were crumbling faster than the Indian cricket team against Australia's bowling attack
- check the front brake pads and replace if required
- check the cone set
- check the clutch play as the bike was inching forward just a little even when the clutch was fully pulled in
- fix the leaks from the engine
- revert the rear suspension settings to stock as my earlier experimentation had left it too stiff
- check the chain slack


After a quick test ride, the SA said that he will get the alignment checked as well (and here I thought it was all in my head!). As per the service booklet, the only main thing to be replaced at the 15,000 service is the spark plugs which I had already done earlier. I asked them to avoid the chain lubing as I do it myself but was told that its included in the general service activities and fees so I had no option on that.


I got a call in the evening from the service center and they informed me that the motorcycle was ready and that I could collect it. When I reached the service centre, they showed me that there was some slight play in the front disc which led to a kat sound if someone pushed against it. This slight play was what was causing the braking from the front end to be less sharp than expected. The SA also demonstrated how this sound was not there in the other bikes. As per him, this is a known issue with the Continental GT and that they need to remove the disc and get it spot welded to fix the issue. I will drop it off sometime next week to get this addressed.


Also when they checked the bike, they found that there was too much engine oil in it which is my fault. My inability to gauge how much engine oil was actually leaking had led me to fill in too much of the 300V in small quantities over the last few months. Lesson learnt! They had replaced the rocker cover which should take care of the oil leak that is visible at the top of the engine. Also they checked the alignment and found it was fine.


The breakup of the bill is below

The general service cost was Rs 625 as compared to the Rs 500 that I had paid for all my previous services at the company SVC. Im not sure if RE has increased the cost of the general service or if privately run RE SVCs charge higher. Do any fellow RE owners have any inputs on this?


Now despite me initially telling them not to do the chain lubing and the SA then confiming that its part of the general service breakup, I found that they had charged an additional Rs 170 (taxes additional) for it separately in the bill. I just don’t understand why non company run service centres have to resort to such underhanded money making schemes which in the long run cause massive loss of customer trust. I just checked 4 service bills that I could locate from my previous visits to the company owned service centre and the under general labour section, I didn’t find any separate pricing items added for lubing even though they do it. The SA was quite nice in all my discussions with him, the service centre is neat and well maintained (a far far cry from the dingy old company run SVC in Banarghetta) and the quality of work seemed to be good but this left a bad taste in my mouth. It could have easily been a 5* rating from my side but due to the extra charges on the lubing, I’ll drop it down to 4* with a warning to other RE owners to be careful about this when they go there.


Royal Enfield Annual Maintenance Contract - While I was paying the bill, the service centre folks asked me if I was interested in taking the AMC. While browsing through the details, I felt that it probably made sense for owners who log in quite a few miles every year (disqualifies me from the list straightaway). The details are below if anyone is interested.

Originally Posted by r_nairtvm

People have been "sighing" on RE India for ever. I've heard this since 1969 from my Dad/Uncles/Their Friends etc. Heard the same from my peers and now am hearing it from the next generation as well.

At least RE is consistent on that



Best Regards & Ride Safe

Ram

Speaking of consistency, there is an Electra 350 and a recently purchased Classic 350 that in the my apartment’s parking lot and while checking to see if they suffer from similar leaks, I found that both those bikes had the exact same problem. So not only is Royal Enfield consistent across generations, they even manage it across different production lines in this day and age as well.

The new Classic 350


The older Electra

Originally Posted by ArizonaJim

You would be wise to forget buying a new Royal Enfield breather tube and spend a small amount of money to buy a length of clear vinyl tubing like I show in the link below.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motorb...ml#post3864787

Not only is it inexpensive but mine has lasted for several years now with no problems.

The metal outlet size on the motorcycle is 12mm (.472 inches) (below the retaining bead) so if you are looking at tubing made in the inch sizes, you would want a 7/16" tube.

Thanks ArizonaJim, unfortunately I saw your message after I had completed the 15,000 km service. At the earliest signs of cracking in the hoses, I will go down the route you have suggested.

[ArizonaJim]

The thing that looks like a hose in the lower two pictures is the wiring coming from the alternator and crank position sensor.

A slight weeping of oil at that location is fairly common.

To fix it, the right side engine case must be removed and a sealing compound would be applied to the area. (Not quite like the glob of putty someone used but he had the right idea.)

[mshooli]

Originally Posted by schitre05

Good looking Handlebar, I am sure it would be a lot easy and relaxed on the wrist and palms.
My only question is if one wants to modify the handlebar will the new Himalayan handlebar not suit it better? now that there is a one available in the RE family with the similar Aluminium finish with a straight and relaxed stance

Check out this Youtube video posted a few weeks back. This person has got the Himalayan handlebars on his Continental GT. Looks neat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiYXEQEacPg

[neil.jericho]

Every time I think to myself that time couldnt fly any faster than it already had, something happens that makes me realize that it just did. Our breakfast ride yesterday was to celebrate the one year anniversary of the arrival of the Triumph Bonnie to a most deserving owner in our group , someone who I have known for the past several years. It was also a farewell ride of sorts as a member of our group was on his last ride with his current motorcycle, one that has been a trusted and reliable steed (that eliminates the Royal Enfields in the photo, mutter the cynics!) and a part of several of our group rides. Some of us were there for the run in ride of the particular bike which incidentally happened to be to our same destination as yesterday and we really couldnt believe that it was already time for it to make way for another. Time really does fly when you arent paying attention.

Watching the sunrise while waiting for the group

We met up at our usual spot just after the Electronics City flyover and saw a few groups assemble and ride off before us. This included one big HOG contingent, some Benelli riders, a mixed group which included a new Dominar that rather embarassingly had to be push started (Sigh! All part of the Bajaj experience....) and some others. The temperature was just perfect compared to the bitter cold from what we experienced on the same route a few weeks ago but it is also a sad sign that we are going to in for a smoking hot summer as well. The ride to Shoolagiri was incident free and breakfast was good except for the really long delays in getting our second round of ordered items.

After tanking up, we lined up the bikes for a quick round of pictures and headed back to the city. We said our goodbyes after crossing over back in Karnataka while watching the HOGs rumble past us. One thing is for certain, whether you love the bikes or you dont, they certainly do grab a ton of attention when they are riding in a group and have a brand value that is unmatched by most manufacturers. All in all it was a wonderful morning spent with like minded friends that was made even better by my spotting of a lovely ZX10R (which I believe is fellow BHPian Narula123's bike) in the city. Now if only time would fly fast enough for my bank account to be big enough that I can afford a gorgeous ZX10R!


Mileage: I topped up last week at the HP pump near ISRO and was asking the attendant about the new Power99 fuel that they sell. Between his 100% kannada and my 5% knowledge of the language, what I could decipher was that they do sell around 200 litres a day which I found to be pretty good. They get a lot of customers on weekends, mainly owners of big bikes and high end cars and usually do a 1000 litres on Sundays. It retails for around Rs 96 per litre IIRC and I have half a mind to try filling it for a tankful to see if there is a difference though I suspect I already know the answer. Distance covered : 196.4 kms. Petrol consumed : 7.62 litres. Mileage : 25.77 kmpl. Since I was using the bike everday last week, I had to tank up at Shoolagiri. Distance covered : 149.1 kms. Petrol consumed : 5.39 litres. Mileage :27.66 kmpl. Mileage since day 1 remains stuck at 26.88 kmpl.

Originally Posted by ArizonaJim

To fix it, the right side engine case must be removed and a sealing compound would be applied to the area. (Not quite like the glob of putty someone used but he had the right idea.)

Incidentally the SA had mentioned that putting some putty would be the right approach to fixing this problem, I will suggest your approach when I take it in for the next service.

Originally Posted by mshooli

Check out this Youtube video posted a few weeks back. This person has got the Himalayan handlebars on his Continental GT. Looks neat.

Thanks mshooli, I happened to see the same video a few days ago. I believe it was only a matter of time before someone tried out the above mentioned modification, it will certainly be interesting to see how the bike behaves with this set up.

[r_nairtvm]

Hi Neil,

It was a pleasure to meet you and your buddies today morning.

Yellow Bird was looking smart

Sorry couldn't stay longer and get to know your friends better, seems to be a great bunch of like minded people.

Look forward to a longer ride soon

Best Regards & Ride Safe

Ram

[neil.jericho]

Between hectic work, family commitments, travel plans and packed to the gills weekends, there was a bit of a lull period when it came to group rides with less frequent plans and lower turnouts but change is upon us and things appear to be on the upswing. This Saturday's ride saw the biggest turnout that we have had in quite a while with a total of 10 bikes and one car (driven by a temporarily bikerless biker) making it to our favourite breakfast joint. We also had a couple of riders joining us after a bit of a hiatus and got to ride with r_nairtvm for the first time as well. His immaculately maintained Bonnie is truly a sight to behold and is the polar opposite of some of the frequently mud caked bikes in our group (mine included!).

Ready to rumble

The weather was quite pleasant for our ride to Vijayapura and the unusual delay in getting the dosas meant that we had time for a quick round of introductions from the newer members of the group.

Lavelle road this may not be ....

The dosas continued to live up to the hype and for the really low bill that we paid, they are certainly the biggest bargain in town this side of a Reliance Jio sim. On the way back we lined up the bikes for a quick round of photos before riding back to the city where absolutely horrific traffic hit all of us.

Missing only the Bonnie

My better half and I were planning on doing a quick breakfast ride on Sunday but when we heard of the plan to meet up in at Veena stores in Malleshwaram for some good old fashioned idli vada breakfast, we decided to join the guys instead. What a lovely morning it was with minimal traffic, lovely weather, great company and some of the best, if not the best, idlis and vadas that Ive ever eaten. At relaxed Sunday morning city cruising, the bike is in its element and it has noticeably become much smoother than earlier with vibes being non intrusive at best.


Speaking of the bike, Ive been noticing that it sometimes has difficulty maintaining a steady idle. It tends to sputter a bit, drop the revs then pick up and then sometimes sputter again before giving up. I dont suspect the fuel quality since I have been filing up at trusted pumps and had mentioned this to the SA when I gave it for service but he said that they didnt have the required software to check the mapping (only the main company SVC does). Just to double check, I tried running through as much of the petrol in the tank which brings me to ....


Mileage: I usually tank up every 200 - 210 kms but this time I stretched it much further given that this time only around half of the riding involved the mileage smashing commute. Distance covered: 309.6 kms. Petrol consumed: 10.85 litres. Mileage: 28.53 kmpl. I dont expect to see any real improvement but decided to give the Power 99 petrol a shot and tanked up with that. At a shade over Rs 96 a litre it is far from cheap but I felt there was no harm in giving it a trial.

Originally Posted by r_nairtvm

Hi Neil,

It was a pleasure to meet you and your buddies today morning.

Yellow Bird was looking smart

Sorry couldn't stay longer and get to know your friends better, seems to be a great bunch of like minded people.

Look forward to a longer ride soon

Best Regards & Ride Safe

Ram

Likewise Ram, it was great to meet you last weekend and looking forward to more rides in the near future.

[julyone_modi]

Hit 130 KMPH again on my GT!! This time it was quick to hit the mark .
Ironically that is the speed I had hit twice, and never exceeded it.

@Neil, any idea what's the top you have done? both on street and track?

[neil.jericho]

We did a 557 km round trip on Saturday which involved some exquisite roads that were perfect for biking. It unfortunately also involved more expletive inducing speed breakers than I have encountered cumulatively in the last 8 months as well. I will hopefully get time to put up a post with more details on it later this week. Here are a couple of pictures, cause this thread can never have enough of them.

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

Now despite me initially telling them not to do the chain lubing and the SA then confiming that its part of the general service breakup, I found that they had charged an additional Rs 170 (taxes additional) for it separately in the bill. I just don’t understand why non company run service centres have to resort to such underhanded money making schemes which in the long run cause massive loss of customer trust. I just checked 4 service bills that I could locate from my previous visits to the company owned service centre and the under general labour section, I didn’t find any separate pricing items added for lubing even though they do it. The SA was quite nice in all my discussions with him, the service centre is neat and well maintained (a far far cry from the dingy old company run SVC in Banarghetta) and the quality of work seemed to be good but this left a bad taste in my mouth. It could have easily been a 5* rating from my side but due to the extra charges on the lubing, I’ll drop it down to 4* with a warning to other RE owners to be careful about this when they go there.

Last week I received a call from a lady at the Koramangala RE SVC asking about my overall experience with the last service. I told her that I was unhappy with the whole getting charged for the chain lubing incident and she said she will check on the details and get back to me. Some time later the gentleman in charge of service from that SVC called me to ask about what happened and heard me out. When I asked about getting a refund for the Rs 196, given the circumstances, he said that they were willing to pay me the entire amount since it was an oversight from their side that should not have happened. I havent collected the amount yet as I havent had time to go to the SVC but well done Royal Enfield, my faith has been restored.

Originally Posted by julyone_modi

Hit 130 KMPH again on my GT!! This time it was quick to hit the mark .
Ironically that is the speed I had hit twice, and never exceeded it.

@Neil, any idea what's the top you have done? both on street and track?

Bear in mind, Royal Enfield speedometers, like politicians, are not renowned for their willingness to stick to the truth. Over the last one month, mine has started flickering to the right just by a millimetre or two for a second before returning to where it was, which makes me wonder what the actual speed is at any point in time.


Ive seen the speedo hover between 140 and 150 on a few occasions for sure. If you can find a bit of a down slope and wide deserted roads, you should be easily able to get your bike to those speeds. Ironically Ive probably seen lower top speeds on track than I have outside of it, Im not sure why that is though. Before anyone brings out their pitchforks and reminds me that these speeds are illegal and downright dangerous, let me add that I completely agree wholeheartedly and I do not promote high speed riding. I would strongly urge riders to never push themselves beyond the limits, both of their skills as well as that of their motorcycles.


That said, these speeds were achieved in controlled conditions with deserted roads / tarmac / track days. At no point in time was anyone else, known or unknown, put at risk. Riding gear was worn at all times. No animals were involved in trying to achieve these speeds.

[neil.jericho]

When it comes to running in a brand new bike, the Bangalore Mysore stretch is a rather sensible choice as it gives you a fair bit of traffic, a steady dose of speed breakers and road blocks, a hand full of imbeciles and the occasional opportunity to stretch the bike when traffic clears. Our ride on Saturday involved Bhp-ians on a CBR250, a brand spanking new CBR650 and yours faithfully on the Continental GT. After starting from the Mysore Road - NICE Road junction by around 06:20, our first stop was for breakfast at Hotel Vaishali in Channapatna that is apparently known for its kheema dosas. A most well deserved reputation I would say though what you have to put up with to get there takes some of the sheen away. Over breakfast we decided to go ahead with the plan of riding up to Madikeri and fortunately the traffic reduced to some extent as we proceeded on towards Bylakuppe. We stopped on a couple of ocassions after every hour or so of riding to give ourselves a break and our progress was quite brisk after our breakfast stop.

We took an early turn towards the Nyingmapa Monastery in Bylakuppe which gave us a glimpse of the large Tibetan settlement in the region. We spent less than half an hour at the monastery before we rode to Madikeri where we would stop for lunch and fill up the bikes. The roads leading up to Madikeri were really nice with a fair bit of twisties and was the most enjoyable part of the ride up until that point. The reduced temperatures were a welcome relief as well though we had the unfortunate company of some young college going kids who were showing off their cornering prowess with no safety gear to speak of.

Once we reached Madikeri, we made our way to a restaurant that Bhpian Roomy had suggested where the lunch was inoffensive at best. After tanking up our bikes, we rode to Somwarpet and the roads we were blessed with were just wonderful and made even more interesting by the often sudden appearance of gravel while we were mid corner. This really is one of those must cover roads if you are a keen biker based out of Bangalore. Words dont really do this justice. There was hardly any traffic as well and riding through those roads was so enjoyable that we rarely stopped to enjoy the nature's magnificence.

Beyond this, the roads were in really good condition though they were littered with far too many speed breakers that it really defied all logic. We ended up encountering so many needless speed breakers on our return journey that I kept remembering in a special way all the engineers and government officials who had signed off on each one of them, may my special blessings be with them for years to come. Traffic was sparse and we were able to make good progress on our return and we continued to keep stopping every hour or so to give our bodies a break and replenish ourselves with fluids. This also ensured that we were able to keep fatigue at bay which was no doubt helped by the good weather.

The final leg of the trip involved the city commute which meany navigating through the city's typically crowded for a weekend streets. Finally, 14 and a half hours after I had left in the morning, I pulled into my apartment's parking lot, having covered 557.8 kms during the day. The Continental GT was in full form in the twisties we encountered after Madikeri and was a cornering delight to put it mildly. It was also able to hold a steady triple digit speed during our return where the wide empty highways were mostly bereft of traffic.


The one thing I didnt like though was the double seat which is way too thin for this sort of hard riding and makes you wish that Royal Enfield hadnt skimped on the padding in its bid to appease the design team. For serious mile munchers who need the utility of twin seating, additional padding or gel seats are quite frankly a no brainer. All in all, a fun way to spend a Saturday.


Mileage: I had topped up with HP's premium fuel and I think I noticed slightly better performance from the motorcycle over the course of the ride. I wouldnt bet on it though as it could just be the placebo effect for all I know. Distance covered: 299.2 kms. Petrol consumed: 9.23 litres. Mileage : 32.43 kmpl with around 40 kms involving city commuting.

[julyone_modi]

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

Bear in mind, Royal Enfield speedometers, like politicians, are not renowned for their willingness to stick to the truth. Over the last one month, mine has started flickering to the right just by a millimetre or two for a second before returning to where it was, which makes me wonder what the actual speed is at any point in time.

I know it very well, The last time when I was doing my BLR-BOM run, the needle popped out of the pivot point and was doing Bhangra on the vibes of the machine. Since then the needle is quiet shakey.

Now even the RPM needle has started vibrating along with the bike. :/

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

Ive seen the speedo hover between 140 and 150 on a few occasions for sure. If you can find a bit of a down slope and wide deserted roads, you should be easily able to get your bike to those speeds. Ironically Ive probably seen lower top speeds on track than I have outside of it, Im not sure why that is though.

Wow, that's good. I personally don't remember touching north of 130 speedo indicated ever. 130 is what I can only remember ever. On tracks, the speedo was tapped for me, so couldn't see the speed.

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

Before anyone brings out their pitchforks and reminds me that these speeds are illegal and downright dangerous, let me add that I completely agree wholeheartedly and I do not promote high speed riding. I would strongly urge riders to never push themselves beyond the limits, both of their skills as well as that of their motorcycles.

True, Very true.. Kids reading this, listen to Anna, don't speed. Definitely not on Bullets lest you sure of breaking!!

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

That said, these speeds were achieved in controlled conditions with deserted roads / tarmac / track days. At no point in time was anyone else, known or unknown, put at risk. Riding gear was worn at all times. No animals were involved in trying to achieve these speeds.

On other note, seems I have cracked the vibe puzzle.
On my bike, the vibrations is on its Peak at 4K RPM. So 3.5K to 4.5K RPM range is not what I would enjoy cruising my bike on the highway. That makes it, on our flat highways, in the 5th gear, the speeds of ~100KMPH. Hence that speed makes me very uncomfortable, to the extent of making my hands numb within 10 minutes of holding on to such speeds.

@Neil, remember when I was telling you about this experience of horrible vibes while doing 100 on highway, its this.

[neil.jericho]

As far as plans go, this was right up there with the best of them. A ride to Yercaud and back with fellow BHPian Roomy with the temperatures not yet hitting their summer peak seemed like a perfect plan for a Saturday. Unfortunately though, I realised that I wasnt feeling all that great once I woke up and hence had to restrict myself to just a breakfast ride to Shoolagiri. The ride to Shoolagiri was done in ultra quick time given the surprising lack of traffic (I guess Roomy and I missed the early morning Bangalore crowd) and our return was at a much more leisurely pace.

On Sunday, my better half and I decided to go to Vijayapura for a round of those fabulous dosas. With cops supposedly crawling all over the popular Kolar route, it looked as though quite a few superbike riders decided to ride out of the city in the same direction as us. Which is a shame because some of them were riding quite dangerously and swerving through the itchy airport taxi crowd , in the process giving all bikers a rather bad reputation. Once we turned off the highway though, it was a lot more pleasant and we stopped for a few minutes to enjoy the beautiful settings before we reached Vijayapura.

Fortunately we had made a late start which meant that we missed sharing our fine dining experience with a rather massive contingent of Triumph riders who were just leaving when we arrived. Compared to the British beauties that just departed, the otherwise attractive Continental GT never stood a chance and didnt even get a second glance from any of the locals. My momentary sadness was put to rest by the lovely aroma of those incoming dosas and paripu vadas. Mama mia, what a great way to start a Sunday!

Originally Posted by julyone_modi

I know it very well, The last time when I was doing my BLR-BOM run, the needle popped out of the pivot point and was doing Bhangra on the vibes of the machine. Since then the needle is quiet shakey.

How did you fix it back?

Originally Posted by julyone_modi

Wow, that's good. I personally don't remember touching north of 130 speedo indicated ever. 130 is what I can only remember ever. On tracks, the speedo was tapped for me, so couldn't see the speed.

Was easily able to do that indicated number on the Saturday ride while sitting bolt upright. The screen does help massively though. Crouching down (not an easy task considering my not so Greek God physique ....) helped push it up by another indicated 10 kmph. It might be interesting to snap on a V-Box and see what it can actually achieve.

Originally Posted by julyone_modi

On other note, seems I have cracked the vibe puzzle.
On my bike, the vibrations is on its Peak at 4K RPM. So 3.5K to 4.5K RPM range is not what I would enjoy cruising my bike on the highway. That makes it, on our flat highways, in the 5th gear, the speeds of ~100KMPH. Hence that speed makes me very uncomfortable, to the extent of making my hands numb within 10 minutes of holding on to such speeds.

@Neil, remember when I was telling you about this experience of horrible vibes while doing 100 on highway, its this.

I find the vibrations on my bike manageable at those speeds but I am increasingly realizing that pacing myself according to the duration of the ride is the most critical aspect to enjoying the Continental GT.


Short breakfast rides with heavy throttle wringing while maintaining a good pace (and hence inducing higher vibes including a nice finger tingle when you take a break) on empty roads. Very enjoyable. Same style of riding on a 550 - 600km a day ride. Not that enjoyable.

[neil.jericho]

A couple of months ago eagle eyed fellow bhp-ian man_of_steel noticed that the bolt below the silencer of my bike was missing. How he spotted this I have no clue but I was glad that he did and a few weeks later I popped into the RE SVC in Koramangala to get the idling issue checked as well as get a replacement bolt fitted. The bike was sputtering at idle and eventually would die especially when the engine was really hot. As per the SA, this was because some screw had gotten wrongly set such that when the engine was really hot, it was causing the bike to sputter. As per the very useful post from deville_56 over on the xbhp Continental GT ownership thread, the idling screw is accessible only after removing the tank and Im not sure if he was referring to this. I paid up Rs 20 or so. All said and done, Im glad to report that the issue hasnt surfaced after that.

Ive recently heard of a couple of instances of the exhaust of the Continental GT falling off a bike while it was being ridden! Earlier this week, while doing a perfunctory check of my bike, I noticed that one of the screws that held the heat shield on the exhaust had fallen off. For now its just causing nothing more than a slight rattle but I guess that its all part of the Royal Enfield ownership experience .... Sigh!

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

Last week I received a call from a lady at the Koramangala RE SVC asking about my overall experience with the last service. I told her that I was unhappy with the whole getting charged for the chain lubing incident and she said she will check on the details and get back to me. Some time later the gentleman in charge of service from that SVC called me to ask about what happened and heard me out. When I asked about getting a refund for the Rs 196, given the circumstances, he said that they were willing to pay me the entire amount since it was an oversight from their side that should not have happened. I havent collected the amount yet as I havent had time to go to the SVC but well done Royal Enfield, my faith has been restored.

A couple of weeks ago, I spoke to the gentleman in change of service since I was in the vicinity of the service centre and confirmed with him that I could collect the amount. There was a slight delay due to some confusion on who I should talk to, but in the end, I met the same gentleman and was handed over Rs 200. Well done Royal Enfield.


Mileage : AFter the last Shoolagiri and Vijayapura rides, I topped up at the usual HP pump near ISRO. Distance covered : 287.8 kms. Petrol consumed : 9.15 litres. Mileage : 31.45 kmpl. Mileage since day 1 stands at 27.14 kmpl.

[neil.jericho]

Despite the rising summer temperatures, the group was itching for a good ride and Yelagiri seemed to be just the perfect destination as it was far enough to not be a short ride but close enough that it wasnt a long ride. After breakfast at Shoolagiri, a few riders turned back while 8 of us soldiered on toward Yelagiri with the threat of the summer heat ready to rear its ugly head at any time.

Do you have one in a larger size?

With no stops every 30 minutes for a ciggie break, tea break, loo break or return a call break, we made really good progress and finally stopped for a while to soak in the view as we were making our way up the Yelagiri hairpin bends.

Now that's what you call a view!

Once we reached Yelagiri, we decided to take a bit of a breather by the lake but strangely enough we found that only cars are let through all the way to the lake and bikes have to be parked in the lot instead. Strange indeed! Half the group decided to check the lake while the others ended up babysitting the parked bikes that certainly drew their fair share of attention.

Not your usual parking lot this ....

We stopped to click a few photos on our way down from Yelagiri at a spot that all of us unanimously felt was rather picturesque and soon we were on our way back through a shortcut that showed us some rather inviting offroad sections that definitely need to be visited soon.

After tanking up some of the bikes in Krishnagiri, we decided that we would make one final halt at Shoolagiri again so that everyone could get some rest and more importantly re-hydrate themselves before we covered the final stretch back home.

Bangalore's Sunday traffic reminded me of the not so pleasant side of the city and to make matters worse, I found that my bike was returning to its rather unpleasant habit of sputtering at red lights!

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

How he spotted this I have no clue but I was glad that he did and a few weeks later I popped into the RE SVC in Koramangala to get the idling issue checked as well as get a replacement bolt fitted. The bike was sputtering at idle and eventually would die especially when the engine was really hot. As per the SA, this was because some screw had gotten wrongly set such that when the engine was really hot, it was causing the bike to sputter. As per the very useful post from deville_56 over on the xbhp Continental GT ownership thread, the idling screw is accessible only after removing the tank and Im not sure if he was referring to this. I paid up Rs 20 or so. All said and done, Im glad to report that the issue hasnt surfaced after that.

While I was typing out my last post, I was half jokingly thinking to myself that I should not fall victim to the reviewers curse and here I am grumbling about the return of the annoying idling issue. Today while commuting to work, the erratic idling was occasionally evident but when I returned in the early evening (when temperatures were high) the bike was struggling when it was left to idle and the engine was rather hot as well. I hoped the time spent to fill petrol would do the bike some good but it persisted. When I pulled into my apartment's parking lot, I decided to record a short clip of this problem. My buddy deville_56 over on xbhp mentioned the exact same symptoms in a recent post of his so this obviously isnt an isolated issue.

https://youtu.be/vYA4KAcsDSA

Mileage : I filled up at the HP pump in Shoolagiri to save myself the trouble of having to fill up on the return journey. Distance covered : 166.1 kms. Petrol consumed : 6.31 litres. Mileage : 26.32 kmpl.

As I had mentioned earlier, I topped up today evening as well. Distance covered : 291.1 kms of which ~ 95% was from the Yelagiri ride which saw a good amount of spirited riding. Petrol consumed : 9.6 litres. Mileage : 30.41 kmpl which isnt the best highway sprint number that I've seen but then again Im not really known to have gentle throttle control.

Mileage since day 1 stands at 27.19 kmpl.

[neil.jericho]

With the weather gods being favourable to the city of Bangalore over the last week, despite it officially being the peak of the Indian summer, things were in place for a comfortable Saturday morning ride. The plan that we eventually settled on was to go to the popular Swathi restaurant for breakfast followed by a quick hop over to Markonahalli dam for a run in ride of a brand spanking new Duke 250. This was incidentally also the location of the first Team BHP group ride a few years ago when the RE Thunderbird was doing its run in ride.

Waiting for everyone to arrive

After a massive breakfast, we rode to the dam and were extremely surprised by the how small the water body had become. If you see the photos below, we had parked the bikes on places that used to be completely submerged when the water level was normal. The drop in the water level is quite astonishing and the monsoons cant come soon enough.

We stopped for some coconut water on the way back and all through the ride we were at varying double digit speeds to help run in new bike and as an unintended benefit, improved mileage for the rest of us as compared to our usual quick Saturday morning rides. We said our goodbyes once we got back into the city before splitting and going our separate ways. The weather was not too sunny for the most part and this coupled with the later than usual start helped greatly reduce fatigue. The stalling issue reappeared after I made a couple of stops on the way back home but for now things are back to normal. Unfortunately the planned Sunday ride didn't materialise but this coming weekend's ride should certainly help matters.


Mileage : I filled up at the Essar pump in Koramangala on the day before the ride to avoid searching for a pump that was open early in the morning. Distance covered : 180.4 kms. Petrol consumed : 7.48 litres. Mileage : 24.12 kmpl of city commuting.

I topped up at the Shell petrol pump in Yashwantpur while returning from the ride to see how well the run in ride helped increase the mileage figures. Distance covered : 200.6 kms. Petrol consumed : 5.75 litres. Mileage : 34.89 kmpl which is pretty good for a highway run.

Mileage since day 1 stands at 27.21 kmpl.