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17th September 2014, 01:35 | #46 |
BHPian Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: Cochin
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| re: Royal Enfield Continental GT 535 : Ownership Review (32,000 km and 9 years) Pinky Test Sophisticated method you got there mate IMO,that Wildboar looks ghastly on the Conti.I remember reading something about an offroad silencer from RE themselves.That looked amazing.That and the bar end mirrors were add on accessories to the Conti if I remember correctly. Referring to your earlier post on the road conditions,Its quite bad.I assume you go via Krishnagiri-Salem-Coimbatore-Palakkad-Cochin or Via Mangalore? That noise in your discs.I feel like it shouldn't be there.Does it occur throughout all speed ranges? |
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17th September 2014, 14:29 | #47 |
BHPian Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: New Delhi
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| re: Royal Enfield Continental GT 535 : Ownership Review (32,000 km and 9 years) Hi Guys, I have been wanting to start a new page on Conti GT for some days, good it is already done by a fellow BHPian. I will share my experiences here itself. I had owned a 1974 RE for a long time, which I had sold a few years back. My experience was a mixed bag, as the old one needed a lot of maintenance. I had a plan to buy a new RE someday, but was not sure as to when. On 17th August I visited RE showroom with my brother, who had gone there to take delivery of 350 cc Electra. As the vehicle was getting ready with PD, we had nothing else to do, so decided to take test ride of RE 500, TBTS 500... and Continental GT. Trust me, the ride on CGT was a revelation. I had never anticipated such a quick RE. The engine response, pick-up, and build quality were a class apart. Moreover, the components used (Brambo, Pioli, Pirelli etc) were making a huge difference. The short test ride converted into a good 7 km run, and by the time I returned to the showroom, I was sold on to the bike. We made advance payment of 5000/- on 24th August, and were assured delivery within 15 days. My CGT was delivered exactly after a week, on 31st August. Have run approx 400 km so far, including a 150 km ride on NH1. The experience so far is awesome. Will keep posting more updates. Cheers/ AB |
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17th September 2014, 16:48 | #48 |
Senior - BHPian | re: Royal Enfield Continental GT 535 : Ownership Review (32,000 km and 9 years) Neil, missed you at the tri-state meet but there was a red ContiGT in the midst of all the bikes. However I must say that your color choice was spot-on. Yellow on this ride looks so delicious, akin to a warm fuzzy lemon cake. Looking forward to riding with you soon. Are you done with the run-in? Have fun, ride safe. |
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18th September 2014, 10:44 | #49 | |
BHPian Join Date: Nov 2013 Location: TN-22
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| re: Royal Enfield Continental GT 535 : Ownership Review (32,000 km and 9 years) Quote:
Coming to the issues you had mentioned: 1. Brake Pad - You certainly need to take it to a service center for rectification. Try this: Without applying the front brake, ride it for few kms. See if the disc heats up. If that is the case, the pad and the disc are rubbing against each other, which is not good. You are losing precious disc metal and also the pad - soon! It is NOT NORMAL for the disc to get heated-up. My RE-TBTS never had this problem! Other owners can share their experience. 2. Clutch - Check if this works for you. When you are stuck with the motorcycle in first gear and are having trouble moving to neutral, switch off the engine and see if the clutch is released. However, you can DIY to overcome this issue. On top of the gear box, there are 2 sets of nuts which you can use to adjust for tightening / loosening the cutch operation. My RE-TBTS had the same issue, but after 10,000 KMS of riding. Please see picture attached, with the portion circled. Other possibility could be, wrong assembly of clutch plates - but I doubt RE QA system will be that bad! My motorcycle had one clutch plate assembled in the opposite way!! But that was by the mechanic when he opened the gear-box. Nevertheless, this is a issue you need to address soon. Note from Support - Please avoid quoting an entire post as it inconveniences our mobile users. Last edited by n_aditya : 19th September 2014 at 10:51. | |
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18th September 2014, 19:55 | #50 | |||||||
Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Cochin
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| re: Royal Enfield Continental GT 535 : Ownership Review (32,000 km and 9 years) I have completed 350 kms so far and thought I should update the thread with recent findings and developments. Mileage : I did 231.9 kms on my first tank full before the low fuel warning started blinking. Again I tanked up at Shell and it took in 9.95 litres for an average of 23.3 kmpl. With a 13.5 litre tank, it means that once you get the blinking warning, the 'reserve' capacity is 3.5 litres and with the current mileage, distance to empty works out to ~81 kms. Braking : To check once and for all whether the front disc needed to be bled, I decided to ride around for some time without using the front disc and check if it was heating up. I'm glad to report that after 10 kms, there wasnt any problem with heat and I could easily hold the front disc. I'll repeat the same exercise with the rear disc soon just to be sure. Mirrors : Since the left one was proving to be rather annoying, I finally got around to adjusting the mirror by loosening it with a size 14 spanner and it now points to the vehicles behind me. Beyond 2500 rpm, the mirrors abruptly stop doing their job and start behaving like hallucinating agents so their real world usage is fairly limited. I am not sure if the vibes will affect the bar end mirrors as well, I will check with fellow owners (if I can find any that is!) Ergonomics : Most of my riding has been for relatively short durations of less than half an hour and in free flowing city traffic. Over half my riding has been with a large-ish double shoulder bag (laptop in it) with the straps being stretched to the maximum. The bag ends up resting on the tip of the seat and so the weight does not fall onto my back. I havent experienced any aches and pains so far though I do find the pressure on my neck to be a little annoying. I'm not sure if the new HJC CL17 weighs more than my older KBC VR 1X and / or if it has to do with the posture. After the first service I will do longer rides and check how comfortable the bike is. Pillion-ization : On enquiring at the K R Puram showroom, I was told that the pillion seat costs Rs 4150. The set of pillion foot pegs costs Rs 450. Total cost works out to Rs 4600. I was told by the J P Nagar showroom / SVC that the pillion seat is Rs 4000 and each foot peg will cost Rs 600. The total cost there would work out to Rs 5200. That is a Rs 600 difference! Exhaust : I went to the RE showroom in K R Puram today evening to ask about the alternate OEM exhausts and I was told that RE does not have any such offering! Baffling indeed. On the RE forum, I found a user say that RE does indeed offer a silencer that is, and I quote (tribute to an infamous commentator), "a better, lighter and louder exhaust they call the off road exhaust for 4200rs". I also found Red Rooster exhausts for the 350s and 500s in Auto Queen, Cochin that were quite literally flying off the shelves and before you ask, no, I am not referring to a local Mallu version of quidditch (OT - I can almost visualize my fellow brothers in their mundus and trademark thunder thighs, circling around the skies while jostling with each other to get their hands on the ever elusive and newly banned bottled companions of theirs, now try getting that picture out of your mind !). I will probably call them up to find out if they have developed one for the Continental GT. Prices were Rs 7999 IIRC. Quote:
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The noise from the front disc only occurs while braking and with no heat, I'm sure it was just all in my head. Quote:
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18th September 2014, 20:22 | #51 | |
BHPian Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Gurgaon
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| re: Royal Enfield Continental GT 535 : Ownership Review (32,000 km and 9 years) Quote:
I have had the Yellow Continental GT for more than 3 months and have logged over 2000 kms on it. In fact, the last 1000 km were covered on the Independence Day 3 day weekend. I had ridden to Dhungir which is near the Uttarkashi - Himachal border, needless to say I encountered different riding conditions along the way. The Conti took all of it in its stride, without sweat. I think for most RE riders, the Conti tends to be a bit intimidating because of the riding stance but on the mountains it's a great bike to ride. Very stable on curves, very planted even when you have to tackle broken roads. If you get the posture right, then it works as a good touring bike. One that inspires a lot of confidence in the rider. As for the issues Neil mentioned, I didn't face any on my bike. As a TB 500 owner, I love riding the Conti more. It's more fun and definitely more exhilarating. Note from Support - Please avoid quoting an entire post as it inconveniences our mobile users. Last edited by n_aditya : 19th September 2014 at 10:53. | |
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18th September 2014, 20:26 | #52 | ||
Senior - BHPian | re: Royal Enfield Continental GT 535 : Ownership Review (32,000 km and 9 years) Quote:
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RRP's muffler I am sure will be perfect for a bike like GT. I am not sure if they have started selling a model for the GT, but I have seen the ones for the TB and Classic and yes it costs a bomb , but it won't be just the sound, it would be a performance increase as well. My suggestion would be to go for it although its expensive, once you have done 10k kms, to be on the safe side. Last edited by tharian : 18th September 2014 at 20:28. | ||
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18th September 2014, 20:33 | #53 | |
BHPian Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Gurgaon
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| re: Royal Enfield Continental GT 535 : Ownership Review (32,000 km and 9 years) Quote:
I am also on the wrong side of 40, yet I ride a Continental GT and take it on long distance rides. The posture actually is easy on the back, it's tough on the wrists and forearms. The trick is to hold the handle lightly and keep your elbows parallel to your thighs which should be resting on the sides of the tank. I am not too tall too - just 5' 6" yet I completed a 1000 km trip in just 3 days. Cheers Murali | |
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18th September 2014, 21:27 | #54 |
BHPian Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: Cochin
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| re: Royal Enfield Continental GT 535 : Ownership Review (32,000 km and 9 years) Even I happened to notice someone pondering whether or not to buy the RRP Exhaust at Auto Queen itself.However that was for the classic 500 I think.After that I did do a search on their website for more information pertaining to their exhausts.Couldn't find any.Probably my poor searching skills. I did see a video on youtube on the RRP exhaust apparently developed for the Conti.Didn't sound special.Didn't look particularly good either(I mean the shape).Although the finish looked amazing. I did get a feel of an RRP exhaust while I was at Auto Queen.Quite heavy.Must be high on quality. Heres the link, Last edited by B O V : 18th September 2014 at 21:35. |
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18th September 2014, 23:03 | #55 | |||
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| re: Royal Enfield Continental GT 535 : Ownership Review (32,000 km and 9 years) Slightly OT - I forgot to mention that I had stopped by the KTM showroom at Marthahalli as well today to check the new RC390. Test rides will start in 10 to 15 days. The bike looks menacing though inexperienced pillion riders will have a tough time. I was told the pillion seat is made from some special cushion that is imported from Canada which will retain its shape. The staff were polite and mostly well informed and were even asking me about my HJC. One of them noticed I had come in on the Continental GT and was asking about it and complimented me on my purchase. They mentioned that the design of the RC 390 ensures that hot air will get blown down and hence riders will not feel the heat on their legs. Delivery for the RC 390 will be anywhere between 60 to 90 days. New stock of the D390 is available for immediate delivery. When I asked about the alloys of the old D390 cracking I was told this wasnt a problem with their bikes. I was told that alloys getting bent / broken is issue with all imported vehicles including Ferraris and Lambos . They also mentioned that bent and broken alloys were happening only because riders were hitting pot holes at very high speeds and hence they were bound to be affected. To address this, KTM has endowed the RC with heavier alloys that have been shared with the new D390 (thus adding to the latter's weight). And Now Back To The Show - There were few noticeable differences in my limited experiences with the sales folks from the RE and KTM showrooms. As a person who does not speak Kannada (the language spoken in the state of Karnataka where I currently reside), in my interactions, I have found the KTM staff more knowledgeable and proactively approaching people walking into their showroom. They are very fluent in English and able to connect well with walk ins. With the RE showrooms I found that the staff were often content on just sitting back and waiting for the customer to come approach them. In terms of communication, I found that the RE sales staff were very good while dealing with other potential customers who spoke to them in Kannada though they were all able to converse with me in English. Some soft skill training would go a long way in improving the overall RE experience even for walk ins who may not have a cheque in hand . In terms of footfall, I was the only person at the KTM showroom at around 16:00 whereas the RE showroom has at least 10 - 14 people a half an hour later. Quote:
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18th September 2014, 23:46 | #56 |
Senior - BHPian | Here you go.. RRPs Conti exhaust. Looks like it's based on the megaphone which are the ones I've seen on the Conti's abroad. |
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19th September 2014, 11:41 | #57 | |
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| re: Royal Enfield Continental GT 535 : Ownership Review (32,000 km and 9 years) Quote:
What I wanted to mean is "see if the gear is released and you are able to smoothly move to neutral from first gear". | |
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20th September 2014, 03:36 | #58 |
Senior - BHPian Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Phoenix, Ariz.
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| re: Royal Enfield Continental GT 535 : Ownership Review (32,000 km and 9 years) The following will be a great bore to anyone who knows how motorcycles work. That said, here's basically what is happening when the transmission is in first gear and one wants to shift to neutral (or 2nd gear). To get a feel for this I will first describe the clutch and the power transmission from the engine thru it. On the crankshaft, there is a double sprocket with a double chain running back to a double sprocket on the clutch assembly. Double in this case means there is one chain with two sets of rollers. Think of it as 2 regular chains hooked together side by side. The clutch double sprocket has a cage or "basket", a cylindrical part with several slots thru the outer end of it. In the cylindrical part there are several "driving" clutch plates with tabs on the outside which engage the slots. When the cylindrical part and sprocket rotate, the clutch plates are forced to rotate along with them. Between each of the clutch plates are the "driven" clutch disks. These disks are smaller in diameter so they do not make contact with the slotted cylindrical part. They ride on a splined shaft that goes into the transmission, providing power to the gears. Finishing off this description of the clutch, there is a spring loaded pressure plate that sits on top of the stack of driving and driven clutch plates. When the clutch is released, this pressure plate pinches all of the disks together so the engine power is transmitted thru it into the gearbox. On the clutch disks will be a soft friction material to transmit the power to the other disks. This friction material can be on either the drive or the driven disks but not both. When you "pull in the clutch lever" the spring loaded pressure plate moves against the spring pressure and away from the disks so it removes the pressure from the stack of clutch disks. As you can imagine, even in this released condition, some of the clutch plates will still be rubbing on one another so a small amount of power will be transferred thru the clutch when the engine is running. The further the clutch lever is pulled in, the less amount of power will be transmitted thru the clutch. Now, for the gearbox: The gears have tabs or projections that stick out the side of them. The tabs are usually called "dogs". These gears can slide sideways so the dogs on two adjacent gears will either be engaged with one another, or they will be clearing the adjacent dogs. When you shift gears you are sliding different gears sideways to cause the correct set of gear dogs to engage or to disengage. Because there is some power being transmitted thru these dogs when they are engaged, there is a load pinching the engaging surfaces together. The greater the power, the greater the load. Of course, when there is a load going thru the dogs, they don't want to slide easily. That is why when the transmission is in first gear and the motorcycle is stopped, it takes quite a bit of pressure to slide the gear tabs so they will disengage and allow you to end up in neutral. Now, if the clutch lever is not adjusted properly it will tend to transmit more power when it is disengaged than it should. This loads up the force on the gear tabs and often, so much force is needed to disengage them that when the finally do release, the transmission ends up shifting (or jumping) into the next gear. This is fine if you really wanted to shift gears but if you were wanting to find neutral, you can be frustrated. One trick that can help to get the transmission into neutral is to shift into first gear while the motorcycle is still moving and then shift it into neutral before it comes to a stop. While it is moving, the force of the engine power thru the disengaged clutch and thru the gear tabs will be less so it is easier to shift into or out of gear. That makes finding neutral much easier. Last edited by ArizonaJim : 20th September 2014 at 03:42. |
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20th September 2014, 12:44 | #59 | |
Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Pune
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Infractions: 0/1 (9) | re: Royal Enfield Continental GT 535 : Ownership Review (32,000 km and 9 years) Quote:
Edit: Oops sorry, I just re-read the section before. Mea culpa. Last edited by ebonho : 20th September 2014 at 12:52. | |
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20th September 2014, 19:17 | #60 |
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| re: Royal Enfield Continental GT 535 : Ownership Review (32,000 km and 9 years) Finally some action in team bhp on continental GT. Congratulations for the cafe racer. I hope you must be enjoying every bit of it. I got my yellow gt a month back. Will post a review soon. Till then a pic with its youngest fan , my son! |
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