[FuelInjector]

3000 Kms update:
FE seems to hover around 32-33kmpl.
Suspension seems to have gotten better.
Vibrations are slightly better.
Every part is still stock. No upgrades or changes have been made. Only installation is a trafficator buzzer for reasons mentioned in previous posts.

Changes observed:
slight oil formation around the bottom of the engine. They generally act like a mud magnet. So removing them with a cloth every week.
Have not water washed the vehicle. But every week i clean with a dry soft cloth. Then use a "clean & shine" that can be got from dollar store. Once the muck is removed and the surface is dry, apply a coat of formula1 motorcycle wax. These look good on metal parts but since am not a professional, these can leave a white coat on plastics/tubes. Need to clean them separately on day 2.
Offlate have felt a slight jerk during gear change and acceleration. Not much but the body tends to move back/front depending on throttle pull from zero or throttle release to 0. Reading through certain threads, it could be possible due to carb tuning or TPS. Most of the threads point to EFI of classic and nothing related to standard 500. any other expert opinions on this?

[navin_v8]

Originally Posted by FuelInjector

Offlate have felt a slight jerk during gear change and acceleration. Not much but the body tends to move back/front depending on throttle pull from zero or throttle release to 0.

Mate looks like a carb tuning issue to me, get your carb tuned to see if this issue reappears. Meanwhile also get your clutch checked and adjusted if required.

[FuelInjector]

January saw the Lilak being more used than Paps. However, last weekend while doing a social visit, my relative and i toyed with the idea of a one-day drive. what more - we both had our sons join us. Both are classmates in the same school!
He has got a DS500 with wild boar.
We packed out single bags with water bottles, biscuits and sweatshirts.
The route map is shown below. Vadavalli - Thadagam - Anaikatti - Tolampalayam - Mulli - Manjoor.
Roads were great till anaikatti. Post the deviation toward tolampalayam it was BAD. On reaching karamadai road toward Mulli, it turned better for ~4 kms. Post that it was HORRIBLE. At the forest checkpost we made the entries and took the hairpins. The road was narrow as usual with absolutely no traffic or human soul. We took a break over athikadavu bridge feeding some animals as well.
Our return was through karamadai and we did enjoy the beatiful tarmac of Metupalayam road.
The children held up pretty well till the final leg of return. Had to make frequent stops on the way back.
The bikes were awesome. Got a chance to test my LS2 on these roads with less view angles. The mercury visor was a blessing.
STD 500 torque was invigorating as few to none gear changes were needed on those hairpins with a pillion. rearview was a huge problem. Couple of times we suddenly stalked by a car or a biker who was not in the range at all.
After about an hour on the bad roads, the bike felt as it there wasnt any suspension.
The ride was very stiff. It maybe because the bones in our back were badly jerked. Some stretches, we could not drive beyond 5 - 10kmph. No oils leaks, brakes functioned well. The OEM exhaust sounds are highly muted especially when a wild boar is riding besides you. But i felt the pickup was much better than the wild boar one. That could be because of the fuel injected version as well.
The route map:


The kids:


The steeds:


The gulfie (with timer) :

[FuelInjector]

after the third service i have found the paps to be giving me a very stiff ride. It bumps hard on bad roads and i feel the back shock absorbers are stiff.
any tips on how to check their stiffness level and how can we dampen it a little more?

The front ones also feel a little stiff but when i look at the forks while driving over speed breakers, they seem to travel fine. anything i need to check more?

[rakesh_r]

Originally Posted by FuelInjector

after the third service i have found the paps to be giving me a very stiff ride. It bumps hard on bad roads and i feel the back shock absorbers are stiff.
any tips on how to check their stiffness level and how can we dampen it a little more?

The front ones also feel a little stiff but when i look at the forks while driving over speed breakers, they seem to travel fine. anything i need to check more?

Kindly check the air pressure of the tyres.

[FuelInjector]

Originally Posted by rakesh_r

Kindly check the air pressure of the tyres.

Tyre pressure was the first i checked. It was as prescribed (20/30) as i normally ride solo. Have heard of some kind of spanner used to change the dampening level of the rear shox. are you aware of anything like that?

[navin_v8]

Originally Posted by FuelInjector

Tyre pressure was the first i checked. It was as prescribed (20/30) as i normally ride solo. Have heard of some kind of spanner used to change the dampening level of the rear shox. are you aware of anything like that?

Mate was your front fork oil changed if yes then the ride will be a bit stiff for the first few days after which it will return to normal. The tyre pressure you've mentioned is perfect unless the pressure gauge is faulty and the tyre is overinflated due to wrong readings. The rear gas filled shock absorber uses a 5 step preload adjustment. You can take it to your friendly neighbourhood mechanic and get this adjusted using a C spanner by reducing the spring tension. This will dampen the rear suspension up to an extent and will marginally improve the ride.

[ArizonaJim]

If your shocks are like the ones on my RE, at the bottom of the spring you should see a sleeve with multiple slots in its exterior.
At the bottom of this piece there are several notches, one of them engaging a stop which is attached to the lower end of the shock/spring unit.

Rotating this sleeve will engage a different notch with the stop and thereby change the spring pre-load.

There is a special spanner with a small hook on one end to engage the slots in the sleeve to turn it.

This set up is almost universal so any good motorcycle shop should have one that can be used to adjust the spring setting on your motorcycle.

I will admit that in the past, I have adjusted the pre-load on several motorcycles by just engaging a metal rod with one of the slots and giving it a good stout tap with a hammer to rotate it.

Just remember, the lower the sleeve is positioned, the softer the spring load will be.
While a soft spring load is good for a lightweight rider, a heavy rider or riding with a passenger aboard can cause the shock to bottom out when a large bump is ridden over.

Bottoming out the shocks will create a stout shock to the entire motorcycle and can cause a loss of control.

It's possible the spring setting on your motorcycle is already set in a "too soft" position and the shock units are bottoming out. That could cause the shock you say you are experiencing.

[FuelInjector]

Originally Posted by navin_v8

Mate was your front fork oil changed if yes then the ride will be a bit stiff for the first few days after which it will return to normal.

The rear gas filled shock absorber uses a 5 step preload adjustment. You can take it to your friendly neighbourhood mechanic and get this adjusted using a C spanner by reducing the spring tension. This will dampen the rear suspension up to an extent and will marginally improve the ride.

Yes. Fork oil was changed. Let me give sometime to see if the vibes dampen in the front.

attaching two pictures. can you comment if the rear shox are correctly set please?

Originally Posted by ArizonaJim

It's possible the spring setting on your motorcycle is already set in a "too soft" position and the shock units are bottoming out. That could cause the shock you say you are experiencing.

These are the left and right shox adjustments currently. can you please help letting me know if something needs to be done?

LEFT:


RIGHT:

[jacs]

Boss - I know its not too late to congratulate you on your acquisition. PAPS looks cool and my eyes were not able to distinguish the green color yet.

Same pinch! I also fantasied the same idea and got myself a TB500 (Phantom). Now reclaiming life on the bull after a long gap (Ya, had a 84' model 350 long back during my college days). Also my elder son is of the same age group as your kid and he is the one who always look forward to snatch the pillion seat from wife.

Any plan for a Valparai ride? That's the only route which comes to my mind when I think of a weekend ride

[navin_v8]

Originally Posted by FuelInjector

Yes. Fork oil was changed. Let me give sometime to see if the vibes dampen in the front.

Bingo!! I thought so as the same happened on one of my Standard CI's when the front fork oil was changed. Don't worry it will become soft after some time and will dampen the impacts as it is supposed to.

attaching two pictures. can you comment if the rear shox are correctly set please?

These are the left and right shox adjustments currently. can you please help letting me know if something needs to be done?

Mate looks like your rear shock absorber preload adjuster tension is set to level 1(which is the highest and will make the ride stiffer). Bring down the setting to level 3 as it is the most balanced, your ride will be neither too stiff nor to soft, just perfect. If you still want a softer ride then go for level 4, but remember if you have a pillion then there is a possibility that your shock absorber will bottom out as mentioned by Jim. I set it at level 3 as I am comfortable with that level.

[tharian]

Originally Posted by FuelInjector

These are the left and right shox adjustments currently. can you please help letting me know if something needs to be done?

I also feel both the sides are not set equally, from the photos.

I have attached two photos of my bike to give you an idea.

The setting it is in right now is the softest, in other words, the coil spring is at the max length which means more comfort.

You can keep that setting in mind and as you twist away from the softest, the coil spring will contract thereby giving the gas damper less travel and hence less shock absorption capability.

Also when you adjust them, make sure both the peaks in the setting sit well slotted in their respective grooves.

I may not be right regarding which slot is equal to what spring stiffness since I did it myself by twisting and turning. However, if you observe while it is being done, it will be clear.

[FuelInjector]

Originally Posted by jacs

Any plan for a Valparai ride? That's the only route which comes to my mind when I think of a weekend ride

Thanks Jacs for the warm wishes. Wishing you loads of joyful miles & great memories with lil jacs . we keep going to monkey falls on sundays. You are most welcome to join us. we leave our home by 6:30 and reach the falls by 8. spend about 30 mins under the waterfalls. then head back to pollachi for breakfast and return home for lunch.

Originally Posted by navin_v8

I set it at level 3 as I am comfortable with that level.

Thanks navin_v8. shall take it to my nearest mechanic to try out different levels and post back in the forum.

Originally Posted by tharian

I also feel both the sides are not set equally, from the photos.

i too felt the same on looking at the grooves. But since the deepest groove is to the left of the highest of the two ridges, i thought it should be ok, isnt it?
Both the photos were takes from the rear-prospect angle (5 o clock & 7 o clock, keeping the rear tyre as 6 o clock)

[adrian]

Originally Posted by FuelInjector

The front ones also feel a little stiff but when i look at the forks while driving over speed breakers, they seem to travel fine. anything i need to check more?

Just like overfilling the engine oil, the RE ASS has a nasty habit of overfilling the fork oil, which will result in a stiff front end.

[jacs]

Originally Posted by FuelInjector

Thanks Jacs for the warm wishes. Wishing you loads of joyful miles & great memories with lil jacs . we keep going to monkey falls on sundays. You are most welcome to join us. we leave our home by 6:30 and reach the falls by 8. spend about 30 mins under the waterfalls. then head back to pollachi for breakfast

Thanks man. Every Sunday? Wow! For me its quite a long ride to reach there and hence prefer a stay over. Shall let you know once i freeze the plan. Its not tough to ride from Valparai to Monkey falls and return to Kochi