[sahilkhurana]

Originally Posted by VW2010

Sahil,

This is just a bent rim. They have tried to hit the rim back into its position. My FZ6r went through a pot hole and it bent the rim and i started loosing air. I took it to the nearest car wash, got an hammer and literally closed the gap.

The only solution is to ride with a double mind of bent rim, potential failure at worst time or simply not ride it to its limits and still manage more miles.

The picture and the post service story is very clear that they tried to put the bend back to shape. Unfortunately this is the right thing to do in case there is air leak. There are heating and then running through a rim straightener procedure that is more controlled. And unfortunately they lied to you its a mis alignment where in fact all they had to tell you was your rim is bent and you can either change it on your cost or they can do this fix.

Do question them about the lie but i see they are getting away with this one simply stating the service advisor was new, he didnt know and blah blah. My advice is to change the rims for peace of mind.

Not so fun fact - If this was indeed bent while going over a pot hole, please check your rear rim as well.

Hi,

Yes, It is clear from the pictures that they have tried to repair the rim but it is appalling that they lied and told a different story.

I have been nursing the bike since it is in run-in period. If we assume this is what happened to wheels due to an apparent hit, what will happen to it when I ride it to its potential ?

[VW2010]

I have been nursing the bike since it is in run-in period. If we assume this is what happened to wheels due to an apparent hit, what will happen to it when I ride it to its potential ?

90% of the time you will not face this rim getting damaged. But irrespective of what bike it is rims go through so much in our roads that it has high potential to get bent.

It can happen right outside the showroom and still there is nothing you can do. The steel rims generally last longer but they also with the spokes go through so much changes everytime.

Riding with a bent rim is not a big issue if its a regular rider. But if you are going to take it to track you better fix the rim for good.

Based on the pictures, the rim is probably safe and has not gone through structural damage. If the cost is 6K like a friend posted here, i would say thats 6k of peace of mind. You can sell this rim in Ebay or OLX at half the price or keep it for a rainy day for yourself.

[Sheel]

Originally Posted by VW2010

But if you are going to take it to track you better fix the rim for good.

How can riding on the track might be more worse than riding on our potholed & irregular surfaced roads?

[kkkkkaran]

Originally Posted by Sheel

How can riding on the track might be more worse than riding on our potholed & irregular surfaced roads?

High speeds, high temperatures will have very low tolerances to irregularities. A slight hit can cause major damage.

[Sheel]

Originally Posted by kkkkkaran

High speeds, high temperatures will have very low tolerances to irregularities. A slight hit can cause major damage.

Agree on high temperature at high speeds, but irregularities on a track..

I don't doubt the advise given by VW2010 or as to what you are saying Am just being curious to know that the part in the rim has got weakened to that extent?

[VW2010]

Am just being curious to know that the part in the rim has got weakened to that extent?

At slow speeds the bend is not going to cause any major concerns. Heck my wheel had golf ball size bent which i beat it to death to put it back in its place and i still rode.

Track is simply high speed. Forge the temperature etc. At those speeds i need a peace of mind that my equipment is functional. A sudden loss in air, the wobble you will get at high speeds on a bent rim with no dampener can throw you off the bike and your overall confidence to take corners are completely lost.

The approach people take is usually have two sets of wheels where the track one is used only in tracks and the road ones can be reused even after a bend like the one in picture.What you have is barely minimum. You can use it for daily rides to work etc where sanity prevails over speed. The tyres will last its life and probably you will have multiple tyres on this rim.

The bend you have is on the lips which means the major part of the wheel is not compromised. The only person who can check this is wheel experts who can probably even run xrays to check for cracks. There can be minute cracks, fissures or even overall material damage at the location of bend.

http://www.motorcycle-wheelrepair.com/

In India i am not sure if we have someone with such sophisticated wheel repair equipment's. Heck yamaha service center used hammer

[rbp]

@Abhisheksircar :- I am curious to know, at what speeds you got an FE of 35 kmpl? What FE do you get when cruising at 110 and 130 kmph? Does the FE improve after first service?

[abhisheksircar]

Originally Posted by rbp

@Abhisheksircar :- I am curious to know, at what speeds you got an FE of 35 kmpl? What FE do you get when cruising at 110 and 130 kmph? Does the FE improve after first service?

35 is a thing of past which I saw only during running in and yes, cruising at 120 or so. With the current style of riding, its around 25.

[abhisheksircar]

Lots to update and before it accumulates to ONE HUGE post, let me update the current ones.

1. Ride with Lorenzo in Buddh International Circuit

30 chosen Yamaha R3 owners were called for an "Almost" all paid expense to ride at the BIC with Lorenzo on 1Dec2015. Why do I say "Almost" ? You have to reach Delhi, rest was taken care of. Few calls and SMSs and I realized, I was one of the selected owners. Soon messages started building up within the group just to realize that half of the group called there were bikers friends from the community It's a small world. We immediately booked tickets to Delhi. We reached the day before. We were received in the Delhi Airport by Radisson Blu chauffeurs. Each person was given one car each. We reached the hotel and were greeted by many other riders. By end of the day the hotel was buzzing with bikers and Yamaha officials all over. A quick dinner and we were off for the big day.

I don't think any of us got as much sleep with the excitement which awaited us. We were all ready and met for breakfast. We were then headed towards a convoy of cars which would drive us from the hotel to BIC. The first view of BIC and we were floored. The track is absolutely mesmerizing. The R3s were lined up and so were full leather riding suits provided by Yamaha. We geared up and took our lap, and what a lap it was. The straights, curves, this track is one fun track. We wanted more but there were others waiting. Soon what we feared happened, it started raining. Lorenzo and rains don't go well, but this time it was different as he came and convinced the marshals that we could ride. All geared up, the Lorenzo lap somehow happened. This was followed up a quick meet and photographs and we were soon driving back to the airport to fly back to our respective home towns.

The event started and got over even before we realized, but those few moments will remain unforgettable. Kudos to Yamaha for arranging a very well organized event with absolutely no hiccups at all. Even rains gave way to close the only possible flaw.

Album of pics from the YRC India page

2. Second Free Service

The bike is doing really good and is keeping up to every expectation that I had from a twin cylinder, 41 bhp, 320 cc bike. The gears shifts are extremely smooth. What I love the most about the bike is the linear acceleration which is a very trademark Yamaha. Braking of the bike, like every Yamaha bike is just amazing. I am enjoying the bike. I am not surprised by the steady sales of these bikes month after month. I am sure the MT-03 will also do great numbers. Yamaha, hope you are considering it.

The second free servicing added up to around 1200 INR which as per me could not have been more reasonable considering 3.1 ltrs of fully synthetic oil change.

3. Movistar Livery

My facebook wall through friends introduced me to this startup owned by two brothers in Bangalore who are really passionate about wraps and decals. I thought of trying them out. They are called, Wrapcraft. They have done Ducatis, Ninjas, Dukes and for the first time my Yamaha. They started young creating wraps for their scaled cars and bikes and now this. I took out sometime to create the design making a replica of the M1 on the R3. Few days later they zapped me with their work. I am absolutely impressed. The have used Avery Denisson Products. You can find few pics in this Album. I am yet to see how long it lasts and hows the long term behavior, but at the onset, it is great job.

4. Why MRF Why ?

Yamaha R3 in India is a Sachin Tendulkar who has been sent to face the Aussie bowlers wearing Bata Chappals. The MRF tyres are AS BAD as it can get. Slip, slide, squirm, it does all. Two of our known riders have had falls, many have had close calls and almost everybody has had visible cracks in their tyres. We got in touch with Yamaha and they are working with MRF to come up with a replacement. MRF has been prompt enough to provide us test tyres with a different compound and this seems much better. We should be getting these replaced in a month or so. I am glad these manufacturers are even listening.

But could we sit back and wait for a fall or a slip or an incident. No, and hence started our search for better tyres from the first week itself. We narrowed down to the Pirelli Diablo Rosso II. Dual compound Tyres which works good for long tours as well as the corners. Great tyres and not available in India. We had the 150/60 from the Mojo (Can't believe even the Mojo has better tyres) but 140/70 was just not available. We started searching every corner with dealers promising but not delivering and finally we had Tyremarket.com to our rescue. We connected to the owner, Sanjeev who is part of a legacy tyre dealer in Bangalore and is using his IT skills which he picked up from his decades of stay in IT firms in US to build up a new online platform to deal with the tech savvy online crowd. He promised to import them for us provided we place a bulk order. Rosso II in real, didn't take much time to get a little more than a dozen in our riding group. We had the order in place and now I ride the Rossos. What a phenomenal difference it has been. This tyre feels like it has a "Cornering" mode always on. Grips very well and that makes me question how long will it last although people have been vouching 15-20K which is WAY more than what I can ask for. Sanjeev has been extremely good in connecting with each order and personally taking care that it's been delivered to the orders coming from all over India. Hats off and I am sure that with this level of customer satisfaction, he has a long way to go. pssttt, he has another additional 10 pairs approx with him !!! Do PM me if you need help to connect with Sanjeev.

And with this, I end this long pending post of mine getting back to riding !!

Note : We have a R3 whatsapp group which chit chats A LOT. Any R3 owner who wishes to join can PM me.

[sriramv.iyer]

Abhishek,
Any inside news of the ABS version hitting Indian roads?

[abhisheksircar]

Originally Posted by sriramv.iyer

Abhishek,
Any inside news of the ABS version hitting Indian roads?

Yamaha is usually very tight lipped with their launches. Even the dealers don't get to know. That said, ABS will increase the price significantly and hence I really doubt unless Govt. Of India makes it mandatory.

[stanjohn123]

Originally Posted by abhisheksircar

Yamaha is usually very tight lipped with their launches. Even the dealers don't get to know. That said, ABS will increase the price significantly and hence I really doubt unless Govt. Of India makes it mandatory.

Hi, great ownership review. Wanted to know if you have any idea about R3's being recalled in India.

I know you're not facing any issues but a lot of other owners have vibrations , swaying and clutch issue's in their R3's in India. Also Yamaha Japan has announced a recall for these reasons as well.

[abhisheksircar]

Originally Posted by stanjohn123

Hi, great ownership review. Wanted to know if you have any idea about R3's being recalled in India.

I know you're not facing any issues but a lot of other owners have vibrations , swaying and clutch issue's in their R3's in India. Also Yamaha Japan has announced a recall for these reasons as well.

Although not lots but people in the group have definitely reported of issues which are individually being attended to. That said, we are also aware of couple of riders from Pune who have been outright told to live with the issues as although it's deviation from the expected behavior, it's "minor". Sad but true and it quite amazed us the way it was handled knowing the otherwise very customer friendly Yamaha. The riders were also told to put a case if required as they have cases pending from 70s and nothing much has happened. Bangalore thankfully has been a different story with issues being dealt with. For one of the guys, the clutch was replaced and things are sorted.

I recently also came along a circular from GoI saying issues in vehicles ignored without calling in for a recall if the issue is pertaining in most of the vehicles is to be deemed as against the law. We are waiting although as you are right, I am not facing any of these issues yet.

[stanjohn123]

Originally Posted by abhisheksircar

I recently also came along a circular from GoI saying issues in vehicles ignored without calling in for a recall if the issue is pertaining in most of the vehicles is to be deemed as against the law. We are waiting although as you are right, I am not facing any of these issues yet.

That's a totally unacceptable reply by the dealers especially now that there is a recall worldwide( US and Japan ). Hope they show some respect to Indian customers as well who are paying close to 4 Lakhs for their rides considering that the clutch issue is a potentially dangerous issue while riding on the road.

Hope owners can come together and talk to Yamaha India and see if there is a resolution or better just go to consumer courts with evidence of recall in other countries.

[abhisheksircar]

Originally Posted by stanjohn123

That's a totally unacceptable reply by the dealers especially now that there is a recall worldwide( US and Japan ). Hope they show some respect to Indian customers as well who are paying close to 4 Lakhs for their rides considering that the clutch issue is a potentially dangerous issue while riding on the road.

Hope owners can come together and talk to Yamaha India and see if there is a resolution or better just go to consumer courts with evidence of recall in other countries.

Absolutely unacceptable and the Pune guys are planning to take it up with Yamaha India soon cause the regional team is making it worse. They have enough evidences in place. Being such an ardent follower of Yamaha, we were quite taken aback by the west region guy's response. Thankfully south is not facing such arrogance and in fact being quite helpful in every feedback.