[sachinnair]

Originally Posted by ramgkulkarni

One thing you mentioned about the cold start which requires a choke, does it still happen? This might be a spark plug issue.

The cold start issue is still there. Strangely, it happens only when I start it in the mornings. I park the bike for about 9 hours in the office parking lot, and it has no problems starting in the evening.

Originally Posted by ramgkulkarni

All my bikes were never serviced in the service center and cannot vouch for you service center quality. If you do have a trusted mechanic then the costs do come down significantly.

Keyword- "trusted mechanic". Don't have one. I did ask around and got mixed reviews for all the guys around. I have been going to ASCs all along. Yeah, some are good, some are bad, but I believe that with an ASC, ususally they have some semblance of a SOP (Standardised Operating Procedure). This dealer and ASC (Khivraj) is a very old one, with senior mechanics around.

[blogrboy]

Hi Sachin,

It's been a long time you riding this bike. How are the engine vibrations now? Also, can we compare the new V15 BS4 with the old one? Is it more refined?

I am looking for a bike which can do 70 to 300 km rides. I am 39, 6 feet tall and 93 kg. Is it good enough for me. I am most concerned with the vibrations as it kills the fun of the ride.

bB

[sachinnair]

Originally Posted by blogrboy

Hi Sachin,

It's been a long time you riding this bike. How are the engine vibrations now? Also, can we compare the new V15 BS4 with the old one? Is it more refined?

I am looking for a bike which can do 70 to 300 km rides. I am 39, 6 feet tall and 93 kg. Is it good enough for me. I am most concerned with the vibrations as it kills the fun of the ride.

bB

I mostly ride my bike within the city. Home-Office and back, and running errands. Within the city, I rarely cross 70kmph. When I do, the vibrations start off from the 60 kmph mark. The smoothest operation is at 45kmph and below. For city commutes, the bike is good, since the pickup is good. The bike is low slung and the tyres grip well, so city cornering is comfortable.

I rode to Mahabalipuram twice. That's 50 km highway riding one way. I have taken the bike to 80 kmph before the vibrations got intolerable. About a month ago I rode about 900km on RE Bullets and a Tbird. My bike would not have been able to keep up.

I would not recommend the bike for cruising, like you want to. As for your size, I don't see any difficulty. I am only 5'7", But I guess a taller man would be able to sit comfortably.

[blogrboy]

Thanks Sachin. I bought myself a Honda Unicorn from 2011 which has done 42000km and the engine is in perfect condition. I am starting the rides to the jungles from next month once I get adjusted to this bike.

[hillram]

Hearty Congratulations. An Audi keychain for a Bajaj V15 ? I have seen Bajaj dealers offer a nice leather V15 keychain to the owners. Please get one immediately.

[sachinnair]

Originally Posted by hillram

Hearty Congratulations. An Audi keychain for a Bajaj V15 ? I have seen Bajaj dealers offer a nice leather V15 keychain to the owners. Please get one immediately.

The Bajaj leather keychain is indeed beautiful. Its from Bajaj, not the dealer. But I prefer to avoid those keychains. Lot of scope for confusion when more than a few vehicles of the same type converge, like at the ASC. Everyone seems to have the same sort of keys. Always pays to have a unique keychain that's easy to identify.

This particular keychain is the one I had for my old bike. Just too used to it, that's all.

[condor]

Originally Posted by sachinnair

One and a half months and 700 km later:

Sachin, hows the bike now ?

Btw, what brought me a smile was the KB100 in the background. Do you still have it ?

[sachinnair]

Btw, what brought me a smile was the KB100 in the background. Do you still have it ?

That's not mine. Been in the apartment parking area ever since I moved here two years ago. This one, and a Suzuki Samurai are slowly rusting away in my apartment

The bike has done 4800 km now.

I rode to Mahabalipuram and back on Saturday. That's 50 km highway riding one way.
As before, the vibrations get bad after the 70 km mark. I pushed the bike to 80 on downward slopes. Handlebar vibrations get bad at this point. After the ride, my hand was tingling for quite a while.

Though, at all speeds, the bike smoothens out considerably when going downhill.

[sachinnair]

Important Update:
The vibrations are much lesser now, thanks to a multi-part replacement by Bajaj.

Just on a lark, I wrote an email to Bajaj two weeks ago, saying the bike is well designed, but could do with a smoother engine, and whether I could get fuel-injection retrofitted in this bike to reduce the vibrations. Within two working days I got a call from their ASC, saying Bajaj had sent them an email to get me to bring in the bike for a check up. The service guy said they would check every part that is significantly involved in causing vibrations. Apparently Bajaj has some repair/replacement under warranty scheme for bikes with too much vibrations.
So I took the bike last tuesday to Khivraj Bajaj on Anna Salai, Chennai. The first paid service was also almost up. So the bike got serviced, and as part of the vibration fixing, multiple components like the engine mounts, some bushes etc. were replaced. The ASC said there was this complete list of components that have to be replaced. He showed me a set of components that had been removed. It included the hose for the brake fluid for the front. two triangular metal plates, two or three jagged sawtooth shaped rubber mounts, and the rear chain sprocket wheel.

The difference was tremendous. The ride home in city traffic was much smoother than last time. handlebar vibrations have reduced a lot, and the engine seems smoother.

The real test was yesterday- 30 km ride to the Defence Expo. The onward journey offered only a few chances to go at highway speeds, thanks to roadblocks and the huge number of vehicles heading to the expo. But on the short stretches I could hit 70-80, the vibrations were much better than before. The earlier hand-numbing vibe has become much more muted. On the ride back, I could hold onto 80 kmph for longer stretches, (bike crosses 80 with some difficulty) and the comfort has really improved.

I'll write more after I do a longer ride at sustained high speeds

[sachinnair]

As promised, I took my bike out for an early morning run to Mahabalipuram and back. The idea was to get the bike to consistently cruise at highway speeds and see how everything holds up.

Glad to report, the bike rides at about 75-80 kmph with tolerable vibration. Not super smooth, but better than an RE. Beyond 75, speed is slow to build up, but the vibration at the handlebars is much better. The last time I tried this, I ended up with numb hands. Not this time. The seat does let the rumbles through, but at tolerable levels.

One strange new phenomenon I noticed is the speedometer seems to be inconsistent at the 80 kmph mark. Seems to swing quickly between 75 to 85, though there is no change in speed. Tends to do this when there are undulations in the road. Anyone knows what this could be?
Advice welcome.

[Tanveer02]

Originally Posted by sachinnair

One strange new phenomenon I noticed is the speedometer seems to be inconsistent at the 80 kmph mark. Seems to swing quickly between 75 to 85, though there is no change in speed. Tends to do this when there are undulations in the road. Anyone knows what this could be?
Advice welcome.

I encountered the same problem with my Discover 125ST. I just ignored it as a minor problem like something was loose inside, kept it to be rectified on a later date but within the very next day the speedo and odo stopped working. The odo fell off from its place inside the meter unit. But the fuel gauge was working fine. Had to changed the whole unit. I would advise you to get it checked before the speedo burns a hole in your pocket like it did in my case

Cheers

[sachinnair]

Originally Posted by Tanveer02

I encountered the same problem with my Discover 125ST. I just ignored it as a minor problem like something was loose inside, kept it to be rectified on a later date but within the very next day the speedo and odo stopped working. The odo fell off from its place inside the meter unit.
Cheers

Firstly, apologies for the long delay in answering.

As for this issue, it just stopped, on its own after those one or two incidents. In fact, I had forgotten this had happened.

After my last reply, I went for two more 50 km plus rides. Sadly, that pushed the bike back to its old state. It vibrates a lot at the higher speeds. The next service is due. I'll bring it up and see if they are able to fix it without another multi-component swap