[swiftnfurious]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

... Noticed a lot of oil spill near the side stand area...

Sent to to the A$$ and also spoke to them, Mr. Rajasekhar mentioned one of the oil rings may not have been fit well and asked me to bring the bike for fixing this...

So, took the bike to the center on Saturday and found out the oil seal packing was not placed correctly. They re-filled 200 ml oil too, to make up for the lost oil (around 100 ml) as per SA and another 100ml in case the issue stays.

Did take the bike for some good 50-60 kms after that and I haven't noticed any spill so far. Will keep an eye out for this for some more time. Nothing was charged as this was a bad workmanship from them.

The cherry on the cake was to meet aargee there; thank you for the fresh tips and quite a good time conversing.

[vasanthcullen]

Congratulations on your CBR! Did you change the paint of the grey coloured parts to black? Or did it come like that? Either way, it looks really cool with only red and black on the bike

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

[*]Mechanical oil seal
With the help of bhpian rksan, I managed to procure this from Tansi Honda Bangalore through the Karthik - A big shoutout to both!

It's nice to see that everyone knows Karthik! I lucked out by buying my CBR from his Tansi Honda showroom. I never had to worry about my bike any day

Karthik has his own multibrand service center now, Highlander @ HSR Layout. You could drive to Bangalore on a Saturday. Get the bike serviced by Karthik. Have Hot Chocolate Fudge and Chocolate Thick Shake from Corner House @ HSR Layout. You can treat your bike and yourself too. You know, just saying

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

The Headlight:

It's just adequate and nothing extraordinary. Am thinking of upgrading to a Extreme vision bulb. Am told the new LED fitment on 2018 CBR is a straight fit on the old CBR as well and costs 8K.

Extreme Vision bulb is a good choice. I fit the new for 2018 LED headlamp assembly on my 2015 CBR. I took the bike to Karthik, obviously. The LED headlamp lights up the night! And when you flash the highbeams to overtake, the entire vehicle in front of you lights up. You never have to worry whether the car-with-no-lane-discipline in front of you noticed you or not

But, it sucks on curvy/ghat roads. The spread is not enough. With the previous bulb/reflector setup the spread was more. But the amount of time I spend on curvy/ghat roads is much lesser when compared to the amount of time I spend on normal roads. So, I think its OK for me. Pls consider this when you want to upgrade to the LED headlamps

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

The Pillion Seat:

Gosh!! This can be painful if a heavy person sits behind. There is a lean because of which the pillion tends to put their weight on the rider. I understood the design one day, when you accelerate (which the baby Ceeber happily does), the pillion, if sitting straight, will tend to move backwards. This can cause the rider to lose control as well. It's always advisable for them to have a little lean position towards to rider to have the balance.

The pillion seat is a pain for the pillion rider too. The root cause of the problem seems to be the fact that the footrest for the pillion rider is too high for comfort. If the pillion rider can keep their hands on the fuel tank, that helps a bit to reduce the weight put on the rider and also the stress on the pillion rider's back and knees. But, the pillion seat is a pain no matter what

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

[*]Visor
The stock visor (above headlamp) had turned yellow, so I replaced it. Costs around 500/-

Good to know. I'm thinking about replacing mine too. But, I dunno where I'll stick all the parking stickers then

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

[*]Front tyre tube
Both the tyres are tubeless. The previous owner changed the rear to a Michelin and the front to stock Contigo 3K kms back. I noticed the front tyre keep losing pressure and while getting it checked, was show the front tyre side damaged due to the use of sharp object (while taking out of the rim). The option was to change the tyre and go for a Michelin or use a tube (actually was a trial to conclude whether it was the tyre or a bend rim). Fortunately, it was the tyre and paid a 400/- for the tube and the tyre is doing well now.

My bike was had the exact same tyres and then I changed the front tyre too to a Michelin Pilot Street. Then the handling became telepathic! The bike changes direction as soon as you think about it

Also, the Pilot Street Radial has a much longer lifetime than the ContiGo. I changed my rear ContiGo to Pilot Street Radial around 20000kms. Now, 31000kms later, the Pilot Street Radial looks like it can go for 20000kms more

[swiftnfurious]

Originally Posted by vasanthcullen

... Extreme Vision bulb is a good choice. I fit the new for 2018 LED headlamp assembly on my 2015 CBR. I took the bike to Karthik, obviously. The LED headlamp lights up the night! ...

Did it cost 8000/- as I heard?

[vasanthcullen]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

Did it cost 8000/- as I heard?

Yes. Around that much

[swiftnfurious]

Originally Posted by vasanthcullen

Congratulations on your CBR! Did you change the paint of the grey coloured parts to black? Or did it come like that? Either way, it looks really cool with only red and black on the bike..

Missed this, yes - the previous owner had done the painting on the silver panels + alloy wheels. Kind of gives it some character and uniqueness.

[swiftnfurious]

Did a 300 km round trip last week to Tirupati. Pushed the bike a little harder as 90-100 kmph was way too easy & "slow" on a straight road. There is no oil leak after the ride and hence it's fairly confirmed the oil leakage is arrested now.

The onward journey took around 4 hours, starting from Adyar at 5 PM on a Saturday evening. While the roads are mostly good, morons have a bunch of barricades in the driving side with NO reflectors on it. I almost crashed into one in low beam. So are unmarked speed breakers!! Whattay royal mess when the vehicles on opposite side come belting their high beams on.

Return was done in 2.5 hours starting from Tirupati at 6 AM. Had I known the route, would have saved another 30 mins as I took 3-4 stops to gauge the directions initially. Every ride is revealing more strengths of the bike and the love is getting deeper.

Didn't check the FE as I had done a Rs. 250/- top up in between, just to ensure I come back to Chennai and re-fuel. The last bar started blinking at Thiruvallur and I re-fueled at the BP pump opp ITC in Guindy. The bike took 10.6L - so roughly 30 kmpl is what I guess.

[ashwinprakas]

The problem with motorcycles with committed riding posture is that they don't give you a decent view of the upcoming roads and the danger goes up as you ride faster.

Hence better ride only as fast as your panic braking range goes, sometimes I've ridden in 2/3 gears for a couple of hundred kms simply considering safety, even on the most recent ride the first 400 KM's was under 40 KMPH due to visibility concerns.

[swiftnfurious]

Originally Posted by ashwinprakas

The problem with motorcycles with committed riding posture is that they don't give you a decent view of the upcoming roads and the danger goes up as you ride faster...

I get what you are saying and agree. My stance is almost straight as I am tall and CBR doesn't have a very committed position. I doubt even on a proper tourer, you'll get any better visibility when there are no street lights, no reflectors on the barricade, all the opposite vehicles come in high beams on their 100/90 lamps and you are a foolish law abiding citizen using low beam! The only saving factor here is the speed which helps reduce the distance with braking.

A hard lesson learnt - I could control only because my speed was less. After the incident, I rode with high beam for my own safety. The morning run was far far less strainful.

[swiftnfurious]

Went on a Sunday morning breakfast ride - probably the first among the bhp'ians in Chennai and we all had fun.

The place was chosen as Mudhaliar Kuppam on ECR so we have around an hour one-side ride. We chose Rhythm restaurant after the Kalpakkam town for breakfast. Some of us met at Thiruvanmiyur Koil and then proceeded to Uthandi toll for a couple of more to join. The ride was fun just for the reason there were a lot of fun machines zoom past us throughout the ride.

The Ninja 1000s, BMW 1200Gs etc have such lovely exhaust notes. Came across 2 Porsche Cayennes too.

[swiftnfurious]

Got a chance to ride the Gixxer during the return trip. I loved the refinement, however, the comparison will be unfair with respect to the capability as both the bikes are different capacity. In short, the Gixxer is a great city bike while CBR is a great tourer.

Gixxer does well

• Refinement up to 95 kmph, like butter in the low revv range
• Positive gear shifts
• Upright seating position
• Good suspension
• Very flickable
• Nice dial
• Felt it's extremely light (after riding CBR 250)

What's not up to CBR

• Acceleration
• Handling
• Wind blast above 70-80 kmph (Gixxer SF may be better on this - need to check)
• Gear shift has some extra weight

Stand alone, Gixxer fares beautiful. But for my usage, I am kind of happy with the CBR. I remember someone telling me that 'buy a bike that wouldn't bore you soon'. Gixxer in all probabilities would have bored me by now while CBR still has some 50% potential yet to explore.

[swiftnfurious]

The CBR was purchased with the intention of travel - especially when am solo. And the first looong ride has been completed, and all of 3000 KMS. The ride was fun, tiring, pushing my limits as a fair newbie, but then CBR was so composed and didn't bat an eyelid for the whole trip. My respect for the machine & the brand has gone one step higher. The way the engine "purrs" at 100 kmph even after a 300 km ride amazes me no end!

More details to come in soon. Till then...

[swiftnfurious]

Preparations for the long ride.

I had to be in Bangalore for a day and it was blessing in disguise as I planned to push off to Hyderabad from Bangalore. Thought I'll give the bike to Highlander for a quick check and service before I get on to the bigger phase of riding - Karthik (Tansi Honda)being there sealed the deal. I decided to do early morning runs (till evening max) and then crash for the night at some place. Night driving was to be avoided.

The first priority was to get all the riding gears. The first set was procured long time back and had to just manage the riding pants. Placed an order with Solace and got this too, by mid November.

Link to the post: https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/ride-...ml#post4522168 (The Riding Gear thread)

1. Lighting:

The stock illumination wasn't enough and had to be beefed up. The options were to either upgrade the headlight or add aux lights. The headlamp options were either Philips Extreme vision or Nightbreaker - but then the life of the bulb was much lesser than stock bulbs while costing 3x as much. Plus, I didn't want this to be blinding others all the time, in the city rides as well, so leaned towards the aux lamps.

I was browsing to check on accessory shops and got a lead about a shop opposite Turyaa Hotel, OMR. The owner was a polite guy who showed me all accessories but told me he does fitment only for RE.

I called up Karthik and he said he could do the wiring if I get the lamps. So, chose the below lamp costing 550/- per lamp and carried it to Bangalore.







I also chose a "nice" switch which illuminates when ON to power the aux - this was also much more expensive than the 150/- local switch.






2. Charging point

Long rides mean, portable devices on low battery. I wanted to install a USB charging point so I could charge my mobile in case it's on low battery. Karthik mentioned about "Bolt" brand being good but a little expensive than the local brands and thought I'll but from there.

Got the below USB charger from Highlander.





3. Strobe (Red)

I wanted a strobe so I have visibility (for vehicles at the back) while riding in the dark - so, bought a 60/- red strobe from the RE guy in Chennai. This was wired to blink when I am on pilot lamps, which means it all almost ALL the time I am riding. I keep my head lamps ON while riding so vehicles coming opposite also get an additional visibility.





4. Louder (Double) Horn

This is one of the weak points of the CBR - the single horn is not so loud and I have problems getting people off my way (and sometimes vehicles too). Talked to Karthik and he showed me a stock like horn which sounds like Pulsar (am a big fan of the Pulsar horn). He told me that was in fact stock CBR horn which was introduced during a mid life facelift or so. Costs 650/- I guess, had to add some wiring as well, IIRC.



5. Minor aesthetic stuffs

One of the rubber cover was missing for the ORVM stalk. Problem was solved when I broke one of the mirrors and bought a new one - this cover apparently comes only with a new mirror (which costs 650/-). Some lowlife stole this "new" cover within a week or two after fixing the mirror - asked Karthik and he said he'll see any spare ones.

My CBR is one with ABS, but the sticker was missing on the front shocks - always wanted it, but as usual HA$$ said it's not available. Karthik procured this as well.

He also added a gear lever sock (didn't ask for it, but don't mind either).

Service / Replacements

Had told Karthik that I'll reach Bangalore sometime around 10 and will leave the bike for service. As soon as I came in, he took the bike for a trial run (we were meeting for the first time though we had talked a lot of times before that). He came back and told me that the throttle cable was hard (I used to complain / check with people why the CBR doesn't build speed unless given the stick - this was due to this issue). He also suggested a regular filter / oil service and some replacements.

6. General Service - suggested Motul synthetic oil and went with it
7. Throttle cable replacement
8. He also put both new grips
9. Rear brake pads (told the front one will run for another 5-6K kms)
10. the fibre above the rear tail lamp
11. the fork was making some noise while hitting pot holes - he resolved that too.
12. Suggested Teflon was did that too - though the I am thoroughly impressed, I will stick to regular waxing etc going forth.
13. Brake oil was replaced
14. The front tyre was suggested to replace as it's a Contigo non-radial tyre (have another 4-5K kms left on it
15. The front & rear discs are decently warped, will replace it along with the pads in the next cycle











These are the two bags I carried during the trip. I got the magnetic tank bag too from Solace - will create a post on it in Riding gear thread and link it.




CBR after the Teflon treatment

[swiftnfurious]

Covered another 1500 kms over the Pongal long weekend. Rode to Kannur to catch Theyyam in action. Used the time to visit the drive in beach at Muzhuppilangad too. Over a wonderful trip and the bike is doing well. Managed to capture some good pics - lazy to process it before I upload. Should happen sometime next week.

Odo reading when I bought : 28324 kms
Current Reading : 36333 kms
Date of purchase : 07 May 2018

Mileage under my ownership : 8000 kms
Time under my ownership : 8 months 10 days



At Muzhuppilangad Drive In beach.

[swiftnfurious]

The long 3000 kms ride. Some of the highlights & pictures.

Date : 18 Dec 2018 - 31 Dec 2018.

Route : Chennai - Bangalore - Hyderabad - Goa - Karwar - Murudeshwar - Chikmagalur - Bangalore - Chennai.

• Max distance covered in one day - ~700 kms (Gachibowli to Anjuna, Goa)
• Max time ridden in a day - 14 hours
• BEST of the roads : HYD NH
• Worst of the roads : Belgaum
• WIP Roads : Between Karwar & Murudeshwar
• FE : 30-35 kmpl depending on the stretches
• Fuel Costs : INR 7500/- approximate
• Best scenic route : Chikmagalur
• Stay : At OYO rooms in most places (except Dhone & Kundapura), Butter Clouds homestay at Chikmagalur
  

1. 14 Dec 2018 : Adyar to Koramangala (340 kms)
2. 18 Dec 2018 : Ramamurthy Nagar to Dhone (310 kms)
3. 19 Dec 2018 : Dhone to Gachibowli (270 kms)
4. 22 Dec 2018 : Gachibowli - Kalaburgi - Belgaum - Chorla Ghat - Anjuna (680 kms)
5. 28 Dec 2018 : Anjuna - Karwar - Gokarna - Murudeshwar - Kundapura (330 kms)
6. 29 Dec 2018 : Kundapura - Chikmagalur (192 kms)
7. 30 Dec 2018 : Chikmagalur - Arsikere - Tiptur - Koramangala (260 kms)
8. 31 Dec 2018 : Koramangala - HSR Layout - Adyar (350 kms)

Route Map:



First day breakfast break



Some of the best roads enroute. First two are within Telengana / AP and the last one in Karnataka







X-Mas stars @ 'The lady of immaculate conception'



View from the OYO room at Anjuna beach







Clicks from the Suba dive boat ride







From Murudeshwar







At Butter Cloud homestay. The hosts were nice. They had a beautiful garden around the courtyard too.







CBR resting after a tough ride.

[swiftnfurious]

Attaching the bill for the first service with Highlander. The bill surely looks big as I had some accessories added and that costs good amount. Rear break pads & discs were replaced and the tax was close to Rs. 1800/-