[shabih]

Hello,

I wanted to report on the front wobble issue on my bike at speeds upwards of 80 kmph. I have done 7000 km as of the date and the bike was delivered to me in April 2019.

I noticed the wobble in December 2020 and finally went to Kaytee Automobiles, Mahipalpur Delhi on March 19, 2021. Upon thorough inspection, I was told by the folks at Kaytee that the front tyre is at fault and that it will have to be replaced. I was also told that I'll have to pay for the wear and they'll offer a replacement.

I personally find it grossly unfair to be paying for a replacement tyre when the rider is not at fault. If RE was aware that a wobble is inevitable after 60% running life of the Pirellis they should have warned the buyers. One pays full price of the product they buy in the hope of utilising it fully, not 60%. And if they weren't aware then it is a bigger reason to worry because we were used as guinea pigs. If indeed they did a trial on the customer then why are we paying for being trial objects. If I had bought JUST the tyres from a shop and it experienced issues then it was a choice I made. In the case of Pirellis they came factory fitted and they better be well tested by RE before delivery.

Another issue I have with paying for replacement Pirellis is that they'll give you the same tyre which will again start to wobble after 60% of its running life. I might as well use the factory-fitted Pirellis till they are done and then switch to something better.

I have written to RE's support email, I do not have many hopes so thought of putting out my rant here. Anyway, the new Ceats are better at handling speeds I have heard from my friends so switching to them after the Pirellis are done seems like a logical thing to do. But I wish RE fixed their own problem rather than dumping it on the buyers.

[DragonHawk]

Originally Posted by shabih

Hello,

I noticed the wobble in December 2020 and finally went to Kaytee Automobiles, Mahipalpur Delhi on March 19, 2021. Upon thorough inspection, I was told by the folks at Kaytee that the front tyre is at fault and that it will have to be replaced. I was also told that I'll have to pay for the wear and they'll offer a replacement.

The wobbling issue has been reported by many in my friend`s circle and definitely, I don`t think RE is not aware of this. What's disappointing though RE taking advantage of India`s poor customer-centric laws. They are just turning a blind eye and without doing any proper RCA, they blame the tyre as the usual suspect.

I have been riding with odo just shod off 5k km and touchwood I am yet to experience the infamous wobble. However, for the few who had wobbling because of uneven wear in the front tyre, replacing the cone set along with applying waterproof grease did solve the issue and some went with tyre replacement and unfortunately for them, a slight hint of wobbling still exists.
IMO replacing the front tyre should be the last thing they should do and you should escalate this to RE and demand for proper RCA. Meanwhile, if you haven`t done this yet, you can verify the below things and see if this solves.

1. Wheel balancing and truing.
2. Check tyre pressure.
3. Check if tstem nut is tightened with right torque.

[nasirkaka]

Our Whatsapp group comprising of about 130 twin riders is plagued with wobble issue cases. It comes at different kms on the odo and at different speeds. Some folks have spent a lot of effort is getting to the root cause and trying to rectify, some have just been riding without being much bothered about it.
I was one of the happy ones who tried leaving the handlebars at different speeds to check, but could not find the wobble, and did not pay much attention to it. But a short lived happiness.
Recently, after getting the rims converted to tubeless type, i did experience very pronounced wobble at speeds of around 65kmph. I am not sure if its related to tubeless conversion or its the tyres at 8.5k kms on odo, but yes, the infamous wobble is very much there. I intend to replace the tyres with timsum dual sport once the stock arrive. Was never a fan of these stock pirellis which goes dancing like a snake on the slightest of provocation.

On another note, i finally received my bike from service center after 22 days. I had given it for low battery warning symbol coming up randomly. They have replaced battery, RR unit, Gear position sensor. Yes, all under warranty. Lets see if the issue is resolved. Have done a bit of riding since Saturday and so far its been holding good.
Another good note is that the tubeless conversion is been holding fine. Even when the bike was lying idle at service station, there was no drop in PSI. Hope it stays that way. Fingers crosses.

[shabih]

Originally Posted by DragonHawk

They are just turning a blind eye and without doing any proper RCA, they blame the tyre as the usual suspect.

However, for the few who had wobbling because of uneven wear in the front tyre, replacing the cone set along with applying waterproof grease did solve the issue and some went with tyre replacement and unfortunately for them, a slight hint of wobbling still exists.
IMO replacing the front tyre should be the last thing they should do and you should escalate this to RE and demand for proper RCA. Meanwhile, if you haven`t done this yet, you can verify the below things and see if this solves.

1. Wheel balancing and truing.
2. Check tyre pressure.

Thank you so much for your reply. I have dropped a mail to RE for help. Kaytee folks did the wheel balancing and cone checking. At last they offered tyre replacement as a solution. I asked them to send me an email to this effect, they are yet to do so.

Originally Posted by nasirkaka

Our Whatsapp group comprising of about 130 twin riders is plagued with wobble issue cases. It comes at different kms on the odo and at different speeds. Some folks have spent a lot of effort is getting to the root cause and trying to rectify it, some have just been riding without being much bothered about it.

I intend to replace the tyres with timsum dual sport once the stock arrive. Was never a fan of these stock pirellis which goes dancing like a snake on the slightest of provocation.

It's true, many are facing this issue but choose to live with it. I was fine with it as well till recently when the wobble started to annoy me because of the resulting vibrations on the handlebar. It gets very irritating over long rides. To make matters worse I have installed Himalayan handlebars which are shorter and pass a lot of feedback to hands. Let's hope RE takes action and owns up to their QC failures. Maybe even do a silent recall for everyone facing the issue. It's a beautiful bike with compromises that we are willing to live with but not basic issues impacting our overall ownership.

[surjaonwheelz]

Originally Posted by shabih

In the case of Pirellis they came factory fitted and they better be well tested by RE before delivery.

Another issue I have with paying for replacement Pirellis is that they'll give you the same tyre which will again start to wobble after 60% of its running life.

Anyway, the new Ceats are better at handling speeds I have heard from my friends so switching to them after the Pirellis are done seems like a logical thing to do.

Are you sure the replacement will be Pirellis? I would suggest get the Ceats from the dealer in lieu of the wear costs and be done with it! Pirellis if they give then check its manufacturing month and year.

As even tyre manufacturers give warranty claims on a similar note (tyre wear/life considered)

Are the new bikes with Ceats having the wobble issue? I don't think this is a tyre specific issue as those who changed to other brands are also facing issues.

surjaonwheelz

[Vikashmalya]

Found this interesting video by FortNine..

https://youtu.be/Tv97i_-V7hA

In the initial part of video he talks about how RE has custom made Pirellis by cutting cost on its RE twins.. Looks like the stock Pirelli’s that comes of the twins are made in Brazil unlike the originals Aftermarket that is made in Germany. I do not own any of the Twins and could not verify the make. However seeing your post on issues related to the stock tyres, i assumed this could very well be one of the reasons.

[shabih]

Originally Posted by surjaonwheelz

Are you sure the replacement will be Pirellis? I would suggest get the Ceats from the dealer in lieu of the wear costs and be done with it!

surjaonwheelz

As far as I understand from Kaytee, they will contact Pirelli and I will have to pay to Pirelli for a replacement. RE or Kaytee will have nothing to do with it. Hence I doubt I'll have that choice of Ceat. Let's see what comes of it.

[CarManMotorcycl]

Originally Posted by Vikashmalya

Found this interesting video by FortNine..

In the initial part of video he talks about how RE has custom made Pirellis by cutting cost on its RE twins.. Looks like the stock Pirelli’s that comes of the twins are made in Brazil unlike the originals Aftermarket that is made in Germany. I do not own any of the Twins and could not verify the make. However seeing your post on issues related to the stock tyres, i assumed this could very well be one of the reasons.

The video is misleading, the tyres on our twins come from Brazil because only radial tyres are made in Germany. As our tyres are bias ply they come from Brazil, my GT came with tyres made in Indonesia which is another hub for manufacturing bias ply tyres.

[BB311]

Originally Posted by k9unal

Surfing on the Royal Enfield accessory site saw the RE meteor Touring screen kit.
It attaches to the front forks and it got me thinking cam I fit it to Interceptor 650 since the fork sizes for both bikes is 41mm.

Has anyone tried this, please share your findings

Some youtuber has already tried this. Here is the link

https://youtu.be/gVAZXlLaK3Q

Also if you have already tried this on your bike do share a feedback as I am planning to do this mod soon.

[abhi7013]

Have anyone of you with the chrome tank gotten PPF done? I have booked the new chrome colour with red stripe in the middle but am thinking of changing it to plain red as am pretty sceptical on maintaining it.

The guys at a few detailing studios tell me that there are risks of the chrome peeling off if we decide to remove the PPF in future as the paint layer isn't as thick as regular colours. Are there any alternatives to protect the tank from scratches due to keys or helmet hooks when you tend to place it on the tank? Ceramic coating wouldn't really help.

Looking for experiences from members or their friends who might have the PPF done on chrome tanks for some feedback and if the paint peeling is indeed true.

[GandalfTheGrey]

Originally Posted by abhi7013

Have anyone of you with the chrome tank gotten PPF done?

Looking for experiences from members or their friends who might have the PPF done on chrome tanks for some feedback and if the paint peeling is indeed true.

Might be OT: My two cents; I was also keen on protecting the tank of my Meteor from scratches. I had to put a tank cover, as there was no space to keep bike's documents and first aid kit. So decided to go with PPF, as the tank is bound to be scratched if tank cover is applied. I just went with a normal film, rather than the 3Ms and Garwares, and the total cost was around 5.5k. Then I came to know the cost of new petrol tank itself is somewhere around 5k/6k. So changing the entire tank after few years made sense to me than applying a PPF. So before you opt to protect your tank using PPFs/Ceramic coats, please get an idea of how much a new tank would cost, assuming you haven't considered this point. Pardon me if you've already done the math, and have decided to go with the PPF!

Cheers!

[abhi7013]

Originally Posted by GandalfTheGrey

Pardon me if you've already done the math, and have decided to go with the PPF!

Cheers!

I never knew price of a new tank was almost close to the cost of getting PPF done! Anyways, i have booked at an RE showroom in Bangalore and am contemplating on changing the booking to a different colour, maybe the red one. Since i haven't made my mind on the colour yet, i thought of checking with members here and your input would definitely be helpful! I might as well go for the chrome one and get a ceramic coating done for around 2k and look at replacing it if required maybe 5-6 years down the line.

[Balaji31582]

Originally Posted by GandalfTheGrey

Might be OT: My two cents; I was also keen on protecting the tank of my Meteor from scratches. I had to put a tank cover, as there was no space to keep bike's documents and first aid kit. So decided to go with PPF, as the tank is bound to be scratched if tank cover is applied. I just went with a normal film, rather than the 3Ms and Garwares, and the total cost was around 5.5k. Then I came to know the cost of new petrol tank itself is somewhere around 5k/6k. So changing the entire tank after few years made sense to me than applying a PPF. So before you opt to protect your tank using PPFs/Ceramic coats, please get an idea of how much a new tank would cost, assuming you haven't considered this point. Pardon me if you've already done the math, and have decided to go with the PPF!

Cheers!

Thanks a lot for this information. One question that I have is, that 5k or 6k for a new tank is with painting or without painting? I ask this because generally for Cars, say for example If I replace the front bumper, the bumper used to cost Rs.x and total cost would be almost Rs.2x including painting as originally that part comes in tinted black colour. Just asking to make sure if the 5k or 6k is inclusive of the paint (intended colour) we want with the Petrol tank.

[AtheK]

Originally Posted by Balaji31582

Thanks a lot for this information. One question that I have is, that 5k or 6k for a new tank is with painting or without painting? I ask this because generally for Cars, say for example If I replace the front bumper, the bumper used to cost Rs.x and total cost would be almost Rs.2x including painting as originally that part comes in tinted black colour. Just asking to make sure if the 5k or 6k is inclusive of the paint (intended colour) we want with the Petrol tank.

Another question is does RE sell these parts over the counter, as far as i know they don't.

[neil.jericho]

Originally Posted by AtheK

Another question is does RE sell these parts over the counter, as far as i know they don't.

Yes they do. There is absolutely no fuss from their side on this.

Many of us who get our bikes serviced at FNGs to ensure aftermarket engine oil can be used, just buy the parts from the dealers directly or Royal Enfield's spares dealers.