[dinu2506]

Originally Posted by FettyG

I actually have checked the freeplay, it's around 1cm, I guess. What is the normal slack most people have. I assumed 1-1.5cm is about adequate. What do you think?

I think 1cm is a bit too much. Ideal is around 3-4mm. This could be the reason for the hard shifting. Please see the below link for adjustments
https://motorepublic.com/clutch-cabl...clutch%20lever.

[ArizonaJim]

FettyG:

With a 1 to 1.5 Cm looseness at the lever, the clutch is not fully releasing when the lever is pulled in. This will cause hard shifting and excessive wear to the clutch plates when the motorcycle is stopped and in gear.

I don't have an owners manual but the recommended slack at the clutch lever should be given it it.

The usual value for the "free play" movement of a clutch cable type where it meets the clutch lever is the 3-4 mm mentioned by dinu2506.

With this 3-4 mm, amount of looseness, the clutch will be fully released when the lever is pulled in, allowing the transmission to shift as it should. It will also keep the clutch from dragging (transmitting power to the transmission) when your stopped at a traffic light or elsewhere with the engine running.

[Torino]

So it’s been a while since I last updated this thread cause there wasn’t anything to report as my usage was minimal due to working from home and the motorcycle was mostly sitting idle and used for errands and occasional early morning weekend short rides. Sometime last month I started working from office regularly and that means I was back with my usual 30kms daily office commute on the Interceptor. Getting back to the usual commute in traffic feels weirdly satisfying in some way. The ODO reads 13800 kms and 90% of its share is from daily office commute riding in traffic. I think I’ve got used to the stock seat and increased my butt endurance since as I barely notice any discomfort in my 45 min commute. The infamous intruding foot pegs though always makes its presence felt but isn’t a real bother anymore. The motorcycle is almost in stock condition, I’ve also recently removed the Carbon Racing windshield since I’m not utilizing its purpose right now and I can always get it back on whenever the need comes in.

The motorcycle has its fair share of electrical and mechanical problems but I am not complaining since I wasn’t left stranded anywhere and I accept the fact that it’s a Royal Enfield and my first RE at that. The front right suspension fork seal is gone bust and is leaking oil. Handlebar wobble is prominent at around 45-55 kmph and 80-90kmph. Also the handlebar tends to veer in a direction when ridden over the edge of the road patch or when I take a speed breaker in an angle. I haven’t done anything so far to control the wobble and I am giving the bike for service this week at the OMR RE service center and will register this complaint and see how it pans out. The engine check light has a mind of its own, lights up randomly once in a week and goes off after few mins for no reason. There were couple of instances were nothing happened after pressing the start button, I am suspecting the start button switch cause all other electricals were working at 100% output. Tappet noise becomes prominent once the engine warms up after a 15min spirited ride, though I have never got the valves setting done right from the time of purchase.

I had my second puncture on the rear tyre and I was once again lucky to find a puncture repair shop nearby. Finding a puncture repair shop nearby is one thing and rest assuring the dude's skills to remove and refit the wheel with disc brake is another headache. The puncture repair guys now a days are so much used to the tubeless tyre repair, firstly they pause on seeing the spoked wheel and then freak out on seeing the disc brake set up. Not to mention not all of them have proper set up to remove the tyre from the rim.

[surjaonwheelz]

Originally Posted by Torino

The front right suspension fork seal is gone bust and is leaking oil. Handlebar wobble is prominent at around 45-55 kmph and 80-90kmph. Also the handlebar tends to veer in a direction when ridden over the edge of the road patch or when I take a speed breaker in an angle. I haven’t done anything so far to control the wobble and I am giving the bike for service this week at the OMR RE service center and will register this complaint and see how it pans out.

The engine check light has a mind of its own, lights up randomly once in a week and goes off after few mins for no reason. There were couple of instances were nothing happened after pressing the start button, I am suspecting the start button switch cause all other electricals were working at 100% output.

Tappet noise becomes prominent once the engine warms up after a 15min spirited ride, though I have never got the valves setting done right from the time of purchase.

At the SVC
- Get the cone set cleaned, greased and tightened to specifications
- Insist on valve clearance checks
If possible, stay back at the customer lounge and get it done!

DIY, WD40 magic
- Spray WD40 on the starter switch
- Clean the excess grease on from the relay terminals, ECU light will disappear mostly!

I'm also experiencing the handlebar veering issue on the slightest of road undulations. Slight wobble is present at the higher speeds you mentioned. I plan to check it with the SVC at annual service. Good that you removed the windshield otherwise they would have blamed it for wobble! I'll remove it too before the service.

I think you should pro-actively change both the tyres soon. Start looking for it now then you'll get it by Jan-Feb, there's a scarcity of tyres!

Fork oil leak gives a good opportunity to upgrade to heavier fork oil if you feel the front end bottoming out too often.

Happy intercepting!
/surjaonwheelz

[ashwinprakas]

Originally Posted by surjaonwheelz

At the SVC
- Get the cone set cleaned, greased and tightened to specifications

Thumb rule is to change Coneset every time the forks come off for a rebuild.

Plus with the kind of labour ASC's charge these days you really do not want to settle with having the old set greased, replacing makes more sense considering that it is a consumable.

Cheers,
A.P.

[Torino]

Originally Posted by surjaonwheelz

At the SVC
- Get the cone set cleaned, greased and tightened to specifications
- Insist on valve clearance checks
If possible, stay back at the customer lounge and get it done!

DIY, WD40 magic
- Spray WD40 on the starter switch
- Clean the excess grease on from the relay terminals, ECU light will disappear mostly!

I think you should pro-actively change both the tyres soon. Start looking for it now then you'll get it by Jan-Feb, there's a scarcity of tyres!

Fork oil leak gives a good opportunity to upgrade to heavier fork oil if you feel the front end bottoming out too often.

Happy intercepting!
/surjaonwheelz

Thanks for the useful inputs surjaonwheelz. So today morning I left the motorcycle at the company operated RE OMR service center and listed the complaints. Though I usually stay back at the lounge and get the bike express serviced, I couldn't do it this time since my complaint list was longer and I had to be at the office. Regarding the tyres, I am personally inclined towards the existing 130/70/18 from MRF or Ceat against imported brands since I personally believe only they can withstand the abuse from the kind of roads I ride everyday. The service advisor wasn't sure about when they will get the Ceats to be sold from the spares outlet. He wasn't sure about the alloy wheels as well.

Originally Posted by ashwinprakas

Thumb rule is to change Coneset every time the forks come off for a rebuild.

Plus with the kind of labour ASC's charge these days you really do not want to settle with having the old set greased, replacing makes more sense considering that it is a consumable.

Cheers,
A.P.

Thanks Ashwin. Apart from truing & balancing the wheels, I have asked them only to grease (with updated grade as directed by RE) the coneset this time since few other Interceptor owners have done the same and said it is effective in arresting the wobble. If it doesn't work then will ask them to replace but this will happen after I change the tyre since I largely suspect the stock Pirelli front tyre has a major role in inducing the wobble.

For the record, this is my Interceptor wobbling at 50kmph. Footage from last week.

https://youtu.be/d4vvd-gOq_w

[ashwinprakas]

Originally Posted by Torino

For the record, this is my Interceptor wobbling at 50kmph. Footage from last week.

Aye! This is a hard one mate!

Can be the road or tyre wear or even tyre design.

A motorcycle by design self corrects and as a result you get some wobble at the handlebar;

Motorcycle Self Correcting

And if any of the aforementioned factors are off then the vibes get aggravated, the same could also happen due to having overhang i.e sporting a top box.

Personally I ignore this if bike handles well with the hands on the handle, sometimes it tends to go away with more wear and tear or sometimes with a change of tarmac, sometimes even when changing to a pair of new tyres.

Regards,
A.P.

[Torino]

The bike is now 2 years old and clocked a little over 15,000 kms on the ODO. Living with the Interceptor 650 for the last 2 years has been nothing short of exciting amidst niggles which in my books are acceptable with reasons being 1.Its a Royal Enfield and my first RE at that, I had made up my mind to expect the worst when I brought the motorcycle home. 2.The motorcycle hasn’t left me stranded anywhere nor did it become unusable due to any electrical or mechanical issue. Not sure if I am lucky but I think I made the right decision in choosing the Interceptor over my initial plan of buying the Standard 500, the Interceptor has the right amount of everything I need except for the weight though. Overall the Interceptor 650 has been a nice motorcycle with its brilliant engine and a lovely exhaust note, it handles great and got timeless looks. The bike is completely in stock condition except for the Vesrah ceramic brake pads on both ends. The market is filled with unending list of aftermarket accessories but I’ve kept away from them either due to lack of vitamin M or it doesn’t serve my purpose.

Ceramic brake pads:
The Vesrah ceramic brake pads are doing a good job in the braking department and they are ~5000 kms old now. The levers feel progressive to operate and the brakes offer linear bite. Initially these pads required a long bedding time of around 2000 kms for the front and ~3000kms for the rear since I barely use the rear brakes. I think these ceramic brakes need higher operating temperature to bedding faster and in my case I had installed these brake pads somewhere around August during the lockdown and I could barely attain speeds for the brakes to heat up. As the lockdown eased and lifted I could ride fairly regularly and I think that helped the brakes to bedding faster and by how they perform today they will surely be on top of my list for brake pads.

3rd free service:
Since I’m following the 6000 kms replacement interval for the engine oil, I thought I might as well give the bike for the 3rd free service at the RE OMR service centre in Chennai, the ODO reading was around 13500kms. Got tappets adjusted since I never did it in the previous visits and also got the busted front fork seal replaced . The engine oil was previously replaced during the 2nd free service which was done when the ODO reading was around 6500kms. So far I’ve changed the engine oil at 500kms, 2000kms, 6500kms and 13500kms. And then comes the infamous handlebar wobble which the RE service staff chose to leave it as it is for god knows why during the last service in Dec 2020 even after raising a complaint in the job card, didn’t bother to go back as I got busy and I need to address this soon after I get my tyres changed with Ceat which are right now nowhere in stock in Chennai.

Currently the Interceptor is the only 2 wheeler at home and I am using it for all kinds of errants, grocery shopping and being a motorcycle the practicality part is highly compromised by which I’ve already burnt and destroyed few grocery bags on the hot engine while trying to hang them on the handlebar. So I’ve started using a magnetic tank bag and a leather side panel bag from Raw and Rugged Leather Co. which looks nice to keep stuff which is larger than my pockets and I find them fairly useful. But my mind says that I need to add a scooter into my garage for carrying stuff and do shopping, may be a used Vespa to give a retro company.





3rd free service:

[corvus corax]

The front right suspension fork seal is gone bust and is leaking oil. Handlebar wobble is prominent at around 45-55 kmph and 80-90kmph. Also the handlebar tends to veer in a direction when ridden over the edge of the road patch or when I take a speed breaker in an angle.

I am also having the same issues with my Interceptor. The handle bar wobbles between 80-90kmph and oil is leaking from both front tubes. Regarding the veering issue, it is less pronounced when recommended air pressure is kept.
By the way, has anyone found a permanent solution for the tank cap seal breakage. I changed the lock key set once and the replaced seal is also on its way out.

[Torino]

Originally Posted by corvus corax

I am also having the same issues with my Interceptor. The handle bar wobbles between 80-90kmph and oil is leaking from both front tubes. Regarding the veering issue, it is less pronounced when recommended air pressure is kept.
By the way, has anyone found a permanent solution for the tank cap seal breakage. I changed the lock key set once and the replaced seal is also on its way out.

In my case, I've always set the recommended air pressure once in a week and the handlebar veering appeared only recently and was gone after replacing the busted front fork seal.

May be you received a faulty fuel tank cap even after replacement. Since your bike must be still under warranty, get the tank cap replaced as may times until the problem is solved.

[Torino]

Did a short 50kms spin last Saturday along the B roads and what a beautiful foggy morning it was as it took us by surprise! Got the windshield back on as we initially planned to do a longer route along the highway which eventually changed. Reinstalling the windshield took less than 15 mins which means I can remove and refit anytime I want. And how I missed the windshield, speeds over 80kmph felt like half the speed.

[surjaonwheelz]

Originally Posted by Torino

The bike is now 2 years old and clocked a little over 15,000 kms on the ODO.

3rd free service:
Since I’m following the 6000 kms replacement interval for the engine oil, I thought I might as well give the bike for the 3rd free service at the RE OMR service centre in Chennai, the ODO reading was around 13500kms. Got tappets adjusted since I never did it in the previous visits and also got the busted front fork seal replaced . The engine oil was previously replaced during the 2nd free service which was done when the ODO reading was around 6500kms. So far I’ve changed the engine oil at 500kms, 2000kms, 6500kms and 13500kms. And then comes the infamous handlebar wobble which the RE service staff chose to leave it as it is for god knows why during the last service in Dec 2020 even after raising a complaint in the job card, didn’t bother to go back as I got busy and I need to address this soon after I get my tyres changed with Ceat which are right now nowhere in stock in Chennai.

So I’ve started using a magnetic tank bag and a leather side panel bag from Raw and Rugged Leather Co. which looks nice to keep stuff which is larger than my pockets and I find them fairly useful.

Happy anniversary and that's a healthy mileage for a 2 years old bike.

Few points to consider:
- RE doesn't do throttle body (TB) cleaning. By this time any big bike would have done a TB cleaning. It's not mentioned in the periodic maintenance in the owner's manual also. The Meteor's manual has it under annual schedule. As this engine is limited to 7500 rpm and is of relaxed nature, is this job not essential? Experts, what do you think?

With riders using all kinds of high performance filters this should be on their job card.

- Air filter: RE didn't change your air filter in annual service? It's a paper element filter and should be done by now.

- Did you ask about the valve clearance, were they within limits or needed adjustment?

- Get the tyres from Bangalore. Torqueblock, 636-662-5625. They had the Ceats.

- Nice bag, if your parking places are decent then this is a classy solution. Are you thinking of a top box in future? There's small one from Studds which makes practical sense but you'll need a top rack to mount it.

Originally Posted by Torino

Got the windshield back on as we initially planned to do a longer route along the highway which eventually changed. Reinstalling the windshield took less than 15 mins which means I can remove and refit anytime I want. And how I missed the windshield, speeds over 80kmph felt like half the speed.

Recently, I also removed the windshield and the difference is well felt. Remove it before giving it for the wobbling issue as they might misplace a part in removing and fixing it.

Cheers,
surjaonwheelz

[Torino]

Originally Posted by surjaonwheelz

Happy anniversary and that's a healthy mileage for a 2 years old bike.

Few points to consider:
- RE doesn't do throttle body (TB) cleaning. .

I am not sure why. May be RE will announce a separate maintenance instruction when they receive enough complaints, I will leave it to what RE says since they know better than anyone else.

Originally Posted by surjaonwheelz

- Air filter: RE didn't change your air filter in annual service? It's a paper element filter and should be done by now.

I've already changed the air filter when the ODO was ~11k kms so told the SA not to now. Actually this air filter change at ~11k kms solved my random engine check light issue. I've also recorded this earlier in this thread.

Originally Posted by surjaonwheelz

- Did you ask about the valve clearance, were they within limits or needed adjustment?

Yes I asked for this. Actually this is the first time I am getting the valves set since I bought my bike. The valve adjustment instruction was announced just after I got my 1st free service done, after that I didn't bother since I didn't want them to fiddle with a brand new engine and also I couldn't hear any prominent tappet noise until recently so I thought this was the right time.

Originally Posted by surjaonwheelz

- Get the tyres from Bangalore. Torqueblock, 636-662-5625. They had the Ceats.

Torqueblock is quoting Rs8200+shipping for a pair. A gentleman in our RE650 group got it from another dealer for Rs5600 a pair incl tax with bill which is a fair price. Also I want to get it from a seller in Chennai so it will be easier to inspect and fit. Still out of stock here. There are quite a few in our riding group running on Ceats, so far all praises from them. They all say the overall grip is fantastic and the bike doesn't loose its composure when riding over road markings and patches, compared to the stock Pirelli.

Originally Posted by surjaonwheelz

- Nice bag, if your parking places are decent then this is a classy solution. Are you thinking of a top box in future? There's small one from Studds which makes practical sense but you'll need a top rack to mount it.

That's a practical solution but I am not a fan of the top box, well atleast for now. This tiny side bag and the tank bag is doing just fine for now.

[Torino]

With the new normal and work from home lifestyle the motorcycle is sitting idle on most days of the week and the early morning weekend short ride is becoming more essential than ever. Routine check points on the day before the ride involves tanking up with unleaded petrol from the trusted neighborhood BP fuel outlet, tyre pressure 32/36 and chain lube with the trusty gear oil. Did a quick 200km early morning ride to Alamparai fort near Pondicherry with my usual fellow Orange RE650 rider. Rode along the GST road till Melmaruvathur and took the beautiful and smooth B roads to connect with the ECR and reach the fort. The ride was enthusiastic and effortless cruising in 6th gear at 5000rpm coupled by the tall windshield. Recently I’ve got myself a plastic cupboard from Amazon to stack up my not so comprehensive bike stuff, feeling proud of the arrangement but I should have gotten a larger size to accommodate my riding gears as well. The best thing is the bike stuff doesn’t randomly catch the home minister’s attention ever so often and get termed as unnecessary evil, all over again.

[MadRasTan4986]

Originally Posted by Torino

.
. So I’ve started using a magnetic tank bag and a leather side panel bag from Raw and Rugged Leather Co. which looks nice to keep stuff which is larger than my pockets and I find them fairly useful.

Nicely detailed ownership thread. Nice updates as well.

Which tank pad are you using?
Also that side panel bag.. how is it? Is it firmly fixed on to the panel?
Any issues of it flying off when you're riding at high speeds?