[aravind.anand]

Originally Posted by Torino

Congrats Aravind! And thanks for the entertaining review!

Strangely, a Interceptor owner I met at the One Ride event said the clutch cable screw in his bike somehow unscrews itself every 100 kms even with this stopper thingy in place and he had to adjust the screw every time to reset the clutch lever free play. The RE service center wanted him to leave the bike with them for few days to diagnose the root cause.

Thank you, and because you had raised the bar for Interceptor reviews, I had to figure out a different way to keep readers engaged Next is a meet-up to say hi to Silver Blitz.

Originally Posted by ashwinprakas

@Aravind, Congratulations!!!

And better to not let those guys fiddle with the head cover, I doubt these guys use a torque wrench and that is one place you would not want to manhandle considering aluminum construction.

Cheers,
A.P.

Thank you Ashwin. The service advisor told me that they had received a circular from RE asking them to perform this gasket replacement on all the 650 twins, and since it was the RE brand store owned by the company itself, I did not question them at all. But I certainly did not expect the mess they made after that.

Originally Posted by NTO

Congratulations Auto on your new acquisition. I never knew there was such a fantastic writer in you for so many years. I always admired your blue bolt and the red CBR. I also knew that this review was long coming as I stalked you quite a bit on instagram.

The engine oil leak from the head and many more you would face during your ownership are part and parcel of Royal Enfield package. However, I am sure, this will never fail to make you grin after every long ride of yours.

Wish you a million happy miles before you finish saving up for the next one!

Hey buddy, thank you very much. And yes, you will definitely have many more RE experience stories to share with me

Originally Posted by .HEM

First, Congratulations on your ride, Aravind!!

Excellent review on the interceptor, with right mix of humor. I enjoyed reading it till the end.

Was there an oil leak from the cylinder head? Why did the adviser recommended to change the gasket? I own a 7 year Classic 350 clocked some 80K miles, My Advice - never believe the words of the RE service advisers. I wont ask them to touch anything unless it is necessary.

Enjoy the Ride!

Thank you very much, and like I have explained above, since it was the company owner service center I trusted them blindly.

Originally Posted by R-Six

Congratulations on the latest acquisition, Aravind! Since I was also following the other RE Twins thread closely, I know how keenly you have been waiting for the day. Wishing you many more trouble-free rides on your Anglo-Indian Mayo!

Your report was an interesting read with those occasional memes and the humor thrown in. I loved the picture of your bike in the rains. Absolute bliss! Baker Express is one of my favorite color on the interceptor too.

And lastly, thanks again for the pictures from Coimbatore. I have a lot of memories associated with that place as well.

Ride Safe,
R-Six

Thank you very much for your kind words, I have followed your posts on the twins thread, and your test ride experience too. There were times when I wished I had the chance of meeting you while I was working in Ahmedabad. But we started frequenting the Enfield twin threads only after I had got back to Chennai.
That picture in the rain was taken on my phone camera with not much patience and it still has come out really well. I hadn't managed to cover rain well enough even when I focused heavily on it, but this time I just got lucky.

[Sree_Ganesh]

Lovely write up. Especially loved the picture of the bike in the rain. Got to see an Interceptor in the same spec in my office parking (TRIL), the build and paint quality definitely looks better than the erstwhile REs

[NSK123]

Get one more clutch cable screw and put it next to the existing screw. It will act as lock nut. It will solve the problem.

Originally Posted by Torino

Congrats Aravind! And thanks for the entertaining review!



Strangely, a Interceptor owner I met at the One Ride event said the clutch cable screw in his bike somehow unscrews itself every 100 kms even with this stopper thingy in place and he had to adjust the screw every time to reset the clutch lever free play. The RE service center wanted him to leave the bike with them for few days to diagnose the root cause.

[ashwinprakas]

Originally Posted by NSK123

Get one more clutch cable screw and put it next to the existing screw. It will act as lock nut. It will solve the problem.

Unlikely since you'd not be able to slide the new nut past the 'Barrel End'.



Unless there's some secret technique I'm unaware of, you never know.

[NSK123]

Originally Posted by ashwinprakas

Unlikely since you'd not be able to slide the new nut past the 'Barrel End'.

Attachment 1879949

Unless there's some secret technique I'm unaware of, you never know.

Usually they come with a slit so that cable can go in. Something like this...

[ashwinprakas]

Originally Posted by NSK123

Usually they come with a slit so that cable can go in. Something like this...

That's part of the lever bracket, luckily Bajaj sells such parts separately, hence don't have to buy the whole bracket to get it.



Hence would be a better choice to get the following from Bajaj and experiment.



Cheers.

[samwagon]

Congratulations Aravind on your passionate possession and also kudos for an absolutely fascinating write up (especially the part about the chat up with strangers which brought back memories of a similar experience I had a few years back close to Lonavla). You are a rider and a writer rolled into one. Also, you are bang on target about the close gear ratios. I acquired a Baker Express Interceptor last month and while on a longish ride, have faced the confusion of ‘which gear I am in’ several times. That and a few niggles aside, it’s a great step forward for RE especially at this price point. This from a loyal RE owner (I presently own an CI Std 350 -1986 engine which is under restoration and have recently sold my Std 500 CI). I love the motorcycle as it rolls of the assembly line but would still love to do a few practical mods to make riding more comfortable. Do you have any such ideas in your head.
And lastly, allow me to compliment you on the excellent photographs accompanying the write up. Here’s a couple of snaps of mine.

[Travel_Feels]

Congratulations!
Am I the only one feeling the twin silencer could have been little more confined to the body of the vehicle than a wider stance which is looking little out of place from the rear view.

[R-Six]

Originally Posted by Travel_Feels

Am I the only one feeling the twin silencer could have been little more confined to the body of the vehicle than a wider stance which is looking little out of place from the rear view.

Width of those silencers and their alignment related topic has been beaten to death on the forum and outside.

[theqca]

Congratulations on your new motorcycle and thank you for sharing the review. I found it quite interesting especially since you've focused on points which are very relevant and yet not covered by a lot of people.

Any customization / upgrades that you have done to the stock bike or plan to do in the near future or do you feel that RE has delivered a product that is best left the way it is?

I shelved my plans of buying an interceptor by about a year and picked up a Duke 390 to keep me busy till then as I felt that RE might not have turned out a very refined machine in the first attempt but on reading your review I feel the bike is almost there apart from a few niggles?

[aravind.anand]

Originally Posted by samwagon

Congratulations Aravind on your passionate possession and also kudos for an absolutely fascinating write up (especially the part about the chat up with strangers which brought back memories of a similar experience I had a few years back close to Lonavla). You are a rider and a writer rolled into one. Also, you are bang on target about the close gear ratios. I acquired a Baker Express Interceptor last month and while on a longish ride, have faced the confusion of ‘which gear I am in’ several times. That and a few niggles aside, it’s a great step forward for RE especially at this price point. This from a loyal RE owner (I presently own an CI Std 350 -1986 engine which is under restoration and have recently sold my Std 500 CI). I love the motorcycle as it rolls of the assembly line but would still love to do a few practical mods to make riding more comfortable. Do you have any such ideas in your head.

Thank you very much for your kind words Nice pictures of your Interceptor there, and that seat looks much more comfortable than the stock one. I hope it looks as comfortable as it looks too. I have bought a fly-screen from aliexpress, but I am yet to find time to fiddle with that and fit it on the bike- as it is not a direct fit for the Interceptor it is a generic one.

Originally Posted by Travel_Feels

Congratulations!
Am I the only one feeling the twin silencer could have been little more confined to the body of the vehicle than a wider stance which is looking little out of place from the rear view.

Every owner will definitely feel this at some point in time during the ownership for sure. But like I have mentioned in the review, once you get used to managing that and when you start enjoying the nice rumble it produces, we start liking it.

Originally Posted by theqca

Congratulations on your new motorcycle and thank you for sharing the review. I found it quite interesting especially since you've focused on points which are very relevant and yet not covered by a lot of people.

Any customization / upgrades that you have done to the stock bike or plan to do in the near future or do you feel that RE has delivered a product that is best left the way it is?

Thank you There are some ideas in my mind to personalize my Interceptor -
The fork gaiters - RE never has this in stock
Fly-screen - I have ordered one online, I have to get that fitted over the weekend
Engine crash guard - I thought of getting this fixed along with the fork gaiters to avoid multiple trips to the service centre
Clear lens headlamp - I bought a clear lens headlamp, but I was unable to get it to fit correctly, and one good soul has offered to help me with that job I have to go meet him when he is free and get this done
Removing few stock guards - the huge outdated looking mud guard and the saree guard needs to be removed, planning to do this over the weekend too.

I shelved my plans of buying an interceptor by about a year and picked up a Duke 390 to keep me busy till then as I felt that RE might not have turned out a very refined machine in the first attempt but on reading your review I feel the bike is almost there apart from a few niggles?

It is again based on our experience and our expectation I would say. I have an Apache that is very unrefined and annoying to ride around, and a CBR that is nice and adequately fast but has to be revved a little especially when riding with a pillion and that kills some of the joy for me. So a torquey motorcycle that has very relaxed ergonomics and can cruise in a very relaxed way at 90 kmph, even with a pillion and some luggage makes me very happy. But someone who enjoys a high revving bike with a pocket-rocket feel, would not enjoy the Interceptor too much.

[Ferruccio]

Originally Posted by aravind.anand

Preface

Till date I have covered more than 22k kms on the CBR and it is a very nice all-rounder that is also very reliable, I had my first big crash while astride the CBR, and though I ended up broken, the CBR came out unscathed and was ridden back home by a colleague, and worked well about 45 days after the crash when I was fit enough to ride it. Astonishing, that thing could face a nuclear explosion and still keep riding, I thought to myself. The Japanese sure are the masters of such reliable petrol motors, I tip my hat to those hard working engineers back in Japan

I remember seeing a video of the 10 Top 2 Wheelers of all time somewhere. No. 1 on the list was a Honda Cub, a step thru like the Bajaj M80. The presenter went on to explain that it was the best selling 2 wheeler of all time, could be overloaded multiple times and still take the load.

Then they went on to drain the engine oil and replace it with used cooking oil from a burger shop. . . the little Cub roared and went on with its tasks. Finally they took it to the top of a multi-storied building and dropped it from the top.

The presenter walked up to the mangled remains of the poor Cub and thumbed the starter button . . . In one crank the Cub engine started and putted away like nothing happened.

I've worked for both Honda and Toyota. Even the Toyota engineers look up to their peers in Honda.

[ethanhunt123]

Originally Posted by Ferruccio

Then they went on to drain the engine oil and replace it with used cooking oil from a burger shop. . . the little Cub roared and went on with its tasks. Finally they took it to the top of a multi-storied building and dropped it from the top.

The presenter walked up to the mangled remains of the poor Cub and thumbed the starter button . . . In one crank the Cub engine started and putted away like nothing happened.

All this is wonderful info - but i doubt anyone here is either going to use cooking oil in their engines or throw their bikes off an building. So whats the advantage if a particular Honda Cub was able to do it :-)

[Biker Ram]

Aravind, congrats on the bike! Having owned an Interceptor myself I more or less have exactly same opinion on the bike just as in your review

[Ferruccio]

Originally Posted by ethanhunt123

All this is wonderful info - but i doubt anyone here is either going to use cooking oil in their engines or throw their bikes off an building. So whats the advantage if a particular Honda Cub was able to do it :-)

I know. . . but that's the sort of the 3 mad men in Top Gear would and and why we love them, dont we?