[SS80]

Originally Posted by Castro Gunner

Hi SS 80. It is nice seeing your DIYs and you're cherished towards the machine.
What is the mileage that you are getting? Is this the best in terms of efficiency?

Honestly speaking, I have not checked mileage to date. As the primary ride is a type 1 activa that delivers 20+ only. Due to the utility space and wide seat, it's the preferred choice for both me and my wifey.

For sure the bike delivers above 50kmpl, pair that with the trouble-free ownership experience - it feels good. The battery is at the end of its life I guess, might have to change it sometime soon.

[SS80]

Finally decided to reduce the seat height. Suspension settings only change the stiffness of the rear springs and not much to the height. The saddle height of my bike is 810mm which is more than most commuter bikes.

Hence inspected the foam and found it convenient to cut off 1/2 inch to reduce tiptoeing. Attaching a few photos of the same. The seat cover guy was kind enough to carefully do this, reusing the same seat cover. A mod worth 200 rupees has made life a bit easier.

Please note that BS6 models seem to have almost 3/4 to 1 inch of extra thickness in the seat foam. Hence this was possible.

It's been 300 km since this change, I don't see any noticeable discomfort in the ride, just that it felt weird initially as U-turns and tight turns feel somewhat different.

[SS80]

A new update on the ownership experience.

Since the last few months, the bike has struggled to start on cold mornings and idling is erratic, with occasional check engine light switching on. Things got worse as my bike usage has now increased to 300kms a week, all thanks to the hybrid working arrangement at the office.

Switched back to 10W30 instead of 20w40
Charged battery
Cleaned air filter
Removed the TPS & IAC solenoid, cleaned and refit them
Drained the float bowl
Cleaned spark plugs

None of this helped to sort the idling & starting issues
Finally got the OBD scanned at a local garage, and they said "ECU is dead", I doubted his BS6 skills and tried another garage, here they found TPS to be dead.

I got fed up, and took it to my trusted relative's garage in Kolar, he had the bike for one day and figured out the root cause.

The TPS on Bajaj ECarburator has a setting called, IPS - Idle Position Setting. This needs to read 14% or more, in mine it was reading less.

They loosened the TPS and refit it slightly to the right, the TPS has a single bolt fitting setup, and the hole on the TPS is oval to allow us to adjust this particular setting.

Finally, one last ECM scan and clear codes are done. All thanks to Shekar Automobiles, Gowripete, Kolar. Since he has all the experience and the right tools, ECM scanner, code eraser, ignition coil testing equipment etc. things were smooth.

The return trip was in absolute rain and bliss to push the bike to 80+kmph on multiple occasions. The bike is super responsive between 70-90kmph. Although not a fan of riding fast, finally finding the almost new crisp throttle response was nice.

Also added a waterproof saddle bag and trust me this is very useful for carrying small items from the shop etc. or even for keeping a raincoat always in the bag.

[SS80]

It's been quite some time since I checked on the bike's chain, so decided to do some preventive maintenance. What I assumed was a simple task, actually took time.

I had to remove the items in the following order only then did the whole chain and sprocket become visible.

• Bottom Half x 2 bolts -10T spanner
• Top half x 2bolts - 10T spanner
• Front sprocket cover x 2bolts - 8 T spanner
• Gear shifter lever x 1bolt - 10 T spanner

Used diesel in a cup and an old toothbrush, and cleaned it as much as I could. Let the wheel spin in gear to shake off excess diesel, then use a big cloth and wipe away the wet chain thoroughly. Finally lubed the chain with fresh gear oil. Fit everything back in reverse order and now it's slightly smoother to ride than before.

The whole thing took about 45 minutes, totally worth it.

[SS80]

A big update guys. Sold my bike and upgraded to Pulsar 150 BS4 ABS Model. A new thread will be live soon. Do I miss my bike? A little bit yes.

Need for selling?
Work From Office resumed, clearly a 250km ride every week through the infamous pothole-ridden roads of Bangalore became quite a task. All my previous routes were towards airport/highways, now it's right into the city and rides got tiring with each day.

No major issues, but needed a slightly heavier bike, with better suspension and disc brakes.

Completed 600 km on the new ride. Car usage has dropped a lot as it's a pain to ride 50kms across Bangalore each day. Finally a Pulsar now enters my garage.