[pedrolourenco]

Originally Posted by masterChief007

I am planning to restore/resurrect my old CI bullet, which is lying in the parking unused and uncared for past 4-5 years.

Been there, done that.

- Do I regret?
Hell no.

- Will I do it again?
Hell no.

Originally Posted by HTC

My friend got his 80's bullet restored recently. Costed him close to 80k. Took quite some time. More than a year.

I did mine over 10 years ago. Bike costed me 15K. Restoration costed me 60K. Used the bike for 4 years and sold it for 95K.

I hunted for the bike for over a year as I wanted a bike with the old style registration. Finally got one (GDD 7021).

[masterChief007]

Originally Posted by pedrolourenco

Been there, done that.

- Do I regret?
Hell no.

- Will I do it again?
Hell no.

This is the summary of my experience too, somewhat restoring this and having a soft spot for this bike has stopped me from exploring other bikes which I would have loved to. I can keep maximum 2 motorcycles owing to financial and parking restraints. Hope to get a new one soon, preferable the new 390 Adv.

[masterChief007]

Originally Posted by BlackMambaXX

Wow!! good to see the old thumper still being used for long rides. ....I am planning to De-customize it to make it stock. Any workshop suggestions in and around Whitefield?

Yeah, few months back I rode to goa. Even though I did Ladakh/Umlingla/Sonmarg circuit this year, somehow the goa ride was more contemplative.

I am unaware of workshops in Whitefield but you will see a few mechanics details on this thread used by various BHPians, sadly none in Whitefield area.

[masterChief007]

The farewell ride - sort of :

Over the last year I rediscovered solo riding, mostly because there were nobody else I knew in my friends circle with such a hobby. Earlier I used to be apprehensive in my riding days and had always ridden in groups of at least 2-3 or more when there were more in my acquaintance who would join in for a long ride. With time you realize that problems can come and just going with the flow is the key to remain stress free. And if you want to freak out, you will freak out in three.

I had booked RE motoverse in 2023 but office commitments and other stuff in life kept me away from it. My plan was to ride to goa on the Bullet attend a day or two of the festival and be back. So when it got cancelled I planned to make that trip happen solo or otherwise.

So this year I decided that I should do this trip over a weekend, the plan was extremely simple. Go to the RE garage cafe have something there and then be back the next day. This year in the month of May I decided to give it a shot, even though whole of India was getting roasted and toasted I was steadfast to make the ride happen. Pushing 1400 kms in 2 days I felt would have been too much for the slow Bullet and that too in this heat things can go sour quickly.

To beat the heat I had frozen my water bladder overnight in the freezer, so much so there was cold water and ice throughout the day and even at the hotel in chitradurg I could savour iced water. Only drawback is that when you want to drink a bit more water, it won't be available as the rest of it is frozen





So started after my office work was wrapped up, I decided to work the rest of the hours from KSTDC chitradurga. It was hot if you stop, so I just kept riding at 70 kph via the STRR towards tumkur-sira-chitradurga. Took a break at a ccd near chitradurga as I started hearing some kit-kit-kit sound. With the sound more correlated to the wheel speed than engine RPM I diagnosed that it maybe due to the chain as when accelerating it used to disappear and when decelerating or when there is no tension on the chain it was fine.





Also the oil was leaking from the clutch case which is a regular feature as the gaskit for the clutch case is busted , like many things RE. The KSTDC chitradurga is a nice and peaceful property. Even though I have visited the place 2-3 times now, but never visited the fort !!! This is an amazing achievement. Reached the hotel in evening and had dinner. Next morning waited for the RE service center to open, they loosened the chain a little the noise went down but was not totally gone. So I had two options, turn back or push through. I decided to push through whatever happens.

Started from chitradurga at around 10.30 in the scorching heat and road through the glaring sun towards goa. I was doing fine with the heat but later in the day dust was the biggest problem. Drive through the highway till Hubbali was usual sedate riding at 70-75kph. Slowly got used to ignoring the kit-kit noise and enjoyed the ride.





Last trip in my car 2 times I had suffered via the ramnagar route (the usual route from Hubbali to goa), so decided on the chorla ghat. This route was however was dusty as hell due to lot of construction work, head to toe I got covered with dust and grime. Reached my hotel in goa after struggling through the city traffic at 8 pm. Quickly changed and had a bath and went for the garage cafe for some cold beverages and some starters.




The flying flea

After the dinner called up my friend and decided to meet the next day for breakfast. Will be meeting after 24 years after school. Lot would have changed but would have been fun to meet anyways. So slept off by 11.30 pm so as to start up my day by 6am. Morning with better lighting I did take this memorable pick, built indeed like a gun, a gun that jams often but still does it's work



As my friend works in south goa so had the opportunity to ride the empty streets of the morning to the tea point. After almost a hour of chating and catching up we parted and thus started a long way to home. This time around I decided to skip the Dharwad section altogether and jion up the NH via Tadas. The road was much pleasurable even though a bit desolate. But I had fun riding the empty road at snails pace (or Bullet pace whatever you may call it).

Passed through castle rock and durg and it was a scenic drive. Had to stop for a train crossing too. Castlerock I remember from the dudhsagar trek I did a long time back during monsoon.





Now after I rejoined the highway at Tadas the fun part was over and the grueling ride through the head started. The throat was dry and getting off from the saddle meant to be sweating in the heavy jacket. So kept riding and riding till I could not feel any moisture in my mouth. Stopped at a road side tea point, had a cream roll, two cups of tea and a litre and half of cold water. At around 9 pm I reached the Dobaspet STRR entry and I knew my ride was successfully done.



Why did I name it a farewell ride, well because I did plan not to make the Bullet push through to long riding days > 400 km. So did this dash of 1400km door to door and gave it a farewell party at the RE garage cafe !!

[masterChief007]

Long time no updates on this thread, so here is this one. Bike has done now around 11000 km post restoration, off late riding has been sporadic owing to the fact of getting surgeries done for a family member so had to keep helping them throughout the day every single day, and so no time for myself. Also work pressure has been at it peak and not letting go of the stress handle.

Both of these stressors were adding up and preventing me from destressing by going out for a longish ride. So a few weeks back somehow I managed by tweaking the caretaking duties a bit so I got a few hours to myself 11 am to 4 pm, and boy oh boy it was fun taking out the oldie after such a long time !!

Though the bike has been in use for office commutes, but hadn't tasted any highway for past month and half. So took it out to the usual STRR route, doing approx 240-250 kms at the odo. Just had one water stop and a few pics. Took the route STRR hoskote - dobaspet - makalidurga - ghati subramanya - devanahalli - hoskote and back.



Ghati subramanya was utterly crowded due to Sankranti festivities and I couldn't enjoy the ride in that section, took the bike behind nandi hills and through nandi town and rejoined STRR via Devanahalli.





This was a much needed break for me and the bike too !! Felt a lot more dopamine effects after the ride completed and all the accumulated stresses were washed out. So again back to caretaking and office work, till my next skiing break coming soon

[masterChief007]

DIY Puncture repair

So finally the day had come when I had to face the inevitable puncture, while I was going for a badminton session. In childhood we used to go to cycle shop and see punctures being fixed in minutes and I too got adept at the steps involved there. But a motorcycle tube is a different beast. Thus I sat on the petrol tank - almost, and rode the bike back home, rims/tubes be damned, I am not going to push this stuff around for 4 kms !!

So I decided to try my hand at repairing it. Though as after thought, the process is itself an easy once but I had too many apprehensions on whether I had all the tools - point to note : buy a multi-tool set with ratchet setup.

So here it goes:

Removing the wheel :

For me the easiest part was this. Just go into the right side and remove the stopper pin (a plier to press the wide ends and a thin screw to pull it from the loop), and the castle nut with a 24 mm spanner and WD40 in ample amount and fix a screw driver on the left side of the long axle to keep it from spinning.



Tools needed:
1. Plier and thin screw driver to pull the stopper pin
2. 24 mm open/ring/socket spanner to remove castle nut
3. screw driver to hold the long axle in place when removing the castle nut



As soon as you remove the chain adjuster, spacer, and some sort of washer (I have to figure this one out ) fell out of place. Collected the spacer and the washer and long axle in my toolbox.

Removing the wheel was not tough and I did it solo. Just jerk around with the wheel and when it falls to the ground tilt the bike still on main stand and maneuver it from the back mud guard. Some pushing and shoving, the rear wheel came out, and I though the tough part is over

Fixing the tube

Fixing the tube you need all the tools here:
1. 2 tire irons, bigger the better, I have 18 inches irons.
2. puncture motorcycle patches, self vulcanizing tube (Omni puncture kit)
3. tire inflator and water/soap solution.
4. oil pastel to mark the puncture spot
5. sandpaper to roughen the tube surface



Getting the tube out was a pain as I was trying to muscle it through, however that rarely works in any situation. So upon youtubing a gentleman's great advice to push the tyre into centerline on the opposite end of the tyre made the job much easy. And the tube was out in no time.

Inflated the tyre, dipped in a bucket of water and found 3 punctures. With oil pastels marked them and applied the vulcanizing solvent and let it dry out. Took out the patches from the kit and fixed them. Currently the tube is under test. Tried the bubble test and no bubbles are coming out as of now. Tomorrow will fix the wheel and go for a small ride.

Root cause analysis

If there is a puncture, you must find the cause, since I couldn't see any nails or pins instead tears I ran my hand gingerly inside the tyre and checked the rim. From one side the rim spoke cover on top of the rim (like how the tubeless conversion paste is applied) was out of place. So moved that back in line.

Another was inside the tyre some sharp edge was created, managed to sandpaper it down till smooth.

Though the process is a trivial in technical difficulty, however I would prefer not to take the hassle to do this activity on the road side at 45 degrees or at the low oxygen environs of the high himalayas. Always prefer a tubeless setup for ease of use.

... To be continued after the wheel is fixed.

[keroo1099]

I have removed the wheel but only to change the cush rubbers. Never attempted removing and patching a tube, so hats off to you.

[masterChief007]

DIY Puncture Repair Pt 2 ...

Finally ended up fixing the puncture 2 times. How one may ask, fixed the puncture the first time, tested the air retention and then when reattaching the tube to the wheel I may have mistakenly pinched and created secondary holes when using the tire irons. Went down and fixed the wheel only to see the rear wheel still losing air.

Redid the whole process the second time, this time after inserting the tube, filled it to 10 psi so that no welts are formed which can get pinched, this also helped with re-aligning the tyre with the rim and then this time around I was very careful of not pinching the tubes.

Filled it up to 30 psi overnight and tested if there is any leakage. Only once I was convinced, I got greased up all the disassembled moving parts and went in for fitting the wheel.

All problems can be solved with a rope of decent length and strength, a saying one of our instructors of mountaineering once told us. So did I, instead of calling for another person to hold the wheel when I adjust used a rope to hold it in place while I fine tune the fitting.



Finally after a bit of pulling and pushing the wheel, spindle and the split pin were in place and I did a smallish test ride. Did chain cleanup and lubing and adjusted the chain. Will take it out for badminton again



Mandatory tools for the whole process:
1. Multipurpose grease + gear oil for lubrication
2. 24 mm spanner
3. Screwdriver to hold the spindle in place
4. Rope - if you don't have a person to hold the bike and wheel when you adjust the cush rubber fitting the sprocket area.
5. 2-Tyre iron for removing tyres
6. Omni tube patching set (mini patches + sandpaper + self vulcanising solution)
7. tyre inflator
8. Muscles and drinking water -> if you plan to do solo like me then expect a lot of sweating in heat !!

[Shreeniwas]

Originally Posted by masterChief007

I am planning to restore/resurrect my old CI bullet, which is lying in the parking unused and uncared for past 4-5 years. I would appreciate any suggestions regarding what all work should I concentrate on such a bike.

Hey ! 👋

I'm planning to restore my Dad's 1980 Bullet. While searching, got this thread of yours. You have restored the bike and using it well which is good to see.

Can you please share the workshop and mechanic details from where you got it restored?

Thanks.

[masterChief007]

Originally Posted by Shreeniwas

Hey ! 👋

Can you please share the workshop and mechanic details from where you got it restored?

Thanks.

It's always great to see old motorcycles on the street. Riding the frantic and high octane ktm nowadays, it's mostly now a joyride on the bullet nowadays.

I got it restored in art of motorcycles, audigodi. I get it serviced there and it has been working like a charm. They are however a bit expensive. But since it is not a primary motorcycle now, will have to do lesser maintainance going forward. All touring duties are now on the ktm.