[JayPrashanth]

Throttleking,

Wow man. You are pretty lucky if your bull is that fast. Enjoy your ride.

Cheers,

Jay

[JayPrashanth]

Originally Posted by alter.e.go

Ok before I put money on the table for AVL 350.
I need to know. Can it be used to ride to work everyday ? Or rather can anything be done to beef up the reliabilty to make it commuter worthy

Are there any known Standard ( no pun intended ) issues which have known Standard fixes, which all bull owners ( AVL especially ) need to implement to make life easier.
Eg : the sprag clutch which quite a few have have a problem with.

Or is it just plain luck, that some bulls will be troublesome and some will lend themselves to the yoke easily.

Reason I ask is my place of work is kinda remote and the last 200 - 3.00 meters is a steep uphill and work hours are odd, leave at midnight
so If there are going to be recurrent break downs it will be difficult to find help at that hour/place .

Alter Ego,

Listen man, the Mach350 is one of the most reliable bulls around, save for a lemon in say about a lot of 100. And if you stick to the recommended maintenance schedules, it should be as reliable as the other commuters in town. Mechs obviously don't like it. Buy a new Mach350 rather than a used example.
Cheers,

Jay

[JayPrashanth]

Originally Posted by throttleking

Jay i faced similar problem after putting the Goldie, removed the rod from the bend pipe and removed the cat-con as well, now its doing awesome low revs as well as top end, it goes 140+ how about yours?

by the way i cut the goldie removed the baffle and put some glasswool, now the silencer sound really good

need check performance again as i got 18" in the rear now.

Throttleking,

How did you manage to remove the cat con from the bend pipe? I could only remove the hot tube that rests just before the bend pipe meets the muffler.

Cheers,

Jay

[throttleking]

Originally Posted by JayPrashanth

Throttleking,

How did you manage to remove the cat con from the bend pipe? I could only remove the hot tube that rests just before the bend pipe meets the muffler.

Cheers,

Jay

Jay Cat-con is not in bend pipe, its on the other side, i can post the picture to show you.

let me click some. meanwhile check with you mech

[lobojames9]

Same boat as alter.ego. I want to get a Machismo 350. But i surely cant get a new one as funds are not allowing. I have around 45-50k to spend. So thinking about a 2002 model Machismo. After JayPrashanths comments i'm feeling pretty confident( @jay: sorry although u suggest a new bike always, my budget limits me). So please point out a few things that i can look for while selecting a Machismo. Any special things to look for in an AVL engine that might cause problems?. What about the body? I'm asking because most parts seem to be chrome so was wondering if like there are scratches and stuff if it would be very expensive to touch up.

Thank you,
Please everybody please reply asap.

[alter.e.go]

lobojames - Someone correct me if I am wrong but I beleive the older Machismos 2002 / 2003 have more than their fair share of troubles.
With the first lot of 2003 models being pretty troublesome .
I would be looking for something more 2005ish and later.
I have collected a few things on what to look out in a second hand bullet, if interested give me your email I will send you.

Jay - yes your reply did boast my fledgling confidence as well.

[lobojames9]

@alter.e.go- I dint know about that. Then i might not buy the Machismo. As here in bangalore people are quoting 60 and above for 2005 Machismos. I would be very lucky if i get one in my budget. And you have a PM

@all: Can you all please confirm about the problem in the 2002 and 2003 machismo's. What were the problems?

[JayPrashanth]

Originally Posted by throttleking

Jay Cat-con is not in bend pipe, its on the other side, i can post the picture to show you.

let me click some. meanwhile check with you mech

Throttleking,

There is a cat-con apparently in the bendpipe, right in the bend. If you observe closely, you can see a bulge. I have removed the hot tube, but I don't know ho to remove the bendpipe since it is in a tricky spot. Now, you are saying that there is no catcon in the bend pipe. So, I'm a little confused now. Meanwhile, a solution to this is a header pipe of the older Machismo 350s, which costs about INR650. They don't have the cat con on.

Cheers,

Jay

[JayPrashanth]

Originally Posted by lobojames9

Same boat as alter.ego. I want to get a Machismo 350. But i surely cant get a new one as funds are not allowing. I have around 45-50k to spend. So thinking about a 2002 model Machismo. After JayPrashanths comments i'm feeling pretty confident( @jay: sorry although u suggest a new bike always, my budget limits me). So please point out a few things that i can look for while selecting a Machismo. Any special things to look for in an AVL engine that might cause problems?. What about the body? I'm asking because most parts seem to be chrome so was wondering if like there are scratches and stuff if it would be very expensive to touch up.

Thank you,
Please everybody please reply asap.

LoboJames,

The issue with a few of the older AVL 350s primarily have got to do with the cam wheel wearing out very fast. Apparently there were some quality issues as the materials used were inferior than what AVL had specified, especially in the engine. Then RE sorted it out with the second batch of AVLs. You need to take a reliable mech along with you and hunt around quite a bit till you find a real good machismo. About the chrome, you can't do much man. Usually in Bangalore, the chrome doesn't get tarnished soon, like say in the coastal areas. To be brutally frank, if you are looking at being frugal, the bullet isn't for you, especially second hand ones.

Cheers,
Jay

Cheers,
Jay

[lobojames9]

Originally Posted by JayPrashanth

LoboJames,

The issue with a few of the older AVL 350s primarily have got to do with the cam wheel wearing out very fast. Apparently there were some quality issues as the materials used were inferior than what AVL had specified, especially in the engine. Then RE sorted it out with the second batch of AVLs. You need to take a reliable mech along with you and hunt around quite a bit till you find a real good machismo. About the chrome, you can't do much man. Usually in Bangalore, the chrome doesn't get tarnished soon, like say in the coastal areas. To be brutally frank, if you are looking at being frugal, the bullet isn't for you, especially second hand ones.

Cheers,
Jay

Cheers,
Jay

Thanks Jay for the reply. I guess i'll stay away from the first batch of Machismos then. Any suggestions where i can go to find one? Any reliable mechanincs you know? And i'm being frugal only as far as buying the bullet. Thats where my father is spending so on a budget. But after that for maintenance and stuff i'm more than ready to bear the expenses.

Thanks,

Prashanth

[throttleking]

Originally Posted by JayPrashanth

Throttleking,

There is a cat-con apparently in the bendpipe, right in the bend. If you observe closely, you can see a bulge. I have removed the hot tube, but I don't know ho to remove the bendpipe since it is in a tricky spot. Now, you are saying that there is no catcon in the bend pipe. So, I'm a little confused now. Meanwhile, a solution to this is a header pipe of the older Machismo 350s, which costs about INR650. They don't have the cat con on.

Cheers,

Jay

there is a small pipe that goes in engine head, cat-con is there. i am sure can-con is not in bend pipe, thats what my mech told me.

[rageshbhaskar]

Hey Lobo,

I have been driving Bullet for more than 10 yrs , one modified and another standard.

Be careful if u are planning for an used one, engine and gearbox have to be checked thoroughly. try to get a bullet which has run regularly (there is no age for a bullet if its maintained and run well) . Standard is always better if you want to use it regularly as the position and the handle bar is well suited to give lesser problems to your back.

All the Best

[throttleking]

Originally Posted by JayPrashanth

Throttleking,

There is a cat-con apparently in the bendpipe, right in the bend. If you observe closely, you can see a bulge. I have removed the hot tube, but I don't know ho to remove the bendpipe since it is in a tricky spot. Now, you are saying that there is no catcon in the bend pipe. So, I'm a little confused now. Meanwhile, a solution to this is a header pipe of the older Machismo 350s, which costs about INR650. They don't have the cat con on.

Cheers,

Jay

Jay please refer to following pic, hope this helps

[lobojames9]

Originally Posted by rageshbhaskar

Hey Lobo,

I have been driving Bullet for more than 10 yrs , one modified and another standard.

Be careful if u are planning for an used one, engine and gearbox have to be checked thoroughly. try to get a bullet which has run regularly (there is no age for a bullet if its maintained and run well) . Standard is always better if you want to use it regularly as the position and the handle bar is well suited to give lesser problems to your back.


All the Best

Thank you Ragesh for the advice. One of the main reasons i am switching to a RE is the fact that my bike hurts when i ride and so hoping with the seating position of the RE my back will do a lot better on rides. I dont have any reason but i don want to buy a standard. For now, My heart says Machismo. But my mind has to do some thinking about it..

[JayPrashanth]

Originally Posted by throttleking

Jay please refer to following pic, hope this helps

That is the PAV(pulse air valve) man. I disconnected the entire shebang, binned it, and closed the cavity with a blanking nut on my LB500. The cat con and the hot tube sit in the opposite ends of bend pipe, which leads into the muffler. Meanwhile, have you blocked the PAV with a ball bearing or have you disconnected it completely?

Cheers,

Jay