[dinar]

I have seen a apache keep up with an esteem on highway with these tyres [was driving the esteem] and the bike handled man. We where amazed by the bikes stability at 110 kmph. the bike was all stock. The OEM tyres on the shogun were far different from what TVS have in thier portfolio now.
The price of Maxxis estimate I do not know the price now. Was 1300 when I got them.
Is your bike stock? or any mods?

[Raccoon]

You are talking about Maxxis shoes on the Apache, right??

My Shogun is fully stock. Have not needed to replace anything over the years, except rubber parts like fuel/oil hoses, air filter (once), 3-4 batt straps, speedo cable (once), spark plugs (twice), etc. Even these things are all TVS stuff, down to the last hose wire clamp, fuel filter, etc.

[dinar]

Originally Posted by Raccoon

You are talking about Maxxis shoes on the Apache, right??

NO, the Apache has the new "TVS" tyres on them, pretty good on the bike, the Apache has similar characteristic to the shogun [not light] but handling wise, so those tyres may be good on the shogun.
You should try, 4 point spark plugs from Bosch, I used them quit a lot , the bike pulls more cleanly, millage increases ,not much but it's added benefit[after fiddling with the setting].
Is your bike with the cat con silencer?

[Raccoon]

Sounds great! I guess Apache will have tubeless tyres of a different size. Hope I can get similar tubed tyres for the gun's OEM size.

You mean the quad electrode spark plugs, right? Technically, more electrodes have not been found to be of any benifit. After all, arching is possible only at a place near the ground electrode which is at least distance from the other electrode. More electrodes however should give a longer working life, and the electrode distance would remain in the correct range for longer.

On the other hand, I have found a very significant benifit in keeping my single electrode plug gap v precisely within the recommened range. I'v seen/heard of VERY few people of mechanics doing this correctly. Till now I'v only used NGK plugs, bought from the TVS dealership.

When you say that you got better performance and mileage from the quad electrode Bosch plugs, are you comparing them to a precisely adjusted and clean single electrode plug? I suspect the difference you found must have been because you compared a correctly adjusted (and possibly new) quad electrode plug to a wrongly adjusted (and possibly old) single electrode plug.

Would you or anybody else remember how to tune the Shogun's Mikuni carburettor correctly? I had done that ages ago with good results (but have forgotten the method now)... until the TVS supervisor messed it up the last time I gave the bike to them.... despite the fact that I made him do it with a tachometer. The fuel efficiency has gone for a total toss since then... :(

No, my gun does not have a catcon.

[lohithrao]

Raccon why dont you try TVS Jumbo? i have it on my bull and it rocks! my wheel size is 18...

i loved my shoGUN with the catcon felt it roared much better with it

[hrag]

Carb setting / tuning: (what I use for my KB125 and previously for the KB100)

1. Set idling rpm sufficiently high (2000 rpm) for engine to run
after step 2 below
2. Turn air screw in completely (rpm drops after this)
3. As you turn the air screw out, the rpm increases slowly until a
point (LOW) where it remains constant. If you keep turning the air
screw out, the rpm stays constant until a point (HIGH) where it
starts dropping again.
4. As per above, my bike's air screw is set at the LOW position
5. Then set idling rpm to 1250 rpm (replace with the Shogun's rpm)

(This is similar to the carburettor setting procedure mentioned in
the KB100 RTZ service manual which I bought from Bajaj Auto Limited
in 1995).

The factory setting is usually at the HIGH point. The LOW setting is for a little more pep on the stock setup. Anywhere between LOW and HIGH will be fine.

Hope this helps.

Edit: I'm assuming the needle position and the sizes of the main jet & pilot jet are stock / OEM.

[chiragh_bir]

@ dinar ..can you tell the actual model number of maxxis tyre

bit off topic : a friend of mine is using Vm 26 carb on his shogun with UNI filter if you need one of these let me know

[Raccoon]

Thanks a heap hrag, that will help. So Bajaj mentions all this in the owner's manual?? Thats awesome... wish other copanies make their manuals so comprehensive.

Everthing on my bike is stock... the needle position too, unless some %$@&! mechanic messed with it in the past.

I found Mikuni VM carburettor manual on the Mikuni site. Hope this applies for the Shogun's VM 20 SS carburettor. Have attached the pics as I wasnt able to copy the text here.

As far as I understand it, it seems there are 2 steps - once when you set the idle screw higher and find the LOW and HIGH point, like you mentioned, and then do it again after you lower the idle screw to what is specified... ie. 1,500 RPM, as per Shogun's user manual.


Lohitrao, thanks, I will definitely try and have a look at the Jumbo. As for the Catcon, I'v heard that non-catcon bikes give a slightly better performance, as the impediment caused by the catcon isn't there. Not sure how true that is in real.

[parimal_g]

[COLOR=black]you can try MRF zapper Y Series for Rear 3.00 *18 which is stock and little broader than other tires and has very good wet grip also ,and zapper y 2.75 for front..both are v good for Suzuki Shogun..i was using the same for my Bike..Ow if you can stretch you Budget go for Michelin any day better than brands available in INDIA.[/COLOR]

[dinar]

Originally Posted by chiragh_bir

@ dinar ..can you tell the actual model number of maxxis tyre

bit off topic : a friend of mine is using Vm 26 carb on his shogun with UNI filter if you need one of these let me know

DO not remember the model buddy, but will see I can find any bills or anything in the shogun stuff I have . but doubt it.

As for tuning it's simple warm the bike, than turn the air screw clockwise to completely close it. than from there turn 1 and a half turn. start the bike since it switches off, than tinker with the idle screw to get the idle to 1200-1500 rpm. your done.
In shogun the 4 electrode spark plug gave a clean burn of the mixer, as the there are more possibility for a stronger spark due to more electrodes. I have found the bike gave a consistent millage/performance and setting of the plug did not need much adjustment. I had the bike modded [guesstimate was it produced 18 bhp by the TVS engineers].
NON cat con bikes had slightly better performance [not much] the bike revved much freely. but the sound was glorious. TVS did not do anything new just added a cat con to get the emission down.

[praJEEP]

See if you can lay your hands on Zapper Q 90/90 x 18. its one of the best.

[Raccoon]

Dinar, are you suggesting a 1 & half turn for all Shoguns?? This dosen't work on my bike at least. I just checked yesterday, and found that the TVS supervisor has set it to about the same... slightly less in fact! Fact is, as I turn out the screw after 1 and half turns, the RPM is going up appreciably... & so is the fuel efficiency. In the entire life of my bike, not a single TVS supervisor, including the company engineer has set it correctly... sigh!

What I have heard from them is nonsense like you arent supposed to look at a Shogun's fuel efficiency. But when the bike CAN give better fuel efficiency by tuning it correctly, whats wrong with that?? Its beyond me!

I will consider a quad electrode Bosch plug (hope its available for the gun) next time I need to replace it... if it isnt too pricy (any idea about the price?). But I really doubt it will make a difference over a correctly adjusted normal plug. You haven't mentioned what you are comparing it with...

Now I'm confused with the Zapper thingy... some are recommending it, some not... or is it that Y is better than Q or thats worse than "X"... or what??

[dinar]

Ok, if you can get good efficiency than you should try to get more turns, No problem, just check is the engine gets heated more than usual, thats one big issue with shogun. the engine was designed and tuned only for power nothing else, so the service guys use the best setting they feel is good for power [even if fuel is wasted]. and by the way the bike is originally set at close to sea level and hence the setting in the manual and training to the ervice guys. I had same trouble when I use to take my bike to collage, from goa. ahd to tune it every time after reaching belgum. than when I came for vacation down to goa the bike needed tunning. The spark plugs are comapred to the stock once.
Again coming to the topic of tyres , it's a simple choice if you are going to traval only on highways [majority of time] than get MRFs ,nothing beats them in dry and smooth surface, but if your going to traval on bad roads and going to take the bike out in wet than stay away from MRF zappers [don't know about the new pattrens launched], get ceat or TVS or dunlop,since price a factor, if not than simple Maxxis,Michelin or pirelli price any where from 2500/- to 10,000 rispectively.

[Raccoon]

Thanks Dinar. I'v never had engine overheating problems. I guess the long fins do their job quite well. And as of now, I mosty use bikes only in the evenings and nights... when temp. is much lower... so that could be a factor too, in me hardly experiencing a really hot engine.

I wont be travelling on highways most of the times. Most of the times its on city roads, which are esp. horrible, especially during monsoons. And yes, that means performance in wet is VERY important. The stock tyres are worse than horrible in this area... so if I go for replacement tyres which are bad in this regard too, then it negates the purpose of changing them! I guess I'll just stay away from Zappers.

[hrag]

Yes, Zappers are best avoided (not sure about newer patterns, my posts are based on the original Zapper pattern).
Nylogrip / Spectrawide / Secura are your best bet.