[DragonHawk]

Originally Posted by h@r$h@l

Gave the bull a diwali wash today. Got a shampoo and wax from reliance mart and gave it a good make over.

Ready for the festive period. Tried to scrub out a lot of rust. Did mange to get rid of fair amount.

A few pics for reference. I forgot to take pics of the "before" state. Would have been a nice comparison. Toom me a good 2 hrs. Was fun.
Regards,

Clearly your bull looks like just out of showroom, good job!

I had written to Customer service of Royal Enfield and they informed that neither DS or Other Classic 500s have a 20L tank.

There is a need to clear the air regarding CL5 tank capacity because AFAIK tank shape is different when I compared it with CL350. Let me catch hold of brand store manager once he back from diwali vacation.

[akshay4587]

Originally Posted by man_of_steel

I have seen a couple of DS with wider tanks, when asked the showroom guys and the mechanic said there is no bump in the capacity and its just a change in the shape of the tank.

That does not make sense at all,why will they change shape,without any bump in the capacity?

[man_of_steel]

Originally Posted by akshay4587

That does not make sense at all,why will they change shape,without any bump in the capacity?

May be some one in the design department managed to convince his supervisor about this. Jokes apart, now the bike looks seriously bulky compared to the old one.

[Fullrevs]

Down payment made. Intimation from Bank regarding finance received. Just waiting for RE to send the insurance details, engine number and chassis number so the banks can transfer the funds. Hopefully my DS 500 will be with me this week. Its been a long 9 months.

[Majumdarda]

Originally Posted by Fullrevs

Down payment made. Intimation from Bank regarding finance received. Just waiting for RE to send the insurance details, engine number and chassis number so the banks can transfer the funds. Hopefully my DS 500 will be with me this week. Its been a long 9 months.

Congratulations and looking forward to read the initial ownership experience from you. Please start the thread as soon as possible, with lots and lots of images. Keeping my eyes wide open to start reading the same as soon as it is posted.

Drive safe

[ku69rd]

Originally Posted by man_of_steel

May be some one in the design department managed to convince his supervisor about this. Jokes apart, now the bike looks seriously bulky compared to the old one.

Yes the new Classic 350 & 500 have had a change in their tank design. If you look closely they have made it rubber mounted and not the earlier screw on types. This however does not mean they have increased the tank's capacity.

On the contrary they were able to free up space for routing the cables underneath the tank much more easily which should enhance the cable lfie as well as they have more freedom and are not constrained to a limited area.

With the rubber mountings the tank should vibrate less and also means that one need not keep tweaking the mechanicals to ensure the tank is fastened. The new tank will have a screw only at the end near the seat.

Apologies as I do not have the snaps to put forth a better explanation. This was earlier rolled out in Desert Storm.

One of improvements in the right direction for the Classics manufactured in their new facility.

[DragonHawk]

Originally Posted by ku69rd

Yes the new Classic 350 & 500 have had a change in their tank design. If you look closely they have made it rubber mounted and not the earlier screw on types. This however does not mean they have increased the tank's capacity.

On the contrary they were able to free up space for routing the cables underneath the tank much more easily which should enhance the cable lfie as well as they have more freedom and are not constrained to a limited area.

With the rubber mountings the tank should vibrate less and also means that one need not keep tweaking the mechanicals to ensure the tank is fastened. The new tank will have a screw only at the end near the seat.

Apologies as I do not have the snaps to put forth a better explanation. This was earlier rolled out in Desert Storm.

One of improvements in the right direction for the Classics manufactured in their new facility.

Thanks mate for clearing the air!

One learning I got from this is don't trust the showroom guys blindly . Next time when I visit the showroom I will have a detailed look and perhaps will educate the brand store personal about this.

Definitely it is a welcome sign towards improving the product quality and I hope RE will take such initiatives more which will help the user community.

[nasirkaka]

The parts were superior and unadulterated. I am a guitar player, even with the new technology these days, the guitar made are JUNK, from left over wood and what not, Same stands true for guitar amplifiers, those were made with Vacuum tubes those days, and they sounded so sweet.

So true. I am not an audiophile, but recently i bought a fancy looking expensive harmonica as a gift for my dad. Hes said its rubbish, and his very old one (i think he mentioned japan made), is much superior.

Everything changes so fast these days.. like you said, time and patience are scarce. Earlier a motorcycle use to last in a house for more then a generation well supported by quality materials, now in last 12 years, i have changed 5 bikes. possibly the expected life of products have decreased, and so have the quality.

Thanks for replying, I'm not considering the conversion because I have problems with the bike. Having owned the bike for a while now, the urge to tinker and modify it is surfacing slowly. I saw a very nicely done up C5 passing me a while back, stripped down to its bare bones and looking very nimble.

i guess there is enough scope to tinker around with the bike wrt body line changes, etc so keep your urges satisfied. If money permots, u can play around with carbs as well, after all its a totally reversible mod.

interesting news: harley is unveiled two new motorcycles with lower capacity engines for emerging markets, most probably will be made in India.
HARLEY DAVIDSON STREET 500 and 750. May give some sleepless nights to our folks at RE, if priced well.


http://www.autocarindia.com/auto-new...er-363052.aspx

[bhasker]

Originally Posted by sudipta

I will be going for a oil change soon on my RE Classic Chrome (UCE 500). I found the following information from Shell India website. I will go with the 15W-50 but the other grades seems to be API-SM and JASO-MA2 (instead API-SL and JASO-MA as per the manual). Please let me know if you think I can go ahead with this engine oil and if there will be any issue apart from the extra price.

Hi sudipta,

I have a 2013 Thunderbird 350. I wanted to change the engine oil on 2nd service and was keen to try Shell engine oils. But the problem is that only 10W40 oil is available in their Shell Advance Series of motorcycle oils. This is no way closer to our bike's specifications.

Whereas, a 20W50 oil is available in Shell Helix series of car oils. I feel a little skeptical about putting car oil in motorcycle. But the Shell petrol station guys say that it will work perfectly fine with Royal Enfields.

I just now read your post about a 15W50 available in Shell oils and would like to know about it. Could you please share more info on this and provide the contact info of the person concerned ?

Regards

[sudipta]

Originally Posted by bhasker

Hi sudipta,

I have a 2013 Thunderbird 350. I wanted to change the engine oil on 2nd service and was keen to try Shell engine oils. But the problem is that only 10W40 oil is available in their Shell Advance Series of motorcycle oils. This is no way closer to our bike's specifications.

Whereas, a 20W50 oil is available in Shell Helix series of car oils. I feel a little skeptical about putting car oil in motorcycle. But the Shell petrol station guys say that it will work perfectly fine with Royal Enfields.

I just now read your post about a 15W50 available in Shell oils and would like to know about it. Could you please share more info on this and provide the contact info of the person concerned ?

Regards

It was a mistake from me as I too read it wrong. They don't have any motorcycle oil for our spec. The only way forward is Motul. I did change it this time with the company provided Liquid gun oil which came in a separate plastic can of 2.5 lit. I need to find a Motul dealer at Hyderabad so that in my next oil change I can move to Motul 5100 4T 15W50 (Semi-synthetic).

[Pankaj_Ahlawat]

Originally Posted by nasirkaka

interesting news: harley is unveiled two new motorcycles with lower capacity engines for emerging markets, most probably will be made in India.
HARLEY DAVIDSON STREET 500 and 750. May give some sleepless nights to our folks at RE, if priced well.


http://www.autocarindia.com/auto-new...er-363052.aspx

Thank God for a relatively affordable, high GC, comfy and yet ever stylish Harley. Feels the same when fortuner was too far for my budget and God sent the XUV.

The current entry model has very low GC and dosent convince somehow to go for it, however the 750 seemingly packs enough conviction to go for one.

[man_of_steel]

Originally Posted by nasirkaka

interesting news: harley is unveiled two new motorcycles with lower capacity engines for emerging markets, most probably will be made in India.
HARLEY DAVIDSON STREET 500 and 750. May give some sleepless nights to our folks at RE, if priced well.

Good news indeed. As it is made in India, it wont be attracting too much of the neck hacking import duties from our govt. But still it should be in the higher side of 3 Lacs territory for sure.

Originally Posted by bhasker

Whereas, a 20W50 oil is available in Shell Helix series of car oils. I feel a little skeptical about putting car oil in motorcycle. But the Shell petrol station guys say that it will work perfectly fine with Royal Enfields.
Regards

IMO, there is no oil specific to car and bike. Just make sure you use the correct spec oil. In REs you can use either 15W-50(IIRC, likes of Castrol GTX and Motul) or 20w-50 like the shell Helix. I have used shell Helix 20w-50 for the past one and a half years for topping up my RE. It is very well suitable.

This is the container


Anybody know the spec of the new 'Liquid Gun' oil used by the ASC-s?

[bhasker]

Originally Posted by man_of_steel

IMO, there is no oil specific to car and bike. Just make sure you use the correct spec oil. In REs you can use either 15W-50(IIRC, likes of Castrol GTX
Anybody know the spec of the new 'Liquid Gun' oil used by the ASC-s?

Thanks for clearing the air, man_of_steel.
The specification of Royal Enfield's new 'Liquid Gun' engine oil as same as the Motul 5100 15W50. It is also 15W50, API SL and JASO MA graded. I had confirmed this from the ASC Manager and it is also specified in my Thunderbird 350's owner manual.

I had a few more questions.
1) Are there any advantages of using Shell engine oils over other oils, like smoother engine, or more power, or better fuel economy, or better engine sludge cleaners, as advertised by companies ?

2) Is Shell Helix HX3 20W50 better than Motul 5100 15W50 ? And which one would be better, if we don't consider the viscosity grades and just compare the other benefits ?

[ArizonaJim]

@ man_of_steel

Looking at the Shell Helix HX3 data, it appears this oil is a regular non-synthetic oil. Nowhere did it say it meets the requirements of JASO MA, MA1 or MA2.

I didn't see which Royal Enfield you are using this oil in. If it is one of the old Iron Barrels or a AVL Lean Burn it should work fine.

If it is one of the new UCE models that shares its engine oil with the primary drive and wet plate clutch it may cause a problem with the wet plate clutch.
I also question if this oil is adequate for lubricating the gears in the transmission.

As for me, I'll continue to use a motorcycle specific synthetic oil which meets the JASO specification.

Happy riding.

[man_of_steel]

Originally Posted by ArizonaJim

@ man_of_steel

Looking at the Shell Helix HX3 data, it appears this oil is a regular non-synthetic oil. Nowhere did it say it meets the requirements of JASO MA, MA1 or MA2.

I didn't see which Royal Enfield you are using this oil in. If it is one of the old Iron Barrels or a AVL Lean Burn it should work fine.

If it is one of the new UCE models that shares its engine oil with the primary drive and wet plate clutch it may cause a problem with the wet plate clutch.
I also question if this oil is adequate for lubricating the gears in the transmission.

As for me, I'll continue to use a motorcycle specific synthetic oil which meets the JASO specification.

Happy riding.

@Arizonajim

Yes its a regular mineral oil. In the bottle it is mentioned that it meets API SG/CD spec. IIRC it is mentioned on the manual that we should go for API/JASO specification. I am not sure about the 'SG/CD' part of the specification. Please throw some light on it.

And the Enfield I have is a Thunder bird Twinspark (UCE350).
[EDIT:] The Enfield I 'had'.. Finally sold him yesterday after 4 years of companionship.

Thanks.