[nasirkaka]

@ Naren:

Your suggestion about experimenting with various types of pipes on a calculated stretch makes sense. I already got 3 with me (the OEM bazooka, the upswept and a galss-wool type goldie). a friend has a spare short bottle. Will try them when i manage some time.
As you rightly said its about the PRM and not the road-speed. When on goldie, i was a little reluctant to keep the bike in higher RPM band in lower gears, as the sound use to get much louder/screamy, attracting lots of attention. In the upswept, i am able to keep the bike in higher RPM band. Never really used bazooka, guess its time to give it a shot.

Regarding stability, i remember reading somewhere about the rear shocks as one of the reasons. Your Experience with new rear shocks also confirms the same. How much would a new pair cost? I will try and fit the CI swing-arm bush in up-coming service. If the instability still persists, would explore the possibility of different rear shocks.

I have test driven both classic the 350cc one and the 500cc one. I like the 350cc as its better manageable. What i hear from the service guys is that the 500cc is difficult to maintain and will give you a headache when you go for long drives and is more unreliable than the 350cc. I would like your opinion on that. I am planning to book the vehicle and as there is already a 10 month long wait i would not want to delay it further. Thanks in advance
Cheers.

Classic 500 anyday.

When it comes to maintenance and manageability, all bulls have some or the other issues. With C5, at least you get some more power.

Nobody buys C5 in Chandigarh

Why so? (is not 'ASLI' bull)?

[adrian]

Originally Posted by hexanerax

Both the regular silencer and the upswept are ok in the sense that the exhaust valves will not wear out prematurely. The OEM silencer has a bit more restriction to flow and lower exhaust gas velocity ( and less noise) but it's main function is cleaning up unburned hydrocarbons from the exhaust which the upswept will not do.Considering the amount of soot in the exhaust , i wonder if the dual Cat Con silencer units will clog up as the miles mount. I run an upswept and have not babied my bike at all. Been running hi revs and speeds in a variety of terrain. I even did a Ladakh trip in June with a 100 Kg pillion rider + luggage , holding speeds of 120+ on the Punjab roads for long stretches and my valves are still good!

Thanks again Hexanerax,
I have decided to keep the regular silencer through out.

[hexanerax]

@ Nasirkaka - The gas shock absorbers are about 2200 for a pair. My dealer didn't charge me for them so that was cool. I would suggest that you change the shock absorbers before you change the bushes since that process is more cumbersome. You could even put in a set from some other enfield that you know are all right. Try to talk a friend into helping you. I am flying down to Bangalore for a month and may be able to help you with that. Let me know if you are interested.
Regards
Naren

[Randhawa]

@Nasir-Naren. It's not necessary to replace the rear shock unless they have leaked. You can always check the shock pressure first and if its below the recommended pressure then try filling it up and then if it still leaks pressure then go for the new ones.

The pressure on our rear shocks should be above 5bar and in between 6.5 to 7 bar. If it comes under 5bar then go for a replacement. But first get it checked from RE.

@Dr, Stnair-

Price of C5 in Chandigarh is Rs 1.29700+Rs 2700(insurance)+Rs100(Temp registration. The guys who transport the RE bikes to Chandigarh can be hired to take one from here and transport it back to Chennai on their way back. Wont cost you more then 5-10k.


Chandigarh is a small town with only three dealers of RE. Two of the dealership are owned by same guy. Sometime back he was awarded the top dealer of India for consecutive years for maximum no of sales.

Basically RE has a set no quota for every dealer and region. Its set by the sales figures of each individual dealer. So for instance if a dealer was shifting more then 50 bikes a month then he will get around 20 C5 a month and vice versa.

For e.g. if in Chennai there are more then 5 dealers then the total quota for whole lot of C5 will be divided individually and depending upon their sales will be given the no of C5's in a month.

Less competition and more bikes sold per month helps in shortest booking periods at a certain dealer.

At my dealer, people are coming from Mumbai to get their C5's and lot of Germans who are working here are getting them too.

[hexanerax]

Originally Posted by Randhawa

@Nasir-Naren. It's not necessary to replace the rear shock unless they have leaked. You can always check the shock pressure first and if its below the recommended pressure then try filling it up and then if it still leaks pressure then go for the new ones.

The pressure on our rear shocks should be above 5bar and in between 6.5 to 7 bar. If it comes under 5bar then go for a replacement. But first get it checked from RE.

@Dr, Stnair-

Price of C5 in Chandigarh is Rs 1.29700+Rs 2700(insurance)+Rs100(Temp registration. The guys who transport the RE bikes to Chandigarh can be hired to take one from here and transport it back to Chennai on their way back. Wont cost you more then 5-10k.


Chandigarh is a small town with only three dealers of RE. Two of the dealership are owned by same guy. Sometime back he was awarded the top dealer of India for consecutive years for maximum no of sales.

Basically RE has a set no quota for every dealer and region. Its set by the sales figures of each individual dealer. So for instance if a dealer was shifting more then 50 bikes a month then he will get around 20 C5 a month and vice versa.

For e.g. if in Chennai there are more then 5 dealers then the total quota for whole lot of C5 will be divided individually and depending upon their sales will be given the no of C5's in a month.

Less competition and more bikes sold per month helps in shortest booking periods at a certain dealer.

At my dealer, people are coming from Mumbai to get their C5's and lot of Germans who are working here are getting them too.

Randhawa, I didn't get my shock absorbers replaced because of a leak; The broken adjuster flange merited that replacement. A welcome side effect was the total cure of the shimmying instability that affected my EFI 500 @ 110 Kph. I didn't really investigate the reasons but i believe that there may have been a difference in the damping rates between both sides ( less oil? less gas? ) causing the sideways torsion in the swing arm. Worth looking into if the bike is unstable at high speeds.

[Randhawa]

Yes Naren, I know the reason why you got yours changed and I was just giving my thought.

I concur with you 100% about the rear shock theory and I was going to comment on that. You are only the second person who has come up with that though and I have gone through that process as well. It makes lot of sense but someone can hardly believe that it can cause instability.

In my experience with instability I also observed with even a 1mm movement of bushes of rear shock absorbers can create instability so alignment of the shock from the top mount to the swing arm mount is important.

As per your experience I had the same with front fork oil level too. When I first got the front fork oil level checked, I found 150ml in one leg and 170ml in second compared to 195ml specs. When I topped it up, it made the whole wobbly issue disappear. But funny thing with C5 is that there is no one set part where a you can check/adjust and cure the instability as sometimes changing the rear tyre will cure the instability for one but might not help an another C5 owner.

As you have found out that changing tyre size did not helped you but changing shocks helped. I think the C5 chassis is very precisely tuned and even a little bit of intolerance somewhere can cause a big issue.

Few times I had observed that after a puncture repair used to solve the instability issue for 1k or so then resurface again.

I think the main areas a C5 owner should concentrate to resolve the instability is at the rear without actually modifying anything. In my list to do is the bushes from CI bull and then tyre and shocks.

Rear shocks dont have much oil as the oil is there to only lubricate a bit and air pressure does the rest. In your case I guess it could be the inadequate air pressure in each as I have seen this problem on few TBTS. I gona check the pressure on mine but waiting for the replacement needle for the pressure checker at my RE workshop.

Hitchcocks -UK offers a replacement for the rear shocks but they are expensive and I cant find any alternative to the OEM ones and I feel they are not of a high quality. When you get to Bangalore, please do try to find if any good aftermarket shocks are available for our C5.

[ac 427]

dude i love your custom build. Its superb, and the best thing is its not 'trying' to be something else.

Kudos to your friends on the same. I guess custom builders should take a leaf out of your friends design and make the bullet chopper like a bullet chopper and NOT try to make then like how OCC makes them.

Cheers,
ac

[Endofdayz]

Hi All,

After reading suggestions from all and thinking have changed to Motul 300v 15w50 on my tbts twinspark. I rode 100 Kms till now. should say its been a very good upgrade on my bike. i have noticed very smooth gear shifting. engine noise has reduced. I suppose as i munch few more miles i can notice few more pointers.

Anyway update for the bangalore users. I didnot do any engine flush or something. drained the old oil put one 500 ml and started the bike. removed the oil and filled the oil back. it took 2.3 lts and still 300 ML left in the can.

it cost me 800 rs per lts from authorised dealer next to sandhya auto spares.

[EssYouWe]

^
That sounds about right. The price and the way of adding it. How much has your bull run?

The oil takes 400~500 kms to settle down. Do remember to let 'er rip a bit. You'll see a lot of difference at the top end. It is actually surprising the amount of difference engine oil can make.

Cheers!

[nasirkaka]

Changing to Motul 300V is one of the imp changes in my list of to-dos. Have read all good things about it. Hope its worth the cost.

Guess, FLUSING the old oil is an important aspect of changing from mineral to synthetic. Can anyone throw some light on the process of a fine flushing? Can it be done at home (the oil filter replacement), or would it be better to get it done at the service center? What should be the minimum kms on the odo for changing to synthetic?

[navpreet318]

You can use the flushing techinique listed above but just remember never to use any engine flush.Its safer to have some amount of old oil in your engine than a small amount of flush.It can harm the engine to a big extent.

[Endofdayz]

Originally Posted by EssYouWe

^
That sounds about right. The price and the way of adding it. How much has your bull run?

The oil takes 400~500 kms to settle down. Do remember to let 'er rip a bit. You'll see a lot of difference at the top end. It is actually surprising the amount of difference engine oil can make.

Cheers!

Yeah EssYouWe. I was also shocked and amazed the little thing it has done. I was not comfortable replacing oil myself. Read it as lack of tools. went to HSR services and did it. The service guy informed me that its impossible to remove the oil completely unless the part by part has been removed and cleaned. he claimed to have replaced many bikes with 300v with above procedure as i had listed.

My bike has run 12k kms now. but meter shows only 1200 kms. RE has changed my meter 4 times. the trip meter problem.

Even HSR guy after seeing the meter informed me that my warranty will be void. I said actually my bike has run 12k. he dint utter a word and replaced it.

[bradhey]

My bike has run 12k kms now. but meter shows only 1200 kms. RE has changed my meter 4 times. the trip meter problem.
Even HSR guy after seeing the meter informed me that my warranty will be void. I said actually my bike has run 12k. he dint utter a word and replaced it.

Very interesting to know that. My trip /mileage meter over reads by 5.5% that is actually the difference between the 19" and 18" wheel. I have verified several times that the distance shown by mile stones matches always with my 350's meter, but is over read by my 500 by the above number..........I am sure a 19" wheel will cure your problem, may be you should suggest this to HSR guys

[nasirkaka]

A bit off topic, but a simple request to all the C5 riders:

I got myself a TREK MTB (bicycle), to compliment my C5. Have been using the MTB for commuting to office, (14 kms a day) and for leisure short rides. Intentions were mainly mixing some physical exercise with commuting, added benefits i see is reduced petrol bills and a greener future.

The cycle takes approximately the same time (may be 5 mins extra) to reach office as the C5, in Bangalore traffic.

The difference in attitude of bikers towards cyclists, is what is disappointing. Bikers, including the puny lunas, treat cyclists like dirt on the road.

Requesting the riders here to be more tender and less aggressive towards the cyclists on the road, as cycling is a very simple solution to some real big problems. A lot more people would take up cycling, but dont as they consider it as DANGEROUS on INDIAN roads. A change in road attitude would surely see more cyclists on road, reducing the overall traffic footprint, and making the air healthier for all.

[stnair]

Originally Posted by nasirkaka

I got myself a TREK MTB (bicycle), to compliment my C5.....

Requesting the riders here to be more tender and less aggressive towards the cyclists on the road,.....

Request is approved. Now pictures please..