[Rennjit]

ok., i'll wait. Meantime let me ask, are the rider foot pegs spaced equally from center line to either sides? In Electra/LB' the LH side peg is positioned way out (~1.5") in comparison to RH side. have a look from rear or top while on main stand.

[Mpower]

Damn that front wheel looks really tiny! What is it a 17" ?

[GreaseMonk]

They're both 18 inchers.
(That's what she said).

[shivshanker]

@Randhawa,

The plugs bring back fond memories of my CI500 which I bought in 2005. Try speaking to Vikram in Madras, he is helpful.

Atleast in the CIs the air mix screw has to be right.. else blown plugs is what you get.

also, try and keep the oil in the sump at cold temps to be at 80% below the specified levels. This method has helped me save a lot of oile being burned.

More importantly, ahve changed to Iridium plugs and Synthetic oils, makes a lot of diff.

Ride Safe.

[JayPrashanth]

Randhawa,

Gorgeous pics. Coming to the seat, a seat maker whom I know advised me not to go for springers as they tend to sag a bit on long rides. One more indicator of the CLs being built more with the city slickers in mind. Instead, saddles would be a better bet. Also have you made any change with respect to the position of the handlebar? Looks a little forward tilted to me.

Cheers,

Jay

[Randhawa]

@Mpower-They are 18 F/R. I checked it with RE and the air temp sensor is not integrated into MAP.

@Rennjit- Yes indeed it is a bit out compared to RH peg.

@shivshunker- I dont think it's a good idea to keep oil that low considering booth the chamber's and crank sump(splash lubrication for crank) share the same oil plus the head as well. UCE design is different from CI so the same theory doesn't apply here. Either your rings were gone or valve seal and that would be the cause of your oil consumption.

I have moved the handle a wee bit backwards which raises the handle from sides hence the look.

It's hard to get hold of the OEM plugs so cant think of Iridium plugs for her. Tried getting permission from RE to use synthetic oil but got denied. They have not tested their bikes with synthetic oil so cant give me permission. Have to wait till my warranty is over only then I'll go for synthetic oil.

@Jay- Next time I go for a long ride I'll check for sagging of the springs. May be thats what makes the seat uncomfortable on long rides. Nice one
Saddles would be a better bet but with that you will have to change the handle as well. With the OEM wiring, it's not possible to do so. Too short for a bigger handle. Machismo handle is perfect for this bike but that means swapping the brake pipe and rest from machismo and some Jugad for the accelerator cable as well.

[GreaseMonk]

So what is the issue with the picture?

[Randhawa]

Hint-Some part of this bike is indirectly causing me physical pain. Although if I was a guy of big built then it would have not matter much.

[Rennjit]

how do you suppose us to identify "indirect" cause of physical pain from a picture ?

[deepikins]

Originally Posted by JayPrashanth

Randhawa,

Gorgeous pics. Coming to the seat, a seat maker whom I know advised me not to go for springers as they tend to sag a bit on long rides. One more indicator of the CLs being built more with the city slickers in mind. Instead, saddles would be a better bet. Also have you made any change with respect to the position of the handlebar? Looks a little forward tilted to me.

Cheers,

Jay

Originally Posted by Randhawa

@Mpower-
@Jay- Next time I go for a long ride I'll check for sagging of the springs. May be thats what makes the seat uncomfortable on long rides. Nice one
Saddles would be a better bet but with that you will have to change the handle as well.

randhawa, back pain after long rides on the spring loaded seats are pretty common. lots of riders complain of the same. in fact my seat was earlier spring loaded and i had huge issues with pain in my shoulder and lower back.
i changed to a normal split seat and have had no issues on rides after that. did a 280 km ride a week ago and did not complain of a single ache..

[iron]

@randhawa
is it the heel n toe shifter thats causing the pain?

[Randhawa]

OK here it goes

It's the center stand. If you go and have a look at the new C5 at the dealers, you will notice the rear tyre sitting few inches up in the air. Their C stand will be almost straight looking from the side and hardly any effort is required to get it off the stand.

Now in the picture you can see mine is almost touching the ground and the center stand has moved more then two inches forward.

Resulting in a big effort to get off the stand. I have literally scratched 1/4 of my driveway with the stand. I am neither skinny nor a huge guy. I have to really pull hard to get it off. I weight 74kg and I have to pull twice the weight sideways. That is a very incorrect posture for your back for that kind of work. It has caused me severe pains in my back to a extend that I am now avoiding to ride the bike for last two days.

[RECL350]

Originally Posted by Randhawa

OK here it goes

It's the center stand. If you go and have a look at the new C5 at the dealers, you will notice the rear tyre sitting few inches up in the air. Their C stand will be almost straight looking from the side and hardly any effort is required to get it off the stand.

Now in the picture you can see mine is almost touching the ground and the center stand has moved more then two inches forward.

Resulting in a big effort to get off the stand. I have literally scratched 1/4 of my driveway with the stand.

@Randhawa - Mine is same case, but i never bothered till today; it never came to my mind, bike is so heavy I thought this is how it is. I have made it a habit now to park at just one particular place inside building. There are 6 other bikes including a RD350 none of them scratch floor like this. Is there a solution ?

[Randhawa]

@RECL350-
The weird part is that the tilting process of the stand is slow compared to any other problem which we might notice straight away. I was not even aware of the problem and I kept thinking I must have gone weak hence I cant get the bike off the stand so easily. Try a new CL at the dealer, it is then you will get the surprise. Our brain adapts to changes so well hey.

I was at the RE workshop getting something else sorted when I accidentally looked at another C5's rear tyre gap off the ground. I left the issue I was trying to sort out earlier and spent literally rest of the day taking measurements and even swapping a new stand from another C5 to figure out the reason for it. With the help of an RE engineer we came out with some usual alternative to get things right.

The most common thing you will hear is "oh all the bullets have the stands like this after some time". May be people are not fussy about things like me and RE will keep designing stands like this just to make people realize how solid their bikes are.

Solution are plenty to choose from;
Easy one is to weld a 4mm plate under the existing plate on chassis where the stand pin rests when the bike is on c stand. The thickness of the plate will be same for you if your stand (the round disc which you put the pressure on) is touching the ground. Otherwise you will have to do some trials to get the right adjustment or run the risk of bike falling over.

But thats a good jugad which I am not fond off. I rather take care of the cause of the problem then curing it with some other alternatives. I didn't get the time to work on the cause of the problem(just need to take some measurements) but once I am done only then I'll write up the cause and cure of it. Just trying to find a easy way out for my fellow CL comrades.

[Randhawa]

Good news for Classic Owners on center stand issue.

Now what was wrong initially- The bracket of center stand which is welded on to chassis was not strong enough to tolerate the weight of the bike+ rider when on stand. It was twisting a bit and creating a tilt down words resulting in center stand moving forward and not going back to its desired height.

I am quite happy to say that RE has acted very swiftly and done the right thing to make some changes to the stand bracket.I didn't realize the changes which they have already done it on TBTS and Classic till today.

What has been modified. If you look at the first picture, you will see the empty short space marked with red boxes. It was a week point for the stand holding bracket. The pressure points were the welding joints of the stand bracket which hardly had any support.

To counter the weak point, RE has added two small pieces of metal to provide it more support and strengthened the center stand bracket. As shown in 2 picture with red boxes. You can compare booth the pictures and see yourself the changes.

Who has been effected If your center stand frames look like the first picture then you are effected but not necessarily. IF your rear tyre is not touching the ground or you do not have any difficulty in taking your bike off the stand then don't bother. You will be just fine if you take care that no soul sits on your bebe while she is resting on center stand.

Is there any help for effected one?-Yes. RE has redesigned or should I say made a small adjustment on the center stand to help our panicking souls. I am again happy that what they had done is exactly I was going to do to my stand as I did not wanted any modification on the chassis.

If you look at the third picture, you will see a pin on the stand. If you raise that pin around 3-4mm upwards then your bike's posture will be as good as new, Kapish.