[Sayan15]

Originally Posted by TheVaas

If you intend to mostly ride/tour/go distances with pillion (your wife) then I'd suggest making a visit to an experienced seat maker in your area and try and get the 'contouring of the pillion seat' (lessening the width and shaping the edges) as per your wife's comfort. Sometimes even shaving off/reducing a few mm can do wonders.

This might also help enable the pillion's thigh to grip the rider (aka sportsbike pillion stance) in case of sudden brake or jerks. Also, can ease the windblast because the legs can be tucked in better.

Obviously all this post-lockdown or whenever the relaxations enable such outings

Thanks for the suggestion on seat. Will definitely watch out for a good seat maker. However, the seat is just half of the story. The pillion foot pegs of Wee are jutted out by several inches, that too unevenly for left and right sides. That, coupled with the super wide pillion seat results in an unnatural posture and can make a short person uncomfortable. Pillion seating posture of Himalayan feels more natural in my case. Below comparison pics should clarify what I mean. I may have to get custom footrest brackets made later on. Let's see once the market opens up.

Cheers,
Sayan

[kozhissery]

It has been long time since the last update.
This Covid has hit hard on every aspect of life. My bike has been sitting idle for a long time. Hardly it has seen any road, may be a total of 250 kilometers in the last 5 months. The last long trip (at least 100 kilometres) was done way back in the first week of March.
While backing up photos of phone noticed the shots taken during my ride to Kalakkad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve which was done in first week of March.
This is was an unplanned trip. On a Friday a colleague mentioned about this place and said to be good. I had no idea what to expect, how to go etc, only knew that it was somewhere near Thenkashi which is about 100 kilometers or so from where I live. After coming home just searched the place in internet and found to be about 150 odd kilometers away so decided to go on the next day itself.
Woke-up by 6AM, had heavy breakfast and started by 7am. As Covid scare had just started, I had decided not to enter any hotels and will have food after returning back. The plan was for couple of hours ride to explore the place and visit next time for detailed exploration.
Filled the tank on the way and rode non-stop to Agasthiyar falls. Reached there before 10AM, parked the bike and explored nearby. Everywhere people were taking bath, so decided not to venture and continue riding to next destination.

Way to Agasthiyar Falls


Way to Agasthiyar Falls


River@Agasthiyar Falls


River@Agasthiyar Falls


Next decided to visit Kalakkad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve which is about 10 kilometers from the fall. Enjoyed the ride inside the forest. At couple of places stopped the bike and rested/enjoyed the scenery without a single view of animals (other than monkeys).

Inside Tiger Reserve


Inside Tiger Reserve


Inside Tiger Reserve


Inside Tiger Reserve


After about 1.5 hours inside the forest, decided to return back. On the way had some Ice Apple (fruit of Palm tree, in Malayalam/Tamil it is known as Pananungu/Nungu) for lunch.

Somewhere near Thenkashi


Somewhere near Thenkashi


Somewhere near Thenkashi


After that rode almost non-stop to home.
In short did a 350 odd kilometres in about 8 hours, now re-living the experience through the photos

[Sayan15]

Sad to hear about Beaky being unable to see much road. Her brother Koyo, on the other hand, has resumed his one day weekend trips here in Vadodara. Since opening up, he has clocked some 700 km so far.

[kozhissery]

Originally Posted by Sayan15

Sad to hear about Beaky being unable to see much road. Her brother Koyo, on the other hand, has resumed his one day weekend trips here in Vadodara. Since opening up, he has clocked some 700 km so far.

Wow, lucky guy. I've been reeling in a loop of triple lockdown. It has been more than 3 weeks cooped inside the house. And today got a news that about 90 persons near our area has contracted Covid-19. There might be even more extension to lockdown in our area. Keeping my fingers crossed. The itch to ride is too much. Started getting bit depressed, as working from home is taking toll with no avenues of meeting anybody. Feels like caged monkey

[Vasuki]

Originally Posted by kozhissery

Wow, lucky guy. I've been reeling in a loop of triple lockdown. It has been more than 3 weeks cooped inside the house. And today got a news that about 90 persons near our area has contracted Covid-19. There might be even more extension to lockdown in our area. Keeping my fingers crossed. The itch to ride is too much. Started getting bit depressed, as working from home is taking toll with no avenues of meeting anybody. Feels like caged monkey

This happens, when you enjoy the ride without informing me. .

If you had called me for the Thenkasi ride, you could've avoided above.

[Sayan15]

Originally Posted by kozhissery

Wow, lucky guy. I've been reeling in a loop of triple lockdown...

It's a two sided coin Sir. You are in 'stay home, stay safe' mode. While up here we have no other option than to be 'Aatmanirbhar'. The administration has opened up everything, although with a good amount of police presence everywhere. People have all but forgotten the pandemic. I have to overlook sanitisation/disinfection activities at my workplace and come in contact with a large number of people, including contract workers on daily basis as part of my job. So, while I get to enjoy weekend rides, I'm also at a greater risk of exposure. I can very well emphathise with the caged feel, which I got to experience from March to May, although we were still working on alternate day basis at that time and Koyo would take me to work once a week. Just hope a curative medicine for this disease comes up soon and us road lovers are out on the road again without fear and restriction.

As a small update to my queries earlier, the ergonomics issues were solved after upgrading to riding pants and boots (I must confess, we both wore knee pads over regular jeans and safety boots till May 2020, which was outright silly). My body is adjusting to the hard seat. As for the bike, no problem was found during the second service in June, which led me to change my riding style a bit and now I do get better of the bike.

[Hammer & Anvil]

Interesting thread here, and I thank all those who contribute. I have been following up with Suzuki on the 2020 big bikes and am amazed at the silence on the Hayabusa, the 750, the 1000 and of course the Vstrom 650.
Anyhow, the latest grapevine is that its a October Mid/ Navratri launch- and my question to all is this-
What do you expect the bike to retail for when it launches? (ex showroom price?)

[Sayan15]

Originally Posted by Hammer & Anvil

What do you expect the bike to retail for when it launches? (ex showroom price?)

COVID+BS VI= Uncertain markets= Surcharged end consumers. My relatively inexperienced self thinks the prices will be up by at least 50 grands.

Cheers,
Sayan

[Sayan15]

Unni Dada, I have a specific question regarding installation of SW Motech belly pan. Two bolts holding the side stand need to be removed in the process. I found those locked ridiculously hard. After one hour of effort, none of the bolts budged. Dug further into Stromtroopers, only to find that high strength thread locker adhesive is used for those bolts and only heating with a propane torch can help remove those. Did you find any similar issue during installation of the skid plate? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Sayan

[kozhissery]

Originally Posted by Sayan15

Unni Dada, I have a specific question regarding installation of SW Motech belly pan. Two bolts holding the side stand need to be removed in the process. I found those locked ridiculously hard. After one hour of effort, none of the bolts budged. Dug further into Stromtroopers, only to find that high strength thread locker adhesive is used for those bolts and only heating with a propane torch can help remove those. Did you find any similar issue during installation of the skid plate? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers,
Sayan

Sayan Ji, as you mentioned the nuts were tight still could remove it without much difficulty. While re-fixing they had used thread locker, still they could remove it during next services (you need to remove these skid plates to take the oil filter out). I'm sorry to hear that and I did not know that it get stuck till you mentioned it. I know two more guys who also did not face much difficulty in fixing the pans.
I hope the service guys are using the right tools at right height. In my case the service center raised the bike on the service platform for ease of access.

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by Sayan15

Unni Dada, I have a specific question regarding installation of SW Motech belly pan. Two bolts holding the side stand need to be removed in the process. I found those locked ridiculously hard. After one hour of effort, none of the bolts budged. Dug further into Stromtroopers, only to find that high strength thread locker adhesive is used for those bolts and only heating with a propane torch can help remove those. Did you find any similar issue during installation of the skid plate? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Sayan

Are you doing it yourself? I hope you are using a 3/4” wrench, and be careful about rounding off the bolts. If you do that, you will have to cut them out. Use WD40 to loosen them up a bit before going with your wrench.

[Sayan15]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Are you doing it yourself? I hope you are using a 3/4” wrench, and be careful about rounding off the bolts. If you do that, you will have to cut them out. Use WD40 to loosen them up a bit before going with your wrench.

Yessir, you caught me! I'm doing it myself, as the nearest ASC is some 150 km away and there's this DIY itch. And I'm trying my luck with a 1/4" wrench. That explains. Luckily I haven't already damaged anything. I'll hunt for a 3/4" wrench, maybe an extension bar and also find a guy with a propane torch. Thank you both for the inputs.

Cheers,
Sayan

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by Sayan15

Yessir, you caught me! I'm doing it myself, as the nearest ASC is some 150 km away and there's this DIY itch. And I'm trying my luck with a 1/4" wrench. That explains. Luckily I haven't already damaged anything. I'll hunt for a 3/4" wrench, maybe an extension bar and also find a guy with a propane torch. Thank you both for the inputs.

Cheers,
Sayan

Perfect time to acquire such tools for yourself. Get a 3/4 torque wrench and bit set from Amazon or your friendly local tool supplier. Taparia will do, or you can look up a few exotic ones too. The 3/4 should do the trick, will give you greater leverage. You might not need the propane torch after all. Remember to douse the bolts with wd40. Or if you want to use your existing 1/4 bits, just get a 3/4 to 1/4 bit converter.

Good luck and have fun

[Sayan15]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Perfect time to acquire such tools for yourself. Get a 3/4 torque wrench and bit set from Amazon or your friendly local tool supplier. Taparia will do, or you can look up a few exotic ones too. The 3/4 should do the trick, will give you greater leverage. You might not need the propane torch after all. Remember to douse the bolts with wd40. Or if you want to use your existing 1/4 bits, just get a 3/4 to 1/4 bit converter.

Good luck and have fun

Thanks again for the tips, as I finally managed to do the job myself! Couldn't get a 3/4 but WD40 did the magic. No heating was required and I could manage with a 1/2 incher and my Popeye forearms (kidding). All that for one of the two bolts. The second bolt was too close to a structural member and couldn't get my ratchet socket to grip the head fully. Did the job with a regular ringhead spanner and a 2 kg hammer. Bolt and all other parts were fully intact, nary a single thread distorted. Spanner was bent into an S shape. During the final assembly, two bolt holes were found out of alignment. Since all other bolts were tightened well and the plate felt solidly attached, will continue this way until next service. The bike is way too dirty and it's been raining hard last couple of weeks, so not posting pics. Hope to give it a cosy wash and a good ride soon.

Cheers,
Sayan

[kozhissery]

After a long hiatus from riding, got a chance to ride to my hometown which is just a shade above 300 kilometres from where I stay. The moment I got a call to visit hometown, I took it as an opportunity to ride.
The low beam light had conked off and got it replaced as DIY. While doing DIY, happened to accidentally drop a screw which was untraceable making a loss of Rs.260 (which included courier charge). Called my service engineer Mr. Satheesh at Kozhikode/Calicut who asked me to send a photo of location from where the screw was missing. Thanks to him, in about a month's time got the screw couriered to my home (thanks to Covid19 for the delay from Delhi to Calicut). The bulb used was OSRAM and light seems to be better on the first look. Still have not taken for a real night ride to comment on it.



Did not take any photos en-route but on the way back met Mr. Ashwin Prakash who took a selfie