[kozhissery]

Last weekend my co-brother asked me whether we can meet up at some place. So we decided to meet at Kollam beach, which is equidistance for both of us. Started by 2pm and reached the destination at about 3PM. Had a coffee and returned back by 6PM. This was the first trip after the Covid which was done exclusively for fun, all other rides were done as a part of some errand. The bike has done less than 5K kilometres this year. I hope next year beaky can stretch its wings. Keeping my fingers crossed. Anyway it is time to get her serviced, it is more than 10 months since the last service. The tire also needs to be changed in about another 2K kilometres.

Bade mia Chote mia


Sun flares


Mandatory Photo shoot?

[Vasuki]

Originally Posted by kozhissery

Last weekend my co-brother asked me whether we can meet up at some place. So we decided to meet at Kollam beach, which is equidistance for both of us. Started by 2pm and reached the destination at about 3PM

Bade Miyan Chote Miyan. So liberating to have such a trip after so long. Had a good talk over a talk and started preparing for the next long trip, which will be done soon. watch this space.

BTW it seems getting spares is getting pretty tough these days. May will have source tyres from Bangalore. Stock Tyres for Multistrada are 120/70ZR17 Scorpion Trail 2 and 190/55ZR17 Scorpion Trail 2. Any help would be appreciated.

[kozhissery]

It was time for beaky to get new shoes. Due to import restriction on tyres, the procurement of tyres became a tough affair. As I was happy with the current tyres Bridgestone Battlax A40 wanted the same but was not available anywhere. The next bet was Michelin Anakee Tyres which too were not available. Then my co-brother Ajay said that Metzeler Tourance tyres are available in Kochi which were blocked for me eventhough it was more than 2 years old. I had already taken an appointment with my dealer for 18K service, so decided to club the changing of tyres too. Started from Trivandrum by about 3PM to Kochi and get the tires change before proceeding to Kozhikode for the service.

Back Tyre


Front Tyre


In Action


Store: The Tyre Guys
Location: NH Bye Pass, Edapplly, Kochi

Total Cost


Initial Driving feedback

Tyre feels bit more bumpy compared to Bridgestone. The current pressure is set to 33PSI, still feels bumpy. When the tyre goes over the yellow road markers, it feels more bumpy. May be need to tone down the shock-absorber. Will update after I put on couple of thousand kilometers.

[ku69rd]

Originally Posted by kozhissery

]

Tyre feels bit more bumpy compared to Bridgestone. The current pressure is set to 33PSI, still feels bumpy. When the tyre goes over the yellow road markers, it feels more bumpy. May be need to tone down the shock-absorber. Will update after I put on couple of thousand kilometers.

Hi there,
Possibly you might want to reduce by a couple of PSI and try out? Is the ride bumpy even on smooth roads?

[kozhissery]

Originally Posted by ku69rd

Hi there,
Possibly you might want to reduce by a couple of PSI and try out? Is the ride bumpy even on smooth roads?

I think this bumpiness is due to the fact that this tyre is more off-road oriented hence the material used is bit more harder compared to bridgestone. It is already running 2 PSI lower than what is suggested, may be I'll try with 30PSI.

[kozhissery]

On 31.Dec.2020 beaky covered 18K. This photo was taken on the way to get her serviced, somewhere near Thrissur.

[kozhissery]

Service Time

This being 18,000 Kilometers service, it was a major one where coolant, air-filter, oil, oil filter has to be changed. It also included spark plugs which was supposed to be changed at 12K but deferred by the service persons as it felt as new. The changed items were
1. Spark Plug (NGK) - 4 Nos
2. Coolant - Super long life coolant - Blue - 2 Litre
3. Engine Oil Ecstar 10W-40 R9000 Fully synthetic - 3 Ltr
4. Engine Filter
5. Air Filter

Reached Kozhikode Suzuki by 9:00 and the bike was on to the service ramp by 9:30 and the process of service was started by Mr. Sateesh first by draining the oil.

On the service ramp


While the oil was being drained, the sparkplugs were removed for which the radiator was stripped.

Draining of Oil


Draining of Oil


Dirty Oil


Radiator Removed


Then the radiator was flushed using battery water, which I was not comfortable (experts do pitch in).

Deionised Battery Water - used for Flushing of Radiator



Oil was then filled, spark plugs fixed, radiator fixed.

Engine Oil Ecstar 10W-40 R9000 Fully synthetic


Engine Oil Ecstar 10W-40 R9000 Fully synthetic


Oil Filter (along with spark plug/air filter)


Coolant


Coolant


Coolant


Coolant being refilled


NGK Spark Plug


NGK Spark Plug


The hole where the spark plug goes


Last the Air filter was fixed.

Old Dirty Airfilter


New One


See the difference


Air filter compartment


Final checking after refitting everything using the tool - checked for any other error codes too.


Once Mr. Sateesh was satisfied that everything is tight, chain cleaning was done before the vehicle was sent for washing. The portion of the front sporket was also removed to clean the muck. I was surprised to see 2 full bottles of chain cleaner/lubrication to be used on one vehicle. After that, brake bleeding, chain and other parts lubrication were done, lastly a polish to make it look as good as new. After test drive and the certification by Mr. Satheesh I was good to go by 2:30PM which included the lunch break of the engineer.
Overall very happy with the service.

Total cost


I had decided to reach back home without taking any breaks other than nature's call and coffee. The moment I ventured out, it started to rain heavily which continued till Alleppy, so the progress was quite slow. Took almost 9+ hours to reach home, i.e. 399 kilometers door to door in 9 odd hours.

As the bike was too dirty too it to the nearest car/bike washing center to get it washed.

Water Service


Soap Service


Cleaned Bike

[Red Liner]

Battery water or distilled water is the right thing to use to flush the radiator. They did a good job.

[bigron]

Get an after market air filer, K/N, pippercross , BMC etc. Will reduce cost in the long run and once a year you can clean and recharge it at home yourself. Also, tell them not to clean and lube your chain.

Get a Motul chain lube from Amazon and use kerosene to clean your chain. Roughly every 1000 kms at home. Little things that reduce the bill.

Though I must say prices of most things are reasonable and similar to what one would get in the open market.

[kozhissery]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Battery water or distilled water is the right thing to use to flush the radiator.

Thanks for the assurance as this battery water is not equal to distilled water.

Originally Posted by bigron

Get an after market air filer, K/N, pippercross , BMC etc. Will reduce cost in the long run and once a year you can clean and recharge it at home yourself. Also, tell them not to clean and lube your chain.

Get a Motul chain lube from Amazon and use kerosene to clean your chain. Roughly every 1000 kms at home. Little things that reduce the bill.

Thanks, but I do let them clean the chain as I have to clean it anyway after coming back - the distance is 800 kilometers that I've to travel for getting the bike serviced (400 kilometers one way ). I've not yet thought of after market air filter, let the warranty period be over then will think of it.

[Red Liner]

Battery water is the same as distilled water. Distilled water is what is used to top up batteries all the time. Battery water is just a fancy name for it.

Unless I am missing something here? If yes, please do enlighten. We learn every day.

[kozhissery]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Battery water is the same as distilled water. Distilled water is what is used to top up batteries all the time. Battery water is just a fancy name for it.

Unless I am missing something here? If yes, please do enlighten. We learn every day.

If I'm not wrong, the PH value specified in the bottle was not 7 (did not take the photo if that).

Deionized Water vs Distilled Water

When it comes to distilled water vs. deionized water, both are very pure. In each case, however, the purity of the water before it goes through the water treatment makes a difference. The deionization process, for example, only removes ions – charged non-organic particles – from the water. The water should be filtered first to remove organic material, and additional filtering with a reverse osmosis (RO) system will remove a significant number of additional contaminants. This leaves only a small amount of ionized minerals for the DI system to remove.

Water distillation, on the other hand, can remove more impurities than just ions. This process removes nearly all minerals, many chemicals, and most bacteria. That doesn't mean that it removes everything, however, especially if the water contains volatile organics and certain other contaminants. These impurities will evaporate and stay in the distilled water. As with deionized water, pre-treatment filtering is an important step.

[Red Liner]

Honestly, even the distilled water we get in the market is rubbish. The best distilled water is the water that drips off your air con. Really.

So what you used is par for the course. Most people just run tap water through - if they are lucky. Else new coolant just gets thrown in.

[kozhissery]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Honestly, even the distilled water we get in the market is rubbish. The best distilled water is the water that drips off your air con. Really.

So what you used is par for the course. Most people just run tap water through - if they are lucky. Else new coolant just gets thrown in.

My service routine starts with calling the service engineer and selecting what is to be done. After all the materials arrive at Kozhikode, I plan to reach the place. I even fix the time of arrival and departure. Let us see what happens down the line after beaky puts a lot of kilometers. I'm quite happy with the service at APCO and the Big Bike service engineer Mr. Sateesh and sales/customer support person Mr. Nandhan are very helpful.

[Red Liner]

I know man. Considering you have to ride down 400 kms for a service, they better be well prepped before you land up there on your yellow spaceship.

Looking at how they seem to have gone about the work, I think you are in good hands. And this being a Japanese bike, you have very little to worry about anyway.