[SnS_12]

The much awaited part has finally arrived and has been installed

It will definitely improve your confidence level as better brakes don’t just let you stop faster but also go faster The one finger braking is the ultimate aim on such bikes and it would be interesting to see the feedback you have with the dial turned to R.

[Cyborg]

Hey Krishna, once again enjoyed reading your upgrade trip! It’s like having fun watching a superb movie with subtitles for clarity. Keep the upgrades coming and posting your experiences with the beauty.

Ride safe

Cheers

[neil.jericho]

Originally Posted by krishnaprasadgg

After the Exhaust system, this is probably the biggest mod I have been looking forward to which is upgrading the braking system of the R1. The Brembo RCS19 Corsa Corta has finally reached my hands and in this post, we are going to cover the installation and initial review after about approximately 500kms of riding post the mod. Along with this I also got the Lightech chain adjusters and the ASV clutch lever installed and also got did some suspension tuning and an oil change done too which I shall cover in the next post and there are a ton of pics and I am limited to 30 per post.

Originally Posted by krishnaprasadgg

I cannot express how happy I am for what I have got out of this one single upgrade. Worth every single penny I spent on it and worth every single day I waited for it too. No regrets whatsoever.

krishnaprasadgg, I am always amazed by the effort, time and money that you put into your Yamaha. Im sure that it is on the way to being one of the best specced R1s in the country, if it isnt already! Kudos to your passion!

For the last 6 months, Ive been on the fence regarding a similar upgrade on my Triumph Street Triple 675. The only reason that I havent taken the plunge yet, is because Im not sure if I will keep the bike or sell it. Finally, I decided that if I have the bike with me by the end of the year, then I will get the Brembo upgrade.

I just did 2,000 kms over the last week and I came back home with the realization that while touring, the OEM front brakes are perfectly fine, even if they do lack that minute precision that I dream about. On the track, I would want a bit more bite and reduced sponginess. Hopefully, the Brembos will be a nice Christmas gift to myself and the Triumph for 2022!

Originally Posted by krishnaprasadgg

In a few posts back I had explained how I got the fork oil replaced and new seals put in. Something that was left out from that job was tuning the front forks. The forks were previously set to the previous owner's setup and I had been running on it regardless because the setup did not cause me any particular discomfort (or so I thought). But post the fork fluid change my mech had set the settings to the minimum spec the forks would allow as he did not have enough time to set it back to OEM specifications, and I had told him that I shall do the setup back to OEM spec and then mess around and find whats best for my weight. So the first line of business was to return it to the baseline setup.

Once you get the right suspension setup on the R1, the bike will be an absolute dream. Ive spent many hours with F Motors, fiddling with the suspension on both my bikes and understanding how each change, results in a different outcome. Its safe to say that the learning for us was priceless. Do keep us updated on your suspension setup journey, it will be very interesting to follow.

Originally Posted by krishnaprasadgg

You see for the price it retails it's just not worth it, that's money spent better somewhere else. I can think of at least quite a few other parts I would have bought instead of this. But as it goes, no use of crying over split milk, I decided to own it and just get the chain adjusters fitted.

This is what I love about most of the ownership threads in the Motorbikes section. Brutal honesty. If something is good, we appreciate it. If something isnt, then it gets called out. In some of the car ownership threads, a very positive paintbrush tends to get used, understandably so. However, this ends up diluting the effectiveness of the messaging for the readers.

[greenhorn]

Just wanted to add a note about mobile apps for measuring dB. They're generally unreliable and at best, you can measure only relative dB levels across readings (assuming the app is able to get a non compressed feed from the mic)

Else you will need a calibration mic that has been calibrated with a known reference.

[krishnaprasadgg]

Originally Posted by SnS_12

The much awaited part has finally arrived and has been installed

It will definitely improve your confidence level as better brakes don’t just let you stop faster but also go faster The one finger braking is the ultimate aim on such bikes and it would be interesting to see the feedback you have with the dial turned to R.

Very True!
I need to go through all the different settings available and test them in all combinations possible. As of now, I have the option to choose between 3 levels of bite and then the piston size adjuster to choose between 18mm and 20mm if I am not mistaken. Once I have spent some time with the testing and feedback I'll make sure to report it here.

Originally Posted by Cyborg

Hey Krishna, once again enjoyed reading your upgrade trip! It’s like having fun watching a superb movie with subtitles for clarity. Keep the upgrades coming and posting your experiences with the beauty.

Ride safe

Cheers

As always thanks for the very kind words Cyborg. Will do my best in bringing the updates regularly. Although I am hitting the limits of the sensible upgradability for you know how it goes, a project bike/car is never really finished, there's always something else that comes up. And I have a nagging feeling it might be the same here too.

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

krishnaprasadgg, I am always amazed by the effort, time and money that you put into your Yamaha. Im sure that it is on the way to being one of the best specced R1s in the country, if it isnt already! Kudos to your passion!

Thanks a ton, Neil, it means a lot to hear that! A lot of thought and patience has gone in and is still ongoing to make it the best version of it possible in my vision.

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

Finally, I decided that if I have the bike with me by the end of the year, then I will get the Brembo upgrade.
I just did 2,000 kms over the last week and I came back home with the realization that while touring, the OEM front brakes are perfectly fine, even if they do lack that minute precision that I dream about. On the track, I would want a bit more bite and reduced sponginess. Hopefully, the Brembos will be a nice Christmas gift to myself and the Triumph for 2022!

Well, I can say this much. Every single penny spent on a quality brake upgrade is going to pay dividends in riding experience. Just the confidence it gives while braking is enough for you to be sure it was worth it. But I must also say, the RCS19 in itself is a very capable upgrade, the Corsa Corta just provides a host of more adjustability as compared to the RCS19 which has no adjustability apart from lever reach. So if you are not that concerned about adjustability then you can save some money there too. This is more of a general FYI for anyone reading, as I'm pretty sure you already know this.

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

Once you get the right suspension setup on the R1, the bike will be an absolute dream. Ive spent many hours with F Motors, fiddling with the suspension on both my bikes and understanding how each change, results in a different outcome. Its safe to say that the learning for us was priceless. Do keep us updated on your suspension setup journey, it will be very interesting to follow.

Yeah. Need to spend a few weeks tinkering around with the settings. It's going to be fun for sure. And yup, it will be documented.

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

This is what I love about most of the ownership threads in the Motorbikes section. Brutal honesty. If something is good, we appreciate it. If something isn't, then it gets called out. In some of the car ownership threads, a very positive paintbrush tends to get used, understandably so. However, this ends up diluting the effectiveness of the messaging for the readers.

So true. I strongly subscribe to the idea of calling a spade a spade. It is only going to help others if we are objective about it and call it as it is. I mean that's the whole point of having an ownership thread.

Originally Posted by greenhorn

Just wanted to add a note about mobile apps for measuring dB. They're generally unreliable and at best, you can measure only relative dB levels across readings (assuming the app is able to get a non compressed feed from the mic)

Else you will need a calibration mic that has been calibrated with a known reference.

Hi greenhorn, you are absolutely right. I took the readings for what it is at face value. I was more interested in the delta b/w Stock vs Akra vs Akra w/o db killer. That's about it. There was nothing scientific about that reading at all, just an approximate representation at best.

Cheers
Krishna

[krishnaprasadgg]

Adding to the last post. After the host of upgrades done I rode down to cochin again but this time with xaos636 and another friend with a 10r also joined in for the ride.

This ride was also a bit of a nostalgia-triggering one. You see all 3 of us have been riding together for quite a while, from around 2009 IIRC, and here's a photo from one of the rides we did around 2013, which we had nicknamed tristate ride, where we covered parts of KL, TN, and KA in the same day.

Throwback, The CBR250 is mine, the R15 belonged to xaos636, the Ninja 300 belonged to our friend Vishnu who now has the 10r, and the apache belongs to another friend who is also named Vishnu who we still ride with along with his Ninja 650 and Xpluse.


Present day

Do you notice anything peculiar in the throwback pic and the recent ones? Yup, the passion for biking only grew bigger in time, and in a twisted way we all ended up with the liter-class offerings from the same 3 manufacturers too.

The only difference is I moved to a Yamaha from the CBR250 while xaos636 moved to the Fireblade 1000RR from his Yamaha R15. While our friend moved from the 300 to the 10R in a span of 8-9 years. Also to note, only I ended up keeping the bike that you see in the throwback photo, everyone else sold off theirs..huge mistake xaos636, should have kept the R15

Anyways, we had a lot of fun riding each of the bikes back to back, it was a very interesting ride and super fun too. I'll let the pics do the rest of the talking.

Starting the trip nice and early and dry too


Onboard the blade. Notice that the rain had already started.


Rain break when it got too heavy and was almost at 0 visibility. We were already fully drenched by this point so we continued on once the rain simmered down a bit.


Another break inside a small tunnel. We were considering our option on whether to wait out the rain or to soldier on


Finally, the rain gave up. As it turns out it rained only in the small 10kms section of the road which was a shortcut that we took, the rain started at the start of the shortcut and ended right after, as you can see from the road it hadn't even rained here in over a day.


That's one peeved xaos636 who had I clicked right in the middle of the process of trying to get all the water out of his boot and socks. I had already completed mine so clicking the picture made me feel better


Jumping back on the R1


Player no.3 has joined the game.






Jumped on the 10r for the next 30-40kms


The menacing 3. 3 out of the 4 big japs reported to duty.






Destination for the day. The reason for the visit has been explained in Xoas636's thread.


The Beauty in Red!




That's one happy guy to see the sunshine!






Second-home for the R1


Day 2 trip log


Day 2 ODO log


The bike was grimy as hell post the 2 days of ride in rain and muck. A deep cleaning session was in order and this was the end result.

Oh and also, the bike odo passed through the 32k milestone just a few days ago.

Parting shot

Cheers
Krishna

[krishnaprasadgg]

Tiger & R1 update.

The Tiger hadn't been ridden in quite a while now. I guess it was at least 2 months since it was last taken out. The tiger was also up for an air filter change and I also wanted to change out the brake pads as it was getting towards the end of its life with barely 1000-1500kms left on the pads.

After what seemed like ages

Now for the Tiger 800 series changing the air filter is a pain. Because the tank needs to come off for proper access to the air box and removing the tank means removing the front beak, and a few other front panels before you get adequate access to the tank. Now since I had not done this job before and I had some business in Cochin, I decided to ride to cochin and get the help of my friend Sanju as he has done the air filter swap on a few tigers before. He wasn't too amused too that I showed up because for the air filter swap on the tiger because of said amount of work .

Anyways, replaced the OE filter with the BMC stock replacement filter.

Out with the old

Airbox innards are pretty much squeaky clean


Old vs New

In with the new

Anyways we got cracking, got the air filter swapped, and then went on with the brake pad swap and I realized the EBC pads that I bought for the Tiger were the wrong ones. So that did not happen. Decided to do it at a later point as I needed a few days to get the correct part number sorted.

All done ready to roll


Cochin peak hour traffic. Not fun!

Just in case it'll be useful for someone else in the future. The Tiger 800 XRX gen from 2018-20 has the Brembo brake calipers which need the EBC FA181HH but I had bought the EBC FA226HH(Bought this based on compatibility checks on a few websites which were clearly wrong) instead. Thankfully I did not break the packing of the pads so I saved myself the hassle of having problems with returning it for the right part. I'll re-confirm this again once I get the new part in hand and make sure it fits properly.

All of this was a few days back. Took the R1 out for a quick ride around my usual loop. Somehow I managed to enjoy the ride today a bit more, I think it was because of the perfect riding climate and that the roads were especially empty even for an early Sunday morning. The sound from the akra pipes is getting more and more intoxicating with each ride. Took a few pics along the way.

Took a few pics along the way. Here you go.

That's about it for today.

Cheers
Krishna

[krishnaprasadgg]

After about a month and a half of being off the saddle rode the R1 again on Sunday.
Decided to skip the shorter rides and do the 500kms ride from my place to my place in Bangalore this time.
Was accompanied by my brother in his VRS. It was nothing short of fun.
We also got to test out the difference post the mods we had done on the VRS.

Did not take too many pics. I'll post the ones I did manage to click.

More updates to follow soon.

Cheers
Krishna

[krishnaprasadgg]

Well, post the Sunday ride and a good nights sleep, on Monday morning decided to take the bike to show to my Mechanic friend who hasn't seen or ridden the bike since the exhaust swap, brake upgrades, and the airbox mod.

I go to the basement parking and turn the key and everything is going normal until I cranked the bike and was greeted with this.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=DgwdVxqduFo

Well, as it turns out the battery gave out. But I have to commend the resolve of the battery though. Did not even give a hint of a problem during the 500kms ride I did the day before and gave up only once I was safely at my destination.

RIP!

Well, long story short, decided to put the battery for charge and then see if the battery can be shared. But the Shorai Li-Iron charger that I had for this battery was at my native, got that shipped on priority on Monday itself.

Charger arrived


Instruction/Manual on how to read the state of the battery when connected to the cahrger

Received it the next day and hooked it up to the charger and as per the instructions on the charger, it showed that the battery had fully discharged. And that is a bad sign for Li-Iron batteries, where if it gets fully discharged they almost always busted and cannot be brought back to life.

Regardless, hooked the battery up to the charged and left it on charge for 24hrs and then we hooked it up to a battery tester(which was from the Honda catalog interestingly, don't know who manufactures it though) and the battery was officially pronounced dead when it displayed a charge of mere 10V and "Bad Cell" being displayed.

BAD CELL!

Immediately placed an order for Varta OEM replacement battery. Went with Varta as they are known to be better than the current Yuasa and other brands available in India and they are readily available too. Went with their TTZ10S-BS model Which is the correct fitment as per their website.

As listed on website


Quick Delivery

Received the battery on the same day and was prepped and activated by putting it up for charge overnight.

Battery activation

Finally hooked up the Varta battery to the R1 and she roared into life on half crank itself.

Varta goes in

https://youtube.com/watch?v=aeKydu4vumY

All is well in the world now!

Anyways, the Shorai Li-Iron battery lasted for over 8 years. It was fitted onto the bike towards the beginning of 2014 and lasted till mid of 2022. No issues along the way at all. Now that's a decent lifespan and a half considering how hard the R1 is on the battery.

I'll be looking into ordering a Li-Iron replacement for the R1 after a few months and will keep the Varta battery as a spare and well charged just in case.

Took the bike to my Mechs shop anyways, just to make sure that the Battery charging system and the Starter motor are in good health.

This is crucial because a bad battery can be a sign of a poorly working charging system or a faulty starter motor too and vice versa and a bad battery can screw up the starter motor too.

Another familiar bike should be visible in the frame. Can anyone make it out?

Especially when the 09-14 gen R1 are notorious for chewing through starter motors if not maintained properly. I shall have an update on this in a day or two. Fingers crossed for now.

Well, that's all to report for now.

Cheers
Krishna

[TheVaas]

Originally Posted by krishnaprasadgg

Tiger & R1 update.

Just in case it'll be useful for someone else in the future. The Tiger 800 XRX gen from 2018-20 has the Brembo brake calipers which need the EBC FA181HH but I had bought the EBC FA226HH(Bought this based on compatibility checks on a few websites which were clearly wrong) instead. Thankfully I did not break the packing of the pads so I saved myself the hassle of having problems with returning it for the right part. I'll re-confirm this again once I get the new part in hand and make sure it fits properly.

Sorry to go OT with a Tiger query - but did the FA181HH fit properly? I had replaced my front and rear with the OEM triumph ones; this time thinking of going EBC. Even now, all the websites show the FA26HH as the ones for 2018-20 models. What's your view on the EBC? Thanks!

[krishnaprasadgg]

Originally Posted by TheVaas

Sorry to go OT with a Tiger query - but did the FA181HH fit properly? I had replaced my front and rear with the OEM triumph ones; this time thinking of going EBC. Even now, all the websites show the FA26HH as the ones for 2018-20 models. What's your view on the EBC? Thanks!

Hi TheVaas, Unfortunately, the item is not readily available right now or when I checked last. Need to check again. As for the website thingy yeah that's what confused us too initially.
EBC pads are a pretty good alternative, especially the double-sintered ones. They are known to eat through the rotors faster than OEM pads but that's to be expected.

Cheers
Krishna

[TheVaas]

Originally Posted by krishnaprasadgg

Hi TheVaas, Unfortunately, the item is not readily available right now or when I checked last. Need to check again. As for the website thingy yeah that's what confused us too initially.
EBC pads are a pretty good alternative, especially the double-sintered ones. They are known to eat through the rotors faster than OEM pads but that's to be expected.

Cheers
Krishna

Yes, it's out of stock almost everywhere. Will need to pre-order it. My rear pads have about 2k kms life, front still has some 5-6k kms to go. The rear (FA140HH) is readily available. Every Tiger owner I know swear by EBC. Will share my feedback once I get them replaced. Thanks

[no_fear]

Originally Posted by TheVaas

Yes, it's out of stock almost everywhere. Will need to pre-order it. My rear pads have about 2k kms life, front still has some 5-6k kms to go. The rear (FA140HH) is readily available. Every Tiger owner I know swear by EBC. Will share my feedback once I get them replaced. Thanks

Does Tiger dealer / service center not keep Brembo brake pads in stock. Tiger uses Brembo as OEM pads so its best to use Brembo, if available.

EBC eats through rotors and is a poorer substitute to the OEM. You might save a few k putting on EBC, but rotors cost 50k.

[TheVaas]

Originally Posted by no_fear

Does Tiger dealer / service center not keep Brembo brake pads in stock. Tiger uses Brembo as OEM pads so its best to use Brembo, if available.

EBC eats through rotors and is a poorer substitute to the OEM. You might save a few k putting on EBC, but rotors cost 50k.

They do have in stock and I had replaced my earlier set with the OEM ones only. Based on various owners and my fellow riders' feedback, I was thinking of giving EBC a try this time around. But you're also right, the rotors are definitely more precious!

[no_fear]

Originally Posted by TheVaas

They do have in stock and I had replaced my earlier set with the OEM ones only.

Brembo aftermarket / OEM brake pads should be available for sale after October. A distributor is bringing them to India for sale in the retail market. You don't have to buy from dealer, from what I know, if this happens.