[krishnaprasadgg]

45,000 KMS service update

Since 45k has rolled onto the ODO it was time to book the bike in for its periodic maintenance. A slot was booked in with Karthick at Highlander and the service was done there. Even though the regular service times has been done and I have collected the bike the service is by no means over. There are a few more intricate jobs that will be getting done but the logistics of some parts that are required have delayed the work, The next few posts will mostly be on that and will be covering it in detail here.

Spark plug change was also planned as the last plug change was done at 34,000 and the plan was to get it done at 44,000 but I pushed it to 45,00. But when I was rechecking the service manual in preparation for what all the service items needs to be done I realized that I had mistakingly been replacing sparkplugs at 10,000 km when it needed to be replaced at 20,000 km only. Yeah. SO 2 set of sparkplugs that I changed was actually a bit prematurely done. But no issues, it causes no harm anyway and I know the plugs that I did remove are all still good for another 10,000 kms. Yes, I have all the sparkplugs previously removed from the bike safely stored with me.

So back to the point, the work that was done is as follows

Oil & Oil Filter change
Fresh batch of brake fluid and bleeding
Air filter clean
Chain clean & Slack adjustment
Tank Side panel & mounting screw replacement
Techspec pieces salvaged and reapplied on the new panel
Front and Rear Brake pads and Caliper cleaning

2 changes in the fluids used this time.

Engine Oil: After a long time, I have moved away from Motul 7100 to the Fuchs Silkolene Pro 4 XP. It's been getting rave reviews recently and while it is definitely pricey(at about 1,3xx/liter) I wanted to give it a try and see for myself. Spoiler alert, I didn't find it to be noticeably different from the Motul I have been using all this while.

Old oil filter

But what needs to be seen is how long it'll last. The Motul lasted pretty much 4k plus being fully smooth and for the last 1k usually I would experience some mild roughness. I hope it can surpass the longevity that Motul offered, if not I see no reason to go for Silkolene at the price its sold at and will stick to Motul 7100 itself.

Brake Fluid: Again after a long time went back to the Liqui Moly DOT 4 instead of the Motul RBF 660. No particular reason for changing other than the fact that I forgot to bring my stock of RBF this time around.

Old fluid has turned a dark yellow (Motul RBF 660)




Fresh LM DOT 4 fluid in

Since I have already used the LM DOT 4 fluid before I know what to expect, my only gripe with LM is that it absorbs moisture sooner than the RBF, and braking performance wise too RBF is much better in my opinion, but that's not to say LM is bad.

Brake pads were removed, inspected, and cleaned, still lots of life left, it was swapped in at 37,000 on the ODO almost a year back and they are wearing in evenly too.

Left Caliper pads






Right caliper pads

At this point, I took a couple of photos to show the more permanent jugaad fix that was done for the Headlight/Indicator issue mentioned in a few posts back.

Headlight wire bypassed from the connector plug

As you can see in the pic, the headlight wire has been fully bypassed from the connector and a direct connection has been given by joining the wires and soldering them in place. Now it shall remain like this till we get the right pin and the proper fix onto the connector plug itself will be made. Will be covering that properly when the job is done. No fuse has been bypassed so as far as electrical issues go nothing to worry about

A closer photo shows the empty spot on the connecter plug where the headlight wire used to be pinned.

With most of the service work done, the bike was solely put back together. Here you can catch a glimpse at the heat-insulated Air-box. Hands down one of the best rideability mods that can be done on the 14B models.

You can also spot Xaos636's blade with the front fairing all stripped out.

Next, the brand-new side panels were fitted onto the side of the tank.

Brand new hardware was used while the old stripped out head screws were disposed off

The old side panels had a piece of the tech spec tank grips on them, a decent dose of heat from the heat gun and they were removed. Techspec claims these to be reusable and it did still have a good amount of adhesive on the back of it.

But I did not want to take a chance with them falling off so applied proper strong double-sided tape which was thin enough so they wouldn't stick out too much.

Tank grips have been fitted back onto the new panels, hopefully they don't fall off

With that, all the periodic maintenance stuff comes to an end.

While there, a Ducati Desert X has come for some work. Looks absolutely gorgeous

And last but not least a very rare spot was also made the same day. The Fazer 600 in this gorgeous blue color made an appearance.

The bike has been maintained beautifully well.

The icing on the cake was the Akrapovic classic design pipes, they resemble almost exactly the Ducati 916 exhaust end can

Well, that's about it for this post.

Cheers
Krishna

[akshayhonda]

That Fazer is Bharath Gadiyar's bike. My classmate in Goa in high school. Now he has moved the Sweden and got himself a Tiger 1050. Guess he is on a Euro Ride right now.

[krishnaprasadgg]

Originally Posted by akshayhonda

That Fazer is Bharath Gadiyar's bike. My classmate in Goa in high school. Now he has moved the Sweden and got himself a Tiger 1050. Guess he is on a Euro Ride right now.

Was. He sold it to another person here in Bangalore who owns it now.

Cheers
Krishna

[Pferdestarke]

Originally Posted by krishnaprasadgg

After a long time, I have moved away from Motul 7100 to the Fuchs Silkolene Pro 4 XP. It's been getting rave reviews recently and while it is definitely pricey(at about 1,3xx/liter) I wanted to give it a try and see for myself.

Always a pleasure to see an update on this thread buddy!

My bike is due for an oil change. Planning to use Mobil 1 Racing 4T for all the praises it garners on Yamaha forums.

It would be interesting to see how Fuchs performs. Keep us updated about how it fares.

[krishnaprasadgg]

Been a bit busy over the last couple of weeks. Managed to squeeze in a small ride but did not take any photos so did not post.

But yes, there is something to report though. One issue that has been in hibernation for months now resurfaced the other day. Intermittently a couple of months back the R1 would refuse to crank when you switch the key on everything works as supposed to, and when you hit the starter button the bike just makes a clicking sound and nothing else. Try it a few times and the bike starts up with no issues at all.

This happened a couple of times with no specific pattern being observed, and then just like that it vanished. The symptoms are classic starter relay starting to cause issues and this gen R1 is very very famous for this, but yet again I have been super lucky with the relay still going well apart from a few occasions in a span of 2 weeks and then the issue not presenting itself in 11 years(oh yeah last month the bike turned 11 years) and 45k kms worth of startup.

Anyways, the other day while I had dropped by Highlander to meet Karthik, the issue popped up again, and luckily enough it repeated itself quite a few times while we tried toggling the ignition. And Karthik immediately confirmed, yes, this is the starter relay that's showing signs of edging towards failure.

Not to worry I have come prepared.

Part No for the Starter Relay


Made In Japan! Enough said




Ready to go in

In anticipation of this happening, I have been keeping a brand new replacement starter relay with me for almost 2 years now. So just went to my apartment and brought it to Karthick and we got it changed in 10 mins flat.

Yup, it's that easy. Let me tell you how easy it is to work on a Yamaha. The starter relay is situated right under the rider seat and access to said relay is super easy.

The relay is under the plastic cover just under the Negative terminal of the battery

The old relay had quite a bit of corrosion on the relay pins. But apart from that it looked fine, no burning or frying or the relay was observed.

You can observe the corrosion on the terminals in the next few photos

The new relay was swapped in and the old relay was thoroughly cleaned and has been put in my pile of parts to be kept as spare or emergency use. I have this tendency to keep parts that are changed in a preventative capacity thinking it'll come in handy at some point.

Old relay cleaned up and stored away safely for any emergency use

Now that we have covered the Starter relay, another part has finally reached my hands. Tons of thanks to bhpian @deepfreak15 for sourcing and carrying the part and bhpian @KarthikK for holding onto the part for me. I am talking about the K-Tech rebuild kit for the OEM Yamaha R1 shocks.

What comes in the box in the rebuild kit


1 Copper sleeve, 1 lock nut, and 2 O-rings


It looks like Dust seals to me, I am not sure though

Bought it directly from K-Tech and was super cheap to buy. Now I have the confidence that the parts needed to rebuild the shocks are top-notch. Now all I have to do is find the right shop to do the rebuild and I am sorted!

The hunt for the right shop with the right tools still continues.

Here is a parting shot of the R1 with @Xaos636's blade

Can never get enough of these 2 together!

Cheers
Krishna

[Pferdestarke]

Originally Posted by krishnaprasadgg

The old relay had quite a bit of corrosion on the relay pins. But apart from that it looked fine, no burning or frying or the relay was observed.

Just in time buddy! I'm planning to procure a spare relay along with some other parts for my bike from Japan. Have you checked if the old relay is functional after cleaning the terminals?

Originally Posted by krishnaprasadgg

Bought it directly from K-Tech and was super cheap to buy. Now I have the confidence that the parts needed to rebuild the shocks are top-notch.

Have you tried SKF fork seals? I heard they are one of the best among aftermarket fork seals.

[krishnaprasadgg]

Originally Posted by Pferdestarke

Just in time buddy! I'm planning to procure a spare relay along with some other parts for my bike from Japan. Have you checked if the old relay is functional after cleaning the terminals?

The old ones are still functioning fine. Like I had mentioned just intermittently with no specific pattern relay doesn't work. I changed to a new one on a precautionary basis is all. The factory-fitted relay still works properly.

Go ahead and get a new one. If you are finding it tough to source one just let me know I can also help in finding one.

Originally Posted by Pferdestarke

Have you tried SKF fork seals? I heard they are one of the best among aftermarket fork seals.

These are for the rebuild kit for the OEM rear shock, not the front forks.
Yes, SKF is super famous for Bearings and Seals. I have used SKF for wheel bearings for other bikes. All Balls Racing is the aftermarket fork seals that I have used, they are also very nice quality and readily available.

Cheers
Krishna

[SnS_12]

How many white and red coloured boxes have you stored in your house now?

It’s always better to plan ahead for such part failures as you already know getting those critical parts when you need it from Yamaha is a real challenge and time consuming affair. Also, a thought that came to my mind looking at the corrosion you have been facing in the electrical parts in the past few posts. Could it be because of riding in the monsoon with all these parts getting covered with water and dirt which are difficult to access and clean after every ride? Or is it because of the age of the motorcycle and general use put together? Maybe a preventive maintenance schedule needs to be factored in to minimise it?

[krishnaprasadgg]

Originally Posted by SnS_12

How many white and red coloured boxes have you stored in your house now?

Too many man!

Originally Posted by SnS_12

It’s always better to plan ahead for such part failures as you already know getting those critical parts when you need it from Yamaha is a real challenge and time consuming affair.

Totally. That's why I am always on the lookout for parts. Something you know a lot too with keeping the RD and RX in top health.

Originally Posted by SnS_12

Also, a thought that came to my mind looking at the corrosion you have been facing in the electrical parts in the past few posts. Could it be because of riding in the monsoon with all these parts getting covered with water and dirt which are difficult to access and clean after every ride? Or is it because of the age of the motorcycle and general use put together? Maybe a preventive maintenance schedule needs to be factored in to minimise it?

This is more something with age, and these connectors have never been opened, either. The corrosion is not too bad IMO. While the bike has been used a lot in rainy conditions the sleeves and covers so far have worked a treat in keeping the connections dry.

That's something I feel I have been lucky with the R1. Almost nothing on the wiring side has been touched on the bike since brand new apart from the headlight wire jugaad that was done way back, which now I have fixed permanently. Almost all connectors other than the frequently serviced ones have never been opened for the entire life of the bike. That also means a deep clean of the internals of the bike has not been done either, but I am ok with the little bit of dust and all deep inside the bike body panels.

And a few posts back during the indicator/headlight pin shorting issue, a whole loom rejuvenating process is in the cards but will be doing it in a very planned way once monsoons are over and time allows. For now, cleaning each connector is done on an as-needed basis. Especially with the age and heat cycles the loom has been put through, a great amount of patience will be required.

Cheers
Krishna

[SnS_12]

Originally Posted by krishnaprasadgg

Totally. That's why I am always on the lookout for parts. Something you know a lot too with keeping the RD and RX in top health.

With Yamaha you need a bit of luck and the right contact on your side. I just happened to recently follow a Instagram page called rd_spec (owned and run by folks from Kerala) and they had a very rare to find switch set for a 45 year old bike and the packaging is the same like all Yamaha parts.

Originally Posted by krishnaprasadgg

This is more something with age, and these connectors have never been opened, either. The corrosion is not too bad IMO. While the bike has been used a lot in rainy conditions the sleeves and covers so far have worked a treat in keeping the connections dry.

For now, cleaning each connector is done on an as-needed basis. Especially with the age and heat cycles the loom has been put through, a great amount of patience will be required.

Cheers
Krishna

Ya, our weather conditions and the heat cycles take a toll on these parts. Something, I have to be prepared for on the 848 especially considering it’s already 12 years old is an Italian and likes to look and run very very Hot

[krishnaprasadgg]

Another weekend another ride!

This time around @Xaos636 suggested that we try out Yellagiri Bird Park whereabouts because there are a few harpins and also some twists reading up to and also in between the hairpins as well. Since it's not a huge climb up the 14 hairpins I was also not against the idea because I'm going to just go ahead and say it, Hairpins on big bikes are not too much fun, especially when the bikes are super heavy and too torquey to have a good time negotiating tight hairpins with insane gradients to add to it.

This time around along with Xaos636 and me 2 other friends also joined in, Nandu and Ann on their 10R and Aravind on his lovely bone stock Daytona 675R.

The ride started from E-city and the first stop was at Murugans Idly at Krishnagiri for a heavy breakfast, after a few minutes of chilling about we headed out towards Yelagiri Bird Park.

There was a good and noticeable change in weather by the time we were at the foothill of Yelagiri and the weather kept getting chiller and better as we climbed up.

While it was not too crowded on the way up and down, there were enough people there to say it was not deserted either.

While we liter class fellows struggled a bit to make it up with the R1 and blade being super heavy and the 10R making the climb 2 up the Daytona just disappeared in front of us while Aravind rides like a Pro the Daytona being a featherweight definitely made a difference.

Once at the top the place was almost filled up so we did not waste time hanging around and walking around in full gear at the bird park was something we were not looking forward to, so we headed down after spending a few minutes up top.

Oh yeah, we stopped to click a photo in front of this signage just for its sake.

The ride down was a bit harder for the bike with much harder braking needed to be done to negotiate the hairpins and the amount of traffic coming up had also started to increase.

Once we were back down at the foothills we stopped at a small shop that had some tender coconut available so we indulged in some nice banter while enjoying our cool drink, meanwhile, the weather started getting a bit hot so we had some icecream too

So a 10-minute drinks break turned into a 1-hour pitstop before we decided to push off back to Bangalore.

We made one more stop along the way to fuel up our bikes before we stopped for lunch around the outskirts of E-city.

After a heavy lunch, we made the final stretch to our respective homes.

That's about it for this ride. Here is the customary ODO meter pic and the trip meter pic before concluding this post.

Cheers
Krishna

[krishnaprasadgg]

After a gap of almost 2 weeks of no riding as I was out of town I was looking forward to reaching back and setting up the bike for the weekend and the first thing I notice is the reminiscence of a few drops of something directly underneath the bike.

Initially, I thought it might be the slight leak that's been there from the rear shock (more updates on that soon in a post to come) but the position of that isn't right unless someone moved the bike, I looked at the position of the bike and sure enough it wasn't moved.

So I got to investigating and I ran my fingers under the stator cover and yup there was fresh liquid, it was too thin of a layer but it was also not consistent enough to be oil. So I take a tissue paper and dab the area and the tissue takes a light blue color. So yeah, it's coolant. Now I was surprised as to how coolant is on the bottom of the stator cover, but then I realized it might have leaked from the top and dripped, and gravity drained to the lowest part.

So I set about tracking the leak and it was somewhere behind the reservoir cover as I could see the drip line from the top of the stator cover. A bit more of poking around with a flashlight and I found the source of the leak.

Gotcha!

The thermostat housing is where the leak is coming from. There is a 0-ring in the housing, I guess over time it has finally started to give up. The thermostat housing has been opened only once in the 11 years and that was for the Samco hose upgrade and the O-rin was found to be in good shape then. It's been a couple of years since that so I guess maybe it's shot now.

Anyways, now from the looks of it, I might be taking on the Thermostat replacement job sooner as opposed to the 50k service I was planning it for, thanks to the leak. But my preventative parts procurement habit came in clutch because I already have the O-ring for the thermostat housing ready with me. Just need to dig it out of the parts bin.

Anyway, I did not let the small drop leak stop me from enjoying the bike, it's way too small of a leak to cause any issues, the reservoir level still hadn't dropped even a tiny bit so no refilling was required either.

Getting a full belly of XP100. I cycle a full tank of XP100 in between every few full tanks when I know the I'll use up the full tank of XP100 during the ride which is usually the very next day.

After what seemed like ages, rode again with @wolfy, Ajay, and Anant, while @Xaos636 has been a regular riding buddy during the weekends.

@Xaos636 joins in



The whole group has assembled. Quite a colorful lineup ey?

Ventured about early just before sunrise towards Nandi hills side, stopped for breakfast at Kritunga at Bigbay, which btw is such an overrated place for morning people, nothing is open till late in the morning I guess. Luckily Kritunga was open. The parking facility and restrooms are clean though, which is a huge plus for sure.

Breakfast stop at Bigbay


Does Xaos636 like the 10R? I can't really say.

Then we went towards a nearby lake with some good riding roads, before looping around back into the city by around noonish.

Good combo don't you think?






Isn't this one of the best way to enjoy awesome riding weather with awesome company?




And it gets even better




The conversation never ends


During my stint on the Daytona


Jumping on the 10R


Final fuel-up of the ride




Final stops before we split up homebound.

Oh yeah. the ODO rolled over 46,000 km during the ride, I was having way too much fun this ride I did not even notice.

Trip meter number for the day

Until the next update
Cheers
Krishna

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by krishnaprasadgg

I'm going to just go ahead and say it, Hairpins on big bikes are not too much fun, especially when the bikes are super heavy and too torquey to have a good time negotiating tight hairpins with insane gradients to add to it.

Absolutely! Especially most of the Indian roads where we also should anticipate broken patches right in the middle of the hairpin curve! Not to mention those heavy vehicles that have no option but to come to the wrong side to negotiate such a tight curve.

Fast flowing corners over hairpin sections anyday!

[Axe77]

Originally Posted by krishnaprasadgg

Since it's not a huge climb up the 14 hairpins I was also not against the idea because I'm going to just go ahead and say it, Hairpins on big bikes are not too much fun, especially when the bikes are super heavy and too torquey to have a good time negotiating tight hairpins with insane gradients to add to it.

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Absolutely! Especially most of the Indian roads where we also should anticipate broken patches right in the middle of the hairpin curve!

Hahaha - this is so true. And right on the money on the broken patches right in the middle of the turn. I know a few newbies who've dropped their bike right in the middle of navigating these on the odd occasion.

Only thing more 'fun' is when you add either gravel or massive mud and slush to the same turns. You really appreciate the lighter 400 cc class then over the 220 kg+ behemoths.

[Deamon0508]

Originally Posted by krishnaprasadgg

Ventured about early just before sunrise towards Nandi hills side, stopped for breakfast at Kritunga at Bigbay, which btw is such an overrated place for morning people, nothing is open till late in the morning I guess. Luckily Kritunga was open. The parking facility and restrooms are clean though, which is a huge plus for sure.

[center]Breakfast stop at Bigbay
Attachment 2658855

I was out on a random Saturday morning ride, I was here at about 8-ish, I saw this long line up but was in a hurry to get back home before my little one wakes up, plus you guys were suiting up for the onward journey. Too bad I didn't reach out. When I saw the R1, I was pretty darn sure that I'd seen this rarity somewhere on here.

Good to bump fellow Bhpians