[krishnaprasadgg]

Sigh!
It's been over a month since any update has been posted. that's because I haven't been able to ride at all. All thanks to the 2nd wave and the fresh round of lockdowns that are going on.

Is it just me or is the 2nd wave of lockdowns more mentally taxing than the first one? I feel a bit guilty about complaining because in reality, what I am facing is nothing but a mild inconvenience compared to what many other people have been facing. It's important to acknowledge that and I am thankful that my family members are vaccinated, safe, and I am still able to be with them.

Well, getting back to the topic not much has been going around. Similar to the first lockdown the bikes have been getting the routine startups and moving around to avoid flat spots on the tyres and refilling air from time to time to keep the tyres in good shape.

Another thing I wanted to update here is about the OEM parts availability. Some things have changed, unfortunately. Usually, any parts ordered used to reach me within a week or two. But now the situation is much worse.

Last time I had ordered quite a few numbers of parts for the bike but they are yet to reach. I had placed an order on Dec 21st of 2020 and apparently, they refused to take in my order stating some silly reasons and said that orders will be processed or accepted only after the 1st of April 2021(New fiscal year), I think this has to do with the budget change where imported spare parts for automobiles would become more expensive. Anyways, since there was not much I could do about it I waited for April to roll around and now that we are mid through may the there is no news of the parts, and this time around. have no confirmation if the order has been even placed. When asked, they said about some fire in one of the parts godown and then saying the 2nd wave has caused logistic issues. At this point, I don't know what to believe anymore.

In other news, I finally pulled the trigger on what to do for a fresh set of radiator hoses as I had mentioned in one of the older posts that mine has started to get hard and brittle and with no idea when it might develop cracks. I was all for going with the OEM option but with the way Yamaha has been in fulfilling orders I chose to go with Samco. As usual, the shop here was quoting ridiculous prices to get it for me here. I chose to just order it myself from Revzilla(Xasos636 also joined to get a few stuff for his bike so we were able to share the shipping & tax cost too) to a friend's place in the US who was able to bring it down. I went for the Samco hose + clamp kit and all in all, cost me a good 7-8k cheaper than what shops here were asking.

The parts have reached Kerala but I haven't been able to collect them, well, because of the new wave of lockdowns. I'll upload the pics once I get them.

I am also planning on getting the fork oil changed for the front shocks. I have no idea when was the last time it was serviced, since I am already 1.5 years into owning it I thought now would be a good time to get it swapped for fresh fluids. So naturally, I was also looking to stock fresh dust and fork seal for the bike and again with the current scene from Yamaha I decided to look into other options, and this time MotoUsher came to the rescue as they are carrying the All Balls Racing brand and they had the right part number in stock.

Looking for the right part number at the All Balls Racing website

So I placed an order for that at the beginning of this month and again it's stuck at a courier shop near to my house and I have no other option but to wait till the lockdown lifts to get the parts.

As for the price breakdown, I am attaching a few of the screenshots for the for & dust seal.

Price breakdown for the parts from Motousher

And this is my expense so far for maintaining the bike. Of course not including Petrol cost. But everything else is covered.

Ownership expense so far

If you notice doing a lot of the stuff DIY saves a lot of money, to be honest.

So yeah. All in all the last month has been pretty lame and frustrating with the lockdowns but I am thankful to be safe and healthy along with my family. I am hoping that it gets better soon and we all can get back to what we love best.

Leaving you all with this video we took of the R1 without any endcans fitted. Hope you guys love it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkVyWlDg5n4

P.S: Wear headphones and crank up the volume to full.

Cheers
Krishna

[no_fear]

@Krishna,

The past 2 months have been harrowing to say the least. I lost count of how many of my relatives passed away from Covid. The sad news never stop coming. I am lucky my immediate family members are all ok.

Most of the bike parts I ordered are stuck in transit. I hope things improve and then we can get to some semblance of normality.

[krishnaprasadgg]

Month 2 of no riding.

Kerala has been pretty much fully under lockdown, every single time the lockdown end date approaches it gets extended, well I should say "got". Technically the big full-on lockdown is over but as luck would have it weekends have full-lockdown rules in effect so can't really do anything.
I do want to get frustrated about it than I already am but the TPR seems to be dropping which is awesome news, just hoping the death rates drop too.

So the routine has not changed much, weekly warmups of the bike and rolling it around and making sure the tyres have the right amount of air in then and filling up if required is what's happening.

The sad part is, I did fill the tank up with a full tank of 100 Octane 2 months back when I had my last ride and now it is that gas that I am burning up just warming the bike up. Well on the bright side I hope it will cause less amount of carbon build up this time as opposed to the last time and we all know how bad that was. This time I am also making sure to rev up and make the RPM needle do a bit more work too, much to the annoyance of my family

Another piece of news is that the lockdown has been a pretty tough time for my wallet too. A lot of the weekend days have been spent on Revzilla, MotoUsher, and sites like that and the shopping list has become a bit long.

The occasional OLX searches too, I'm sure Xasos636 and neil.jericho can attest to that.

So yeah, quite a few parts have been ordered, I think I shall just reveal it as and when I get my hands on them.

I'd like to get another rant out this time too on how a lot of shops here do not seem to care/know how to treat/indulge a customer. I have again had some pretty piss poor experience with a few shops while trying to place an order on some stuff from brands of which they are official distributors. I mean I don't think it's too much to ask for, after all, I do give them full disclosure that I am happy to indulge them even if it is a one-off order in terms of 50% payments or whatever it is.
I am not going to name names here but it is just saddening to see the treatment or rather the lack of it that is happening with many shops. But anyway, I just took the effort and took my business where people are happy to serve customers and believe in customer support. So special mention to Motousher and Customelements for taking the effort in providing proper customer service. Full disclosure I am yet to get my orders fulfilled from them but they have put out exceptional customer support and not left me hanging like the others.
@no_fear came in clutch to try and help me with the same but that didn't end up where I wanted to with that shop.

And Yamaha is still ghosting me on my parts order which has been over 7 months since I placed it.

Ok, I think I am done with my rant.

So I have a question for anyone who has experience with using EBC brake pads. I am trying to decide b/w EBC FA442/4HH Double-H Sintered Front Brake Pads & EBC EPFA442/4HH Road Race Front Brake Pads.
I do know that the EPFA442 is described as being good for "track days and spirited street riding" and what I am reading out of it is that I will get "more bite". Do tell me if this will be overkill if anyone has more experience in it. The price difference is a considerable amount.

Anyways, let me leave you guys with a few pics from the weekend warmup.

Cheers
Krishna

[Cyborg]

Krishna, it’s always great to read your posts whether it’s just revving in place or your ride experiences or your DIY’s. The group photograph of your beauties looks lovely. Please keep posting your experiences for our pleasure

Look at the positive side of the lockdown, even if your wallets lighter, it’s nice to see Christmas is coming early for you when Santa delivers your ordered goodies. Waiting to see what they are and fitting of the various parts.

Cheers and all the best.

[krishnaprasadgg]

Originally Posted by Cyborg

Krishna, it’s always great to read your posts whether it’s just revving in place or your ride experiences or your DIY’s. The group photograph of your beauties looks lovely. Please keep posting your experiences for our pleasure

Thanks for the kind words again Cyborg.
It's good to hear that members here are able to enjoy the DIY and update posts too.

Originally Posted by Cyborg

Look at the positive side of the lockdown, even if your wallets lighter, it’s nice to see Christmas is coming early for you when Santa delivers your ordered goodies.

Well, that is also true.

Originally Posted by Cyborg

Waiting to see what they are and fitting of the various parts.

Cheers and all the best.

To be honest I have always wanted to have a project to build the bike to an OEM plus example.

The idea was to spend the first year just riding and getting to know the bike, which I would say has been accomplished but maybe not to the extent I would have wanted.
Now is the time to build it back to OEM factory spec the day it rolled off the factory and also in the process to improve areas of the bike which would make it perform even better while adding my own touch to it, make it truly my own.

I am taking a lot of care to plan for this as much as possible from the financial side to make sure I don't go overboard with it, so this can take a while to achieve the vision I have for the bike. But hey who is counting.

And for sure everything will be documented here in as much detail as I can.

Cheers
Krishna

[no_fear]

Originally Posted by krishnaprasadgg

Month 2 of no riding. help me with the same but that didn't end up where I wanted to with that shop.
Do tell me if this will be overkill if anyone has more experience in it. The price difference is a considerable amount.

@Krishna - the swing on your patio is just meant for you to sit on it, swing, and look at the bikes. Your pics are drool worthy and tempts me to just pack up and move to the south.

Talking of customer support - its non-existent from most of these moto parts shops. Their service was atrocious pre covid and remains atrocious. The owners of these shops are not really in the motorcycle business and do not understand that bike riders need parts urgently. Their mind set will not change, so its good that we can vote with our wallets and find a shop that actually listens to customers.

For the EPFA442 is it overkill for your bike. The brake pads are meant for consecutive track day sessions, since it can take the additional wear and tear of trackday. I do not think it is worth the premium, since you are unlikely to start racing your Yamaha on the track.

I would say stick with the regular one and spend the difference on other juicy stuff.

[krishnaprasadgg]

Originally Posted by no_fear

@Krishna - the swing on your patio is just meant for you to sit on it, swing, and look at the bikes. Your pics are drool worthy and tempts me to just pack up and move to the south.

You won't be disappointed.

Originally Posted by no_fear

Talking of customer support - its non-existent from most of these moto parts shops. Their service was atrocious pre covid and remains atrocious...so its good that we can vote with our wallets and find a shop that actually listens to customers.

Ah..You are right, it is what it is. At times I just go and order direct even if it means I need to pay import duty. It is so much lesser headache than dealing with some of the shops. But luckily there are a few shops who are customer-focused so that's a good thing too.

Originally Posted by no_fear

For the EPFA442 is it overkill for your bike. The brake pads are meant for consecutive track day sessions, since it can take the additional wear and tear of trackday. I do not think it is worth the premium, since you are unlikely to start racing your Yamaha on the track.

I would say stick with the regular one and spend the difference on other juicy stuff.

Makes sense, I think I'll stick to the FA442 then. Trackdays are in the plan but I don't think it's going to happen soon. Need to have a separate fund planning for that. I hear it gets expensive quickly.


Cheers
Krishna

[SnS_12]

With Covid situation most of the bikes for every biker is just a garage queen and with one year already down it looks like the case would be the same for a few more months to come.

Luckily I didn't invest in a set of tyres last year, when there was a scarcity of SBK tyres thanks to the import ban as the ones I was getting though unused were already a few years old and not fresh stock.

You mentioned the R1 has 100 octane in the tank from the last fill and I wanted toc check do higher octane fuels generally degrade faster over regular fuel due to storage over for a longer period?

I fill regular HP Power and not 99 octane and had no issues last year with a 7month old fuel (March to Sept) on the Busa and the other bikes had regular pump fuel.

But many Kwacker owners especially face an issue when they fill high octane fuel from pumps who hold on to older stock due to lesser demand. Which leads to frequent throttle body cleaning and also the older 10R had a mapping issue which they claim has been sorted now.

[krishnaprasadgg]

Originally Posted by SnS_12

With Covid situation most of the bikes for every biker is just a garage queen and with one year already down it looks like the case would be the same for a few more months to come.

Luckily I didn't invest in a set of tyres last year, when there was a scarcity of SBK tyres thanks to the import ban as the ones I was getting though unused were already a few years old and not fresh stock.

It was a good thing to purchase if your tyre was due for a change in the next 2-3k km or so. For anyone else it would have been an unwanted choice.

Originally Posted by SnS_12

You mentioned the R1 has 100 octane in the tank from the last fill and I wanted toc check do higher octane fuels generally degrade faster over regular fuel due to storage over for a longer period?

Honestly, I don't know. I filled it from a pump in Cochin which sees pretty good amount of movement in terms of fuel and the demand for 100Octane would be higher there. But so far no troubles in getting her cranked over, starts without any fuss at all.

Originally Posted by SnS_12

I fill regular HP Power and not 99 octane and had no issues last year with a 7month old fuel (March to Sept) on the Busa and the other bikes had regular pump fuel.

But many Kwacker owners especially face an issue when they fill high octane fuel from pumps who hold on to older stock due to lesser demand. Which leads to frequent throttle body cleaning and also the older 10R had a mapping issue which they claim has been sorted now.

The Kawasaki issue I think is in general for the low quality of fuel we have here. And as long as we do not do the Octane boosters or additives I guess it shouldn't be an issue. I believe the 100 octant is proper octane values and not a "boosted" value with additives. But then again I am pretty illiterate when it comes to how the composition & octane of fuel is achieved.

Cheers
Krishna

[SnS_12]

Originally Posted by krishnaprasadgg

It was a good thing to purchase if your tyre was due for a change in the next 2-3k km or so. For anyone else it would have been an unwanted choice.

My OE tyre would need replacement in the next 3k kms and that is why I was planning to buy a set and plus the thought in case of damage where it needs replacement I will have no option available.

But since I was getting only PS4 and the manufacturing year made me think over my decision and finally after speaking to another Busa owner decided not to buy as he said tyres will be available soon and not to worry too much.

Also, my average running in the last two years has been 1K kms annually so good I didn't stock up tyres for which clearly I had no storage space available in the first place

Looking at the new prices the cost has gone up by 6 to 10K for a set.. Good folks at home don't track my spending or bank statements

[no_fear]

Originally Posted by SnS_12

But since I was getting only PS4 ....Good folks at home don't track my spending or bank statements

For a moment, when I read that statement, I thought why is Sachin getting a playstation 4. Maybe play video games since he cannot ride his bikes.

Then it clicked - PS4 - Michelin Pilot Sport 4.

For Covid riding - are both of you just turning on your bikes and letting the engines run enough for the batteries to get charged? I take my bikes out for a short run around my area. Beyond that, not much riding.

@ Krishna - the tiles on your patio, are they non slip ones. I don't know if you see the vlogger videos, but this one guy, based in Delhi, slipped and fell off his BMW S1000 after trying to move it on a slippery floor in his sneakers. Quite cringeworthy.

[SnS_12]

Originally Posted by no_fear

For a moment, when I read that statement, I thought why is Sachin getting a playstation 4. Maybe play video games since he cannot ride his bikes.

Then it clicked - PS4 - Michelin Pilot Sport 4.

Next Time I will add the M as well to avoid confusion

Originally Posted by no_fear

For Covid riding - are both of you just turning on your bikes and letting the engines run enough for the batteries to get charged? I take my bikes out for a short run around my area. Beyond that, not much riding.

@ Krishna - the tiles on your patio, are they non slip ones. I don't know if you see the vlogger videos, but this one guy, based in Delhi, slipped and fell off his BMW S1000 after trying to move it on a slippery floor in his sneakers. Quite cringeworthy.

I have stopped riding in monsoons for over a decade now. I had a few falls on my RX due to slippery roads oil etc and that dented my confidence of riding in wet weather big time. Luckily I have never been seriously injured in a bike accident. Plus the roads conditions go from bad to horrible in this part of the country during monsoon.

I only start the bikes once in three to four weeks and on the Busa let it run till the radiator fan comes on.

Our society too has those useless tiles which have a lot of moss growth in the rains. So its a challenge to even ride the bike within the compound and plus being on the second podium taking it down in that slippery condition is even more tricky and dangerous. So the conditions need to be favourable to take it out or just wait for monsoons to get over completely.

[krishnaprasadgg]

Originally Posted by no_fear

For a moment, when I read that statement, I thought why is Sachin getting a playstation 4. Maybe play video games since he cannot ride his bikes.

Then it clicked - PS4 - Michelin Pilot Sport 4.

Took me a second too when i read it first.

Originally Posted by no_fear

For Covid riding - are both of you just turning on your bikes and letting the engines run enough for the batteries to get charged? I take my bikes out for a short run around my area. Beyond that, not much riding.

The bike has not moved out of the compound in over 2 months now. I mean I could definitely take it for a spin but too much hassle, just 1 km each side for me there are checkpoints and even though on weekdays there is not a restriction to ride now, I don't want to put myself in a situation where I have to defend or indulge questions from cops and bring in attention.
I have decided I'll wait it out for a week or more.

Originally Posted by no_fear

@ Krishna - the tiles on your patio, are they non slip ones. I don't know if you see the vlogger videos, but this one guy, based in Delhi, slipped and fell off his BMW S1000 after trying to move it on a slippery floor in his sneakers. Quite cringeworthy.

Umm..good question, Haven't slipped on it yet, even after Kerala monsoons. The tiles have a good abrasion on their surface so I'm guessing no grip issues. But no idea how slick it gets, thing is unless there is moss forming on it I haven't faced any such problems.
Yikes, sucks to be that guy I guess. Hope not much damage happened on his bike.

Cheers
Krishna

[no_fear]

Originally Posted by SnS_12

I have stopped riding in monsoons for over a decade now. I had a few falls on my RX due to slippery roads...So the conditions need to be favourable to take it out or just wait for monsoons to get over completely.

Originally Posted by krishnaprasadgg

The bike has not moved out of the compound in over 2 months now. I mean I could definitely take it for a spin but too much hassle.....Yikes, sucks to be that guy I guess. Hope not much damage happened on his bike.

Similar story. Mine is underground parking so I need to make sure there is no flooding. And police check posts a few kms down the road. They are more in effect in the late evenings, so I don't want the hassle.

For the you-tuber, I think he did it on purpose to get views. Who is daft enough to fall off a bike while recording it.

Krishna - got R1 related questions for you. What is your take on the 2011 R1 cross plane? And how much would you say is a fair price for a used one. I attached some pics of a model I got from my source

I am interested to get one, and I saw an out of state model, which looked decent, but has the TOCE rear end pipes. Seems clean but the owner didn't reveal asking price. The ones in NCR region are in really bad shape, yet people keep asking for prices like 5 - 9 lacs for the 2007 - 2009 models.

I know its not much to go from just looking at pics, but before I even begin to follow up with owner, since hes out of state and travel is not on the cards, your expert opinion matters.

What should I look out for - any obvious pitfalls, anything to check.

[krishnaprasadgg]

Originally Posted by no_fear

Krishna - got R1 related questions for you. What is your take on the 2011 R1 cross plane? And how much would you say is a fair price for a used one. I attached some pics of a model I got from my source

I am interested to get one, and I saw an out of state model, which looked decent, but has the TOCE rear end pipes. Seems clean but the owner didn't reveal asking price. The ones in NCR region are in really bad shape, yet people keep asking for prices like 5 - 9 lacs for the 2007 - 2009 models.

I know its not much to go from just looking at pics, but before I even begin to follow up with owner, since hes out of state and travel is not on the cards, your expert opinion matters.

What should I look out for - any obvious pitfalls, anything to check.

I personally live the facelifted models of 2012-14. But there are no mechanical differences in them anyways. All the hardware is the same apart from the switchgear and upper triple-t design. Electronic wise it has nothing other than the 3 riding modes. TC was introduced post-2012 and up, so this one will be quite the wheelie monster.

For anything between 09-11 I would the realistic market price is 7.5L at max(depends on mileage). If the bike is in that much tip-top condition both mechanically and cosmetically I'd put it to max 8L(that's also including that if the bike is modded and all OE parts replaced is also given along with the bike) and nothing over it no matter what.

Now decent mileage to look at is anything within 20-25k kms. Anything above is a risk if you cannot confirm that it was single-owner-ridden, which in most cases it isn't.

Now about the specific pics you attached. this bike has been posted for sale in olx for quite a while, I have seen this bike listing almost 6-7 months back. Let me see if I can get the original link, I'll PM you if I find it. There was something that I did not like about this bike listing, can't remember what it was.

Right from the pics themselves I can say that the tyres are pretty old and will need replacing, that's a good 45k right there, then oil/coolant and filters all round is another 7-9k in expense. Assuming its run near or above 20k you'd need new plugs, I doubt any of these timepass owners actually carry out that maintenance that's another 4.5k in parts.
It might look like the price is adding up but the plugs and all are only if the bike is on 20k plus on the odo. And these are good points for negotiations

I had found another bike on olx which seemed nice but had a ton of ricer mods on it which were an eyesore but everything else looked fine. I'll PM you that link as well.


Cheers
Krishna