[RMN]

Originally Posted by Xaos636

Nice to catch up with you here mate. Yep, the brake lines are on the list and its always better to be safe than sorry, especially with things related to brakes!

Long time mate. Lets catch up some day!

Play around with the pads too. Some brands and model works for certain bikes and doesn't for others After being fed up with my stock setup, I think I hit a sweet spot with SS lines, fresh fluids and Galfer pads on my 10R.

[Xaos636]

Originally Posted by doga

Bike looks delicious-congratulations @Xaos636.
The Repsol is my favourite blade livery and especially this variant. Actually, the paint scheme looks more like the pre 2012 edition Repsol blades. The later editions had a slightly different Repsol scheme. Is my understanding correct?

Thank you brother. Your understanding is right. From 2015, the global motogp livery changed and we got a different Repsol edition. Compared to overseas, we got this edition much late and we even got it upto 2017 till the launch of updated Fireblade.

Originally Posted by VijayAnand1

A sweet and heartfelt thread, been overdue, but here it is. The Road 5s, they're a pair of tires that get almost a 5* from every rider I know of. Ditto on the instrumentation; a tinge of Ducati, a tinge of MotoGP and this, a lovely looking one at that. Subbed!

Cheers!
VJ

Thank you brother. Road 5's are the best afaik. True words on the instrumentation as well

Originally Posted by Rachit.K.Dogra

@Xaos636: Hearty Congratulations again brother!!

Slowly I drifted towards Honda and the fire blades reputation was a big factor in that. After joining the Honda bandwagon when I bought the 650F, I have always believed the 2012-2015 fire blades are the sweetest litre class bikes to own. They are keepers and some day, will eventually appreciate in value. They are the gentleman's super sport. Friendly, supportive, fuss free and built like a tank.

I will just say one thing about the fire blade, whatever many developed countries people call boring about the fire blade, it is engineering master class.

Wishing you many miles of Joy with her!!

CHEERS!!

Rachit

Thank you brother. Cannot put it better than that. Gentleman's super sport is the right term.

Originally Posted by V8toV12_

Congratulations on the blade one of the most sorted litre class for the road.

Got mine last year and agree with all your pros and cons.

Question about your ASV levers did you got one for front brake as well? I installed them last weekend and the mechanic had difficulty fitting those some issues with plunger pins, did you face any such issues?

Here is mine with stock exhaust as well which will soon be upgraded to SC Project Oval, cheers!

Thank you and Congrats to you as well. I am running on just the clutch lever as of now. I was planning on the Brembo RCS19 which comes with a brake lever and that is why I did not get one for the brakes. I think the plunger pins should fit in. I am unaware if there were any design differences from 2012 onwards. You might want to look at that too.

Originally Posted by RMN

Long time mate. Lets catch up some day!

Play around with the pads too. Some brands and model works for certain bikes and doesn't for others After being fed up with my stock setup, I think I hit a sweet spot with SS lines, fresh fluids and Galfer pads on my 10R.

Sure lets catch up
Well, a few mechanics have told me that the Blade comes with SS brake lines from factory, just covering them are rubber hoses, just like the CBR250R C-ABS versions. I need to investigate more on this and a RCS19 along with steel lines should do the trick.

[Dhruv Shetty]

Congratulations on the sexy Blade.

Wish you many happy miles.

[man_of_steel]

One awesome purchase! She is a keeper. Congrats!

[Xaos636]

Originally Posted by Dhruv Shetty

Congratulations on the sexy Blade.

Wish you many happy miles.

Thank you.

Originally Posted by man_of_steel

One awesome purchase! She is a keeper. Congrats!

Thanks man. Indeed she is a keeper

Some updates/upgrades.

Had to ride down to Cochin Bigwing Topline to program my second key as one of the keys which came with the bike was broken. I had ordered a blank key with immobilizer and had to program it. There are many people who can do this, but I wanted to trust only Honda in this case. Their service team has been super responsive so far with a great attitude and I very much recommend them for Honda big bike service.

I was joined by @krishnaprasadgg and another friend on this ZX10R flagged along from half way. Rain spoiled our dry ride plans.








The keys


Brake upgrade
This was meant to be a stop and go work around before my RCS19 Corsacorta arrives. Those who knows, the blade has a weak Nissin master cylinder unit at the front which even sunk in all the way at times and an upgrade was always on the cards. With @krishnaprasadgg switching to RCS19 corsacorta, I had the opportunity to try the stock master cylinder from the R1.
We removed it and had to do a custom mount for the fluid reservoir as R1 and the Fireblade shared totally different mounting points. R1 comes with Brembo master cylinder unit as OEM fitment. Below pics are after mounting the MCU from R1 onto the Blade. Notice the custom fluid reservoir mount too.




The result.
Day and night difference in feel and feedback. The braking characteristic has been so much better that we had to tune the suspension as the soft front suspension setting was not able to cope up with extra braking power. We did +2 rebound from stock and changed the compression to 3.5 turns from full hard setting. This meant much better handling along with outstanding feel and feedback from the front brakes. I think the RCS19 Corsacorta can take a rest(if @krishnaprasadgg allows me to keep the R1's MCU ). None of us expected this unit to make such a big difference on an ABS equipped bike and @krishnaprasadgg was left scratching his head thinking why he did not get this feel on his R1 till date

Being in Cochin also meant that it was time for an oil change. Did just that as I completed 5k kms on the blade with the old oil.

The milestone, came quick.


Continued with Motul 7100FS oil and HiFlo oil filter.




A clean chain. After every ride, I forget that the chain was gold in color. When cleaning it, I get back my senses.


And another ornament for the blade to end the post. The GB Racing engine cover that I received as a gift from my R1 buddy. Thanks man, the bike looks so much meaner with it, and should work well too, but I am not testing it for sure.

[krishnaprasadgg]

Originally Posted by Xaos636

I was joined by @krishnaprasadgg and another friend on this ZX10R flagged along from half way. Rain spoiled our dry ride plans.

Yeah, the rain got us just in time to get us drenched and then did not show itself at all. But riding the 3 big Japanese missiles back to back was so much fun!

Originally Posted by Xaos636

This was meant to be a stop and go work around before my RCS19 Corsacorta arrives. Those who knows, the blade has a weak Nissin master cylinder unit at the front which even sunk in all the way at times and an upgrade was always on the cards. With @krishnaprasadgg switching to RCS19 corsacorta, I had the opportunity to try the stock master cylinder from the R1......I think the RCS19 Corsacorta can take a rest(if @krishnaprasadgg allows me to keep the R1's MCU ). None of us expected this unit to make such a big difference on an ABS equipped bike and @krishnaprasadgg was left scratching his head thinking why he did not get this feel on his R1 till date

I'm still scratching my head! The difference b/w the Nissin MC and the OE Brembo MC is really huge.

Originally Posted by Xaos636

And another ornament for the blade to end the post. The GB Racing engine cover that I received as a gift from my R1 buddy. Thanks man, the bike looks so much meaner with it, and should work well too, but I am not testing it for sure.

No worries bud. Can't let a friend ride around without proper crash protection.

But credit where credit is due, Big kudos to Lanesplit, they were responsible for arranging the part at short notice when it was out of stock in most places.

P.S: Just a disclaimer like I always do. The full price was paid for the product, I am not affiliated with Lanesplit, this is just honest feedback on the service provided.

Cheers
Krishna

[NitSpeed675]

Congrats on the blade mate!

[VijayAnand1]

KP definitely attracts the clouds above for some reason, perhaps Xaos would agree! Off for a few kms and Lord Zeus starts rubbing his hands with an evil grin, going; aaha! These three fellas! Well, it's the day me gonna play spoil sport and there goes.

Moral of the Story: Never ride with KP.

You guys never make it Nilgiris, do you!

Cheers!
VJ

[Xaos636]

Originally Posted by NitSpeed675

Congrats on the blade mate!

Thanks mate

Originally Posted by VijayAnand1

KP definitely attracts the clouds above for some reason, perhaps Xaos would agree! Off for a few kms and Lord Zeus starts rubbing his hands with an evil grin, going; aaha! These three fellas! Well, it's the day me gonna play spoil sport and there goes.

Moral of the Story: Never ride with KP.

You guys never make it Nilgiris, do you!

Cheers!
VJ

Haha , true that mate. As soon as I saw your message here, I asked KP to hit Nilgiris next weekend. Apparently he is busy

[VijayAnand1]

No hurries fellas, make your time and mind set. It's monsoon anyway and the roads are garbage right now. But if it's meant to be, it will be meant, someday, so that we can catch up.

Cheers!
VJ

[anupam9557]

Mod Note : Please quote ONLY the relevant bits of a post. Quoting a full, long post inconveniences our mobile readers.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by Xaos636

This was around 3 years back, when I was casually rolling around @krishnaprasadgg's YZF R1 , my friend invited me to take a look at the Fireblade. Hence went to his home, took a few clicks and returned. This was the first time I was seeing a Repsol edition in front of my eyes. The mind never had a thought or a clue that one day its going to be mine, the same exact bike. Below is one pic from that day. The first sighting of the blade.

A little late, even though we met , Congrats again brother . The updates are intimidating and very happy to see you rolling on the blade. Hope to ride together sometime soon

[Xaos636]

Originally Posted by anupam9557

A little late, even though we met , Congrats again brother . The updates are intimidating and very happy to see you rolling on the blade. Hope to ride together sometime soon

Thanks man and sorry for the late response. Lets ride soon of course.

The bike completes 7000kms after I got it and here it is with 17k on the odo. I take the bike out whenever I get a chance irrespective if its in rain, extreme heat or Bangalore peak traffic sessions. I am looking forward for another couple of 1000kms in the next 2 weeks and then the bike will need a full service along with fork oil replacement.

Pics from the last Bangalore ride and a pic of odo taken sometime back.

[Xaos636]

Service + Fork oil change + A few Goodies
So I ran all the way to my trusted Highlander Ventures in Bangalore for Fork oil replacement. Went with the same 10W stock grade as I felt comfortable with it. Used All Balls Racing oil seal and dust seal kits as they are superior from stock, I was told.

Next up was the way too rusted front caliper bolts. As these were cheaper in India, I did not get this from the US along with spark plugs. After a bit of wait, Honda Bigwing Topline Cochin once again helped me to get the needed spares and we were up with the task.

I was using DP brake pads and I felt it wasn't upto the mark. I had a pair of EBC HH pads with me, so I thought along with a caliper overhaul, I will replace the DP with EBC and keep the DP as backup for now.
Along with this, we changed the engine oil and air filter too. The condition of a 6k kms run air filter was pathetic to say the least. I went for stock type because of the unavailability of BMC airfilter, but not anymore as stocks were available. Did the air filter change from Bangalore along with fork oil change and oil change + brake overhaul was done from my friend's workshop, F Motors in Cochin.

The condition of the air filter after around 5 months of usage.


The new BMC air filter. Planning to clean this every 3k kms from now.


The new caliper bolts


Costs a bomb


Caliper with old pads


Pads out. Still life left in it


The new EBC HH Rated Pads




Cleaning the caliper


Cleaned and new pads mounted


Mounted back. Notice the new bolts in place


Torqued to spec.


From the trip from Bangalore. @kp and his brother on the RS230 had joined this trip.






Was raining all through Bangalore to Calicut through Salem- Coimbatore route. Hence a pic after a well deserved wash.


Riding with riding pants was difficult as the knee area refused to stick onto the smooth tank surface. Tech Spec was always in the plans and finally I got my hands on it.


The oil change. Continued with Motul 7100.








Finally a parting pic. Along with this, what is planned for the rest of the year

is below, based on importance/priority.
1. RCS19 Corsa Corta.
2. An aftermarket slip-on exhaust.(Finally!!)

[vignesh.cv]

A bit late to this thread, hearty congrats Xaos on this acquisition. The Fireblade is an understated all rounder, with a big focus on driveability. The motor is bullet proof and the machine is built to last.

[Xaos636]

The blade after some pampering. Running has been less due to work commitments, but for sure its going to clock in more, soon!