Yeah, stock exhaust. It'd be so much more free revving with a free flow, but short of finances! Will get the exhaust and ECU as soon as my finances permit!

People are not interested in such vroomatic modes as you said ,all kind of cosmetic mods are liked more!!

wow, brother that is amazing , i just got my bike Joel'ed too with a big-bore and simota air-filer, should say throttle response has improved tenfold, readin this write-up gives me a smile since these levels of tune are what im planing for as well.
me bike accelerates like crazy higher up the revs, so much sometimes, that i feel that he maybe fitted a turbo-charger...
peace.

Hehe! Thanks...Glad to know you are having a lot of fun with the bike! Keep riding!

Ahh... you are back... finally you have found time from your camera and travels... how about updating the thread....

Yes yes.. I will update soon.

I don't own a R15 or Pulsar but I appreciate Joel's work, real world performance mods and not just for the looks.

I think this would be the right thread to share my experience with Joel's parts, as it would also corroborate KwokFist's review.

After spending close to a year with the stock R15 and with 20,000km on the ODO, I was beginning to look for bigger thrills. the Ninja seemed very enticing except for the hefty price tag. Was browsing my options on the net when I happened to read KwokFist's and Abhimanyu's reviews again. Suddenly convinced myself that spending on the parts would work out much better than investing in a new bike itself. Immediately bombarded poor Joel with SMS's askin him when I could come over and buy the parts. He responded promptly and I headed there first thing in the morning.

Joel's got this first-rate mech who dis-assembled the bore in no time at all! Was quite impressed.. He told me he's done these mods to 1000s of bikes. Does anyone need any more reassurance? lots of bikes running on Joe's mods with no complaints! So, got the big-bore kit fitted, while I had a good chat with Mr. Fieroid about the mod scene in India and how he became a tuner. Is an interesting person to talk to!

Poured in mineral oil that i'd brought along and I was off. Could immediately feel the difference in low-end power! Joel had instructed me to keep it under 6k rpm for abt 500km, and frankly I didn't feel the need to rev beyond.. The bike pulled so EFFORTLESSLY! yes thats the word to describe it. the engine note had turned a little gruntier, which I was enjoying, plus riding in Bangalore's hellish traffic was much much more enjoyable. The bike did feel a lil vibey in the beginning, but that was only because of the tight new engine. Now it is really smooth and rev-happy!

I rode about 250km in the first two days of owning the bore, and then decided to ride to Hyderabad to meet a buddy. So on a Friday evening I changed the oil to a mineral one again, tightened and lubed the chain, fuelled-up and set off for Hyd. Yes, on a 250km old bore. I rode at moderate speeds of 70 - 80kmph as I didnt want to stress the new parts. Kept modulating engine rpms to run-in the engine properly. After riding for 300km, I took a break for 15 mins, and then slowly began increasing speeds. I must mention here that highway riding is a breeze as you dont need to get lower than 6th gear, even if you slow down to 35 - 40 kmph. The bike will pull smoothly and effortlessly. Again I didnt do very high speeds coz of the new bore, so touched a max speed of 110 kmph on one stretch, and got back to cruising between 80-90kmph (Bike felt smoothest at this speed too). reached Hyderabad in 8 hours and was surprised to find that I still had some gas in the tank! Hyd is about 576km one way! Rode another 10km in the city and filled fuel again as I didnt want the bike to die out on me. So that translates into almost49kmpl!!! Was thrilled to bits!

Rode back to Bangalore with my friend as pillion on Sunday night. With rider+pillion+2 HUGE bags and speeds of 100+ almost constantly we still got a very acceptable 35kmpl! With this ride to Hyd and back, my run-in was done and I immediately changed my oil filter and oil (Agip fully Synth). Continued enjoying the bike for my daily commute to work and also on my weekend tours. Now comes the interesting part..

Met two friends of mine for chai late at night. We were riding alongside each other and chatting, my two buddies on a Pulsar 220S and me on my R165. We reached one of our favourite stretches of tarmac and my friend winked at me and took off, being fully used to the P220's power I accelerated too, but not WOT since I knew my bike wouldn't keep up, but surprise of surprises!! My bike felt equally fast and I found I was closing the distance on him really fast! I pulled alongside my friend, he gave me a surprised look, downshifted and pulled away only to have me catch up and fly past! Boy, was he surprised! He vented his surprise during our chai session and wanted to drag, saying that him riding wit a pillion was why I outstripped his 220. I agreed, we headed to a desolate stretch and let loose all the horses under our seats.. Did one.. the two.. then three 1/4 mile runs, and I was beating him by almost 3-4 bike lengths! My friend went home VERY disappointed that night never expecting a R15, or rather a R165 to beat his P220 so easily.

After this, I was very thrilled with my bike and wanted to test it's limits. Did a top speed run on the N.I.C.E road. In stock form, my bike used to do a top whack of 145kmph. This time found I was able to touch 148kmph! May not sound like much of a difference, that's because the difference lies in how quickly and easily the bike reaches there. In stock form, the bike wouldn't pull past 125kmph without me crouching. On the big-bore I managed upto 138kmph before the wind became too much to bear and I crouched to hit the highest speed my bike ever clocked - 148km/hr! I wanted a touring setup, and this was awesome coz I could now cruise at 120-130kmph without having to 'sleep on the tank'..!

Now I had the big-bore and the Simota filter that I'd bought a few months ago, realised that I needed the exhaust, cam and ECU to make this a full Stage-I R165. Hardly a month of running this setup and I'm itching to get the rest of these parts. This is a statutory warning Joel MUST put on his parts "These parts contained herein are evil, and will provoke you to push the speed envelope on a constant and thrilling basis"

I heard from Joel that he will be setting up a proper workshop soon, to make it easier for people buy and enjoy. Was thrilled to know that the site of the proposed workshop was quite close to my house! He also said he might have a fully kitted-up R165 for people to demo and get a taste of the monster that can be unleashed on their stock babies.

Great things are happening within the biking world in India. As more companies are looking at India as a market for their big bikes, and with world-class tuners such as Joel, the situation will only get better and better. Kudos to you man, and keep the parts comin!

^^^ welcome to the tribe my friend !!! You have truly been bitten by the hot roding bug... now there is no cure for you !!!

Ride safe... Live Strong...

True dat..! All I keep thinking of nowadays is how to make more money to satiate that hot-roding appetite!

Also planning to buy a good helmet coz I predict riding speeds to be on an up-swing from here on!

@ neoakshay

Two small things absolutely necessary for a "Joeled R15"

1) Horn: Try getting another stock R15 horn and fit it with a relay. This will sound awesome and no dip even when you use high beam, indicators and tail light.

2) Low Beam: Try connecting the low beam terminal from left to right using a Pulsar head light holder on the right side.

Trust me both will surely help you out to move effortlessly within the town with these performance upgrades.

@ Harish - Thanks for the info man!

I have a query.. The guy with the Pulsar 220M, he was talking of replacing glass wool in his FFE. Now is that necessary, and if so at what intervals?

Another Joelled R165 joins the ranks!

This thread is going to be a real time blog style report of my R165. It will be updated as and when new modifications are done.

Without much ado -

Day 0 (27th May '11, 11300kms on the odo) - Big Bore + Head Work (had previously installed the Simota air filter)

Finally the d-day dawns. After a grueling peak traffic ride, I arrive at Joel's new garage at KR Puram. Joel is busy making a set of fibre glass fairing for his full blown race R15. Right away, they seem a bit different. After a while Joel tells me the difference - the fairing has provision for ram air intake which he is planning to incorporate next. And, it looks beautiful in the matte black colour it's draped in. That way, we chat about this and that for some time and soon it's time to mod my R15. Joel's expert mechanic strips down my bike swiftly with precision. That he is experienced in doing this can be easily deciphered. The cylinder head is now under Joel's sharp eyes where it is undergoing some precise metal reduction around the intake and the exhaust ports with the goal of improve the air flow into and out of the valves. This is soon done and all the parts are assembled back along with the new 165cc bore. Joel's mechanic completes this quickly. Now is the time for me to ride my R165 for the first time.

I keep repeating to myself - no matter what, I will keep the rpms below 6k just as Joel has instructed. It seems a difficult task to do as the R15 really moves only after 6k rpm. And, hence my habit too is to ride between 5k to 7k rpm if I am cruising and to take above 7k rpm if I am riding spiritedly. With all these thought, I gingerly release the clutch and start the ride home. That the engine is tight is really evident. After getting used to the 'tightness' of the new bore, I ride slowly at 4k-5k rpm for the first few kilometers. My speedo reads around 45kmph. Nothing feels that different except that the engine seems to have gained a whole lot of engine braking. Also, the vibes at 3k-4k range are noticeable now. Those vibes are actually present in stock too but were not as noticeable as I hardly used to ride in that band owing to the absolute lack of pulling power. Above 5k rpm, the vibes tidy up and all I feel is the engine putting down pulses of power authoritatively. It feels different from stock, yes, but no vibe can be felt as such. Now, I feel a bit bored and to increase the speed a bit, decide to shift up to 6th gear. Whoa! The engine is still pulling strongly in 6th from 4k to 6k rpm. My speed increases from 45kmph to 75kmph at a much faster pace compared to stock. And the vibes decrease even more. I somehow keep myself from revving the bike further. But I have a feeling it will smoothen out further at higher revs. In this way, I keep riding, taking care to vary the rpms slightly all the time.

After a while, I notice one thing - I am braking much harder than I used too. Finally I realize what is happening - the lower rpms are lulling me into believing that I am riding slowly. That the chassis of the R15 is excellent in masking speed does not help me either. Ok, so a recalibration of the senses is called for. And, I try to adjust myself to this suddenly unfamiliar characteristic of the bike.

At the signals, I notice that the bike now pulls cleanly from much lower rpms than before, and I can ride it a gear higher than before under almost all conditions. The increase in torque is evident.

On this note, I complete around 30kms and reach home. To be seen is how the bike behaves under higher rpms after a bit of running in. Also to be seen is what happens of the newly found engine braking. (Also, will my FE really increase?)

PS - Thanks to KwokFist and Abhimanyu31 for giving us such nice and elaborate ride reports and for inspiring me to pen down these thoughts. Of course, thanks to Joel for bringing such wonderful mods to the market.

Thread Approved

Mehgan: I don't want to say it but still: I TOLD you Joel will be working on a pressurised airbox!!! . Man, I can't wait till he introduces a street version

First of all; a big and hearty congratulations ! Welcome to a very select clan of hotroders... by the way; I think now you will understand what I mean by the bike being under geared.... I bet you are searching for another gear when you are in 6th gear...