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Tackling a modification thought, prelude and aftermath thoughts

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  • Tackling a modification thought, prelude and aftermath thoughts

    Note : I am very well aware that these things are debatable, But after I saw a few threads, I thought that I should share a thought. Mods, please let it be an individual thread, none likes to scroll through many pages.

    I have been a sleeping member over here since 2006 when I had apache RTR, this is my second account as I lost credentials of the first one. Anyways, This is my story.

    I am avin45h, I ride coz I love doing it.

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    So recently, I shelved out my money to get some extra power to my steed.

    I ordered parts for this from south India, and got a installed here. Yeah, that's about it. So what's the point of the thread?

    Well, lets keep aside the facts about whom I ordered it from or who did installations. We live in an online world, and that is where we search for the things we need these days, and I did the same.

    When the idea of "let's see how much more power can I extract from my steed" comes in, we often tend to forget a few things.

    1. The places where we get parts from vs a full blown facility like Yamaha has. There will ofcourse be substantial differences in quality of parts. Even how much we can say that Bajaj installed a poor stuff, they have done enough calculations to not let their investment in making bikes just go to waste. So with this idea, you always share a risk of getting something which wont be as reliable.

    2. The mechanic, We all know how much a mechanic earns, right? If the mechanic you find is a guru, he will be not a mechanic but someone at a good position. I found a bad mechanic, but then to compensate for this, I learned a bit about bikes. Well kind of a little more than a bit.

    3. A performance modification is never about buying X and installing it and going vroom. The real sense here is that when you go for this, you do this as a part of your passion, and you need to put in yourself into it as well. These things are way more than just a plug and play thing.

    4. Something I learned from the mechanic, beating a donkey doesnt make it a horse. When you get something out from a place, you need to research a bit on the scenario over there and act accordingly. Like in my case, parts delivery took 3 weeks, and there were a few incidents where I felt like just storming in with a katana at the supplier's place. But I knew that this might happen. As for the mechanic, when he opened engine and acted noob, I knew it the instant that this is going in a bad way and I need to step in this. I cant just make a stupid work like an elite.

    5. This thing requires patience, if X goes wrong, find out why. Research on it, try as much as you can. Money invested is money gone, you wont ever get it back. The only way you can earn it is to gain knowledge.

    6. When you think X is definetely wrong. Fire up a poll. A poll can do wonders.

    7. Remember, there is never a disclaimer in this case when you get X and get it installed. You always have a risk, Like in my case none ever discussed, neither I thought about the fuelling changes. And now I wonder what to do about it.

    8. My gf says that I am bad with English grammar.


    It's an open discussion about what goes in your mind when you go for modifications, how you prepare yourselves and tackle situations when they go odd.
    5
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  • #2
    Re: Tackling a modification thought, prelude and aftermath thoughts

    Topic approved.

    A lot of topics and and messages are being posted recently, related to tuning & performance modifications.

    @ Avinash,
    Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Although, we already have enough topics discussing tuning, tuners, the benefits, and the demerits, etc. Yes, I agree with whatever you said, having owned a modified Pulsar 180 (to 208) myself. But all this has been discussed in detail before.


    Talking personally, in the last 7 years, I've seen it all:- I've seen my modified bike dominating the roads, I've seen them seize & break down too, I've seen them being stripped down to their basic component levels too... I've gained a lot of knowledge too.


    And just for the record, Xbhp is not endorsing, and has never endorsed any such product or tuner ever.
    If you don't know what you're doing, don't do it. Simple. The rule of Caveat Emptor applies: May the buyer beware.
    Last edited by Samarth 619; 01-10-2014, 04:24 PM.
    ---
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    Indian riding = Alertness, Anticipation and Adjustment.

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    • #3
      Re: Tackling a modification thought, prelude and aftermath thoughts

      nice thoughts ... and true ofcourse ...plz dont close the thread, coz there are already threads up and running going ga ga about modifications ... let the newbies be aware of negative aspects also.
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      • #4
        Re: Tackling a modification thought, prelude and aftermath thoughts

        Here is what my experience has been with one of famous kits sold out in India for R15.

        I was kind of prepared, but not exactly. Bought the kits and since the claims were of them being bulletproof, fell for it. I did know the cost involved and how it will impact me, but I was ready to do it for the sake of doing it, to get my hands dirty in it. After I got my kit sent after a few weeks of maintaining a keep up with the supplier, Contacted one of the reputed (as their site says) mechanics. The workshop was awesome and I did feel like this is the place where my thoughts of getting more power can be turned into action. This was first wrong step for me, as I believed in an online profile. Being in IT myself, I should have been aware of marketing strategies that a company applies. So, what comes out of this conclusion is Choose a mechanic as per the experience and the skills that are visible when you see their work for real. A custom bike shown in garages can have many stories running behind the scenes, do not go on how badass a bike looks, but on the appropriate metrics of the thing you expect out of the mechanic.

        After the mechanic turned out to not even get the timings right, I had to step in and help them out with diagnosing the problems and adjusting cams and etc. But still the "boo boo" work was done when he installed piston in reverse. So what came out of this experience? It was not mechanic's fault, it was mine. These mods are not something that you give to a tailor and go back home, sit back and relax. Before diving into these you indeed need to get hands dirty in real life, look for an opportunity to see things in action in real life, like someone doing similar work on their bike, how they went for it and what was the success story. Get into the technical jargons, know hows and possible complications. It is like a lab experiment, where you need to follow some precautions, beware of unexpected consequences. Every machine has a different condition when it goes for mods, and the end results are based on that, the mechanic and the parts.

        The parts that I purchased have a lot of negative feedback which I didnt look back at, this is where I went wrong. Even though the parts didnt blow up on me, I reverted back to stock. While purchasing parts what I should have researched more about is what a high lift camshaft is, what are various angles and how it affects things, how a free flow exhaust works, what are consequences of the setup. A seller will always try his best to sell his products, that is their work, a business is run on how good you convince your customers, and when things fail, a customer has to take responsibility apart from the manufacturing defects which is the department of the seller/manufacturer.

        So what I ended up as? The aftermath..
        Well, turned out that hotrodding is not for me, atleast not at this stage when I am working as a software engineer, never getting time even to concentrate on my health even. It is start of my career and there are a lot of things which need to be taken care of, in this to try to fit something that requires a lot of concentration, careful play and research, needs some extraordinary time management. So yeah, this thing is staying away till I get some space for hotrodding.
        But that does not mean to get down with the idea of getting more power, in comparison to time and effort involved for hotrodding, the cheapest option is to get a higher cc bike, I went for a VFM bike, i.e. KTM 390, and this gives a more better peace of mind that I would have got if hotrodding went succesful on me.

        I am not saying the story of grapes are sour, but a modification in performance department is something that is to be taken as a responsibility which needs a careful maintenance, it is fun but requires investment, in terms of money and time both. But hey, the fun of beating down a higher cc engine with a smaller one is just priceless.
        Last edited by avin45h; 01-10-2014, 10:57 AM. Reason: typo :P Frozen hands , It's January

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