Re: The story so far.. My Honda CBR 250R

Yes bro.. this was the bottle

Re: The story so far.. My Honda CBR 250R

This is the same oil they use even in Activa and in CBR - in fact I feel they use it in every other Honda Two wheeler.

Re: The story so far.. My Honda CBR 250R

AFAIK this is only used in motorcycles like shine, unicorn etc. For Activa, Dio and other scooters there is a gold coloured bottle which is of 800ml(JASO MB spec). I have seen it at the svc. Same oil can't be used as motorcycles have wet clutch and scooters have dry ones.

Re: The story so far.. My Honda CBR 250R

The technical awareness in SVC is pathetic ..inspite of the fact that they are all factory trained...It is because the Factory techs who teach them are themselves in the dark and information sharing is never done by Honda with their own techies. It is all about numbers and money earned on service for the SVCs...Only a dedicated few SVC mechs choose to educate themselves on various technical things.

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Honda specifies engine oil of 10w30 from 2011 and API-SG with JASO T-903 MA confirmation.....API-SG is no longer in vogue, and JASO MA ia the starting spec for JASO oil specs. Here is the information for the engine oil as per Honda recommendation...



The surprise here is the Sulfated ash content as per spec at 1.2% which is what the Rimula R4 has..

Hope this clarifies any doubt about what Honda spec is about.

The Phospor content is at an all time low, with no Zinc content....

Re: The story so far.. My Honda CBR 250R

QUICK UPDATE:

Hi All,

a very small one from my end:

I have covered a measly 557 kms since, the last oil change. The most interesting thing i observed was with the Brembo HH sintered brake pads. I have only one thing to say,"OH MY GOD!!" The brakes have become very progressive. I am now literally scared to use the rear brake as i have managed to inadvertently engage the ABS numerous times whenever i applied brakes with the level of pressure on the levers, i earlier used to do with the OEM pads. My CBR now seems to have oceanliner's anchor attached to its braking system. The bike stops immediately the moment F&R brakes are applied. What i found was that compared to OEM pads, the sintered ones took a bit longer to break in than i had earlier anticipated: close to 350 - 400 kms.

The confidence in the stopping power of my CBR 250R has now jumped quite a bit. So overall very very happy with the add on braking performance: full on paisa wasool! Many thanks to Mr. Vikram Verma , Motozone Performance for recommending the Brembo pads. If one has the moolah, i would highly recommend HH sintered pads (Either Brembo or Galfers) purely because of extra layer of safety and the confidence it gives to the rider.

FE has again jumped post usage of Rimula R4. I am not able to pinpoint the exact figure since, i have not done the tank full - empty method, but seems to be the case that either the fuel indicator bar has suddenly decided hang itself or the fuel in the tank simply doesn't want to go down too quickly . The initial observations are encouraging though, i would not like to make any tall claims. The correct method will be to follow Tank full - Empty - Tank full and confirm the actual gains or losses. If the gains in FE are indeed true then the theory of using Shell Rimula R4 = better ring land seal = lesser piston blow by = better bang in the combustion chamber = better power & FE will be proven in my case at least. Overall engine vibrations are subsided at the moment.

I am planning to do a 1,500+ kms ride sometime in October, 2016. This will help me to assimilate all the traits of my bike and probably allow me to give a better update on the overall changes in behaviour post all the work done on my CBR 250R.

Until then...

Cheers,

Re: The story so far.. My Honda CBR 250R

How much did you pay for the Brembo HH Sintered Brakes pads and from where.

Re: The story so far.. My Honda CBR 250R

Kindly refer to this page: http://www.xbhp.com/talkies/general-...ml#post1185731 which has a lot of discussion and subsequent posts which should help you to study a bit more about HH sintered brake pads. I donot wish to make this thread look like a branding/marketing page for any of the after market sellers i have procured items from, so please don't mind if i don't share pricing here.

However, for the sake of your query: as mentioned in the thread link page above, i have got these items from Mr. Vikram Verma, Motozone Performance: Mumbai & Pune (https://www.facebook.com/motozoneperformance/). Since, you are based there, you may connect with them and meet them as per your convenience. Their shop is based at Kalaghoda, South Mumbai near Colaba and i am sure you will have plenty of fun spending time and interacting with riders in the likes of @abhimanyu31, @chinmayakar , @FZERIDER and many others who periodically hang out there, share their passion and discuss stuff related to motorcycling, riding gears, performance tune ups, aftermarket kits, safety, rider aids etc. ... in short a biker's paradise.

I had a lot of fun when i was in Mumbai and got to learn a lot from senior riders like @abhimanyu31 . Do check out his thread Ninja San, any passionate rider will gain a lot by going through his thread: one of the most (perhaps the only) tweaked out Kawasaki Ninja 300 in the country.


Cheers,

Re: The story so far.. My Honda CBR 250R

Hi All,

time for a small update from my end..

PREPARATION FOR THE LONG DISTANCE RIDE & NEW GOODIES:

As mentioned in an earlier post, the plan was on to do a 1,500+ ride on my CBR 250R to a) have fun and finally recover the money invested by actually taking out the CBR on highways she was always meant to munch miles on b) find out about the state of the engine and other components as usually with long distance rides all the chinks in the armour become apparent. I don't know if i should thank my lucky stars however my bike so far has been trouble free from CCT (Cam Chain Tensioner) & shim issues. In a way i am a bit surprised that with so much history of abuse, the bike has not developed any such mechanical problems yet... not that i am complaining .

I was actually planning to leave tomorrow (13th Oct, 2016) however the rain gods have suddenly decided that the monsoon season wasn't enough so they let the taps open and it has been raining incessantly since, the last 3 days. Now being an OCMD rider i am normally not so bothered about weather outside. However, the biggest concern is with potholed filled stretches where in the event of heavy showers, all of them will remain submerged and will prove to be a potential hazard for the safety of me as a rider and my motorcycle. So after consulting with senior riders and taking a stock of the weather situation by monitoring weather reports it was decided to start my journey day after (14th Oct, 2016).

As a part of checklist, the bike was taken to the SVC and my regular mechanic was instructed to check and double check everything and confirm if the bike was in good health and ready for the long distance journey i am planning to take my CBR to while dangling a special Pre-Durga Puja carrot in front of him. So he left every other job in the SVC and started inspecting my bike rather way too attentively then i had earlier anticipated!! Things we do for our love eh?

We did the following:

* Braking System: I had not managed to bleed out the old brake fluid due to time constraints and also due to unavailability of DOT 4 brake oil with me or at the SVC. The Brake callipers and the brake pads were inspected and found to be in good health. The rear brake fluid reservoir was found to be running slightly low on brake fluid so it was topped up with Bosch DOT 4. unfortunately the mechanic only had an previously opened bottle which he vehemently claimed that he had just finished working on one bike and had opened this very bottle earlier in the morning shift. Though i was not at all comfortable, sighting safety concerns i relented and finally let him top up the brake reservoir.

* Engine Oil, Air Filter: Engine oil level was found to be good and i had just barely covered 600 kms since, the last oil change so we skipped this bit. The bike was cranked to confirm if any unwanted noises were found to be emanating from the engine bay however, the engine was purring along just fine.

* Chain slackness: Chain was inspected and a very minute adjustment was done. The mechanic wanted to do up the chain by cleaning it and spraying it with chain spray however, i told him not to bother as i was anyways using SAE 90W gear oil (recommended as per SVC shop manual). The front and rear sprockets were in good health.

* Throttle & Clutch cables, Brake & Clutch Lever action/play and replacement: Both the throttle & clutch cables were thoroughly inspected and found to be ok. Based on my discussion with the senior riders and tourers it was decided to take out the adjustable after market levers and replace them with the OEM ones. Since, the old pairs were flaking silver on my hands, i decided to pick up a new pair for the purpose.


Pic 1: OEM honda brake and clutch levers. Note the levers inside are the aftermarket ones removed and stored inside the protective packaging for later installation.

* Electricals & Suspension: All the lights and switches were inspected and turned on to confirm that everything was working. Once the green signal given we then moved on with inspecting the suspension. Now thanks to the shitty pot hole filled roads, the adjustment nut for the steering head bearings had again become loose and the famous "Khat" noise had returned. So the mechanic again adjusted the same and tightened it to the level where the problem vanished. For the sake of newbies, do check out the two simple inspection videos showing the methods to find out if the steering head bearing/coneset in your bike needs to be tightened, periodic lubing/greasing and steps to confirm when is the right time to say bye bye to the old coneset and go for a new one:




Video 1: How to check & adjust the motorcycle steering head bearings




Video 2: Inspecting & servicing/lubing steering head bearings

* Inspection of Tires: Both F & R tires were inspected for any signs of nail or puncture wounds. But both were okayed by the mechanic. It will be interesting to observe how both the tires behave in a variety of road conditions that will be met in the 1,500+ kms of riding.

Once, everything was inspected to my satisfaction, the bills were cleared, the mechanic was made happy and i left for the return leg of my journey to home. I took a short detour and was very happy to find that the front was back to being awesome with the tapered roller steering head bearings doing duty in the front and keeping the front exceptionally stable even when i intentionally went on bad roads. This aftermarket mod is also a great "paisa wasool" for me.


So all the things are ready to go but wait a minute, i guess god was happy to let me have a few more surprise gifts land up at my desk, some for the upcoming ride and some to keep my OCMD happy :

Alpinestars TGP - Plus R Air Jacket:I had ordered it long back however, thanks to my own stupidity and fickle mindedness, i kept on ordering items one after the other which made it difficult for Mr. Vikram, Motozone to compile and send stuff accordingly. He was very kind to go all the way to PlanetDSG : Motorcycle Riding Gear, Accessories, Apparel and.. store in Pune, Maharashtra and pick up the jacket on my behalf. Anyways, better late then never!! The jacket oozes quality and is basically is a summer jacket. It was a small blunder from my end that i completely forgot to take into consideration that the winters in the NE - india are pretty darn cold so this summer jacket will only serve well till the mid of November. After that either thermal liners or extra internal rain gear has to be picked up to ward off bone chilling cold from interacting with my body. Regardless, this long ride will also allow me to thoroughly test out this jacket. (FYI: pics don't do justice as the colours are way off then what it looks like in real!). A one happy little boy









Pic 2,3,4 & 5: Alpinestars TGP - Plus R Air jacket picked up from PlanetDSG : Motorcycle Riding Gear, Accessories, Apparel and.. on my behalf by Mr. Vikram, Motozone performance.

I had pestered Mr. Vikram so much that in the end it was i only who completely forgot what all i had ordered with Motozone. Regardless, Mr. Vikram was kind enough to ship some of the items in the first lot since, i had shared my long distance ride planning with him, he reminded me and sent the riding gear as a part of the shipment on priority basis. Besides the Jacket some more goodies were in the box too.

Puncture Repair kit & Foot Air Pump Based on the advice of senior riders i also ended up ordering puncture repair kit and a foot air pump for road side repairs incase of an emergency. I believe it was something most of us riders tend to ignore and later regret in the event the unthinkable happens and you get stuck in the middle of nowhere. Though i am not so happy with the quality of the foot pump, for the time being it will do. I will later opt for a good quality electric air pump in the near future.





Pic 6 & 7: Puncture repair kit and foot air pump ordered online.

Lightech LED indicators & bar end weights: I always wanted to have a set of LED indicators in my next bike post my stint with Yamaha FZ. However, being a budget baby SBK Honda cut corners and ended up supplying the CBR 250R with standards bulb based indicators. After checking out the Rizoma LED indicators in @abhimanyu31 's Ninja San (Refer to thread post: http://www.xbhp.com/talkies/general-...ml#post1063007), a seed was sown in my mind, "thou must have something like this on my CBR!" While having my regular chat with Mr. Vikram, he had mentioned about picking up aftermarket stuff from Lightech, Italy (Lightech componenti moto lega leggera pedane specchietti tappi portatarga frecce protezioni viteria bulloneria ergal titanio carbonio) and that he was bringing in some shipments of LED indicators with the lot. It didn't take me a second to literally pounce on the opportunity and i pestered him to the end, till he finally placed an order for me as well. While we were at it i also asked him to order Lightech bar end weights for my CBR 250R. Do note readers, these items are not going to add any performance value to the bike, just merely customising/personalising my bike (in short waste of money for the general public but a must have for an OCMD rider.. because i want to!!)

Now with LED indicators as most of the rider who have gone for it must have experience, due to lower electricity consumption of the LED indicators, though they are way brighter then the OEM ones, the stock indicator flasher is not able to adjust to the voltage requirements of the LED indicators and starts pulsing the the LED indicators in a much faster succession also known as "hyper flash". So to re-adjust this issue, Mr. Vikram recommended using OEM manufacturer supplied resistors to compensate and allow the LED indicators to flash ON & OFF in a normal manner the old bulb based ones would. So i also asked him to place an order for the LED resistor kit







Pic 8,9 & 10: Lightech LED indicator & bar end weights along with the LED resistor kit to take care of the 'hyper flash' issue.

I have also ordered a pair for the rear indicators with a built in brake light illumination function which will be sent by Mr. Vikram in the second lot with a lot more of other stuff i have ordered from his shop. Can't help myself... OCMD!!


Pipercross Foam Based Performance Air Filter: As discussed countless no. of times and confirmed that simply by changing from a stock pleated paper filter to K&N replacement OEM air filter will not lead to someone gaining 5 - 10% in HPs/torque over a bone stock bike. However, the inner child in me was always fascinated in trying this theory out on my new FI based bike and see if there is a difference in acceleration or overall changes smoothness of the bike (purely seat on pants here). So shamelessly i ended up ordering Pipercross Foam Based filter for my CBR. Pipercross CBR users have claimed a smoother acceleration and reduction in vibrations post installation in their respective bikes so the curiosity got the better half of me. For a regular rider, don't bother if you are happy with the stock performance of your respective steed. I am an idiot, an experimenter so choose wisely before following my path!



Pic 10: Pipercross Foam Based performance air filter.


Anyways gifts aside, all the pre-ride preparations are done more or less. I am now eagerly awaiting and praying to God that the weather doesn't screw me over this time and let me commence with the most awaited time of the year to let lose the horses and start with the journey this machine was designed to do... wish me luck..


Cheers,

Re: The story so far.. My Honda CBR 250R

Some solid prepration there! Have a fun filled ride. Ride safe and treat us with tasty pics.

Re: The story so far.. My Honda CBR 250R

Best of luck Shiv sir. We will eagerly wait for updates from your end on how the bike performs as a whole.

Re: The story so far.. My Honda CBR 250R

Everything Was A Bit Excess To Cover 1500 + Km Lot Of Stuff You Got There. But How Have You Planned To Carry That.

Last Saturday I Started For Mumbai From Madurai My Precheck Was Oil Coolant All The Checks You Did. Carry Motul Chain Lube And A 8no. T Spanner. Good Gloves Make Sure Its Light As Possible.

Check My Pic Below.

Re: The story so far.. My Honda CBR 250R

Thanks Divya. Will try and get some pics, even though my photography skills are absolutely horrible.

Thank you for your kind words. Yep i am excited to see if all the trouble i went through is now yielding benefits or else i need to show a bit more TLC.

I have Viaterra Claw (ViaTerra Claw motorcycle tailbag) which can literally swallow 50 ltrs worth of luggage in it. So all the items that i need to carry can be easily accommodated inside the Viaterra Claw saddlebag.



So far installation wise, i find Viaterra Claw to be very simple and rider friendly as the video link above will reflect.

All the precautions taken is not excess as unlike the road conditions from Maharashtra to Madurai where you do your regular rides are more or less butter smooth roads, things are completely different in the North-East India. All seasoned veterans can share their side of the story and let you know that "Leh - Ladakh" is a regular occurrence here the moment you start climbing up the mountains on this side of India.


Cheers,

Re: The story so far.. My Honda CBR 250R

Shv18 I Totally Agree With You. As It's Only Coz Of Your Detailed Write Up On CBR250R I Bought My Bike. So Always My Best Wishes To You And Do Give Us Your Valuable Time Writing Your Experience About Your Tour.

One Thing I Would Like To Share I Have Made 4 Up And Down Till Date From Mumbai To Madurai And Back This Would Be My Fifth Trip.

On My First Trip, I Inspired By Xbhp Riders Had Used Motul Oil, What I Noticed, Once You Are At 6500rpm On 5th Gear And If You Try To Go Beyond That Mark I Could Feel Nice Vibrations On The Handel Bar But In City Ride My Bike Use To Be Butter Smooth.

So On My Second Trip I Switched Back To Honda FS. There Was No Vibrations And Bike Was Running Fine But More Refinement Was Added As I Used 91 Octane Fuel.

So Till Date I'm Stuck On 91 Octane Fuel + Honda FS Oil. I'm Eager To See How Your Remula Oil Performs On A Longer Ride.

One Small Tip When Ever You Feel Bit Of Pain On Your Bum Or Hip Take A Rest At Some Chaiwala For 5 Minutes. Don't Stress Yourself.

Keep Spare Medicine For Acidity "OCID 20" Headache "Disprine" And "Dolo 650" For Bodypain Or Fever. You Will Not Know When You Will Need One.

Jai Bholenath Enjoy Your Ride.

Re: The story so far.. My Honda CBR 250R

I was contemplating buying a used CBR (with ABS) when I stumbled across this. I gotta say, this thread is a goldmine. Hats off to all contributors!

I checked a 2013 CBR Repsol edition - 27k kms, well maintained and serviced at Honda SVC, according to the owner. Asking price is 1.10 L. I inspected the bike and found most of the critical parts (forks, chain, chassis, sprocket, tyres, wheels, brakes) in good condition. I rode the bike in the society premises and found the engine to be good - no weird noises or smoke. Couldn't take a proper test ride because the owner had just returned from Mumbai and it was getting dark.

However, after reading this thread, I am not sure about the engine anymore. What if this bike was also neglected and the SVC guys didn't replace the engine oil and oil filter? How do I find out if this is really the case? The owner has agreed to give me a longer test ride and also get the bike inspected by a mechanic next week.

Unlike @shiv18, I am not ready to spend too much time and money in restoring the engine. Minor one-time fixes are okay.

Re: The story so far.. My Honda CBR 250R

we then replaced the old "jugaad" copper wire and now replaced it with a higher amp rated, well insulated, weather proof wire with soldered and crimped battery connectors.







Pic 12, 13 & 14: The old copper wire for the "earth wire mod" being removed from my vehicle.

The ends were also covered with heat shrinking wraps to further eliminate any chances of oxidation due to weather conditions. In layman language i simply wanted to ensure that i never have to go through that ordeal of my motorcycle acting up ever again!! once the installation of the new earth wire was done: connecting one end to the -Ve terminal of the battery and the other end to the earth wire bunch at the RR unit, we then put everything back and started the vehicle.









Pic 15, 16, 17 & 18: The "new earth wire mod" cable being now installed on my Honda CBR 250R.

Once the engine was started, we let it run for about a good two minutes to see if there are any engine leaks or any unwated vibrations creeping in. Once, everything was okayed by the mechanic we then put everything back on, the bills were cleared and i went ahead with a small test ride from the SVC to the streets of my place of stay.

OBSERVATIONS:

* The engine note changed within the first 30 seconds and any pending vibrations simply ceased to exist.
* Post oil change, the vehicle became even smoother.
* As mentioned earlier it was fun to play with the gearbox now, changing gears for no reason!! simply touch the lever and the gears would engage happily.

* With the installation of a thicker cable for the "earth wire mod" there seems to be even better response from my vehicle right from low end, mid range to top end which was something i didn't expect at all. Engine started at half a crank.

* The vehicle was more eager to perform. 0 - 100 came in a blink of an eye just that now the vehicle was even more eager. The engine was setting in now with a superior oil.
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Hi All,

Was curious to know more about this mod. I wanted to know:

1.) What was the specification of the wire that was used for the same?
2.) Does changing the earthing wire effects the performance drastically?
3.) Any one in Pune who can help me with this?

Thanks in Advance,
Samuel