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

RIDE REPORT, INCIDENTS & GENERIC MAINTENANCE (PART 2):

However, due to some personal engagements I then had to head back to Guwahati again along with my family. When i came back i had a news awaiting for me something which no passionate rider wants to ever hear. My mother had again decided to loan my bike to a family member without my knowledge and... uhhh let me just say the pics below will tell the whole story of the pain i had to go through:

* Side upper fairing cowl cracked,
* Clutch lever bent,
* LHS mirror plastic scratched and loosened from the holding bracket,
* LHS fairing badly scratched and the stickers damaged.

The family member had parked the bike on a soft soil which after sometime led to the side stand digging into it and the end-result was bike on the floor: a rookie mistake! I was in such a position that i couldn't say anything to that family member nor to my mother, so this time i had to pull the intervention card that no more free rides without my prior knowledge and any such future incidents will not be tolerated politely again. Dis-hearted, i brought the bike back home only to find that my father accidentally reversed his car and managed to now topple my bike on the right hand side!

* RHS fairing badly scratched, stickers damaged
* RHS mirror plastic scratched

My father clearly was aware of my OCMD especially with my CBR 250R so he literally came forward and offered to bear any and every expenses that may be needed to take care of the damages. I don't know whether i should be happy or sad given that my bike had taken two falls both LHS & RHS without the owner actually being involved in any of the incidents. However, the beauty of owning a Honda CBR 250R is the fairings are quite cheap to procure by any standards so i guess this was going to be a small makeover for my beloved motorcycle.









Pic 11, 12 , 13 & 14: The horror of battle scars courtesy everybody except the actual owner!

Anyways, my priority was now to get the drive chain and sprockets replaced, so i landed up at my mechanic's place and we then started with the dis-assembly of the rear tire and the swing-arm to remove the old chain (OEM drive chain is closed loop so in-order to replace it, one has to completely remove the rear swing arm assembly). While we were at it, my mechanic quickly pointed out that the holding screws of the pulsar ring for the ABS sensor were found to be loose. I was quite astonished by this as never in the last 17,000 kms any mechanic has fiddled with these screws. I am not sure why this happened but regardless we quickly fixed this issue by removing them first and then putting a liberal dose of "Loctite 248 Threadlocker" on the respective screws and tightening them back in place. I would request my fellow ABS - CBR owners to kindly do check and confirm if they too may have observed this same anomaly pertaining to the ABS pulsar ring holding screws in their respective bikes.





Pic 15 & 16: ABS Pulsar ring holding screws found to be loose and quickly put back in using Threadlocker solution.

We then moved on with the process of removing the old chain & sprockets from my CBR. As the pics below will clearly show, the front sprocket had started to curl which was an indication that it had reached the end cycle of its usable life. I believe it has already been discussed on xbhp but just for the sake of noobs: the OEM drive chain and sprockets are made by Rolon (as shown from the excerpt of Rolon catalogue below). If one wishes to procure the same from outside without shelling out Rs. 2000 - 2200/- it should be easily available with any Rolon dealer for as cheap as Rs. 1,400 - 1,500/-. I hope this will also enable an owner to have choices outside the service centre incase they come up with the usual excuse of drive chain & sprockets not in stock.







Pic 17, 18 & 19: Rolon catalogue clearly indicating the model no. of the drive chain & sprocket kit available from their dealers. Note the state of F & R sprockets and the drive chain after 17,000 kms.

NOTE TO SITE ADMIN & MODS: i am unable to post any text along with pics as i keep on getting errors from xbhp server. Would request the technical team to kindly look into the matter and see if this can be resolved. Thanks.

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

Where did you buy this ? Please guide. What is the main purpose of this product ? Thanks.

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

RIDE REPORT, INCIDENTS & GENERIC MAINTENANCE (PART 3):

Anyways, after the chain and sprockets were removed, i got a call from home and had to leave the mechanic to carry on the task with installing the new set. I had carried both the OEM set and the X-Ring drive chain set i got from Motozone Performance. I instructed my mechanic to install the X-ring drive chain kit and that i would be back in a jiffy. However, i guess my mechanic heard otherwise and had happily installed the OEM drive chain and put back the rear swingarm onto the chassis and had finished setting up and adjusting the drive chain slackness by the time i was back!! I simply didn't have the heart to make him go through the ordeal of undoing everything again just to install my preferred drive chain kit so i let it be, paid him and headed back home. Guess my X-Ring drive chain experiment will have to wait for a while till this set wears out.











Pic 20 & 21 : OEM Drive chain and sprocket kit installed by my great mechanic instead of the X-Ring drive chain kit. Note the starting point for the drive chain adjustment at 0.0 kms.

As expected, with the new drive chain and sprocket set now installed the power delivery was even more linear and the bike was super eager to rev quickly and bounce the tacho off the redline. Nonetheless, this job will ensure a hassle free ride to the beautiful land of Gross National Happiness - Bhutan. My CBR as of now has covered 3,600 kms on Shell Advanced Ultra 10W 40 FS oil and so far the engine is still butter smooth. However, keeping in line with the long distance travelling tips from senior riders, i have decided to drain this oil and put fresh one to ensure a trouble free ride. The Yamaha FZ engine oil filter as of now has completed 16,000+ kms of testing and by the time i am done with my Bhutan trip, it would have done another 2,000+ more kms. We are slowly inching towards our second baseline to observe and confirm whether there are any adverse effects of using a Yamaha FZ/Byson engine oil filter in place of OEM one on a Honda CBR 250R. So far the results are encouraging however, would like to hold on to my thoughts till the milestone is achieved.

I hope my trip to Bhutan does turn up to be a grand success and my CBR keeps on chugging happily. Wish me luck... until then..


Cheers,

NOTE: many many thanks to @The Monk and site admins who finally helped me in isolating the problem. Now hopefully i would be able to put up posts just fine.

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



Good to know you had resolved your problem and back to posting data....

When we are in trouble , always look up to " Monk " to solve and guide correctly...

A Mature Youngster I am blessed to know...

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

It looks like the lower portion of chain slider is about to fall - plucked off from mounting clip!

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

BHUTAN TRIP, TROUBLESHOOTING & OVERALL REPORT:

Hi All,

this post has been pending for over a month since, i had completed my trip to Bhutan. But thanks to earlier technical issues related to posting on this thread, i was unable to do so. Moving on, As always i will try to keep the trip log brief and the post more concentrated towards my CBR's performance, issues faced and troubleshooting so that in the end we all have something productive to discuss about. Please do bear with me when i do swerve back and forth between my experience in Bhutan and then to overall motorcycling experience with my beloved CBR. This post will also reveal some of the critical things i chose to ignore and later had bear the irritation during the ride. So let us get on with the log.

So "D" day was just 48 hours away! i was anxious, excited and also a bit worried as it has been almost 2 - 3 years since, i have taken on doing such an extended solo ride accruing to more than 2,300 kms. Based on my discussions with some of the experienced tourers, it was decided that carrying a portable electric air pump along with puncture repair kit would be better than doing so with the manual foot air pump i had with me. So an order was placed on amazon and it was promptly delivered at my doorstep from Amazon rather quick (benefits of prime membership i suppose). It was also jointly agreed that carrying chain cleaner and lubricant spray cans on such a trip would work out better since, carrying a bottle of chain lube in form of gearbox/transmission oil would exponential increase the possibility of spillage inside the bag, not to mention the headache associated with carrying so much fluid along with you if you get the picture. So i ended up picking a Motul chain cleaner and Yamalube chain spray and then packed them neatly inside my Viaterra Claw saddlebag.





Pic 1 & 2: Portable Electric air pump and chain cleaner and chain lubricant in aerosol cans for the trip.

As mentioned in my earlier post, since this was going to be an extended trip so it was decided that i will drain the current engine oil duty in my CBR 250R and go for a fresh bottle of Shell Advanced ultra 10W 40 FS oil along with fresh Yamaha Byson/FZ engine oil filter. Before draining the current engine oil, i peeked into the engine oil inspection window and colour of the current oil looked just fine. I feel had i been not so conservative, the existing oil would have worked out just fine throughout the trip. However, just for peace of mind i decided to carry on with the engine oil change regardless. When we drained the engine oil it was still in very good shape which in my books indicate that the internals are now more or less clean and in good condition.











Pic 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7: Engine oil and the oil filter getting replaced for the upcoming trip. Note the colour of the old engine oil @ 3,621 kms.

In the whole moment of being excited, i had made a mistake of not bothering to replace the engine oil filter gasket (which would later come to bite me in the bum) as my mechanic felt that it was still in good shape. This is one component i simply ignored and overlooked as i have been using the same oil filter gasket for the last two years without any issues (which on the hindsight, i should have paid heed to). Anyways, after all the basic checks were done and okayed, i tanked up my CBR along with Iftex System - G fuel additive and got ready for the ride. The next day i headed out from my hometown towards my first point: Guwahati where i intended to do a pit stop for about a week in order to spend some much needed time with my friends and family. Now for those who are not familiar with the North East, unlike rest of india here the rainfalls are much higher and in a way quite unpredictable! So don't be surprised if you witness monsoon like constant showers right from February to mid of frekking June!! And as all my fellow Mumbaikers and rest of India have experienced it first hand, the monsoon/incessant rains also gifts us Indians with endless supply of potholes!! I too wasn't spared from the wrath of the weather combined with horrendous road conditions. After crossing about 200 kms, the rains had stopped but the familiar route had now littered with quite a lot of potholes (some literally the size of a minivan) which suddenly appear from nowhere.

Anyways, while trying to keep a constant average speed and navigating through such conditions, my luck finally ran out when in order to evade one pot hole, i ended up plunging my CBR into another one (rather big and a lot of depth), I braced for the inevitable! After passing over the pot hole and a large thud sound coming from the front, in my mind i had already pictured the front tire rapidly deflating at any moment due to the front alloy being damaged for good thanks to the impact! However, luckily nothing happened to front alloy nor to the tire. The whole impact load was borne by the front shocks and after covering some distance i noticed both the shocks to be leaking hydraulic oil onto the stension. I stopped and inspected both the R & L shocks and both the oil seals were completely shot!





Pic 8 & 9: Both the oils seals on R & L side of the front shocks were a goner and weeping oil.

However, given the circumstances i decided to carry on and get the front forks sorted out at Honda SVC in Guwahati which being a big city should have the necessary spares and mechanics to take care of the deed rather efficiently. So in a way it was blessing for me that i had decided to keep slightly a loose schedule and this problem could then be sorted out easily in a major city rather than cropping up suddenly in the middle of nowhere. For the un-initiated, Bhutan doesn't have any Honda service centres, trained mechanic nor the spares to tackle a bike like CBR which as we all know doesn't even have a center stand. So it is better to ensure that your vehicle is in tip-top condition before one makes the journey! Anyways, i set up an appointment with Vinayak Honda Service Center (for the sake of enthusiastic members and future those who may planning to pay a visit to this side of the country, i am also putting up a google map screen grab for directions!)

Coming from another part of the state, i was quite taken aback by the attitude of the service centre and the Honda CBR mechanic there has one of the fastest hands only comparable to mechanic Lakshman of Wakdewadi, Pune (Maharashtra) whom i had witnessed working his magic along with senior rider @gopakumar s pillai. Both the front shocks fork oil seals along with fork oil topped up, and placed back onto the triple tree and the bike tested was complete in 25 minutes flat! Given the latest incident of my CBR's fairings getting a good amount of scratch work, i decided to also place an order for the same along with some other spares. The SVC spares section of Vinayak Honda, Guwahati gave a confident reply that by the time i am back, they will get all the fairings and spares and can also ship it to my hometown (of course a nominal courier charge has to be borne by me) post my inspection. This is the kind of service i believe any CBR owner would expect from an SVC to provide and also the pro-active approach by the spares section folks was really commendable.





Pic 10 & 11: Google map location of Vinayak Honda, Guwahati. The front fork seals replaced along with fork oil. Note the droplets are thanks to evening showers in Guwahati.

After a week of stay and goofing around with my friends and family, i decided to leave for Bhutan on 3rd May, 2017. The total distance to be covered was around 365 kms. The route from Guwahati to Phuntsholing, Bhutan is about 95% good: with exceptions on certain stretches where again the miracle of pot holes will irritate you like anything. Thanks to my earlier stint with test runs, i was comfortably able to complete this distance in under 7.5 hours (had to do a lot of pit stops, asking for and confirming the directions as for some weird reason Both the Nokia "Here We Go" and Google maps were acting weird may be it was due to my phone getting very old i don't know!). I had managed to reach Phuntsholing, Bhutan by 2:30 pm and got hold of a good accommodation for an overnight stay.





Pic 13 & 14: Reached Phuntsholing, Bhutan safe and sound so decided to enjoy to the local bhutanese delicacy: Khow Suey.

The next day (4th May, 2017) when i landed up at the immigration/permits office, i came to know that Bhutan had recently changed the rules of obtaining permit for any visitor where one had to have prior hotel/resort bookings and the booking confirmation photocopy/print out had to be submitted along with other documents. Of course being an idiot i didn't bother to do my reservations thinking that i would do so once i reach Thimpu and Paro. Actually to be honest, i did check with some of my rider friends from Guwahati who had recently been to Bhutan and none of them gave any info on this even once (but i would like to point out that this is something i should have definitely kept in my research list!!) Regardless, i was helped by the manager of the hotel i was staying in to sort out bookings at Thimpu and Paro and then again went to the Permits office to get hold of the the same. Incidentally, on 5th May, all the Government offices were to remain closed due to National holiday, so one can imagine the rush of tourists and agents on the day i was trying to get mine!

By the time i was able to get my personnel permit and the vehicle permit for my CBR from the RSTA (Road Safety & transport Authority - Bhutan) in Phuntsholing, it was already around 3:45 pm. Based on my discussions with cab/taxi drivers the ETA to Thimpu was around 4 - 6 hours - i realised that i won't be making it into the capital city before nightfall. Add to that, BST (Bhutan Standard Time) is 30 mins ahead to our IST and also based on my earlier experience everything shuts down early in the mountains. So i was pretty sure that by the time i arrive in Thimpu and find my hotel, i may have to be prepared to go on empty stomach! I did have snacks and energy bars however, they cannot supplement for a good meal. Anyways by the time i got my bike ready along with luggage mounted on it, it was already 4:15 pm. For those who are not aware, compared to Northern and western India, the sun sets early in the North East region so the visible sunlight was already slowly fading. Personally, i am not such a big fan of night riding as the driving hazards on Indian roads makes it quite a scary affair! But given the circumstances, i had to make and exception and begin my journey into a new country under complete darkness. I guess this was also going to be the day when i was going to test out the real capabilities of difference between the OEM factory headlight with the upgraded brighter Hella Halogens (refer to post: https://www.xbhp.com/talkies/general...ml#post1165844) and believe me they didn't disappoint!! I witnessed random showers, fog, roads getting covered under a thick blanket of cloud and at times it was a bit rattling to see small chunks of rocks falling off from the mountain to which the road is hugging phew!! (This being a part of The Himalayas, the soil is actually not that stable and Bhutan does witness random landslides blocking the arterial road to the interiors). Being a solo rider at times, i did witness kms and kms of twisties and certain sections becoming very narrow where if there is a vehicle coming from the opposite end, one will have to stop and let the vehicle pass. there were stretches where i could find not a single person or vehicle in sight. So one can imagine being in a new country and unknown roads it did take a bit more concentration on my end to ensure that i reach Thimpu city safely.

Now, for the un-initiated please do note that the speed limit on Bhutan roads are restricted to 50 kmph and if they find you over-speeding, YOU WILL BE FINED HEAVILY!! Unlike our local thullas/pandus in India, the police officers are non-corrupt and have special judicial powers to fine you and sentence you a good punishment on the spot if they deem it necessary! So if you are one of those riders who intend to visit this beautiful country, please do respect their laws and follow the speed limit. I had already researched on the same and came to know that when the vehicle in front is giving you left indicator signal - it means that now you can safely overtake. If they give you the right indicator - DONOT OVERTAKE! Anyways, keeping in line with the rules and regulations and speed limit under check, i managed to reach Thimpu in 4 hours flat! Thanks to my earlier stint with riding on the ghats and in Meghalaya, this route: even though on a much higher elevation, i was able to ride at night rather easily! And the teachings of Motorcycle guru: Keath Code were always there to guide me... Throughout the 165 kms route from Phuntsholing to Thimpu city, my Honda CBR 250R never struggled, stuttered or gave me any trouble whatsoever. Though due to high elevation roads and the weird shorter and taller gearing nature of CBR, a lot of times i did had to shift gears frequently to ensure that the bike was always in good power band and never allowed the engine to get unwanted load or induce any kind of knocking.

Pardon me for swaying a bit away from the topic, but i would like to share an interesting incident with you all readers. Once, i reached Thimpu city no matter how many times i tried to use Google maps, my phone was simply not able to lock onto any of the GPS satellites and the directions offered by my phone to reach the hotel were totally out of sync. I wandered around for near about an hour till i accidentally entered a residential area and then was stuck as now the roads were bit confusing especially being dark and drizzling. I then met a local bhutanese couple who had just parked their vehicle and were on their way to home and requested them to kindly help understand the directions to the hotel. After conversing with them for about a minute the man jumped into his vehicle and politely asked me to follow him to the hotel. After he guided me to the hotel, he took me along with him to the reservation desk and made sure that the room allocated to me was handed over. He then politely smiled and left!!! I was simply bowled over by this one of a kind experience! A stranger who has no reason to help me, went out of his way to ensure that i was taken care of: without any agenda or reason! Bhutan was already appealing to me right away! The next day, i strolled around and had a great time in Thimpu. I would not like to bore the readers with too much experience sharing rather let the images do the talking..













Pic 15, 16, 17, 18 & 19: i stayed at Chubachu area of Thimpu, capital city of Bhutan. It was very clean, people are polite and helpful. Had good munching session with the local delicacies

I had booked the hotel only for one night in Thimpu and the next day i was supposed to leave for Paro (about 30 kms from Thimpu) which as per my discussion with a lot of riders is the place to be!! So after a good daytime session in exploring Thimpu city, it was time to head towards Paro. While i was strapping the saddlebag onto my bike, i then noticed that there were signs of little bit of engine oil weep on the right hand side of the engine casing. On further inspection, it was pretty clear that the old oil filter gasket had failed and now was allowing minuscule amount of oil to seep through! (sorry no images) I neither had the tools nor the replacement gasket to sort this out, plus this being a national holiday, all the garages and shops were closed. This is where a small ignorance i had mentioned earlier led to this thing bite me in my bum!! I checked the engine oil level and it was all fine. As always the tried and tested protocol was followed, "when in doubt trouble @psr sir!!"

i rang him up and narrated the situation and possible troubleshooting on the same. As per him since, the oil weeping was minuscule i need not bother and lose my sleep on it rather can easily do the trip and then take care of it once i was back in Guwahati. He did mention to keep an eye on the engine oil level at regular intervals just to be certain. Now post the seal of approval stamped on my bike all the way from Chennai i fired her up and rode towards Paro. Now i realised what the earlier night was hiding from me! The roads are simply beautiful: actually calling it beautiful is an understatement. I had school kids waving at me happily and the road to Paro was butter smooth. I had a good corner carving session and my CBR didn't disappoint. Once, i reached Paro the monuments and the natural beauty did the rest: i was on a photo shooting spree till my phone gave up and died due to lack of charge.







Pic 20, 21 & 22: The beautiful Paro! Monasteries, Gompas, the Mountains, the river, the wind, the people, their nature: it was simply too much to take in at one go!!

Thanks to the incessant rains witnessed en route Phuntsholing - Thimpu, my bike was dirty like anything and was covered with a thick layer of mountainous muck and crud. So i decided to take her to a car/bike wash shop in Paro. While getting her washed i noticed something dangling from the bottom. Again on further inspection, it was found to be the fuel vent line from the petrol tank which had come off. I had never experienced it in my last two years of owning this vehicle however, i guess when doing extremely long distance touring and taking your vehicle through the crappy roads, one should expect the unexpected! Since, there was no way i could fix that, i decided to try and tuck it back into the frame and then continue with my journey. Two niggles already discovered so far, i was wondering what is the next in line/yet to come?





Pic 23 & 24: My CBR 250R receiving a high altitude wash. Note the Fuel vent line/hose dangling close to the road. It had come off most likely due to constant beating on pothole roads en route i presume.

I had a great time in Paro. The place is serene and peaceful. While exploring paro, i ended up entering a small local bar right next to Bharat Petroleum Petrol Pump in the Main Paro town and to my utter surprise has a great time interacting with the owner and the locals who gather up late at night post 9:30 pm. The lady host/bar owner, goes by the nick name "Puku" chatted with me for a while and also introduced me to her regulars and friends who were very polite and entertaining. It was great to know that she did her college in Delhi and was working in the Hotel industry in Rajasthan for quite a while till: due to personal and family commitments, she had to come back to Bhutan and start up all over again. I really enjoyed the company of the locals and the owner 'Puku': would highly recommend anyone looking for a similar experience to definitely visit this small place, the details of which can be check on the screen grab of google maps below:









Pic 25, 26, 27 & 28: Google Maps and 3D view of the small bar owned and run by this young lady 'Puku'. the locals were very polite and fun to be with.

Through interactive session with the locals, i came to know that Bhutanese people love Karaoke singing and there were plenty of Karaoke shops/bars in Bhutan and that the mobile app "We Chat" was their go to social media platform. It was great to know the real side and aspirations of local Bhutanese people. As the avid traveller & TV presenter Andrew Zimmern would always say: the best way to experience a culture is by digging bit deeper and trying out the local cuisines. This way one also shows respect to the culture of the local people. So being a self confessed foodie, i did end up trying quite a lot of local dishes right from Bathup to Thukpas and various other bites i can't pronounce. It was heartening to see how proud the people of Bhutan are about their culture and they were very happy when a visitor was munching down and appreciating their local cuisine They made me feel at home and ensured that i reach safe and sound back to my resort for the two nights i stayed in Paro. Overall Bhutan is safe for tourists and people will go out of their way to take care of you in this beautiful kingdom. I came to know from the locals that in Bhutan, if you become friends with someone, you are friends for life! I believe, i am harping too much on my experience rather than sticking to the topic in hand so let me end this by sharing the photo feature of the trip: The Paro Taktsang or famously known as the Tiger's Nest. Paro sits at an elevation of roughly 7,000 ft and the Tiger's Nest monastery is at around 10,000 ft. The trek to the monastery was not an easy one and had me huffing and puffing for a while!. But in the end the experience was totally worth it!





Pic 29 & 30: Trek to Paro Taktsang/Tiger's Nest Monastery. A must to do thing in a tourer's life!!

I now had to get ready for the return leg of the journey as my stay in Bhutan was coming to an end. believe me when i tell you this, i was still contemplating to extend my stay in Bhutan by a week, however common sense struck and i decided to visit this beautiful kingdom in The Himalayas again in the near future for sure! Now that i knew the whole route properly, i decided to make it to Guwahati at one go. So the total distance to be covered was 165 + 360 kms = 525 kms roughly. However, the primary concern was the engine oil leakage and the loose fuel vent line/hose. With my OCMD, one can only imagine how difficult it was for me to keep my over-eagerness to get things right under control!! Anyways, i started early from Paro and was able to complete the journey in about 9 hours flat! i rode non-stop, only to halt for fuelling, occasional nature call and fluid replenishing breaks. My CBR never gave me any problem and was with me throughout. However, about 80 kms from Guwahati when i stopped for water break, i noticed that the fuel vent line/hose had come off completely and now was rubbing against the road. Out of sheer irritation i decided to let it be and carry on with my riding and that if needed i would end up putting a brand new vent line once i reach Guwahati.

The overall FE in the mountain roads of Bhutan was around 35 - 37 kmpl whereas the spirited riding back to Guwahati along with leaking oil gasket and fuel vent hose dragging on the road yielded me 31 kmpl - so typical FE range of a normal CBR 250R. Not once, did i felt that my CBR skipped a bit and the way she built up speed on the highway was really something to experience. At certain stretches, i intentionally kept the engine on the boil but all i received was the sweet singing of the motor and the speedo hitting triple digits at ease. The Michelin Pilot Street radials did their duty just fine and were really confidence inspiring while i was busy with my corner carving sessions in Bhutan. Not once, did i experience any loss in grip: be it riding under heavy rains or on full lean angle when coming downhill.

After spending a day or two in Guwahati, i then got my bike back into the Vinayak Honda SVC and got the niggling issues sorted out: the old leaking gasket was replaced with a new one while thanks to my OCMD, i ended up buying two fresh gaskets for my parts collection back in home! The Fuel Hose was found to be ok even after getting a good amount of dragging on the road. I asked the mechanic to cut the hose a little bit and install it back but this time using a good clamp. Since, my CBR was on Shell Advance Ultra oil and after inspection the oil loss was not at all noticeable, i decided to carry on with my journey to my place of stay with the same level and not to mix it with available Honda FS oil at the SVC.

Overall to and fro journey from Guwahati - Bhutan - Guwahati besides the small issues: my CBR 250R never gave me any other problem whatsoever! The FE was within acceptable range, i never witnessed any punctures. She would always start at one go regardless of the outside ambient temperature ( with night temps falling to 3 - 6'C at times). No engine noise, no jingling sounds nothing! She was rock solid and reliable as ever! The tapered roller steering bearings did their job just fine and allowed me to navigate through hellish road conditions while instilling confidence with the additional stability they provided. Now i can confirm that the advertisement tagline by the OEM company has been thoroughly tried and tested: Honda is Honda

I believe i have already written too much. i still had 500 kms of journey left to reach my place of stay. Will cover the rest in another post. Till then...

Cheers,


Hi,

just saw your post. I believe a simple online search will yield you results :



i bought it from online. Amazon, Flipkart and other e-commerce sites regularly sell them.

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

Shivang another beautiful writeup of the travelogue and experience with the CBR250R....The Words are descriptive and , the Pictures are beautiful....

Glad to know the leak was minuscule , and did not cause any harm till you finished your trip. While the old pre-trip oil looks a bit used the oil filter seems to have trapped a lot of particles, since it looks darker ...

This time at nearly 4 K kms the Shell Ultra FS had gone a bit darker, which is good compared to the earlier experience. I guess the many Kilometers usage of Rimula R4 had managed to clean major part of the gunk inside the engine . You can now look forward to a more cleaner engine, than when you bought it.

The failure of the fork oil seal is to be expected if you get into a sudden pothole and suspension bottoms on it's travel..It had happened to me on my Karizma whenever I happened to hit major pot hole, or run through severely pot holed road for some distance.

You must try to get a job with BBC or National Geography ,since you have both the gift of descriptive words and beautiful angles in photography .

Good Luck
Ride safe..

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

POST TRIP - SCHEDULED MAINTENANCE & PARTS REPLACEMENT:

Hi All,

So after spending a few days in Guwahati it was then time to move back to my place of stay. The ride was pretty much uneventful as by now i had travelled this same road multitude no. of times with my CBR 250R. However about 40 kms from my destination the old clunking noise started emitting from the rear left hand side of my motorcycle. I already knew who was the culprit!


The Curse Of The Chain Slider:

The chain slider!! My CBR 250R for some odd reason loves to munch on Chain sliders. i believe my bike has already gone through 3 - 4 sets of them by now. And most likely it happens due to horrendous road conditions prevailing in this part of the country: as a result, the chain bounces around and under certain circumstances just rips the chain slider off its hooking point and there you go, another chain slider gone! For those who may recollect, the chain slider was earlier attached back onto the swing arm using the jugaad method of putting a zip tie strap (Refer to post: https://www.xbhp.com/talkies/general...ml#post1218741). However, by design the zip tie attached was over the chain sliders so in the back of my mind i knew that sooner or later this will come undone after the chain eats through the zip tie material. The front hook up points were of no use as they would get undone all the time so the whole load of the chain slider was borne by the zip tie. However, luckily for me the zip tie method lasted me close to 10,000 kms and was at its last legs only once i was about to complete my trip.



Pic 1: condition of the old chain slider.

I decided to carry on with my ride and reached my destination comfortably in about 7 hours flat. After resting for a few days and getting hold of all the items shipped from SVC Vinayak Honda , Guwahati i called up my mechanic friend and decided to take care of the respective issues and scheduled maintenance one by one. First in line was the chain slider. Based on my earlier experience, this time i decided to further refine my desi jugaad engineering and made a hole on both sides of the chain slider using a small metal rod heated over naked flame and then inserted a zip tie through the holes. The idea was, this time the zip tie would be placed in such a location which will never allow the chain to come in contact with it no matter what. This way hopefully, the slider should remain in its designated place and that should be the end of it. I will report back whether this method has worked for me or not as i continue clocking kms on my CBR which will enable those owners who may or may not have witnessed such similar issue with their respective motorcycle.













Pic 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7: New chain slider getting installed on my CBR but this time the zip tie has been made to go through the chain slider itself using two holes as shown in the pics above.

As mentioned in the earlier post, during my ride to Bhutan, the old engine oil filter gasket had failed which was later replaced at SVC Vinayak Honda, Guwahati. I had decided not to top up the engine oil with local Honda FS one as i had Shell Advance Ultra 10W 40 FS oil currently doing duty in my motorcycle and anyways the engine oil level was within spec. So in my mechanic's workshop, we then topped up the engine oil. My CBR had lost barely about < 100 ml of oil.



Pic 8: Shell Advance Ultra top up at roughly 2,302 kms post oil filter gasket fiasco during Bhutan trip.

Rear indicator Vandalism:

During the return leg of the journey from Guwahati, it was also discovered that the left rear indicator had been fiddled around with and the end result was obvious: it was found to be a goner. I tried a number of times to insert the rubber holders back in place but unfortunately it was completely bent and out of shape. So a new OEM LHS indicator was ordered and fitted onto my CBR. Since, changing an indicator is a very simple job, i will not trouble the readers with an elaborate process on the same.







Pic 9, 10 & 11: LHS indicator bent from the rubber mount. Replaced with OEM Honda Indicator assembly.

After these minute issues were resolved we then moved on to take care of the other tasks in hand.

Engine Coolant Change:

My CBR had got its coolant flushed in 2015 during the early days of ownership (Refer to post: https://www.xbhp.com/talkies/general...ml#post1149661). If i remember correctly, the shop manual recommends to replace the coolant at an interval of every 2 years. Regardless, so in order to do the deed, we first ensured that the mechanic gets a clean platform to work on so the vehicle was first sent to the washing bay to take care of all the dirt and mud she had accumulated thanks to the incessant rains my place of stay has been experiencing for quite a while now.



Pic 12: Bike getting prepped before the coolant work is initiated.

Now the coolant replacement in a Honda CBR 250R is fairly a simple job. For those who may want to understand the steps to be taken can perhaps refer to the excerpts from the shop manual below:





Pic 13 & 14: Procedure to replace the engine coolant from Honda CBR 250R radiator system. I skipped the step in the page '6-8' as i felt there was no need to fiddle around with the thermostat.

Now i know that most of the new readers/members don't bother to read through and instead want a quick answer for everything. So for those who are really lazy and would like to have a visual representation of how to change coolant from the CBR 250R's radiator system, you may also refer to the video link below:




So as per the above mentioned pages of shop manual, the coolant changing process was fairly simple and took us about 30 minutes to complete. Post draining the coolant from the reservoir tank and from the drain point, we then filled the coolant on top of the radiator and then started the bike and revved it a few no. of times to ensure that no air lock is present in the radiator system. Post completion of that, the coolant was topped up in the reservoir tank and we were good to go. Note that earlier, i was indeed contemplating to use Engine Ice coolant on my CBR as i have received really good reviews from a lot of riders who have used them on their respective vehicles. However, the stock OEM Radiator set up on a Honda CBR 250R is so efficient that no matter what one does, the engine temperature never manages to go past the 3 bars. Honda really deserves a pat on their back for designing such a superior liquid-cooling system (hope KTM India is listening!! )

So given the experience, i decided to stick with stock OEM Honda Coolant which costs a measly 250 bucks per 1 ltr (more than sufficient for the job).



















Pic 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 , 20 ,21 ,22 & 23: The process of draining old coolant to filling up the radiator system with a fresh bottle of coolant. OEM Honda coolant was chosen.

It was interesting to note that even after 2 years and 20,000 kms of usage, the coolant drained from the radiator system still looked as good as new. I believe that since, majority of my rides were limited to short trips and highways and that i rarely got to experience stop and go traffic, the coolant never got the beating it normally would had it been the case that i was riding the same bike in a Metropolitan city like Mumbai or may be in Pune. We let the vehicle idle for another 30 mins to let cooling fan come on and then allow the freshly poured coolant to circulate through the radiator system properly. Once, everything was checked and okayed, we then proceeded to get the old damaged fairing cowls to be replaced with the fresh pieces.



Pic 24: New fairing cowls for my Honda CBR 250R shipped and packed neatly by Vinayak Honda from Guwahati.

Time for a New Dress! - Fairing Cowls:

We first started with removing the front LHS fairing cowl which got cracked due to the last incident. One thing to bear in mind: in order to access all the bolts attached, one will have to completely dis-assemble the front headlight assembly as few of the locking/holding bolts are in the deep recesses of the fairing. This took a while as one had to go through quite a lot of connectors and holders of other fairing assemblies in order to reach the damaged LHS cowl. Coming from Yamaha FZ Naked bike, this is the only thing i don't like about my Honda CBR 250R. This fairing business is quite irritating to take care of! Hopefully my future upgrade vehicle will have a semi-fairing or may be naked in the right places to access various points easily for servicing & inspection as in when required.











Pic 25, 26, 27, 28 & 29: The front headlight assembly completely taken off to gain access to the front LHS damaged fairing cowl. This was indeed quite a task. Do note the black marks post installation are just grease marks which was taken care of later.

After installation of the front LHS fairing cowl was completed we then put everything back on and then started to dis-assemble the respective side fairing cowls in order to install the fresh ones. Now here is where I managed to do a rookie mistake! The side fairing on a CBR is actually of two parts where the tail end is another sub-section which needs to be purchases separately. This is something i completely overlooked and only when the mechanic pointed it out to me - did it strike me of my error. Regardless all the sub fairing cowl has is a small tear on the OEM stickering. If i am correct, this part costs about 300 - 370 bucks so will place an order for the same and install it on my bike next time. The front indicators were taken off from their old fairings and installed onto the new ones. This process took us about 30 mins. Once, everything was checked the new fairing cowl were installed back onto my bike, the bills were cleared and then i proceeded to head home.













Pic 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, & 35: Old side Fairing cowl getting removed and some of the components re-used on the newer fairing. Note the tail end of the sub-section cowl which is a separate fairing part and needs to be ordered separately.

Once, i reached home, i slowly peeled off the protective plastic film off the fairing stickers and was busy looking at my "decked-up" CBR for quite a while. She looks as good as newly rolled out bike from the showroom. Now some of you may be wondering what am i going to to do with the old fairing cowls right? Well i am not going to throw them obviously, but will most likely get them re-painted and may do some new themed stickering work and keep them with me as spare barring the front LHS cowl which i don't think can be re-used.

My CBR 250R has now completed 40,000 kms on the odometer: out of which 20,000 kms has been more or less covered by your's truly . Now the Yamaha Byson/FZ engine oil filter has done around 18,700 kms on my Honda CBR 250R: this time while covering around 2,300 kms involving various conditions right from pot holed hellish sections to high elevation roads with engine getting loaded quite a bit due to the given terrain of Bhutan. However, she is still singing freely and i am yet to experience any catastrophic failure of any of the engine internal components. My CBR needs to cover just another 1,300 kms to complete the 20,000 kms benchmark which can then hopefully be considered a practical "on-road" test - confirming that a simple Rs. 40/- non OEM Spec engine oil filter can be safely used on a Honda CBR 250R engine. As promised earlier, i will continue to use Yamaha Byson/FZ engine oil filter till the end of my tenure with this bike and continue to post the longterm usage report on the same. This should enable a lot of readers and respective owners to use their own independent free will and judgement: may consider this engine oil filter to be an alternate option in the event the respective Honda SVCs sing the famous old song, "Sir the OEM engine oil filter is not in stock. Sir nothing will happen you can come and change the oil filter in the next service!" You know the usual..

It has been raining cats and dogs in this side of the country so i have kept all my rides on hold. Will do some more rides in the coming months and share my ownership experience over here: i do have lots of them coming up!!

Until then...

Cheers,

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

Shivang..Another good post with data and how you went about maintenance of your CBR250R.
The chain slider failure looks strange, or may be other users are not noticing it much.
Surprising to note parts cost is so less for HONDA CBR 250 compared a N250R.. I still remember that the cost of replacing a N250 one indicator used to be 2,000/- while it is 375/- for the CBR250 similarly the fairing parts are also much less in cost..Owning a CBR250 seems much less expensive than I thought .
The FZ filter which was suggested as a stop gap alternative seems to be doing a good job in CBR250. Surprised you had nearly done 20,000 Kms with the FZ filter in the engine...Though theoretical explanations for and against can be expressed, the fact that the filter is useful not just for one attempt but managed to do duty for such a long time with no ill effects seems to be a good find...That you took a calculated risk and learned and shared it here is commendable.

Ride safe, Keep posting so I can learn.
Good luck..

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

[MENTION=68219]shiv1[/MENTION]8, was it really necessary to change the whole indicator? I had the same issue with the front right indicator (bent backwards due to slides) and SVC guy just changed the indicator bush. Charged me ₹80 for it 3 years ago. Im sure they didn't change the indicator itself because it still has the scratches.
[MENTION=32286]psr[/MENTION] sir - my 2012 250 hasnt ever got the chain slider come off in 4.5 years and 40,100 kms. I ride in bad roads often, too.

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

I had so far not heard of the slider failing in CBR250 at an early age/Kms done, which is why I had raised the doubt with Shivang that his problem is unique and strange..

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

It was a problem for a couple of early owners. I recall one guy on xbhp had his fall off at less than 2k kms

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

Hi @leech a very apt query from your end Well there were two reasons:

1) The rubber grommet/mount was not in stock and the local shop through whom i was getting the job done only had the LHS indicator unit. Plus the old unit had also developed cracks at the edges. Whoever fiddled around with the indicator i believe just wanted to play rough with it. So considering the cheap cost i decided to replace the unit as a whole.

2) My OCMD!! (Consider this the primary reason). With the new indicator on the LHS side, the bike really looks good so now i am contemplating to replace the RHS side as well!!.... That is why my CBR gets so much pampering...

Regarding the chain slider issue, well this is not just model or brand specific.. when i had Yamaha FZ with me back in the year 2010, a lot of FZ owners had complained about the chain slider falling off for no reason whereas in my 4 years of ownership, i never faced any such issue whatsoever. With my CBR initially, i had suspected mis-aligned rear tire which might have resulted in the drive chain going out of sync and bouncing around to rip it off or else the second possibility was mis-aligned rear swing arm right from the factory. However, it has been repeatedly checked and no such issues have been found. I guess this may be one off case..

Like we all know, every motorcycle rolled out from the factory has its own individual character (like a housewife: no two are the same right??).. Some CBRs prefer eating timing chain and chain tensioner, some go for the shims, for some it is the RR unit and ignition coil... luckily mine is happy munching on cheap chain slider


Cheers,

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

This this helps,
My chain slider has fallen off/broken 3 times in last 3000kms

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

[MENTION=68219]shiv1[/MENTION]8, you're spot on about each bikes individual nature.

You've conclusively proved that the fz150 oil filter does the job on the CBR 250 as well as the OEM.

Thank you for that.

Your bike looks spanking clean all the time. How often do you water wash the bike? Or have you done any coating on the paint?