Re: Pimp my ride: Budget Byson

A long time since my last post. Quite a few things have transpired. Work getting too hectic resulting in far few kilometers put on the bike.

With the last few days being a bit relaxed ... updating whatever has transpired. Due to the lack of a laptop this is a weirdly edited post.

Saw my birthday last month with me turning *#(encrypted) years old ... my family decided to get me something depicting my love for motorcycling. The cake with me driving into the Horizon on a motrcycle. :-) Glad to have people in my life who get it ... irrespective of them supporting it or not.

The bike looks still fresh for something that is 6 years old ... my greatest achievement.


I use a Kranos Imola Born-2-Win Casino helmet. Its a great helmet and does the job ... but the wind protection is ... meh!!!.

So as per suggestion from a colleague from Industrial ... I got myself some 3M Ear Plugs. He uses them around transformers and tells that they cut the high-frequency buzzing out. I bought a set which is a pack of 5. They look similar to my earbuds on my Sound Magic ... but they work like a charm.

I can barely hear the howl of the wind through the crevices of the helmet visor and bottom. I'm still able to hear everything else around albeit a bit muted. It is a far better alternative to cutting the noise out rather than music which totally cuts me off from the outside world.

For the past few days, the behaviour of the bike has changed and there are vibration when the bike is trying move in 6th ... similar to surgin. I can feel the engine being stressed and could only attribute it to the chain. Irrespective of using the cleaner and lube .. the muck from the dusty 'Interstellar' like Hyderabad weather has caused the grease to collect lot of dirt and it was getting collected on the chain,sprockets, front sprocket cover ....

So got me-self some WD-40. Two 450gm cans from Amazon for a steal. A generous spray of WD40 and the went ahead to clean the bike with a metal scrub and soap water. The sheer amount of grease that dropped was surprising. On some of the parts I had to literally scrape it with a broken saw blade.

After almost 2 hrs of scrubbing the entire bike and the trailing observations, I had spent half a bottle of WD40 and 4 rolls of paper tissue and two door mats.

1. The gear-shift lever was generously sprayed and cleaned. Shifts are butter sooth now as there is no dirt or muck to hamper operations.
2. The chain looks brand new and so do the sprockets.
3. The Axles were cleaned of the muck as well. The bike just rolls so much better now.

So another colleague who is a chemist suggested me a few products ...

1. 3M High power brake cleaner: If you guys remember from my older posts ... I had for oil all over the brake assmebly. So I generously used the 3M High power brake cleaner and then scotch-brite scrub to clean the assembly. Was suggested that this was very toxic and used a door mat to collect what ever was dripping. Now I can brake with one finger and the braking is amazing. It cleaned like a charm. I can feel the improved braking ... dare I say even better than before the oil spill.

2. 3M 4way Spray Lubricant: What was suggested was to give this a try as a replacement for light oil. Also this is a rust preventive, demoisturizer. So used this on the chain along with a Wet spray able grease. I have covered about 100 kms so far. My intial verdict is that the chain remains so clean and there is no muck formation as well. The Operation of the chain is also very smooth. I really like this.

While I used this for the axles as well ... I might go back to good ol'grease as this is lighter and might not provide the strength to hold on like grease. But what I can say is .... wowwwww. The bike rolls like a dream. The effort to push the bike forward is so less compared to earlier.

Apparently this is similar to WD-40 but with better 'elasticity'. Yeah ... i got confused too. But the guy knows his stuff.

I have pictures missing for some. Bt I got no PC. So I will need some time to upload those pictures.

Re: Pimp my ride: Budget Byson

So finaly got my laptop all sorted out ... and here are the pictures after the chain cleaned.

The 3M brake cleaner is used to remove oil,contaminants and brake fluid from brake assemblies as per 3M.
Be careful to be in the open when you are doing this. This is a very high-pressurized can. So keep away from heat. You can use it on the disk and the caliper assembly. Spray generously and let if sit for 5 mins. It is apparently very poisonous to pets. So collect the residue and dispose it off properly. Wipe down the disk and then we are good to go.


A sample video from the good ol' interweb ad I didn't take any.



The 3M 4-way Grease is a high penetrating light oil grease. It is similar to its function as wd-40. Can be used to clean as well as lube. After the generous wipe-down with WD-40 as above. But apparently it has better elasticity and cohesion and hence will stay on the joints a bit longer even under the radial forces it is subject to.



After a lot of work and getting the floor nasty with chain grease all over my hands ... this is the result.

Wind protection

Any updates to the bike itself have been put off for some time owing to a rather tumultuous situations on personal front.

As you might know ... I had fixed a FZ-S Windscreen a while ago. While this was good enough for the city, it was inadequate for the highways.

On Facebook groups and even here on XBHP I saw a lot of people discussing about windscreens and how they, either bought an after market like MRA or RIZOMA or built a customized windscreen or lifted it off another motorcycle.

The MRA Windscreen was about 7000-8000 depending on whom you asked. Building a customized one was not an option as I can't work with plastic. I didn't want to lift it off another bike and it look like a botched job.

Again turned to my beloved Aliexpress and found something to my liking. Its not a clear but rather an Iridium visor.

Motorcycle Windshield For 2006 2015 Yamaha MT 03 MT 02 MT 01 MT 07 MT 09 MT 125 ABS Plastic Windscreen Deflectors Iridium-in Windscreens & Wind Deflectors from Automobiles & Motorcycles on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group

Fixing it is easy. It has two circular clamps that affix to the handle bar and two connecting rods holding the windscreen in place.


Sound simple but getting the alignment right is very tricky. The connecting rods and be pushed or pulled accordingly to get the alignment right. I used to bracket of the old FZS Windscreen as the front support as it has rubber stoppers on it which will prevent damage. The windscreen swivels to change the front bias of the windscreen itself.

This is the final product.

It is slightly more effective than the FZS which had a a smaller footprint. This is just about right ... and i have to say looks good.

SEATIE update

The FZ has literally no storage available. I have a Rynox tail/tank bag. But its too big, won't sit on the tank and if used as a tail bag eliminates pillion seating. There is also this fear of it getting dirty during the monsoon and people in general messing with it. An almost perfect solution .... presenting the seatie.

Bout it for slightly over a 1000 bucks from BikeOPedia. Apart from provinding storage, it also softens the pillion seating and acts like an anti-slip because of its constructions.

In its base form it will accommodate smaller objects like folded papers etc. Wen fully opened it can accommodate basic tools when you want to go for a ride and don't want a cumbersome tail bag.



Please let me know of your comments and suggestions on what could be next.

Re: Wind protection

Honestly, i don't see the need of a windscreen on a 150cc motorcycle!

Re: Wind protection

But it's more than a windscreen ... Its a protection against debris as well. Its raining crazy in Hyderabad and automobiles being all fancy and not having mud guards tend to splash water and muck which ends up on my upper torso. I get what you say that it is not really noticeable until you reach higher speeds but it does make a slight difference.

And it looks cool don't you think ....

P.S: I can consistently do over a 110 and even maintain that on good roads. But then again I'm more of a city guy than a tourer.

Re: Wind protection

No!

I remembered that is why i stated it makes even less sense for you. Windblast at 110kmph is barely noticeable on a tour. And i would never ever notice it while riding within city limits.

Re: Pimp my ride: Budget Byson

The rains played havoc in Hyderabad over the last two months ... its been terrible for all the vehicles in the household.

The FZ has it the worst. The battery is now 6 years old and I think has decided to give up. There is this strange issue that if I put the key in the electrical doesn't turn-on. But once I just push in first gear, the bike starts but I can see that the bike is struggling electrically.

The blinkers have longer lag
The horn coughs like a TB patient.
The headlight is miserable
Stopping in traffic is a nightmare as I'm with full gear trying to push a bike which is embarrassing.

I'm going to get a new battery and possibly open up the console to see where is the loose contact. Guessing it is with the ignition switch ... sprayed a WD40