It does feel good when you have completed 14 months of riding clocking 8200 odd kms on the odo(as of now). Especially the fact that i have not faced even a single problem (except a puncture due to metro construction work) on the bike makes me even more happier. Before selecting this bike i had made a lot of enquiries & read a lot of articles about the bike in different magazines like overdrive, bike india, mouthshut & every magazine told this bike as the best in its segment. I loved the bike & will be loving it in future also.

Well i once did a small ride to hosur for the shopping of diwali crackers. It was a more than 45kms from bangalore & while returning i took the NICE road which almost made my return distance almost double. That sums up to closely 140kms which is till date my biggest trip on this bike. In my whole biking history the maximum distance i have made on a bike is 150kms only(on an R15). I will be waiting to complete 10k kms on the bike & then i would think of any such rides.

The trip to hosur was fun. I was constantly maintaining speeds of 80+ & there were no complaints from the engine. Sometimes i have even maintained the speeds at 100kmph. I was grinning while overtaking a lot of vehicles in my path. The good thing of the bike is it produces its max power at 7500rpm. And at that engine speeds in 5th gear the speed would be around 80kmph which is a recommended touring speed for any bike as per old fox http://www.xbhp.com/talkies/424920-post3.html since the top speed of our bike is 108kmph.
I have to accept the handling of the bike is excellent. While returning from hosur there were a lot of incidents which could have easily sent me to the hospital but still the bike easily came back to control. Its cornering abilities are also superb & it can easily be leaned to a knee scrapping angle.
I always loved the yamaha disc brakes. They are just rightly powered. I had ridden P180, Royal Enfield machismo 500LB, stunner & a few others. I have found that all the bikes disc brakes were kinda over powered. I even had a crash on the stunner for that reason. While the fz & gladiator brakes work as the amount of pressure you apply on the lever & are very precise to bring the bike to a halt.


But as a coin has 2 sides. This bike has its share of problems too. I felt that the FE is very low. The bike doesnt has any good grip on wet surfaces. A few small problems like these.

But after all these the bike is the cheapest in its segment & I NEVER regretted buying it. But as they say "there is no replacement for displacement" I felt that i should have brought those bigger bikes. Anyways am fully satisfied with the bike & will be keeping the bike with me for atleast 4 years.

ahem

Well the bike is good in its category & thats why i said "I dont regret buying it instead of any other bike in its segment". But still however good the bike may be sometimes i feel that i should have an even bigger bike. Afterall we are youngsters & cant get satisfied with just 11bhp

Amen to that

Tail light lens is not being stocked in my area.. SVC guy says., get full rear assembly for 500 bucks and use the tail lens alone that comes with it.. the Tail lens alone costs 110 bucks but none in stock...


Can we convert our gladi to a fuel injection version instead of carburettor version..Just curious on that...

does the FZ run on FI as well like the 15....?

Try another yamaha SC

As long as you have money in your pocket, you can. But its virutally impossible to do. You have to rework on the whole engine & its quite difficult to source the FI systems for an individual.
Nope. The FZ runs on the carb only.

@Madhav After 4th service i find that upon applying full clutch, engaging 1st gear and releasing slowly cause the bike to start moving forward and upon releasing clutch fully bike is still in motion, have you encountered such a behavior

I have heard all bikes have such a behavior , but i see my glad is doing the moving more than it should actually do.. any solution for this ??

I dint understand your query. But once while i was lubing my chain i had started the bike on the center stand. When i downed onto the 1st gear even with the clutch disengaged the rear wheel was moving slowly. Dunno if it is normal with all the bikes.

Madhav@: My query was as follows, Start your vehicle, apply clutch and engage first gear, keep throttle(Accelarator) in closed position and release clutch ? What happens?

In my case when i do the above, Bike starts moving forward with no hiccups or asking for to open throttle. Is this normal behavior ??


In your case the first gear cog was trying to engage and that's the reason for it to start spinning, not abnormal though..

Well i did try this once on the road. In my case the bike does move forward when i release the clutch partially. If i release the clutch fully(slowly) then the bike stalls.

All bikes will move in first gear with only clutch being released (no throttle) and keep on moving after clutch is released fully also , try it on a flat road

So will cars!

Thanks for the input guys... Have any of you fixed a mud flap or something to ward off the water when ridden during rains..

Its rainy season in south india (chennai) and while riding during rains.. the existing rear mug guard is not at all doing justice and creates havoc by spraying water on nearby motorists... pl help with your valuable suggestions..

I don't think there is the need to fix an extra mud flap at the rear. Probably the rear flap isn't long enough to prevent all the water from getting sprayed behind but i feel it does a reasonably good job. You could try riding slower, since it is anyway not advisable to ride fast on wet roads.

hey

i haven't been to this forum in a while.. so a big hello to my fellow gladiators!!

well, just got a new MRF Meteor for my glady, and boy, does it grip well!!

and i was thinking of getting an NGK for my ride... any idea abt the specification and stuff?? :/