replies in bold.

Finally got my baby

Hi guys, So i applied for leave yesterday from office an went to kanchipuram to pick up my baby blade. the registration is still not done, so I have to do with the delivery chalaan for now. Other than that here is what i experienced on my first day with CBR.

I had a good 80 kms to ride home from the showroom. I took along a friend with me. He weighs close to 80 kilos, (just to give perspective).

Incident1.:- Traction loss
We started from the showroom, and were cruising at say 30-40 and a qualis was reversing to take a u-turn in the middle of the road. So, to avoid waiting for the qualis to block the road, I accelerated a bit to say 60-70 to which it jumped in a second, and i bent it a little, and i was almost sure I was "dead". The rear tyre lost traction. It started skidding and slipping to the right, but I have enough experience in such situations(happen quite frequently on my p200, where the front tyre itself skids). So i just counter steered and pulled it back up. But i was like, there goes my 2 lakhs, wasted. But little did i know the baby had a few more surprises for me that day, that would later change my opinion. (Btw, this incident happened barely 200 metres from the showroom :P, the tyres were 10 kms old then.)Also, I thought it had party to do with my friend sitting behind, he has no experience sitting pillion and i think he was partly the cause for the mishap.

We entered the highway after that, and I was going at 75-80 which was dot 5k rpm at 6th gear. So i thought, well atleast the ride isn't going to be that boring, but I just couldn't resist testing her. So i asked my friend to grow a pair of balls and hold on with no fear.

Incident 2:-Top speed

So, i crouched on the tank and let her loose. My,my , my was i impressed by the way it performed. It was just bloody hungry for more. I felt ,I might be somewhere around hundred when i looked at the odo and I saw 131, and i knew i had to slow it down. Afterall, the bike was just 50kms old then. But i was happy that it touched 131kmph(considering, heavy cross-wind, pillion, no helmet and i wasn't even trying to push it there). Needless to say, the bike was rock solid. But i forgot to check for vibes on the body and the RVM's because I was too busy smiling. So I remembered someone saying, A sin is still a sin committed once or many times, So i pushed her again, it touched 135 now, and yes i looked at the RVM's nope, no vibrations whatsoever, the bike itself was very stable, and everything was intact. I am really happy customer now.

Incident 3:-Acceleration

I knew, I shouldn't have accelerated fast, but the traffic was bloody irritating, So i couldn't resist opening it up at every red light, and it just went ballistic. Soon the entire cluster of traffic previously alongside me, were lost first as tiny dots in the rear view and then completely to nothing. I occasionally kept hitting 110-120's which is the ideal cruising speed for the bike.

Incident 4:- Braking

I came back home, cleaned myself and the bike, applied the polishing myself. There are little scratches on the tank made by a sticker, and removed improperly i guess, but it was too minuscule a reason to reject the bike, but the dealer promised me to take care of it during first service. After taking bath, I knew I wanted more, and so did she, you know the early period of first love where you just don't get enough of each other? You do? Well, then you know exactly what I am talking about don't you. So i took her out onto the OMR, and was doing a comfortable 120, when ,for the lack of better word, A COMPLETE FRIGGIN LUNATIC, thought it would be a cool idea, to run in the middle of the road diagonally to cross it, instead of the straight line, and he ran right into my path. This situation otherwise called for a perfect braking scenario, with no room for error, but I just slammed the brakes hard. It didn't wobble, it didn't so much as throw a fuss for wanting her to stop so abruptly, the control she gave me in holding her reins, and letting me tell her exactly what to do and when, and how she responded quickly was just mind boggling. Again a huge grin. Now, I was a little more confident, maybe i was bordering somewhere near over-confidence.

Incident5:- Meeting with a stranger, yet who is not so different.

I have a habit of checking the RVM's once every 6-7 seconds atleast, and when I was coming back, I saw a familiar face staring at me in the rear view and I knew instantly, it was another baby blade. I was trying my best to "follow the rules" , you know the run-in rules, but nature had another plan for me altogether. He just whizzed past me, and by the looks of it, he had his first service done, everything was in good condition, and here I was the odo barely 100 kms old. But, that didn't stop and my baby never complained. I was already lagging but nothing my baby couldn't handle. i ducked behind the cockpit and opened her up once again. Within no time, i caught up with the other biker. He was doing an easy 110-120. We were playfully fooling around with eachother, and i was mimicking his every move. I zipped into every opening in the traffic he saw, i was following him for around 2-3kms when I overtook him, this time, he was following me, and we were having a kind of dog fight. This continued for another 2 kms. When I got hold of my senses, and I told myself, enough is enough, let me not stain her anymore. So i pulled out from the "dog fight". The fellow biker looked disappointed, he gave me a thumbs up and a waving hand and he went on his way, I stopped there on the left margin for a while, until I knew I couldn't catch him anymore and started again. I was happy that my cbr performed equally if not better in line with another one,Obviously I have little or no information to compare all parameters, but from the looks of it, We both had equal chance, and it's highly unlikely that both of them were defective.

Incident6:- Uneasy arms.

With all the riding I did yesterday, there was little to moderate un-rest in my palms and wrist. Nothing beyond the forearm though. I had a feeling that it was because of my posture and the extra pressure I put in holding the handle. In time, I am hoping it will fade, I will not be unhappy even if it doesn't because personally I feel it's too little a sacrifice to pay for the amazing performance this baby delivers.and Yes, my wrists are still paining while I am typing this.

Incident7:- The suspension

There are certain sections of the OMR, that almost resemble the offroad conditions,(well partly because that's actually off the road, you know, those unattended left most corners, where the road was dug up for some drainage or telephone line purpose and never laid back properly). At this particular section, every other biker, had some unrest clearly on his face because of the feedback from the suspension, and they were trying within their capacity to nullify it, you know some try bending, some try raising their crotch. I entered that section, and frankly, I felt no different from riding on the tarmac.Period.
I think it's in the softest setting, Although I am extremely happy with the current setting, I want to experiment, for no one ever said being blissful is an illusion, so let me search for it, while i still can

Incident8:-The irresistible glares!

You must have understood by now, that the incidents are in no particular order of occurrence, for the glares have started right from the showroom. On requesting the M.D of the showroom, he allowed me to stay for the PDI. I took a couple of runs on the bike for a short 2-3 kms to check for the height of the foot pegs, gear lever, brake setting. I only asked to tighten the rear brake, Other than that, I didn't need any enhancements or tweaking. I get stares at every corner, at every junction, at every signal, it's standing right now in the parking of my building,and there are atleast 4 people tending to it, at any given time. Poor thing, I almost feel bad for it

I just went downstairs, you know to "check her out" and i realized the grab rail is a little loose. I am yet to decide, if it is the mis-doing of the 80+ guy sitting behind me yesterday or me ill-fitting the pillion seat yesterday during my cleaning or if they genuinely have an issue. I am sure it's a minor issue that can be fixed. Honda have certainly delivered a very good bike, but inspite of all the praising and the accolades I have given my bike, There are still things that could have been done better.
1.Seriously, are those those foot pegs and the brake lever , you expect on a 2 lakh bike? From the looks of it, the quality is somewhere in line with those bikes that cost maybe 50k.
2.Customer linkage with the "top management". Although I am in no need of this, what If i have to. My dealer is good, he takes care of all the issues, he responds promptly, he follows up, but even he cannot give me the contacts of the top management. Now, I can only imagine a scenario where the dealer himself is not responsive, and there is nothing I can do about it. Where is the transparency? Where is the channel to voice out?
3. Instrument panel and electricals. The buttons, switches look to be made of cheap plastic, If they perform their job well I have no complaints. I am used to my p200 which has auto indicator switch off once your handle bar is straight. And that bike costed me 85k, 3 years ago. Copy if you have to, but some technology to ease the effort of the rider Honda??

With that, I close the initial ride report, I will be doing many more rides in the coming days, with a lot more riding gear and I hope that with experience, I will be able to contribute constructively to the forum. With that being said, I am a very happy customer (as of now) and I would now like to embrace the biking world(Although I had a p200 before I only got to ride it a month every year, BITS pilani does not allow bikes you see), and I hope I will be welcomed

@sayhi2sai:- That was neat report, loved reading it.

One advice, The way you have run the bike it looks like motoman runin, why don't you get the oil and filter changed.

Thank you. and I am actually contemplating on changing the oil and the oil filter. The bike is 165 kms old now. But my dilemma is that my break in is somewhere a a cross breed of the factory prescribed run-in and the motor man . So i don't know what to do. I know if there is any damage that could have happened, it already has, I plan on riding it slow and steady henceforth . I am planning to change the oil and the filter this weekend, irrespective of the kms i clock before that,(but it should be somewhere between 500-700).

I too ride with my parking lights always ON. And headlight ON at night and during rains. And I do honk a lot. But haven't felt any issues like Battery going down.
Congrats! Nice initial ride report there. Looks like you're doing the run-in, the motoman way. Advice you to change the oil at 200-300 kms.
+1

^^^OMG.....Reg No. is excellent ...Vanity Number ?

clicked some pic's of my friend vinod bike !

first ride report coming soon...

Any idea how many bikes have been delievered in Balaji honda ? Any Idea when is the next lot arriving ?

no one considering an aftermarket exhaust yet?



the all black 250R looks neat eh?!?

i will let you know today eve..

Heard of Tyre Running in mate? You need to break-in the tyres to get a good grip. A fresh tyre from the factory unless & until it's a racing rubber (even they use tyre warmers to stick like a leech on to the tarmac) needs running-in of minimum 400 kms or so. Try the same kind of braking after the tyre set's in. It will be a different scene.


131 & 135 kmph on the first run? Although short bursts are kind of okay. I don't want to comment anything here about ur pistons, rings sealing-in & ur lid-less ride!

Again there you are rupturing the natural running-in.



No comments on this Moto-Gp

Have you tried the R15??

Anyways, a new bike is always a new bike. Take care of her & do ride safe.

Did I just read didnt speed as you didnt have helmet!
Good going mate! Damn cool!

even i wana try that...Lets do it together both??what say buddy. It would be fun right?? common satyen you have more expereince than I have.

130kmph and no helmet plus this 'dogfighting' in the traffic is NOT acceptable sai.