As a possible solution for preventing inconsiderate people from sitting on your bike, my thought was a piece of sheet metal with 3-inch nails pushed through it. Attach two metal straps to it on one edge, pass them under the seat, and lock them to the other side of the sheet with a padlock. Make sure the straps are short enough that there is no slack. That way your seat becomes unusable while parked.

That, or tell them you're going to have sex with their girlfriends; after all, they seem to have no problem with invasions of personal space.

Coolant Leak

Guys,
Yesterday after a short ride in the evening i noticed some green fluid around the neck of the rubber pipe connecting the radiator. I felt maybe there was some coolant locked into the joint which had come out, bt today morning after a short ride there was more coolant coming out.

Pipe clamp feels perfectly ok, tube is also looking good, but dont know why the coolant is leaking out. Took it to ASC and they tried to fix the issue but were not able to do so.

They do not have a new pipe to replace it. Has anyone faced this problem as i have heard about coolant leaking issues. Posting a picture showing from where the coolant is leaking.

Ok then.Gotta get it from Vashi.

My understanding from many reads and lookups on the net is that,
1) The engine oil should preferably be changed twice/thrice before the 1st service, in order for getting rid of all the debris and not letting them aggregate till 1st service.

2) Mineral should be used till atleast 2000 kms to let the internals of the engine bed in properly. FS is too slick to let any friction between the piston and the cylinder and hence if used too soon, will end up making the cylinder and piston not worn down appropriately enough.

So will change the oil once now at 500, then again the same mineral grade at 1000, before I change it to 7100 FS at 2000-2500 or so.

I'll check if the 3100T bottle has a similar feature(for measuring the quantity)

I have been riding bikes for almost 10 years now(i don't claim to know it all) and have 3 engine seizures and 4 bore-piston changes, in my experience it is always better to change the oil around 500 to 700 km mark to be able to protect your engine better..

And i wanted to say something about the break-in method that most people recommend,I beg to differ as most people try to babby the engine till the 1000km mark,lug their engine badly and later have lot of issues as the piston rings are not seated properly and as a result the engine ends up burning a lot of oil..Also decreased performance which normal riders will not be aware.

Its better you'd rather ride in a normal fashion and use more engine breaking to give your pistons a proper work out..
Just dont rev up you bike to high RPM's when its cold..

Also about the fact that people say that synthetic oil holds in longer than mineral oils I would'nt completely agree with that either..

Did the service centre guys atleast try re-fixing the pipe?(checking the pipe by removing it will allow them to check if there is any damage at the mouth of the pipe where its fixed with the clamp)

Also to all the other owners I had a puncture fixed yesterday in the rear tyre.. How many other Dukers have had punctures? i am beginning to feel that the extra wide tyres come with a price of more frequent punctures..

[QUOTE=NiXTriX;820286]I agree with ASSASSIN07. Looks is not the only criteria. Lovish let me assure you that The Duke grabs more attention than your regular bike. i was standing next to a CBR250 at a signal and who do you think had more eyeballs and questions coming their way? The Duke. And its not only me. QUOTE]

Hah. The duke is the undisputed crowd puller in the market at the moment(in it's 'segment' of course). Period. There is a CBR wallah in the next building and no body gives a hoot. Though the CBR is a very good design IMO, the duke is the most radical looking thing on the Indian roads. The only people it won't appeal to would be the wrong side of 50 IMO.
I agree that part of the reason the duke attracts so many 2nd looks is that it's new in the market and the public hasn't seen anything like it before. The bright orange colour helps too.(the same way the GREEN Ninja leaves such an impression as compared to the BLACK one on most people even though the design is a bit dated and it has been on the roads for quite some time now)
After 5-10 months perhaps, when every tom, dick and harry will own a duke and the soon to be launched GT250R, all the dumb queries at the signals and people jumping on the seat to 'get a feel' would stop or lessen may be.

My thinking matches yours on the first part. Can you elaborate a bit on the latter? IMO the synthetic should hold in longer no?

Go back 2-3 pages. There's a handy solution. I haven't faced ay puncture problems yet though.

PS : Got the number plate done yesterday, finally. No more anxiety attacks at Pandu manned crossings

Btw has anyone done or thought of doing their Trellis frame orange? Can it be? and where in Mumbai?

Hi Vindy,
The service guys DID try hard to fix the issue, but the problem is not solved. THey tried to push the pipe towards the radiator and adjusting the clamp, tightening it again etc. They did not remove the pipe, so dont know if the pipe is damaged from inside, they will check again after 2 days.
P.S. I need to stop the leak temporarily, will applying feviquick on the joint stop the leak till I visit ASC ?

I have used synthetic oils of from different manufacturers on my pulsar 150 for quite some time but I haven't had a great deal of good experience with them.. them seem to loose their magic after 2k mark though manufacturers claim higher numbers..While a mineral oil has lasted for around 4k without damaging the engine.. (I dont claim that the synthetic oils are not good after 2k but is doesn't really feel the same as it did when it was new)

I do agree on the the fact that synthetic oil gives you a smooth feeling with every gear shift right away after the change..

Is the leak significant? If so try the feviquick solution or else let it be.. If its just drops then it shouldn't be too much of a problem and I am assuming you aren't using your bike much till it is fixed by eh ASC guys..

And it causes concern to the other Dukers when we hear the fact that the ASC guys don't have essential spares of the bike even after 4 months..

Please use multi quote for back to back posts!

Ok sorry thanks for informing!

Well for a coolant leak even few drops or few milliliters is significant as it should not be happening in the first place.
I just use my bike for commuting to office i.e. about 8 kms on average.

Yes it is a matter of concern as they are not stocking up basic spares.

Vindy, kindly use multiquote option (the + sign near the quote button) instead of posting consecutive messages, it would be considered spamming.

Honestly this thing about changing the engine oil thrice before the 1st service sounds like something spread by an engine oil company to further improve their sales!!! In any case, I'm not doubting that the 1st drain of Oil from the cylinder will have a lot of metal filings and debris from friction in the cylinder, all this has some evidence that it works, but then why would the manufacturer (in this case KTM) not have us follow the same trend of changing before 1000kms?
The way I see it, Zee Austrians designed that engine, and they know what's best for their engine.period.

And while the running in bit is done a little tooooo carefully by many people here, I fully support what you said in your post that babying the bike in the running doesn't do any good for the life of the engine. For that too KTM has specified normal riding until the 7500RPM mark, albeit with no full pulls on the throttle!!!

Yes it shouldn't be happening in the first place but just make sure levels are fine if not go to service centre and ask them if they can provide you with small can of coolant that you can use to top it up in case the coolant levels subside below optimum levels until they fix the issue..