Re: Royal Enfield Thunderbird 500

all dates are from the date of purchase

Re: Royal Enfield Thunderbird 500

The first service of my bike seemed to screw up my bike. There was no fun in riding it; chain was making lots of noise, squeal and rubbing noises from both the disc brakes, back seat making its presence felt during rides, idling was set real high and to top it all meter console was shaking like crazy. Due to my busy schedule, had asked my cousin to pick the bike up for me and he thumbed down his first ride experience on the bike. Took it to the NS palya service center and the idiots said TB usually has all kinds of noise and I need to live with it. The SA just lubed my chain and sent me on my way. It was the end of a tiring day and I didn't have the energy to debate with these guys.

Took it back to Acclaim motors, the place where I had gotten my 1st service and asked them to fix my bike for me. They took the issues seriously and got to work on it right away. Both brakes were taken out and cleaned up. Chain play was tight and was adjusted again. New version of TB's don't come with base plate for the rear seat and this seems like a major design flaw. Without the plate, the seat shakes like crazy and the mechanic did his best to adjust the same but this couldn't be fixed. Bike is much better after the fixes now but the experience is disappointing to say the least.

Two questions for fellow members:
1. When going downhill, if I ease of on accelerator and slide down to second gear, the engine becomes very busy as if the idling is very very high. Is this normal with all TB500's?

2. If idling is set low, will it cause any issues to the engine?

Regards,
Vivek

Re: Royal Enfield Thunderbird 500

1. yes. the engine is trying to lower the RPM, whereas, due to the gears getting engaged on a moving bike, its not letting the engine lower the RPM. this is making the feeling of higher idling. but what you have experienced is also known as engine braking. this technique can also be used to slow down a vehicle without relying on the brakes toomuch. also, if done properly, it does not let the wheels skid, thus higher traction. also momentum is conserved. google it.

2. dont lower the idling too much. it should remain around 1k. lowering the idling will stall the engine. frequent stalling is bad for the engine. also, too high idling is bad for the engine.

hope this helps.

Re: Royal Enfield Thunderbird 500

Thanks but I am aware of this and frequently do this. I have driven extensively inn mountain regions albeit in the US and frequently employ this technique. However when doing the same on my TB500, the idling becomes so high and engine so noisy that I need to change to a higher gear. This is not ideal for me. I should be able to use engine breaking and glide on a lower gear.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using xBhp Connect mobile app

Re: Royal Enfield Thunderbird 500

Guys,

I had my first Skid (I knew somewhere it will happen someday..and yesterday was the day) yesterday. While driving University road, Pune. It started raining and road got wet quickly and I was driving around 70 KPH. My friend was just asking how's the grip of the Tyre on the Wet road. I said it looses grip on wet road..at the same time I saw a speed breaker and tried to put breaks and boom..Skid for about 100 Mtrs before stopping. My friend got off the bike (which i think saved his legs) and rolled off on the road. Luckily by the Grace of God we both got up virtually scratch less. My TBD 500 is also virtually scratch less (Left footrest broken and scratch on the leg-guard [this thing saved me. I highly recommend RE Original Guard over the third party one]). My concern is the Tyre. I always skeptical about the grip of MRF Zapper C. It almost everytime looses the grip on corner if even road is very little wet. Can you guys suggest me a good replacement Tyre. I am planning to go on long rides in coming months and want to get it right before I start. Attached are some pic of my Black Beauty.

As always thanks in advance. You guys are awesome!

Ride Safe!!

Thanks,
Kshitij

Re: Royal Enfield Thunderbird 500

I guess you have been told too long of a waiting period. For TBD 500 is around 45 days. It shd be less than 3 months for DS 500. I would advise u to call them and find out about status.

Re: Royal Enfield Thunderbird 500

Glad you came out of the scary situation without any physical harm, Please take extra care while driving on wet road.. No sudden breaking... and lower your cursing speed considerably on wet road. But most important know your machines temperament i.e. its breaking pattern, breaking distance and safe lean angle. Water on tread denotes double caution.

Btw which of your wheel locked ? Rear wheel lock leads to fishtailing which is recoverable, but if you locked the front than its sure a drop test. overfilling tyre increases chance of wheel locking. As always ride within safe Tyre tread wear limit.

Safe riding.

2014 Thunderbird 500 Marine Blue

Hi Folk.

This is my first thread, and it will be about my Thunderbird 500 Marine Blue. I've been going through these forums as a guest for a real long time, especially before I bought the TB. Finally decided to put up my own view of the TB500.

Well the bike is a 2014-Nov make and i got it delivered to me on 27-Nov-2014. Yes it is a little delayed write up. But I thought it was best to talk about the bike once I've used it well enough. And Yes!! I have used it well enough. Completed 10,000 kms last weekend!!!! That's the end of warranty within 4 months of taking delivery!!! All free services done. Even did one extra service before the final free service, so that I could get going on another long trip.

I will post more in here soon, with pictures. Currently at work. Will get home and put up the pictures. Have done a few modifications to my bike and would like to share them with the people out here.

But on a general note, happy with the bike, maybe not the best bike out there, but certainly one of the best Indian makes. Very comfortable.

More soon.

Re: Royal Enfield Thunderbird 500

I totally agree with you. Their service is crappy. Unfortunately for me, they r the closest one to my house, and had to get the free services done. So gave my TB500 for the 4 services over there. Had to go to other mechanic once to get a few small issues sorted out.

On my Third service, I had informed them to replace the fuel gauge which had stopped working. When taking delivery, they said everything fixed, just put petrol and it would start working. But that was not the case. Had to go back a few days later to get it replaced. Waited there and made them do it infront of me. And they still did not do the necessary tightening of the nuts and bolts, which simply increased the vibrations. Got that done from another mechanic. :-(


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Ravi Sir, a big thanks to you for your awesome write ups. Have been following your threads of your TB500 for quite some time. Never replied earlier, cuz I never bothered to register for an account :-). Your write ups had given me the confidence to get the TB500. Mine is around 4 months old now. Looking forward to getting a USB charger fixed, like the one you got done. Still on the lookout for a good make.

Re: Royal Enfield Thunderbird 500

Congratulations and best wishes, [MENTION=76498]fazilps[/MENTION]. I wish you and your bird infinite miles with smiles. Thanks a lot for the compliments and nice words.

Re: Royal Enfield Thunderbird 500

Seen many people changing their stock handlebars with crossbars etc in thunderbird. How good/bad will be the handling etc after changing it?

Re: Royal Enfield Thunderbird 500

There is a tick tick noise coming and the bird turn off slowly. The noise comes only when it is about to turn off.

Same happens when i ride slow. But once i ride for 1-2 kms, the sound dissappears. Any idea what it.is?

Re: Royal Enfield Thunderbird 500

can be the pushrods. however if you can post a video or pinpoint the location of the sound source it will be easy to isolate the issue.

Re: Royal Enfield Thunderbird 500

Bad Idea for sure...
Its just for style otherwise stock is best.
Its a sound which come from silencer Bend pipe. When he heats it expand and when you stop the engine its start shrinking, Simple science..
This thing heppened in all bikes

Re: Royal Enfield Thunderbird 500

Its not that normal tick tick sound which we hear when we turn off the engine after a long ride.
[MENTION=51754]theironhorse99[/MENTION] One of my friend who owns a classic said its not a normal sound. Came from engine side.