Re: Hero Moto Splendor/Joy/CD-Dawn/Passion

[MENTION=35427]prasath_xbhp[/MENTION], How is your Splendor plus bro? IIRC, the BS4 Splendor plus gets an improvised engine with more compression and more power. Can you share details about pickup & mileage?

Re: Hero Moto Splendor/Joy/CD-Dawn/Passion

Mileage is around 60-65kmpl when rode sedately. Pick up is good. Acceleration through the gears is also very good. I've tried my best to keep it in mint condition, and kept the original character of the bike's performance. Splendor's stability is really very good. If maintained correctly its a lifetime motorcycle no doubt. [emoji41]

Engine oil is the primary reason I'm going to do away with the ASC from the next service onwards. [emoji16]

Re: Hero Moto Splendor/Joy/CD-Dawn/Passion

There is always residual oil left when you change oil. It's not always possible to 100% drain the oil. But I've always poured 900ml bottle and never ran into any issues, not even busted oil seals. Pouring 800ml shouldn't be an issue. But I would suggest pouring the whole 900ml.

Talking about the engine, it's not the same Hero Honda engine. Back in 2014, they did some revision to it, milking the power of 8.3HP instead of the good old 7.9HP. This is a Hero engine, not the old Honda one (I say this because of changes; both substance and machining). I don't find it as good as the old HH engines. And yes, I never got an average above 65kmpl on my 2015 Splendor Pro. A couple of times I've got 70-72kmpl with sedate riding.

Even my dad's old CD100 (with a busted engine back in 2019) returned 62kmpl (had a jammed up carb, lost compression, clogged head). Now, post the rebuild it easily return 70kmpl and more at times.

To be honest, I find the new Splendors (made after 2014 with the 8.3HP engine) worse to maintain (yes, it requires more maintenance than the CD100 engine ever did). I had to rebuild the whole engine at 62k kms and then there was clutch slips as well for the next 3k kms (I had original Hero branded plates). Was done with it. Got the original (old times) Makino plates (clutch, steel) with clutch hub and center; fit them in the bike. Now at 72k there is atleast no issue for now.

Wise choice. The stock oil heats a lot.

Re: Hero Moto Splendor/Joy/CD-Dawn/Passion

Don't know why my post is getting deleted. Although the Hero oil is not so good, you cannot ignore the fact that it is the cheapest at just 260 rs! Your 2018 Splendor+ i3s is a heavily improvised version of the older heavier Splendor Pro. Hero has made it much lighter and thrown in a 3 way catalytic converter ( older ones have 2 way cat con).

Splendor is definitely a life time motorcycle. Just keep it stock and do basic maintenance and it will reward you like none other. I have a 10yr old well abused and well maintained Passion Pro. At 1.15 lac km on the odo, its still running on stock crank, stock pressure plates and clutch basket and still all the electricals including self start is working fine. The only major work done was a bore-piston replacement that too due to my stupidity ( tried castrol power1 semi-synthetic and extended the drain interval till 4000km). Some people say that the new bikes are low on quality. But I feel that only the body panels are of low quality. The engine and chassis are still solid. Wishing you lots of happy miles bro.

Motoman.

Re: Hero Moto Splendor/Joy/CD-Dawn/Passion

I've done my best to maintain the bike in the best condition possible till date. I've never had any exp with older Honda Splendor. But I Know it's reliable and dependable.

When Hero and Honda JV splitted, I was concerned about Hero's technology and R&D strength, how they are going to fare in India in the future. They may still be at the top of the motorcycle sales chart with Splendor and Passion, but those still have the improvised version of the same horizontally laid 97.2CC Honda engine which came with the CD100. And I don't think Hero is interested in creating an indegenous engine platform in the near future also. Take the Xtreme 200 for example it struggles to do 100kmph with a 200CC engine.[emoji1]

My father has a IND-SUZUKI AX100 1984 Japan model, I compare it to my 2002 Suzuki MAX100R. And it's the same case here also.....[emoji41]

Re: Hero Moto Splendor/Joy/CD-Dawn/Passion

What went wrong when u tried Castrol Power 1 SS?. I'm also thinking abt using SS oil in my Splendor after 15k kms....

Re: Hero Moto Splendor/Joy/CD-Dawn/Passion

I extended the drain interval till 4000km because I thought that the oil being semi synthetic would last longer. That was my most stupid decision. My bike started burning oil and loosing compression. Unlike mineral oils, most semi-synthetic oils don't loose their smoothness even at their end of life. But no oil will last for that much duration in an air cooled engine. I learnt it the hard way that we shouldn't extend drain interval no matter what type of oil we use.

Hero has developed their in house 110cc FI Bs6 engine which is used in their latest ismart & Passion pro BS6. Even the 100cc Splendor (same horizontal engine) now gets fuel injection tech in its Bs6 avatar. The Xtreme 200 is purposefully tuned to compete with other 160cc bikes. It costs same or less than a Hornet or FZ and has much better in-gear acceleration. Only the top speed is limited. But I agree that old Japan made products like Rx100, AX100, CD100 & even pre-2000 Splendor have much better overall quality.

Re: Hero Moto Splendor/Joy/CD-Dawn/Passion

Ok I understand. I've seen in a YouTube video also that with mineral oils if we forget to change the oil after the drain period its not harmful for the engine. But with SS oils we must change it at the drain interval period. Is it due to the fact that after the drain interval period, SS oils maintain their smoothness but degrade in quality?.

From ur exp, I feel that mineral oil is the ideal choice for Splendor.

In Amazon, there is Liqui Moly Street 10W-30 and Amsoil 10W-30 for sale. They have mentioned in Q&A section that these can be used for Splendor also. Both of these were FS oils. [emoji848]

Re: Hero Moto Splendor/Joy/CD-Dawn/Passion

Not worth using it on a small capacity motorcycle TBH. Draining early by using a mineral oil is the key. I know someone on this forum who has a first gen Splendor which has done about 3L KMS on ODO. His father drains oil every 1500 to 1700kms. Apart from block replacement and consumables, he says that the bike has never required much maintenance.

I don't consider it to be a proper 200cc platform TBH. I rode the xPulse 200T and Xtreme 200R before buying the Honda xBlade. Those 200cc are way less powerful in aspects than my xBlade even though they churn out 17 horses compared to the 14 on mine. They are intended to as powerful as a 160cc while having a 200cc badging.

Re: Hero Moto Splendor/Joy/CD-Dawn/Passion

Yes that's the case. If you use mineral oil, after riding about 2500km the engine would become very rough. And you naturally get an urge to change the engine oil. While in the case of SS or FS oils, the engine would be smooth even after 2500km due to additives. But it would have lost most of its lubricating properties. And this smoothness sometimes prevents us from even checking the engine oil level. All this happens only in air-cooled engines. In air cooled engines, a constant working temperature is not maintained all the time and this degrades the engine oil.

Engine oil lasts much longer in liquid cooled engines because a constant working temperature is always maintained no matter what the RPM. In cars, mineral oil itself lasts 10k km, SS & FS go up to 15-18k km. There's a CBR 250 guy in this forum who missed service and ended up doing 20k km's without changing oil and yet nothing happened to the bike.

There is no harm in trying SS or FS oil in Splendor. But when you consider changing it at 2500 km, it comes across as an unnecessary expense.

Re: Hero Moto Splendor/Joy/CD-Dawn/Passion

Even I had the Max100R for many years , but that's a 2-stroke motor and it's gearbox oil is separate from the crank ( which gets lubed by 2T in the fuel ). For the Splendor the oil lubricates the gears clutch crank and cam etc all so the oil is much stressed and need to keep it good and fresh . You can never drain all the oil unless you remove the clutch-side engine case and then remove the rotor-filter and clutch oil-holder etc . Also internal oil capacity of each motor is not exactly the same between the same batch of bikes even . We don't need a specific fixed volume of oil in the sump , but just enough oil to keep the oil pump happy & moving parts immersed , i.e a specific oil level in the sump . So the dip-stick .

Other than it's so-so performance Hero OE oil isn't the cheapest even , and you could do a lot better for Rs 220 https://www.amazon.in/Savsol-10W-30-.../dp/B07Y55T29W. It's a good oil which I'm running right now ( after 3 bottles of the gulf powertrak ).

That's why I suggested gulf powertrac which is fully synthetic for Rs 330 and also excellent smoothness acceleration quick-startup & summer heat handling . I usually drain mineral oil @ 2000 kms or 4-5 months whichever comes earlier , but powertrac can easily run 3000+ kms ( or 6 months ) with minor top-ups . I never found any sense in SS oils because you never know how much synthetic they used in the blend .

Re: Hero Moto Splendor/Joy/CD-Dawn/Passion

Never knew about the Savsol oil. I always thought that Hero 4T plus was the cheapest. There's nothing worth mentioning about that crap oil from Hero apart from its availability. Last time I used Castrol Activ Essential 10w30 which is the cheapest oil from Castrol with an age old API-SG rating. But that too was way smoother than Hero oil. There's so much difference in character of same grade oils of different brands!

Considering that the Gulf Powertrac you mentioned is FS, I feel that the big names like Castrol & Motul are looting us. Mineral oil from Motul like Motul 3000 4T costs Rs 330 and SS oil from Castrol like the Power1 costs Rs 380! Compared to them the Gulf FS oil is a steal deal.

Pinaki sir can I ask you something. Can you share the odo reading!?[emoji16] Just being curious as both our bikes have completed 10 years. Still many of my friends are in awe that my Passion Pro and my friends Splendor+ have crossed 1 lac km mark while their bikes didn't even last 50k km. Now our Jeswin's bike has also made it there.

Re: Hero Moto Splendor/Joy/CD-Dawn/Passion

Also among the other cheap ( around Rs 220 ) but good oils that I have used are Veedol takeoff 4T and Valvoline champ 4T in 10w30 grade . I have used Motul 3000 but only in 20w40 and found it to be excellent , worth the bit overprice . But Gulf Powertrac does really take the crown for price vs performance now . Try it once .

The odo reading on my 2010 Splendor+ is 28k kms , add about 4k kms when odo wasn't working . My run on this bike is very low because when I bought it new , I was having other bikes as well . And nowadays I commute to work by metro train only using the motorcycle to run errands and a monthly trip to my home village maybe . Now I am also having a Splendor pro aniversary edition ( black+gold i3s ibs ) which is in use by my brother for office commute mainly .

Actually I don't like the new Pro when I compare it with my ten year old Plus . On paper the new bike has so many features and improvements but when I ride my old Splendor it's so reliable pleasant quick-handling and sweet acceleration . Even today right a few minutes back early morning I went out to find petrol since Kolkata is under near-total lockdown and all the good pumps were out-of-stock . After much roaming I filled 2 liters at a known bad fuel pump , it's adulterated I know for sure - but I also know from experience that my Splendor's low-compression motor will run the bad fuel just fine . A reliable old friend is always preferable to a fancy new one and I intend to spare no expense to maintain it in top-notch condition until age eventually brings both of us down

Re: Hero Moto Splendor/Joy/CD-Dawn/Passion

That's what I have been trying to convey for ages. Also, the Anniversary Edition is Splendor Plus not Pro. It has the same engine and internals as pro (my model).

Re: Hero Moto Splendor/Joy/CD-Dawn/Passion

[MENTION=29030]Pinaki[/MENTION] sir, that's too low running! And you are 100% right. IIRC, your Splendor has the old engine with Cat-Con. Those old models with a low compression of just 8.8:1 certainly have their own charm.They are a bliss to ride on highways as they feel relaxed at 60-65 kph. I miss my fathers old CD Dawn. I miss it's simplicity. It used to run on any grade engine oil, any quality fuel and never required any special care. Also the engine was very quiet.

Although my Passion Pro has significantly better in gear acceleration, it's louder and it demands much more attention and maintenance than our old CD Dawn. Battery is necessary for the brightness of headlight and smooth functioning of ignition system. The starter relay has its own mind during monsoons. Also, it is not very happy to cruise on highways due to short 4th gear. Why in the world did they make the 4th gear so short!? At 65 kph, the engine is spinning atleast 500 RPM higher and this creates a stressed feeling. And my Pro definetly doesn't like adultered fuel. The Compression ratio was increased to 9.0 :1 in for BS3 Pro models and to 9.9:1 in BS4 & BS6 models. Hopefully, the BS6 FI Splendor would have better highway performance & less electrical issues than older Pro models.