Guys..is it safe to assume, this will not happen to those of us, who never get their hands of the handlebars?

Besides...to most of the guys here like me, who are'nt as techically inclined as Tenhut or Oldfox, there is'int any choice at all...the complexity of solving the problem is such that, it has to be fixed in a R&D lab and not in an individual garage.

I agree that this could be dangerous, all the more so if it kicks in at high speeds. And high speeds begin anywhere from 100kph onwards in my opinion .

In analyzing this, I am assuming (knowing the inherent risk of making an 'ass' of both 'u' and 'me' when I assume) that the Ninja does not have any default design issues that could cause this problem. I assume on the premise that a bike so numerously produced and so widely used would be free of so glaring a fault in its design. Having said that, it could be a design highly sensitive to imprecise steering head bearing adjustment, tyre wear, tyre pressures and even a little dynamic imbalance in the wheels. Even a slight deviation from precision in any of these elements could bring about the symptoms of a head-shake.

Tyre wear could be a reason. The relatively soft compound tyres wear unevenly by default as most of the running of these bikes is in a straight line with our user pattern. A centre flat wear pattern will form a larger slip angle and produce a stronger righting moment if the wheel is off-centre by even a trifle and at speed. Throw in a badly adjusted steering bearing, a 3/4th full tank that allows fuel to slosh around and a throttle chop quickly followed by throttle open and the wiggle could come out of nowhere. I remember this more vividly from my longest straight-line tour on the R1 last year. The GIR2. Both my and Sunny's R1's had real wide flat wear patterns on both the tyres and the bikes gradually got worse in handling. We could get only one set of tyres in Chennai then and I sportingly let Sunny have them. I remember riding around the Chennai track with those shot-up tyres and the One handled like a pregnant Yak. The steering damper was a REAL blessing but I couldn't let go of the clip-ons even for a sec. The head-shake was terribello.

This problem has aroused my curiosity and I'll go back to the old school to find the reasons. Tony Foale was always good on bike geometry and so are a couple of others . As Arnie says...I'll be back .

Hyperion; Imran's Ninja has done some 6.5k. If you feel the problem was not there earlier, then tyre wear could be a major issue as I also suspect.

Ok right, I agree it cannot heat up so much so soon, that too so early in the morning. However, until the time a technical root cause of the issue is found, my concern is not going to remain.
Minor glitches in servicing of the bike can be tolerated but something like you experienced could have been injurious to you. Hence, I think our focus must be on finding out the cause of the problem and the solution.

This may be a very stupid question but I cannot help asking - Is there no option of 'anti lock' brakes for ninja 2010 edition?

YouTube - 2009 YAMAHA R1 ripping thru Mulholland

Haven't faced any problems till date 5.3K on odo. But very nice info to know.

What is the R1 video doing here

dude urs is the 2010 edition ! By anti lock do you mean ABS ?
Wont work on a 250R. it will shoot up its price by millions !
Plus...the problem that Vishwas bike had cannot be solved by getting the bike to have ABS

Thanks for the info bro! I am quite not able to stop wondering about the problem and the potential solution for bike, which, of course as we know is 2010 edition.

I have noticed the mini tankslap issue on my bike too and shrugged it off earlier thinking it was cross winds, road condition etc. But this is pretty evident on the smoothest tarmac and at almost no windy conditions too.

I am sure it has to do with the wheel balancing and the steering thingy that 10hut posted earlier about.

Whatever it is I hope Bajaj is reading this and rectifies the issue.... (PBK reads this thread, at least Jankiram from PBK blore mentioned that he does).

Edit - Just called PBK and learnt that Jankiram has quit (joined Tata motors in Hubli). Gopi who used to manage Khivraj's service center and deliver the ninja's to blore customers is the manager for Blore PBK.

The issue which Vishwas faced... that has me paranoid. I also tried oldfox's advice of grabbing the disc brake unit and moving it but in vain. The brake unit is bolted tightly and does not budge.

Washed the bike yesterday, jacked it up with the car's jack and lubed the chain, the rear wheel was free moving.

What can we do to prevent such lockup's as in Vishwas's case? My bike is due for service in another 1.5k kms. Will get the brake system overhauled (brake lines checked, bled and vented for safety). Anything else to look out for?

Same here. That makes me paranoid too. Next time when I will get the bike service done by the great guys from Pune service center, I am going to have a mind full of paranoia until, of course, I get a proper reply to the problem Vishwas brother faced.

Air in Brake Line :
Please find an image of page no. 111. It clearly mentions that if air gets in the brake line, the feel will turn mushy and braking performance can diminish. It no where mentions that brakes will jam causing wheel lock.



Brake Fluid Life :
Please find an image of page no. 71. It mentions that brake fluid should be changed either after 2 years or after 24000 km, whichever comes first. So the point about brake fluid life expiring is a lot of bull.



Overall brake system check :

Sue them...get rich...buy the 2011 10R

Wish this was Amreekaa! Here you will get Rs.2000 + Rs.1500 for damages and mental anguish. Enough money to buy you a 2011 10R - a scale model, that is.

its my wish too. like to have a bike collection like bat man and take out a different one each day. i dont know if i have money even to have a quality scale collection.

TH... the disk lock faced by TV can happen on any bike . no bike manufacturer has given an assurance that the disk brake of X or Y bike is lock proof.

the problems are highlighted in the forum thanks to the huge numbers of ninja's already on road in india and we indians are far better at reading and writing or sharing info on the web.


now how it happened is still not known. all we can do is to take this example and try and keep our brakes in good condition and hope all is fine.

i still feel this has happened due to poor service at PBK and they need to give a proper explanation as to how this happened and how it could have been prevented. in any case how air lock can happen when pbk has only done the service of TV's bike ? ( its a brand new machine (almost )mind you )

may be all of us can ask our godfather XBHP to take up this with PBK Bajaj ?

Right said bro. In india too, since the bike is within the warranty period and this is an example of carelessness and idiocy of the service personnel, they can at least be threatened by saying that an approach to the consumer court cannot be ruled out.

I concur with when you say it should be taken up with PBK Bajaj. They need to know that they need better quality service technicians than the ones currently recruited by PBK Pune. They must simply not be able to get away with this. Next time I go for getting the service for the bike, I am going to tell them that their misadventures and trial and errors with the bike have earned them quite a reputation around.