The fork story Update

UPDATE: I got call from Service Manager today morning. He confirmed that the 'bajaj fork oil' is the recommended one for 250r & 650 as well. (Satyen Saheb, BEWARE!) Only the KTMs will be having a different oil!

Hey, thanks for the pointers. I already searched over ninjette & faq.ninja250. Nothing much useful for Indians. The later has listed the correct & very detailed way to change the fork oil though.

In past, I've raised service quality issues with Service Manager but in vain.

thanks for the list. Anyways I don't know performance of any of the above oil but thinking of going with 'motul fork oil 10W'. What do you think ? Will this be any good?
Before this, I didn't know that even fork oil are categorized as fully synthetic etc. like engine oil !! Even the service manual doesn't mention about it. Can you throw some more light on how does different kind of fork oil perform wrt suspension ?

As I mentioned earlier, the oscillation was due to improper torque which was then fixed in 2-3 manual trials.
Later, I inquired about the correct technique to tighten 'T' at Yamaha Factory Shop. They use the torque wrench & first they tight the steering stem nut by ~90nm (which causes the whole assembly to get tightened). Then they loosen up the nut by ~45nm (to the actual recommended value). This way, the 'T' gets proper fit without trial & error.

I always got great service from Bajaj probiking so unfortunate for other people in the country to have experienced inferior service.

Knowing your motorcycle very well also helps in a better service because you can set expectations for what needs to be done by the engineer/technician.

Will give priority for used ones Sunny, finding a reasonable bike will take time

Sure machi.. the idea of getting a new one popped out as
*there are not much used Ninja 250Rs available in chennai
*the price quoted for the used bikes seems to be high.
*I can go for loan for a new bike paying a lakh(what i can) as initial amount.

Same here...I have raised a concern in vain.

The role of oil in a typical fork is more of a "Non Lubricating" one. Here, oil is used to dampen the oscillatory tendency of the springs. To achieve this, depending on the type of suspension, oil is either passed through a small opening or a piston with an opening pushes against the oil to produce the desired effect. The ways to calculate the rating of the spring and the diameter of the hole for the oil to pass through are beyond the scope of this post.
The oil in your fork legs is subjected to compressive forces and temperature changes; both, ambient and operative. Synthetics have shown to be better at handling temperature changes as compared to mineral oils. As a result, Synthetic oils provide a more uniform experience although there is a hot debate amongst riders about the actual benefit of Synthetics (fork application only).
I have heard reviews on the Elf oil and those have been favorable; you can try that one.

The Yamaha Factory Shop at Pune is a heaven for every single bike owner who loves and appreciates quality and skills of a bike mechanic. Amazing place to get your bike serviced. I used to enjoy going there when I had my R15. Unfortunately, Bajaj probiking can NEVER BE LIKE YFS..not at all when you have people at Bajaj Auto who pay no attention to customer satisfaction and the subsequent retention.
Just as an added marker, I HATE IT WHEN MY NINJA GETS SERVICED IN A CORNER OF THE PBK WITH ALL THE DIRT/DUST AND THE HOPELESS "CHALTA HAI" ATTITUDE.

Wait -It will be worth it - For taking a New one :

1) You need to Invest 3.xx L
2) Bike will be registered under banker
3) You need to get the papers changed before selling it (which you cant when you are suppressed for time)
4) You will anyway lose close to 60k + (plus the interest on ur loan) while selling.

Logically for using it for a year or two - I would advice wait and get a USED ONE. If not from TN, Search around. I will help you with getting it re-registering it in TN

Fortunately, The Service is good - Treated like a VIP Customer and most of the times, was given free service (Like Chain Cleaning + Lube / Engine Oil Change or Some Petty work)

Yes, The Chain is available in Chennai

Costs 7000 Bucks - PM Me with your Vehicle Number - Will try to block it from Chennai Pbk.

We Ninja owners are always treated as VIP customers. Vrathor has an issue about technical competency of mechanics. I have a similar apprehension about it.

TV - We in Chennai have been blessed or lucky or both. The PBK here is simply awesome. The mechanic is an expert, the Service Manager is a treasure trove of knowledge and the Owner of the dealership - Jai Autos is a hands-on person. I've often seen him sitting personally in the service dept. (Most owner/dealers know jack about the bikes and give a hoot about customers - the only things they're concerned with are the revenues.)

The Chennai dealer's attitude and friendliness has filtered down to his staff too and it's been an overall pleasant ownership experience, first with my 250 and now with the 650.

I believe that Bangalore too is similarly fortunate and have heard many good things from fellow bikers there.

You guys are lucky to have a good service and mechanic....
Hyderabadi's pains can be explained only by the co-hyderabad Ninja Riders

I experienced the priority & care they give when I enquired about getting a N250R. but the same Service center behaves different/biased with 220 customers. I have experienced poor customer service in-case of providing technical resolution too. They target no of bikes than providing quality service. I guess the reason could be the no. of customers for a particular segment of bike and also with the different mechanic/service engineer handling different segment of bike. Nevertheless management is still the same, they cud at least increase the PBKs to improve service quality.

So my point for the servicing thingie is that probably its got to do with owner being there for the same. If the owner is there, the likelyhood of a mistake/carelessness/ is very unlikely to happen!

Soon the 220's will be out of PBK altogether! Only KTM and Kawasaki's allowed! Two wheeler apartheid!

Narayanan takes care of TN, KA and KL. I tend to agree that its also a reflection of the dealer/owner involvement. Personally I think the Bajaj (PBK) engineers are a great lot.

I had a major problem with my 650 on a recent ride to Goa and contacted the Goa PBK via Chennai PBK. The Bajaj PBK engineer waited on the street to flag us into the service centre and treated us with the utmost courtesy.

PBK Goa had never serviced a 650 before, didn't have all the tools, not even the paddock stand for the bike (which is different from the 250) and had only received their first 650 for delivery the day before.

What they lacked in equipment and experience, they more than made up in professionalism and enthusiasm. The PBK Service head there, Raju was in constant touch with Chennai and Pune on the phone for advice and spent most of 4 hours on his hands and knees or lying flat on his back, with the Ninja mechanic, Mahesh trying to solve the problem. This was because without the paddock, they could not put the bike up on a table. After a very systematic analysis and deduction process, they isolated the problem and solved it in what I must say was the most memorable case of " can and will do " I have seen in recent days.

After identification of the problem, he immediately messaged his counter-parts of the issue for them to look out in their own territories. In the meanwhile, my friend Ravi who had kept me company while the bike was being attended to, could not go and get his Honda CB1000 water-washed after the dust and grime of the Chennai-Goa ride. So PBK Goa - in what might have been a first, cheerfully washed and cleaned his Honda for him! Imagine! A Bajaj PBK cleaning a rival Honda! Now that's customer service!

The experience left us thoroughly impressed - with Ravi even commenting that it would never happen in a Honda dealership. Incidentally, Ravi also owns a 250 and a 650. For the remaining days I was in Goa, Raju kept in touch to enquire about the bike and if all was well. I was also contacted by Narayanan who wanted to make sure that all was fine.

This attention to detail and customer service is something that I do not experience even at Honda and Toyota dealers when I take my cars for service, so for a bike manufacturer I'd say it's damned good! As for will I buy Kawasaki again, the answer is a resounding YES!

I'm not a fan of Bajaj or PBK and have had my altercations with them on the sales front but when it comes to service, the peace of mind and re-assurance they offer has been impressive and I for one am not abashed to give credit where it is due.

They have done on-site calls for me when I had the Ninja. Once, when I broke my clutch cable at 8pm in the night, and Prasanna and one more engineer came over with a replacement cable and fixed it outside a restaurant while I had dinner!

And second time was when they came over to my house a few times to sort out some sensor issue.

Like I said, there are areas which are not perfect, but they shine through in others. I am definitely a repeat customer for Kawasaki and will definitely pick up a bigger motorcycle from them when they launch one.

I guess this is solved. Else you can ping one Mr Venkat Shyam from FB who manages the bengaluru PBK and is extremely helpful!

The trick is to source your own oil which matches the grade. In another scenario with the engine lube, some customers had a tough time explaining why a 10w50 grade is better for Indian conditions as compared to 10w40 specified in the manual (which is a copy from the US manual which has different climatic conditions!)
We gave this feedback to BAL, and they were more than prompt to verify the same from Kawasaki and allow the use.
I personally stick to 10W40, but instead of the oil from Bajaj, I opt for Motul 7100 FS.

Perhaps Chennai and Blore has THE best service centres for BAL.
Things in Mumbai are changing, but slowly. Have seen oil filters being wrecked, chains being incorrectly lubed, polishing being done for namesake, washing/cleaning being extremely shoddy, but things are changing, a little slowly, but they definitely are!
I am surprised to know that the Pune PBK also faces such issues!