The angle is very steep and if I don't lean I may fall if I fail. And there are stones inbetween. Rear tyre unsettled on those stones and it gave way. Next time, I will try it on your suggestions. I maintain 33 psi at rear generally. How much I can decrease in this case?

I tried with KTM200 in a different way (less incline than I tried with Karizma) and did well until it kicked a stone at the last minute. The RTR 180 had the worst tyre (TVS tyre) and it was very slippery even with good amount of thread. We had to abort climbing with RTR even at the starting.

Point on leaning forward noted...I guess you have M45 or similar pattern tire at the back...running on smooth stone on an incline definitely will produce the results you had posted..
I am still on stock tires of MRF, and even on a plain surface found the rear braking to be pathetic...so I always run with 27~25 at rear and 24 front...
I saw CEAT GRIPP tire of 3,00 18 with really good stud pattern..Planning on putting it up front...unfortunately none from CEAT with same pattern at 110/90 18 or 4.00 18....for the rear..the dealer said 120/90 may be available, which will be too big for ZMA rear

The rear tyre is Sirac 120/80, the best off-road tyre available in India. Because of its thread the bike somehow held ground in the middle, otherwise it would have skidded had it been stock tyre. Also my front tyre worn out (50K kms old).

120 Sirac will be a bit of overkill for Karizma. You need to removed the chain case or cut the chain case to accommodate. The perfect fit for Karizma both on-road and off-road is M45 Michelin 4.0x18, equals approximately a little lesser than 110 section. The thread patter is similar to what I have on my bike now. You can give a try if you want.

You can check the difference between Sirac and M45 from Michelin in the below link:



Sirac is also available in 100 x 80 18 called Sirac Street. Its good for off-road and tarmac. But, a member recently reported bad wet grip. I am waiting for more inputs regarding this.

Also, there is a tyre from Dunlop called Dunlop monster with off-road thread pattern. I have used this tyre for 30k kms with satisfying results. The size is same as stock. A pic of this you can find it in the following link:

BikePics - 1999 Hero Honda CBZ

Thanks for the update on tires..the Sirac is good for wet and dry grip,but not for off road...You need deep buttons, which both M45 and Sirac do not have..Have a look at the Ceat GRIPP tire ....the pattern has deep buttons which will give good grip even Off road.

Hmmm.. We have been thinking Sirac is a dual-purpose tyre, as is M45, and our experience was the same. We found the off-road grip of Sirac to be excellent. And I agree that Sirac is not pure off-road tyre.

The Hero Impulse has off-road tyres from Ceat named GRIPP. The rear tyre is 17 inches and the front is 19 inches. Wish the Ceat launches this tyre in 18 inches too.

I have seen the picture of Ceat GRIPP on Impulse, and the buttons are not deeper than either Sirac or M45. Here are the pics I clicked when I checked the Impulse.

Actually Sirac is decently good even during cornering in wet. Where it lacks however is under braking in the wet. Stock Zapper C (of P220) is better under braking in the wet.

If Off road ability is important, Ceat Vertigo is almost as good as Sirac at a cheaper price. It should be available in ZMA size also..

However, none of the above are pure off road tires and struggle when the going gets realllly tough (eg. trail riding / Rocks). But both are more than adequate for bad roading and washed-off roading.

The intake valve is tight.

In my case I had done it by mistake, but in his case he did it on purpose, just to satisfy his curiosity. But I believe all is good, cause thanks to him we have found out a possible error that can happen while adjusting the valve clearance.
Yeah, and about the AFR, according to him it did leak through the Air Filter in the form of white fumes which had the smell of burnt petrol.
No worries regarding the exhaust gases, cause theres no intake gases in the first place for the exhaust gases to form.
Chances of starter damage is nil, since as far as I remember, the starter was turning the engine properly even when the valves were shut.

Not the manifold that connects the carb and the engine head.

Lol, you wont be saying that, when you're drain pipe is blocked and its raining heavily. Cause its happened to me once, I suspected every thing from AFR setting to CDI, except the drain tube block, that caused water to enter the fuel tank.

Tried and tested.

It was a complete coincidence. And mere luck that he felt like explaining every single experiment he conducted on the bike and that too in perfect detail, hence was able to recall similar errors that I've done in the process and finally pinpoint the current cause. Guess its again the work of god.

And Sir, I've forgot to mention in the last post. BlackPanther also tried to go in for the valve setting with referrence to the T mark, but finally had to resort to manually setting the clearance, like we did in my case.

(Whats going inside my head.)
The chances of misalignment are abit short in my case, since just days after me doing the valve clearance DIY, I had my cylinder kit replaced. So as a routine check, the SVC mech had set my valve clearance. And I believe that in case I caused a misalignment, they should've set it right ince replacing the cylinder requires the whole block to be taken apart.

Anyways, will be conducting more experiments on the same, till I get to the root cause.

Thanks sir.

Ceat GRIPP is available in 3.00 18 and 120/90 18, and the recent lot pattern is very much different from the one you had posted....what you had posted looks more like the Vertigo....I will try to get a pic and post later...

valve clearance problem...

hi all,
i hadn't been around for sometime as my final semester exams were going on...
so , as ashwin bro had mentioned, i had been trying to set the correct valve clearance from the past 1 week...
i thought of doing this diy as my zma was making this loud unwanted sewing machine like noise...
i had been running with this sound for more than 2 months now...
the zma had not been used for 1.5 days as i had given my carb to lathe (Cochin Engineering Works, Cherthala as suggested by vishnu bro) for afr screw removal & they did a pretty good job drilling out he old screw leaving the carb intact...
while performing the diy, the intake valve tappet bolt broke & thought of removing the head cover & taking it to lathe for boken bolt removal...
while trying to remove the head cover, 3 bolts on the top-right of the cover broke from middle & 2 nuts on top-left became rounded...
so dropped the idea of cover removal & hammered the broken bolt & it came off easily...
the tappet screws were tight with no freeplay felt (don't know in which position it was)...
i did the diy with the help of ashwin's diy post & psr sir's signature...
0.10mm freeplay on both intake & exhaust tappet screws...

first, i did the clearance when the rocker arm was at the max height...
i adjusted the clearance by max tightening the tappet screws with the feeler guage in between...
then aneesh bro told me that it the feeler guage shouln't be tighted that much & it should have only a slight drag...
i did as he told & started the zma...
the sewing machine sound was reduced & there was oil leak from the broken bolt holes & from the timing chain inspection cover...
but there was this peculiar smell of burned petrol or oil around my zma as soon as i started the engine which never happened to me...
engine was running cooler than usual... more than 5 minutes of idling & i could keep my hands on the engine...
never rode, just idled...

next day, since the sewing machine sound was not gone, i did the adjustment again on tdc of compression stroke (earlier too i had unknowingly set the clearance at tdc itself. this time i loosened & set the clearance just to be sure)...
the bike refused to fire up in the first few attempts...
the oil leak was reduced by further tightening the bolts...
the burned petrol/oil smell was still there...
engine hotness was normal...
i rode the bike & felt underpowered, like there was no acceleration...
i more observation was that my kicker has become hard to kick... sometimes even when i stand on the kicker, it refuses to go down... i was unable to kick start the bike; only self starter was working...
checked oil level... it's above minimum on the dipstick... Honda 10w30 mineral...

later, after a few days of fiddling with the tappets i got fed up & tried to start the bike with tappet screws in max tightness...
the bike din't, start plus there was white smoke comming out of the air filter... ashwin bro told that it is molecular afr...

today, i set the zma valve clearance back to 0.10mm on intake & exhaust at tdc of compression stroke (i'm sure it's at compression stroke as i had also set it at exhaust stroke with caused larger clearance when back at compression stroke)...
the bike fired up in the second press of self-starter...
burned petrol/oil smell still there...
sewing machine sound is still there...
i felt the engine to be running hotter...

i also saw the clutch cable to be bent & when straightened the kicker has loosened up but not as much as before...
on the second day of my experiment, there was this repeated huge noise like a big metal pipe hitting another from inside the engine, when i cranked... this sound had occured to me a couple of times in the past when i went uphill just after a coldstart & did not provide enough throttle, the bike would die with this "thud" sound...
the carb with the new afr had not been tested too... seems to be working fine...

please provide your opinions & views on this...
thanks...

I have used Karizma under heavy rains for thousands of kilometers in extreme conditions too, and there have been many that I know toured extensively in rains. Nobody faced the drain clog issue. In extreme conditions and if you ran out of luck, these things may happen. And clogged drain pipe is a minor issue and it can happen with any bike under some circumstances.

I really do not know how it got bent, I never tampered with it. The previous fall might have had some impact on it.
But, really not at all satisfied, don't know what happened after last crash, the bike is not feeling smooth, foot peg holders weird but now used to it, sudden engine shutting off...UPSET!

SVC guys were upset too, saying all parts need replacement! Where the hell will I bring money to replace all plastic parts... Parents scold me on the maintenance if the charges are high, how will I request them for a good helmet (Rs. 3k), then these replacements, not doing good in studies either so as to put "weight" on my wishes.
I'm confused what to do, whether to keep this bike or sell it! Totally frustrated. I do not want to sell it

Every machinery is only as good as the care you give it .

Hi Members,

My ZMA-R is 3 months old, 3000 kms completed so far. Done with the 1st and 2nd service.

Today morning I faced starting problem, the bike just refused to move when accelerating and the engine sounded choked up. and 1st May being a holiday at Maharashtra i had not option but to call a local mechanic to check it.

From the sound it was making, he told me that water has got into the tank, What he said was perfectly right, cause when we opened the tank cap there was lots of water collected on the outer circle. This water got in while the watchman washed the bike in the morning.

The problem was solved by the mechanic in about an hr by removing all the petrol and drying the tank.

He then advised me to remove the water drain pipe. he told me that if water collects in the tank out circle, it should drain out through the pipe, but since the pipe was long and had folds the water was not able to flow through

As of now I have removed the pipe. Will I face any problems with the bike warranty?

and this question may sound funny---> will removing this pipe cause any problems ??

Why did the mechanic remove the drain tube...if the routing is done properly,then there will be no kinks and blocks...with the tube disconnected, water will now drip over the Air Filter box outer ,on the chasiss and onto the ground....