But I heard today, anything wrong?

ask the experts on this thread

Hey thanks for the reply. Ok I ride an R15 to office (yea shoot me coz i've made a commuter mule out of it) and my office is at this hell hole called Saki Naka at Andheri in Mumbai. Ask any of the Mumbai xbhpians and you'll know that 75 percent of the route to that place is bumper to bumper traffic. The bike heats up, lots of clutching and de-clutching, high levels of dust etc.

Probably if not the cause, it was surely a catalyst to the early clutch wear. How much do R15 clutch plates last on average? Also I suspect a faulty push rod. So that must be affecting it too. You are welcome to enlighten me more.

I'll try to keep this short. Had an FZ before. Issues with front fork. Servicing issues with the factory showroom. Tried another service center. They did a shoddy job. Misaligned front, jammed disc brake. Letters sent to Yamaha. Phone calls too. Worried service center heads calling and offering better service. Not the same level of commitment in execution.

Bought the necessary spares, got it serviced by a local mech. Problem solved but no satisfaction. Sold it off and got an R15. Been servicing it from local known mechs ever since until this clutch plate issue. Should I still be 'Once bitten twice shy' or take it to the service center coz its R15.

Finally, R15: compression ratio 10.5:1. I thought Speed 97 would be ok. I would still clarify in the 14,000 plus kms and 10 months of ownership, tried it only for two tankfulls. Thats about 800 kms with that fuel. Correct me and I will refrain from using it.

those are the monoshock links which causes that noise. and you can also try tightening the swing arm bolt. mine started sounding after the rains. it is pretty damn annoying, but poses no threat to the bike.

It was an iridium plug..so replacement needs some time, got issues! Going to get it done soon, but just trying to clear off other possibilities until then. I actually dont clearly remember since when the engine started behaving htis way, cos there were too many factors, including dirty injector.So making things better one by one
And heck, my tappets need to be adjusted every 10k kms! And btw, tappet adjustment = valve clearance adjustment

12k kms? It's seriously too much. I'm one hard rider and my bike's clutch plates are still good(Bike's run 20k kms, used occasional power-shifting too). Do you half-clutch a lot? One more reason I can guess is, toomuch heat. High octane fuels give out a lot of heat. Atually, it's better to use as low octane rated fuel as possible. The point of high octane fuels is, they're just adulterated fuels. Petrol in its purest form is highly ignitable, meaning even a compression can ignite it(remember, air gets hot upon compression..school time rule!) So, to keep the fuel from igniting before the spark plug fires, they're adulterated to lower the ignitability. So the higher the compression of an engine, the more adulteration it needs. And, sometimes, people tend to add cheap quality octane boosters, which might end up clogging fuel injectors in the long run. Now I dont exactly remember how this higher octane rating gives out more heat, but I've experienced it personally. Blew 2 spark plugs in less than 2000kms, when using Speed fuel..under my riding conditions(read extreme).

Damn, so you DO get crazy after all!

Happy it's of use dude..just my hobby! Thanks for taking the efforts to say it here

@Parth: Gee..the more useful you find it, the more happy it makes me!

Happens in the initial days.. don't worry! Nothing's wrong, the gearbox needs to bed-in. Be patient uptil your first service/second service. It'll be fine by then.

Refer my signature!


Answers in bold


Might be spark leakage, get it checked and get the spark plug cap+plug replaced if necessary.

thanks ... i have to go tomorrow to the showroom for getting the no. plate finally ... will just confirm it from them

Is anyone interested in buying a stock bore of yamaha R15??? Because i am looking forward to get a new bore from mr.joel and want to let go off the stock bore . The bike has run approx 3000 kms. I stay in hyderabad. If you are interested then please contact me :- [email protected] .

Ummm, I'm not sure if you're totally right there. Yes, High Octane fuel is adulterated, but then SO IS ANY octane fuel. THEY DONT NEED TO CONTAIN iso-octane or heptane. Its just a comparison of the anti-knocking ability.

Octane rating does not relate to the energy content of the fuel. It is only a measure of the fuel's tendency to burn in a controlled manner, rather than exploding in an uncontrolled manner

Regular petrol is 91 octane in most countries. Shell ''Super'' is 92 octane. Speed ''93'' is 93 octane and ''97'' is 97 Octane (duh)

Higher octane ratings prevent the fuel from ''AUTO-Ignition'' due to compression, which is NOT always desirable in spark ignited engines like in our bikes. Higher performance engines need ignition to happen in a controlled manner.

LOWER octane fuels can cause ''knocking'' which will degrade engine health and performance.

read: Octane rating - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

lots of insights

Yea even I'm with ZeNashB on this. I thought the 91 and 97 were cleaner, better burning fuels.

In my case I just think it was yes, the heat, and bad clutch adjustments. Plus a seemingly fault push rod too. Do you guys suggest I take it to the service center instead of my local mech. Read my reply to KwokFist a few posts ago, so that I don't end up being repititive with the whole thing.

You've just chosen different words
Adulteration is a simpler word that I used, to make people understand it's nothing like "performance additives". Yes, the ultimate goal of increasing the octane rating is to overcome the problem of pinging/knocking. Knocking happens due to detonation within the combustion chamber, which in other words is the process that I've explained in my previous post("auto-ignition" even before the spark is fired, due to engine's compression..like you've said). And it's not about energy content, it's about "retarding" the ignition. Or more like, increasing the burning point temperature by adding impurities(again, simple word. Precise word would be some chemical name), so that petrol looses its natural low ignition point. Any engine needs controlled combustion, or detonation might occur..whether it's a diesel engine or petrol engine. If gone wild, this detonation can even damage the engine components permanently or fracture the piston. So, as the compression ratio is increased, a fuel with higher ignition point temperature is required.


Since the activation energy required for combustion is now higher(in case of high octane fuels), the spark alone may not be able to burn/vaporize the fuel completely in some cases(assuming the ignition system isn't designed for a fuel of this high octane rating), leaving a little unburnt fuel, which is hotter than combusted by-products. Over time, continuous formation of this hot fuel or accumulation there of will actually increase temperature levels.

so..i've got company!
i hope the issue is solved by tomorrow..and yeah if it is, then do let me know what they did to get rid of it..

nope, never..
no point asking here people here never ride that slow
lest they are pushing the bike in neutral !

well, after trying all sorts of remedies including greasing the links, the sound still remains and irritates..
latest is that they've offered to change the rear mono and the link..
i'm thinking "NO"..
no more experiments

The following technique may help you (been using it since my Jawa/Yezdi days and continue to do so even today with all bikes):

1. Put the bike in first gear.
2. Then shift up into second gear.
3. Now gently tap the gear lever with the heel of your foot. Your bike should shift into neutral.

unless this is the sound you're talking about..
but its more of a rattling than tak tak sound..


expect more inputs....

will try it tomorrow morning and let u know

this should be done during a run or when the bike is standing still ??