Thanks for the input. I was thinking about the same Zapper Vyde 120/80. It seems like a good option, however, the thread pattern doesn't give good confidence regarding grip. Yes, R15 tyres are very good for grip, but there won't be that bling factor, also not sure that soft rubber last long

Yes R15 tyres will not last long as its soft compound, keep us posted on your decision and review of the tyre of your choice.

Speaking of tyres, how is the OEM MRF rear tyre of Dazzler? What is the size and price, if someone can tell me.
I am looking to upsize my P150's rear tyre(100/90X17) to 110/80X17 which comes with TVS Srichakra and MRF.

Hi guys, so we had the Bangalore G2G Last sunday to Nandi Hills, had super awesome fun...

Check out the pics I took at http://www.xbhp.com/talkies/xbhp-off...tml#post911314

Anyway, I did the Nandi Hills 12km downhill in close to 7 minutes, this was the condition of my rear tyre at the base of the mountain:



No chicken strips!! \m/ and it was exhilarating and adrenalin pumping by gawd..!!

Watch the video here:

MAH03000 - YouTube

I am the guy in red cramster jacket, overtake at 5:39..!

Anyway, since there is so much discussion on tyres here I just want to say that I have never found the OEM MRF Zappers lacking in grip on even a half decent road. And seriously, I lean like crazy almost everyday and have touched down the foot pegs more number of times than I can count.

The only time I have found a lack of grip is during the first rains after which the road gets grimy and full of rotting leaf residue, I have skid my tyres two three times while leaning and turning in such conditions. Still I have never have had a fall due to low grip since the MRFs have always given me superb grip.

So yeah R15 tyres may be soft compound and grippy but whoever says that the MRF Zapper have low grip either has never ridden on TVS/CEAT tyres or has ridden only on Pirelli/Michelin since the day he was born. Or the person is still learning to handle a bike and is simply criticising the tools rather than their workmanship and skills since the OEM Zappers we get on our dazzler are a f***ing good tool..!!

I agree that the OEM tires on Dazzler are good but they are not great especially in wet conditions.
Even i scrape my foot-pegs frequently but will never dream of doing such antics in wet condition with OEM tires.

Fellow Xbhpians are asking suggestions for tires which would inspire confidence even in wet conditions.
You should try riding/braking on a R15 and dazzler back to back then you'll understand what we are talking about.(Comparison only w.r.t tires)

My friend, I know exactly what you guys are talking about.

Comparison only w.r.t tyres is when the bike is same, rider is same and tyres are different. Riding R15 and Dazzler back to back is not a comparison and is something which I have actually done.

And where does braking come in here? R15 has one of the best brake set-ups in the market, how can you compare full Nissin brakes of R15 to locally made KBX brakes of our dazzler (only talking about front brakes here - that's 70% braking for a bike). Anyway, that is besides the point.

Of course I appreciate how good OEM R15 tyres are, after all they have a more curved profile, are much more softer compound and are much more oriented towards handling in general and cornering grip in particular. The fact that they give good grip in wet just goes to prove how good they are.

The hard compound, deeper tread, edgier profiled OEM Dazzler tyres, on the other hand, are everything that R15 tyre is not, so obviously they are not going to be good in wet.

Now here is my point though:

The argument was never how good the R15 tyre is. Everyone knows R15 tyres are bloody freakin' good.

But if you take a hammer and say it is very bad in tightening screws then I have to tell you that you are not using the hammer properly. It is the same situation that is going on here. People are claiming OEM dazzler tyres are bad in wet when in fact they are not bad, only OK, even when compared to R15 OEMs. And this when they are ACTUALLY GOOD in dry conditions. People here are claiming that they actually fell down because rear tyre skid, then I am saying that is absolutely zero fault of the tyre and no amount of grip can save these guys.

My last and final line is going to be this: Watch the following video, its pretty awesome, the average joe most probably cannot do this on any tyre, be it dazzler/R15, I certainly cannot do it, but these guys are doing it on stock bike with stock tyres, only modification is rear sprocket... Damn commendable eh??

Honda VFR 800 P Wet Course - YouTube

If you go back a couple of pages you can see that I also said that Dazzler's tires are good in Dry conditions but below avg in wet conditions.
But if someone feels that in dry conditions the tires are bad then they should really check their riding habits.

I know that R15 has better brake setup but tires have a 50% role in this, i was talking about the confidence you get when you are riding/braking it in wet conditions.

Anyway we both are on the same plane i guess

Whats the top speed you've achieved on your bike? I was able to do 121

Guess we really are on the same plane here!

I have done 119 a couple of times when my bike was stock.
Then got it joelled, 180cc - that block seized in the middle of nowhere when i was doing 116 [ was a really sad day for me that one... :'( ]
Now have a new 170cc bore and have not gone beyond 110 on it. And don't plan to either for a long time to come... :|

Do stock bikes reach >120 kmph speedo indicated speeds? I have a friend in Chennai whose brand new (3.5k km run) Dazzler refused to cross 117 on the speedo. This was done on the Chennai-Bangalore stretch near Vellore with 15 kms of straight barren road.
GPS indicated 109 kmph, i.e; 7% speedo error - quite commendable as most bikes have ~10% speedo error nowadays.

Well I have actually seen a stock dazzler reach a speedo indicated 123, the guy captured it on video and the video was totally unedited when I saw it. So yeah i guess stock bikes do reach >120kmph speedo indicated.

However there are so many factors, even a slight incline can give you a 1-2kmph gain, add 1 more if you have a tail wind. The rider weight affects a hell lot on what speed the bike can achieve. The guy who went till 123 weighs 60kilos. I weigh 72. The 119 that I did was when i was crouching to fuse with the tank. On the other hand the 116 that i was doing was when I was sitting upright with a pillion.

And add to all this confusion the unknown quantity of speedo error which differs from bike to bike of the same make even. Pulsars are notorious for speedo errors, they show a speed upwards of 150kmph when a car running alongside will be showing 128kmph :| It is a known fact that a duke at ~130 kmph and a P220 at ~145kmph in fact would cover about the same distance over the same time.

Frankly i feel that top speed does not define the bike. Its just a silly, variable, statistic. What defines a bike is its capability to hold and maintain a particular speed in real world conditions. That speed is (speedo indicated) 80-85 for dazzler. The same speed is near 100-110 for bikes like P220, Karizma, R15s and this is what defines those bikes.

Block Siezed OMG ,might have been a really scary situation at that speed!! Did the rear tyre lockup??
Does Joel sell any free flow exhaust for Dazzler ?? I'm not really a fan of the muted exhaust note of Dazzler.

I have done close to 17.5k kms. Went to Adambakkam Honda SC and those guys wanted me to change the Chain Sprockets (costing good amount of Vitamin M.)
What was more shocking was, when discussing with the SC guy, he told me that they will take out the chain, dip it in grease, and put it in a cup full of diesel for lubricating. I was really pissed off . I did not know if these guys are well-informed that grease should not be applied to an o-ring chain. Had no other option told him not to do lubrication.

Is it worth changing the chain sprockets at 17.5k kms? I am confused. I was thinking at least they would run close to some 30k kms.

I was asked to change mine at 11K Km but i'm still continuing on the original set. Currently my ODO reads 18K.
Of late the chain is making a lot of noise, i need to change the gears very frequently in traffic owing to the slack chain and the bike jerks under hard acceleration, hence i'm planning to change it in my next service.

if you are not facing any problems you can continue using the original set.

Well actually the tyre did not lock up. What happened was this: I was doing 116 (remember seeing the speedo) and the all of a sudden that a loud taak kind of sound from the engine, I almost shat my pants then, but the engine kept running and the rear tyre did not lock either. Immediately after that first loud taak the sound of the engine completely changed, it was loud and it sounded like a hammer was hitting something inside at each round. It was a continuous tak-tak-tak-tak sound going on. At no point did the engine stop, and I was on the bangalore-chennai highway almost 50km from bangalore, so I was scared of turning off the engine. Luckily I spotted a road side mechanic shop just 2-3 kms from where the sound started. After a check-up the mech said to go back to bangalore and to not push the engine at all. I rode back at the sedate speed of 40 and ended up straight into joels garage :|

Joel does not offer the FFE for dazzler, mainly because there are too few people interested in buying. Personally, on some days I love the muted note of the dazzler exhaust, on other days I wish it had more roar..!! :|

I just bought a new chain today, Rs1155 + Tax. Sprockets were not available, guy said he will get it by monday. And my mech also said to change the chain at 11k. I am at 13500 now. Will probably change at 14K since I want reliability while touring.

Problem is that dazzler chain is actually very sensitive to grime. It is REALLY important to lube it EVERY 500KM as mentioned in the owners manual. I used to think it was ok not to and use to lube it only when given at service center. As a result my chain went bust early. And this is really my fault only. I started seeing signs of chain problem as early as 6000kms. That time I was a noob and did not know much about these things. I guess you learn by making mistakes...

Also you can continue to run your chain for much longer, even in the bad condition but be aware that it is not advisable, especially on highways/high speed/acceleration situation.

My advise is its already 17.5K for you. Lube the chain as much as possible. Run it maybe MAXIMUM till 20K and then change it.

@ Plasmabhai - What happened after you went to Joel's garage? did he replace the kit free of cost? or repaired, charged? Eagerly waiting for your reply.

Thanx.