wassup sandman!

Welcome to my thread finally :P So we can now look forward to a new fireblade thread with tons of the track day pics as well I am guessing :P

Well the triumphant return of my monster was cut short by a tiny pebble in a classic david brings down goliath story. A nice ride over the weekend was soon cut short by the engine overheating light flashing red and the temperature reading going up to 128 degrees centigrade. I quickly cut the ride short and returned home worried to find coolant now leaking from underside. The culprit a tiny hole in the bottom left hand side of the radiator probably caused by a stray pebble. The bike is now back in KRP’s garage and a new purchase I have asked for is a Radiator Guard since our roads are not perfect swept roads and there is always a potential pebble that can come flying in to break the radiator (A replacement radiator cost 40k whereas the guard only costs 7k)
Attached is the pic of the radiator with the tiny hole highlighted. Now am waiting for the bike to return with the TOCE and a radiator guard

Wish a speedy recovery for ur monster and hope to see her burning rubber soon. Thanks for replying to my queries. Do keep us updated...

Get used it sir. A superbike getting attention on the road is an inevitable situation in India and you are bound to attract roadside rossis who will end up doing some really stupid things and eventually scrape the pavement in most cases. You did your job correctly, minded your own business and did not entertain them. Even if you stopped and gave them some advice, it won't reach their brains. The last time I was with the Supersonics, I lost count of the number of idiots we encountered. One of them almost led to making one of the riders crash! So just forget about it and ride on.

Also the use of octane boosters is a debatable topic but most prefer to not use it. You can get Speed 97 at the Airport. Oh and thumbs for the TOCE! Just love that exhaust

Partly I am starting to think it is my fault, a bike which looks like the old R15 modified apparently riles up all other riders. I wish Yamaha had decided to change the styling on the R1 and had not made it a copy of the R15 (Hopefully you can read the sarcasm at this point). But on a serious note, I only ranted here in the hope that the next idiot trying this is not educated enough and not an xBhp member cause I found one person on a Red and White R15 who drove up to me as I trolleyed my bike back to the workshop and asked me "R15 purana model hain na, kharab ho gaya, isliye modify nahin karte, R15 v2 jyada acha hain"....My expression at this point was priceless

Didnt know Speed 97 was available at the airport (Terminal 1 or 3)? And yes I love the TOCE for its two settings - LOUD and Xtra LOUD

ROTFL! God bless India . Even utkarsh has been through the same sorrows and he has some really interesting replies as well. The pump is near the T1 Round-about. +1 for the TOCE. Haven't heard it on an '08 but on the crossplane it sounds mad! Almost like a muscle car with no exhaust.

This is an excellent Ownership thread and what I like about it is the fact that you share both the +ves and -ves. I can now understand how hard it is to maintain a superbike and how heavy it can be on the pocket as well. But I'm sure the joy of riding the R1 compensates for everything else.

This thread also reminds me of the older R1 thread by Akhil (rossiter).

I havent heard it as yet either So am like a kid on Christmas who has all this anticipation of a new toy and cant wait. I will try to post a video but would be of low quality since all $$$ spent on mistress = no money for new smartphone or camera

Comparing my thread to that of people like Rossiter and Strider whose threads I read post to post and who helped me finalize the R1 is one of the best compliment I can get. In fact I had spent weeks before finalizing my purchase where I kept rereading every post and looking at every pic and doing image training by putting myself into their scenario.

My aim with both my threads is to make new buyers especially ones looking for secondhand bikes realize what they are getting into. Despite all the money I have spent so far, it is still significantly lower than what you would end up shelling on a brand new bike especially post budget

So my TOCE dreams were squashed when I found out that the used pair of TOCE i felt I was getting at a bargain, were busted - 2 of the 4 exhaust pipes has serious damage. From transportation, owners carelessness, whatever the reason. I felt my beautiful 4 pipe exhaust dreams getting out of hand. Begged the KRP bros to check if there was any other 4 pipe option, and found that there was an '06 Laser 4 pipe which had never been used, but would need significant rework to fit the '08 R1. A lot of begging and cajoling later, they decided to go ahead with the same. And the result just blew my mind, I thought the TOCE exhaust was loud but was in no way prepared for the racket that the LASER makes. That thing just screams "Look At Me". We infact had to detune it quite a bit and it still sounds like broken silencer on a normal bike mated with a Harley exhaust. Will post the video when I find the time. But to give you a rough idea of how loud this thing is, when I was bringing it back to park at home, I decided to stop at a nearby ATM, where a bunch of cars were parked. The exhaust note from my initial throttle was loud enough to get all of their alarms buzzing at full volume... ensuring that I made a very speedy exit


But while a lot of people will say that a LASER is horrible, too loud, too garish, but for a road vehicle, I love how it makes people turn around and stare. You get the rockstar feeling even if only for a few seconds, and you are sure they are assuming that you are just another teenager with a modified silencer instead of a middle aged man living out his childhood dreams. So until I get my second bike, I think I will leave these on, after which the bike will be given its next makeover - a Hotbodies Kit, the stock silencer and a quick shifter to turn this beauty into a pure track machine. Till then I am gonna enjoy the 4 gun salute Also attaching a pic of the radiator fix. Total expenses - 20k for exhaust + 7k for conversion of 06 exhaust to 08 exhaust + 3k for radiator repair + 1k for 10 litres of Speed 97 (courtesy KRP) = Total expenses this round 31k. Pending expense for next week include the radiator guard which is enroute and will cost me another 7k

Well love the exhaust, and yes it drives the cops and dogs crazy but there something about the exhaust noise which wills you do things you would normally not consider, like diving into corners a lot faster and wearing out the sidewalls quickly. So attached is a quick video shot after what was a truly long and exhausting Sunday which include a more than 3 hour ride (multiple rounds across my favourite piece of road)

Video Courtesy: Joy is the word
Exhaust Courtesy: Kaulson Racing Products (KRP)



Hope you guys enjoy this and ride safe. Will post the ride pics a little later

Woh !
Laser sounds mad man !
Sure gets you the poser value
One or the other problem arise during every ride,hope they get over soon.
Enjoy your ride.Be safe.

Re: My pre-worshipped goddess - Yamaha R1

I know but just one ride and you forget all the pain and money she makes you shell out and you end up with the widest grin possible on your face

Re: My pre-worshipped goddess - Yamaha R1

So as I look at my previous post, it saddens me to write this one, today early morning I was rear ended by a SUV in a clear case of hit and run, but it was too early in the morning, so no one got the number so the reckless driver continues to be out on the road. While I survived as I was wearing full riding gear - (helmet, gloves, boots, jacket) but the bike didnt. So it may take a few weeks before I am back online posting my stories

Till then please drive safe and take care, since we live in a country where most people dont have a decent traffic education and even worse lack the basic decency of checking if the person you hit is still alive.....Ciao till my next post and hopefully in a better time

Re: My pre-worshipped goddess - Yamaha R1

Very sad to hear about the crash. Hope you are doing better now. It's a pain to see an SBK in this condition.