Re: Houston ! We Have a Situation ! ROADBUSTER is coming in !

Could u detail it a bit more

sent from my note 3 neo

Re: Houston ! We Have a Situation ! ROADBUSTER is coming in !

I dont think Kawasaki recommends any particular brand of oil. Can you point out where 300v is recommended? I havent combed the manual so I could very well be wrong.
Generally manufacturers only specify the oil rating . For Z800 it is 10W40 which 7100 comes in. And its fully synthetic as well.

Re: Houston ! We Have a Situation ! ROADBUSTER is coming in !

That is right. I just 'assumed' that it is 300v since it is supposed to last a year. No way is the 7100 going to last that long. I guess, we are looking at oil change at second service as well !!! Viscosity seemingly last upto 5000 miles for the 7100 in good conditions so I am expect 6K out of them at the most ! 300v is a different animal. Doesn't show any reduction even after 5000 miles.

Btw, the Shell Advanced (?) cost somwhere above the Rs 800 mark, but we get 5Rs/litre of fuel filled worth of discount on the oil as well !

Re: Houston ! We Have a Situation ! ROADBUSTER is coming in !

Into The Wild, mingling with everything else that is Green :

Distance :215 kms

Time : 6.5 hours (0545 till 1215 on 31 05 2015)

Place : Mekedatu and Muthathi


Stops : Numerous

Average : 21 kmpl

Log:

By the sheer number of pictures, I guess it is already clear that we had a brilliant ride this weekend. So, not deviating into too much details about the lush green forest, the huge "Grizzled Giant Squirrel" or the jungle streams running through the roads, let me share how Roadbuster handled the roads that were quite challenging.

Plan for the trip was made for quite some time but, after others dropping away like flies, just the two of us ended up riding. A street 750 with a rider of immense patience and quality. Great rider to have with you on a journey of this type.

From Bangalore to Mekedatu is pure bliss unless high speeds is what makes your ride worth it. Thin roads snaking and twisting, through what was mostly, green, be it the plains or the hills. There were a couple of hair pins which arrive when you are least expecting it. Mist on the road in the end of May says a lot about how much we have screwed our planet. We hardly stopped at Mekedatu and continued towards, our next destination, Muthathi.

From Mekedatu we took Google's help and made our way through village lanes, pond side roads and more green towards Muthathi (Kaveri sangam place !). The roads were beautiful and not perfect till the jungle check post. The guy at the post told us we could see elephants or deer or other wild animals in that part of the road as it went through the forest. The roads between the checkposts were horrible, capable of crunching spinal cords. Just pot holes and broken roads. Not a moment of respite. Roadbuster's soft plushy suspension meant I did not have to struggle much and didn't end up with a sore bum or wrist. Except for the roads, that was the most beautiful stretch. So, unless you are riding a tightly sprung motorcycle or have a weathered back side and live near Bangalore, this is a must do. The average still stayed at 21 at this stretch, inspite of never going past the 3rd gear or 45 kmph.

I was leading so I could spot, many little squirrels, two scurrying giant squirrels and a peacock, all of whom ran away after they heard Roabuster's hum. Monkeys were in plenty and retarded as they always are. Right after the end checkpost, the roads became good again. kaveri ran along the road for a couple of kilometers. We stopped at the banks which was filled up with hundreds of people cooking huge non vegeterian meals beside the Kaveri. Kaveri looked huge, deep and serene with the hills holding her from the other side.

We continued on the road, though the villagers had told us to retrack the nightmarish jungle road, to Halaguru. This ruote was longer but the roads were very good. Well laid, like the Mekedatu ones, and twisting through villages and fields. Soon we joined kanapura road. After a refill for the Street, we flew back to kanakapura as the roads were very good and relatively devoid of traffic. W

Here we stopped at Vasu Hotel for breakfast and fed ourselves a masala dosa each, which were brilliant. They were thick and soft on the inside and crispy on the outside. We could understand why this Dosa was quite famous. Even better, it was filling, costed just 25 bucks and served piping hot within a minute.

From there on, we rode to Bangalore through much more frustating and heavier traffic and were at our home soon enough for lunch.

The tank grips were fixed last week. They were procured from Aliexpress for around 800 bucks and is doing a great job of me not sliding around in the seat like before. Sliding was worst when I used to wear my rain pants. now this is gone and I have a good grip leading to even lesser stretch on the wrists. Quite worth the money when stompgrip sounds enexplainably expensive.

Also, this was the first ride with my new mesh riding pants and they did a great job, keeping me cool post 0900 am when it got really humid and hot, especially in the jungle at low speeds. The weather in the morning was cool and my feet was treated with some pleasant cool breeze.

ODO : 2707 Kms

Photos : Too Many !










































The Vasu Hotel !

Re: Houston ! We Have a Situation ! ROADBUSTER is coming in !

Accessories Update :

So the last part of the protective accessories was done away with last week. The Spools.
Usually these are the first thing that go on these machines but as luck would be, it has happened now, better later than never though.

These are manufactured in Bangalore and sold by FlyByMoto who operate from a FB page by the name. Their range has a simple spool for the the Z800 because the stock cans are big, low and move too much to have any kind of sliders. I thought, why not have a slider on the left side at least. I mean, 50% is infinitely higher than 0% and I am hardly bothered by how she looks with asymmetrical spools. Also in all of the 4 times I have low sided in my life, it has always been on the left so the single sided sliders on the left made sense.

Result was some email discussions to FlyByMoto, asking them if they could have a slider at one end and a simple spool at the other side. FlyByMoto readily agreed and told me to wait for around a month as the guy who ran it would be away from the country.

Time flew by, the guy returned and promptly send me details of what I was looking for & how much that would cost. The combination turned out to be a right sided Z800 simple CNC machined aluminium spool and a left sided spool with a Delrin slider of large size, that is on offer from them for the; humongous; Tiger. Entire thing costed around Rs 1750 /-

Bad part. When I tried to get the spools on, the right one slotted in like a glove but the right one, with the slider, did not get screwed in completely. I was initially disappointed and thought that the screw was too long. Put it on the right and bam it fit perfect ! Talked to FlyByMoto immediately. And out of nowhere, he appeared at my doorstep next morning, after a call. He was here to try and fit the spools, while on his way to work. He tried it the first time and told that thread was gone. He asked if that slot was used before and I recalled, the Khivraj Service Center at Kasturba Road !!! Those nincompoops had damaged the threads while putting their screw during the 1st service !!! What the hell !!

Photos:

Neatly packed, protected and put into a little plastic box


Out of the plastics - Long screw is for the left spool with slider and shorter for the normal right one.


All out of the box, awaiting for Roadbuster !


Left Spool. Neatly machined. They even cancelled a batch that was not machined perfectly.


Right Spool, again great quality.


Washer to fix the delrin slider onto the spool. Top notch built quality.


Delrin looks good. Size is substantial. No wonder it is for the Tiger.



The Spools and the slider from various angles. Excuse the dirt. Roadbuster had just returned from some mud play before !














Looks good, feels substantial and capable of protecting. Very good value for money in my opinion. Though, I hope, the sliders are never tested.

Re: Houston ! We Have a Situation ! ROADBUSTER is coming in !

Hey sirji..

Nice pics as usual. Looks like you and RB have blended very well...Kudos.

PS: What GPS were you using. Can you PM me the details of that unit.

Re: Houston ! We Have a Situation ! ROADBUSTER is coming in !

Thanks
Google maps on my Android phone - Just downloaded the maps before journey to use them offline ! I also have the SYGIC app but never use it, thanks to Maps from Google !

Re: Houston ! We Have a Situation ! ROADBUSTER is coming in !

Fixed the issue gifted by Khivraj ?

Re: Houston ! We Have a Situation ! ROADBUSTER is coming in !

LoL ! Forgot to mention the resolution

The FlyByMoto hooked me to a shop near my home that does machining and lathing. He threaded the slot in 5 minutes for free and then fixed the slider. Good man ! Loved how FlyByMoto handled the situation.

Re: Houston ! We Have a Situation ! ROADBUSTER is coming in !

Great buy with the spools. I have one question, exactly how do the front fork protectors work? Do they protect the forks in the event of a slide? but the front forks will not come in contact with the road because of the tank right? I am just confused Or do they protect the bike from a 'fork out hogaya' situation? I thought that happened only in head on collisions though.

Re: Houston ! We Have a Situation ! ROADBUSTER is coming in !

Good question. I use to ponder the same thing and had almost decided on not getting the fork sliders till I did some reading and YouTubing !
You are considering a low speed low side and, yes, the impact on the fork is usually minimal in this case, though the brake assembly can still take a beating. Now consider a high speed weaving or a highside. The impact will be directly on the forks. The slider will then do a good job of sliding and resisting the impact before the force impacts the fork and the brake assembly.

Re: Houston ! We Have a Situation ! ROADBUSTER is coming in !

The First Solo, cause YOLO !

Distance :254 kms

Time : 4.5 hours (0545 till 1015 on 06 06 2015)

Place : Bengaluru - Tumkuru - Kunigal - Yediyur - Bengaluru


Stops : Few

Average : 20.5 kmpl

Log:

Maggi got banned. What has been the strands of life for the last quarter of a century has been banned, because it is found to be not suitable for health. Well, too late I guess, for me ! Anyway, keeping aside the sadness of Maggi going bust, the week welcomed the opening of schools and with that addition of those yellow buses into the traffic concoction that is already being brewed up everywhere. Humid conditions have turned the sweat glands into fountains of filthy water.

So, to get this frustrating week off my head, obviously we had to ride in the weekend. Sadly though, Sunday was a no go for higher priority errands. Add to that, none of them, wonderful riders, I usually ride with were available for saturday either. This meant, what I had never done before, a saturday solo ride was on the cards.

I was a bit apprehensive as being stuck on your own on our roads with an eye catching thing is not quite my kind of thing. Nevertheless, prepared well and, with some help from fellow riders, hunted down places with lesser risks and could only zero in the place at around midnight of Friday. It was to be mostly butter (hope they don't have to ban Amul butter now !) smooth highways coupled with a small stretch through another of the green Karnataka country roads. It was to be Bangalore - Tumkur - Kunigal - Yediyur - Bangalore, as I wanted to stretch her a bit since most of my rides have been of the, relatively, slower variety.

A tiring day meant I was snoring in a jiffy unlike other weekends when the saturdays are lazy and I am too excited about the Sunday ride to sleep quick and nice. Alarm and I was wide awake and ready to leave in no time. Gear on, bag packed, cash in wallet, morning peace of the house disturbed, tanked up and a few fluttering butterflies of anticipation of going, without having to wait for the group at the 'meeting point', solo for the first time all amounted to me leaving right on planned time.

530 AM and daylight was already breaking in (June ! Damn !) With MyTracks set to on, I made my way quickly through the heart of the city, which was soon to be littered with dollops of vehicles leading to chaos and confusion, and quickly I was at one of those clogs at Tumkur road crossing signal. 15 minutes of just me and Roadbuster sitting and appreciating the intelligence of the people who had decided to ignore the traffic lights as it was early morning thus creating a clog of epic proportions even before the sun was out and were now abusing, pleading, eating bananas, going bananas. After those funny fifteens, I was on my way, without further showcase of any such human rationale !

Just before the junction where the Tumkur road and the Mangalore highway made ways, I wondered if I should just drop the Tumkur part and do a simple straight one to Yediyur, as I had to be back by 1030, I was solo and neither did I know how the roads were nor did I have any knowledge of the area other than Maps by me. Brief seconds later, I was flying towards Tumkur.

Early mornings are always beautiful. The mist on the little hills looked like a lovely lady had adorned a lovely white scarf while standing and looking at the sun going up. Couple of water breaks later, I was moving away from the national highway to get myself to Kunigal. The country road started after some pathetic roads through Tumkur. After a few pictures, beside the swamp land that looked that it would only need a hound and a bit more creepy and dark to get Mr Holmes here, the road to Kunigal through the villages was lush green, thanks to the continuous rains in the past week, and everything around looked fresh and nice but for the road underneath. Most of it was broken and pot holes of various sizes littered most of the road. The suspension does a terrific job of handling these at good speeds. There is enough feed back but I am not rattled. There was almost no road at some places. Everything around was perfect for a two wheeler's road to heaven. It was good to see, after a few kilometers, that work was underway and some of the roads has been and is being fixed as we speak.

After tackling some major craters, on the road that yielded to the Mangalore highway, I breathed a sigh of relief as we hit one of the best roads there are around Bangalore. Now we were quick and kilometres fell like never before. Some really spirited riding later, I was at the 'Swathi Delicacy' after having gone upto Yediur and back.

A nice butter (No ! Don't you dare ban Amul butter !) masala dosa and a cup of piping hot coffee later, we were back on the road at around 0845. Some more flying and we were at the Nelamangla cross in 35-40 minutes, thanks to going flat out a few times ! Back on the road after some more water, we were on the NICE road in no time.

Crossed another milestone of 3000 kms at the ODO on this stretch. After a fuel break, we reached home around 1015, after having created a mirrored R.O.G (http://www.walloza.com/tat_uploads/5...-wallpaper.jpg) esque eyes on the map, with the trail left.

Highlight of this ride, for a change, was quickness and many kilometers in not much time and all of this lead to 3 0 0 0 on the ODO as we approach 2.5 months of togetherness.

Pondering if I should cut down on the rides a little as the kms are falling down quick and fast, but then again, someone inside me says 'Live when you can'. I asked 'Why ?' and he tells, a rather tacky phrase for my liking but made saner with an influence of calm in his voice, 'You Only Live Once !'


ODO : 3017 kms

Photos :

The Moor !


That smokinn A** !


5 Wheels !


Bending before thou my Lady !


Road Busted !


Milestone !

Re: Houston ! We Have a Situation ! ROADBUSTER is coming in !

Into The Deep :

Distance : 150 kms

Time : 4 hours (0545 till 0945 on 14 06 2015)

Place : Bengaluru - Hoskote - Kaiwara - Hoskote - Bengaluru


Stops : Seldom

Average : 21 kmpl

Log :

1993 | Christmas | Kolkata, the then Calcutta : Being from a small town, all the cinema viewing experience of the 5 year old me, till then, was at about-to-fall-off theatres. The ones where tickets were rampantly sold in 'black'. Where the screen was dirtier than the roads. Where the noise of the dusty wall-fans was louder than the audio. Where termites have a feast on you while you watch the movie.

There were a couple of better ones, with 'AC', but these either didn't have the movie you wanted to watch or you got priced out, thanks to the mind boggling ticket price of Rs 25 for the ticket to a 'balcony' seat.

Every generation sees things that become epic as they grow up. Ours had huge ones. No other generation had seen so much change in so little time. Things like Harry Potters and Jurassic Parks being an integral part of these, from an entertainment point of view.

The summer of 93 had seen the release of this movie called 'Jurassic Park', which had caused ripples around the world with the visual treat it served. It was about these creatures called Dinosaurs that lived a million years ago and hardly anyone knew anything about them. This cinema changed the Dinosaur realm for every common man as they knew a handful of dinosaurs by name now. Well the 5 year old, small town, me experienced this at the 'Globe Theatre', with 'Dolby Surround Sound', with jaws on the floor throughout. There are moments that you do not forget in life, a few scenes from this movie being one of those. I can still remember, vividly, how the jelly would shudder when Mr T Rex had a walk around the park,literally. Or, Mr Smart, Velociraptor would open the latched the door and make several pants wet in the theatre. Or when the fat guy stole the genes in a can, got stuck in the mud, then got sprayed by the poisonous little dinosaur, was blinded and killed but, thankfully, created the plot for a movie of EPIC proportions.

Several franchise movies popped up since then but none of them had that special something that the first one had, the rare ability to keep the watchers spell-bound.

Mr Spielberg had decided to come up with another one in 2015, this time in IMAX 3D, called the 'Jurassic World'. So, I expect jaws to drop once again, well hopefully. Meanwhile, I have graduated from a BSA Wild Cat in red and yellow with trainee wheels to a Kawasaki Z800 with over 100 horses under me ! How time flies by !

Nevertheless, as I waited for the ticket prices to drop, a ride was planned for the weekend, a rather short one for a change. We would meet up at around 0600 near ITI gate near KR Puram bridge and make ourselves to kaiwara, where there is not much other than a lake and a little national park. I made my way to the place and, true to what my english teacher had said, I was 'on time' once more. Soon all of us gathered up. Other than Roadbuster, we had a plethora of machines of all type that included a green 650, a red Street, a yellow CGT, a black R15V2 and a black CeeBeeAr250.

Navigation on, we made distance very quick and were soon at Hoskote. We took the left to Chintamani, sounds like the name of a tensed money broker ! Another 35 kms or so of lovely well tarmaced undivided roads strewn with hundreds of speed breakers of the better kind, we rached Kaiwara. We rode through the little town. Took a left at the lake, that contained almost no water at all and it was dry everywhere in spite of the regular rains that the region has been receiving for a month or so.

All boring and sadly, looked like, nothing to do till, I saw an empty open soily place on the left and went off the road to park there and take some photos and make our way back. Well life is full of surprises, like the fat man from Jurassic Park, we were in for some trouble, some might call it fun too. The place had soft slushy ground. You could feel the rear skidding around but nothing alarming till the ground beneath you was suddenly so soft that you are not moving !

We were, basically, 'in' the lake !!! I had attempted a turn and reached near a little puddle where the soil was moister and softer. The 650 had stopped just a few meters before me and was in slightly harder ground though the tyres were caked with the mud. The CGT and the CBR went the other way as they believed the other side would be harder, wrong assumption ! The R15 was somewhere in between everyone while the Street stayed on the tarmac as, sensibly, the rider avoids off roads. So one on the tarmac, smoking and watching the show unwrap and all he needed was some popcorn .

The 650 was soon out. Mud caked tires. Bit of sliding around but out soon, thanks to the huge experience of the rider as he had pulled off just in time and watched the show with the Street now. I had to turn away from the puddle. Turned and steering and little bit of the throttle. The rear was sliding and a few inches in muck. The front was going nowhere. Continued to throttle and the Roadbuster turned around in the same place. My boots are yet to arrive and that meant I was on my woodlands, luckily so. The tractor sole made for this kind of ground helped in keeping my feet on the ground, or was it muck ! My feet was sinking as I put my weight on the feet and a bit of Roadbuster's weight as well. I was thinking, Oh ! *Cuss Words* ! I am stranded ! Hope I don't drop her though ! Once, thanks to the slime, I had turned around 180 degs at the same place, I pushed her and throttled her and kept my weight off the bike, 230kgs is bad and 330 is worse ! As the ground became firmed, we could slowly crawl. I was back on the part where I could ride while coming down but now it was slipping and sliding as the tires were completely coaated with mud and made it look like a modern potter's wheel of some sort, caked with a couple of layers of mud. Slow and steady, I was out. Phew ! Realising the lesson I had learnt and managed to successfully maneuver out of the deep, literally ! Now I watched, along with the other 2

The R15 was having fun as he asked for photos being taken there. The CGT and the CBR were out by then, tires and chain completely caked with mud, probably cursing me for taking that, unthreatening, 'left'. Soon the R15 was out of it too. We laughed and cleaned our machines of the mud as much as could. We rode through puddles on the road to cleanse the tires. I did a micro burnout, without the smoke, to get the mud off her rears !

After revelling in what had just happened, we made our way back to the good lovely tarmaced highway. Stopped for breakfast where we spotted a diesel Enfield being fuelled and, after a heavy breakfast, we ate those miles up quick and were soon back, after having spotted a lovely red Busa with a Dainese suited rider near KR Puram and another Streetie with a fluorescent tiger striped legging wearing rider near BTM. We told our good byes and made our home soon enough. I entered my home, while everyone was still fast asleep, enjoying a late sunday sleep and here I was sweaty and 150kms older.

Roadbuster needs a good thorough wash as soon as possible, followed by waxing and chain lubing. So do the clothes and shoes with the amount of muck that was encountered !!!

We keep learning things together week in week out and the experiences have been memorable and, hopefully, long it may continue. To the next one !

Key Updates :

1. Hydration bladder goes a long way in deciding in how much water you are drinking, especially if you are a lazy one like me. While, other rides, I have not consumed more than 300-400 ml of water. I had a little more than a liter in this one. Staying cold helps. Standing in red light and drinking water might make you look like a scuba diver or an astronomer though.
2. Tank Grips help big time, even if they are Chinese and cheap and not American and costly. Helps considerably in not sliding on the seat while going over speed breakers or braking hard. Probably helped 'in' the lake as well.
3. I am more confident about the size of the Roadbuster after this lake incident when i had to man had to hold on to her tight.

ODO : 3292 km

Photos : I hardly took any picture as, first, I was too busy taking Roadbuster out of the muck and into the road and then the the lazy me was just too tired !
All pictures, courtesy the rider of the R15V2,

'Into The Deep' - No boats used !


Some app deserve to get uninstalled. The Pirelli app here, thinks I was going horizontally to the road at supersonic speeds !!!


'Jurassic World', at a theatre near you !


The mockery of the muck !


All up, a sigh of relief and a smile on our faces !


The omnipresent one. They are everywhere ! Dangerous and everywhere !


Hald caked and half tire !


The only photo i took, of the muckery !


The Continental GT had turned into the Motocross GT ! The latest in technology, mud tires !


The R15V2 potter's wheel !

Re: Houston ! We Have a Situation ! ROADBUSTER is coming in !

I've been following this thread for some time. Every time I come back, I find myself appreciating your dedication and love towrads your machine. Thumb up!

Re: Houston ! We Have a Situation ! ROADBUSTER is coming in !

Roadbuster has become Muckbuster