I started at 7:00am from home, reached McDs at Panvel at 7:30am and picked up some breakfast. The roads are god-awful now...getting to Lonavala was an ordeal and the rain was incessant. Blasted through to Kolhapur by 12:20pm and reached Hubli at 2:15pm. I was positively flying...empty roads past Kolhapur allowed me to cruise at a steady 130kph. I touched 203kph which is true 200kph as per my earlier experiments with a GPS. It was so easy!

At Hubli now waiting for Akhil and the rest of the troops to show up...looking forward to tomorrow as well

Man! I know Thor is a fast bike.... but this Trip log is as small as if you rode from Chembur to Andheri

Pics! Pics!

congos gs,the mt-01 looks fresh out of the gym,ridesafe

Firstly congrats on getting a bike thats brimming with character.
Secondly, that faired MT looks so gobsmackingly retro that you could actually wear 80's style leather on it and still look cool. Lovely stuff!

Well I did Mumbai to Hubli in 7 hours and I didn't want to hang around in the rains. I'm not much of a shutterbug and didn't bother carrying a camera either.

For the first time, Thor and Phwoar were united. They now rest together until the weekend...

Sounds like it's the 'mating' season of the Superbikes...

A quick update for the junta...

Thor has done 7000+ kms so far in 2 months time. As you know I picked up the bike in Bangalore and then proceeded to do the following trips...

BLR - MAA
MAA - BLR - BOM
BOM - BLR
BLR - MAA - BLR

and now I will return back home with BLR - BOM

So most of the mileage was done on open motorways which really isn't the sort of environment this bike was designed for but it works alright. I find the wind and buffeting to be a bit much on the higher side of 120kph but I spend most of my time riding with a tank bag and therefore cruise at 140kph on the highways. I occasionally take the bike up to 205 and the company says it can do 210 but I never had an opportunity to get there.

Unlike an in-line 4 or a laid back V-twin cruiser, the MT01 is a quick revving cruiser but it still isn't quick enough to blast you to the 2 ton mark in a hurry. You get there pretty quickly but riders who hop off the saddle of an R1 or Busa will not be impressed by the top-end. What WILL impress is the simply astonishing bottom end torque which makes even these big superbikes feel anemic in comparison. Off the line the MT01 is a awesomely fast bike.

Thor attended a service camp held by Yamaha at the Bangalore Wheels dealership. Free Labor and 10% off consumables was a good deal considering labor usually comes to about 3500 rupees for a regular service. Although I didn't change the oil/oil filter this time around I did do some critical tweaking:

1. ALL the bolts, screws and fasteners on the bike were loose from 7000kms of riding. Including engine casing, footpegs etc. I was shocked to find that I could turn some of the crank case bolts by hand. This was quickly addressed and the Yamaha service head has directed me to hit a service center every 1500 kms to get this overall tightening done. Using thread-lock was not an option as it wasn't recommended in the manual. Now the bike vibrates a little less and isn't as rattly and noisy as it was before the service.

2. The service head (EP Sreekumar) also restored my suspension settings to OEM specifications. I had requested changes at various services but somehow things just got worse instead of better. Now the bike handles nicely and the ride quality has improved significantly. Very happy with this...

3. Got a huge nail removed and the rear tire plugged during the service. Considering my upcoming long ride to Bombay I am glad I got this done yesterday

The best part was that my service cost was Rs.0 Thats right...ZERO. I purchased two Yamaha 3D circular stickers for Rs.60 and that was my total bill. I am really impressed with the service quality and consideration for the customer. I am also glad I got a chance to meet Mr. EPS finally and get to know the man behind the emails...what a lovely bloke.

So as it stands Thor and Phwoar (Akhil's R1) are still doing duty in bangalore and will be heading out for a bit of a night ride to check out all the aspects of the bike before my long ride home.

Mumbai riders - I'll be doing something interesting during Diwali weekend (no family in Mumbai so it'll be Thor and me heading out for some fun) so join in the fun if you can...

What is the blinking red light on the bike's speedo? I've seen the same on the R1 console as well. What's the function? Immobilizer/alarm?

Immobilizer only - same as most car's these days. There is no alarm built into these bikes but I've installed a Scorpio alarm recently.

Hi GS,good to hear that Yamaha provided a quality service. Can you please elaborate on the immobilser function in the bike? As in how does it exactly function on a bike.

@gs: IIRC, the labour charge of 3.5k is exactly what it cost Akhil for Phwoar's first service. The service camp at BW for Diwali (?) led to a waiver of the labour charge then?

Good to know that all the Yamaha-service-related troubles seem to have been ironed out. Especially since that was your primary concern which was subsequently voiced towards the end of Phwoar's vanvaas

P.S: A dear pity that i couldn't get to meet you although you've been down to BLR several times already...

The immobilizer will render the bike useless unless you use the keys that came with the bike. The keys have a chip in them and no other key can be used on the bike. The engine stays inoperable until the right key is used.

Yes - free labour...

For now there seems to be a sort of turnaround but I'll wait until I have some more serious work on the bike. How they respond then matters the most...right now my bike has had only regular service routines done to it.

Soon...very soon...

Quick Update:

My MT-01 is possibly the highest-mileage MT in India at the moment. Just covered 11000 kms this morning

I should be close to 15000 kms by the end of the year (when I complete my Rajasthan road-trip).

No problems whatsoever with the bike and the tires are still looking good so I expect I'll replace them once I am back from Rajasthan. Pretty decent tire life...considering Busas need replacing every 7-8K and the R1 every 11k.

Completed the 10k service at the Malad workshop and this was part of a free-service camp so I only paid for consumables. Worked out very cheap for me...and the attention to detail at the service was fantastic. Very happy with Yamaha service now.

I am also on the verge of receiving my MT-01 Stage-1 mods:
- Akrapovic exhausts
- Carbon fiber single-seat kit
- Renthal sprockets (up on the rear for more bottom end pull)
- Frame, Swingarm and Engine sliders
- Front windscreen

These will be done ahead of my Rajasthan trip...The bike will turn into an ANIMAL with the Akras on board

Got some new gear for me as well:


Spent 16500 at Planet DSG yesterday. New DSG "Maze" mesh jacket in black to match my ride.



Also got me a new pair of gloves. Alpinestars GP-Plus gloves in Black



Both the jacket and glove fit like a...well...a glove Love the mesh jacket...such a relief to ride in it after my earlier DSG Spike (non-mesh). The leather feels and looks better and the black really goes well with the MT-01. The black A'stars gloves also feel incredible. Soft leather on the inside cossets the hand and the structure of the glove supports the wrist making it much easier to ride the bike hard.

11000 kms?? Good to learn man that somebody is really riding/enjoying his bike.

PS:The odo of my HH Hunk reads something like 82XX, and its already 1 year 13 days old.

@gsferrari: Nice much needed update!
Maybe the tyres are lasting this long as you're doing highway rides most of the times..
Nice riding gear selected (its hard to digest the fact that those tiny gloves cost more than the jacket. Though the gloves offer more protection )
Can't wait to see the visually revamped machine, especially the visor & the single seat kit in place.

@Bandhav: Glad to know you own a HH bike