Royal Enfield

Finally I purchased a Royal Enfield, why finally - cause its been at the back of my mind for pretty some time to have the beast.

I had opportunities earlier to own one, but then it really did not espouse my beliefs of how a bike should be.
Even now I had lot of apprehensions on what should i own.

I have a Honda Shine, I really do not have much to complain regarding the bike, but for the fact that they say that the engine life is only 60,000km & then they went on to say its only 40,000km.

I really still believe that the engine life of the Honda Shine is pretty low, cause i know the troubles i have taken to care for the bike. Every 2000 km on the dot i used to drive into one of the many Shell petrol bunks that dot Bangalore & get the engine oil replaced. Hence after so much of periodic care, i was shocked when the engine packed at 65,000km.

Then i heard one of my colleagues who said, buying a Royal Enfield is a life long investment. I have seen a few close friends of mine with the bike behave like they have something worthy of respect.
So i booked for one in the month of October 2013, the staff at the dealership said it would take at least 6 months. 

I was looking for a red colored model. True to their word, 6 months hence the dealer got in touch with me with the info that they had a black model & if i was keen. I had my patience on a wire, & the Honda Shine had engine problems during that period, so i said fine i will take it

.
Finally on 19th April a Saturday i visited the dealer & picked up the bike. They said that the insurance was done but they did not have it papers. So i collected the bike went to office & then home later on in the evening. 

The dealer was keen on selling me a exhaust system which would produce more thump. The sales personnel was a lady, she was like, what is a Bullet if it does not sound like one. I thought maybe i got to take a video of her's & send it to the manufacturer with the comment this is what your dealer has to say.

Well i tell her am happy as long as she runs well, I have been getting lots of negative feedback's regarding the reliability of the bike. 

The model i purchased has only a single horn & that is really unfair on the manufacturer. I purchased this model just because the Sales Executive said that it has 19" rear tires & is suitable for taller folks.

And me thinking about the ground clearance too, went for it.

Will keep you guys updated. 

My New Honda Shine

MY NEW HONDA SHINE

My first bike I purchased in my life with my money was a 1987 model Yamaha. The reason as to why I was keen to own a 1987 model Yamaha was that the engine and gearbox for these model bikes were sourced directly from Japan in an assembled state. That means better performance, mileage and life of the engine. I had that bike for a few years & then sold it. Now one might ask when you purchased the bike with so much a keenness how come you sold it so easily. Well, at that age that is how guys think. 

The reason for selling the bike was to make travel more convenient for me as I had joined for a PGDBA course and would have to carry a lot of stuff with me to college. 

Then rains played havoc in Bangalore that particular year and hence I also needed a waterproof jacket to carry with me around all the time. Hence I purchased a Bajaj scooter - a Chetak. 

I have always been a careful rider and took care to treat all my bikes with care and proper attention at regular intervals. The Chetak returned me 62kmpl. But after a couple of mishaps I fathomed that I never gonna get used to the fact that having the engine placed to one side of a vehicle created an imbalance while driving. 

You had limits when you drive a scooter & i did not want to be cooped up with such limits. 

My next buy was a Hero Honda, i had that bike for a long time, around 5 yrs. The only fact I remember replacing during repairs in that bike was the spark plug & chain-sprocket, the air filters those days were wash in petrol & refit.

I sold that bike when the mechanic told me that the engine had to be redone, only later i realized that the guy was trying to make a fast buck out of me. 

My next bike was TVS- Victor. It was a meaty looking bike & since i was a strapping guy i did not want the bike to look too small below me. The only put down in that bike was that when 2 people sat on it, the shocks went kaput. I think TVS designed it in a such a manner, that even when the bike is loaded 10% above the GVW the vehicle refused to carry the load with ease - I mean the suspension system.

After i lost that bike due to an accident. A lorry came from behind, the driver said brake-failure and the banged into 5 other vehicles. My bike was damaged heavily and I took it to a mechanic. I had insurance, and hence the bike could have been repaired under insurance, but it was declared a total loss i purchased a Honda Shine in the year 2008, an electric start version & without disc brakes. 

The reason i went without disc brakes is in a city where the average speed is around 25km, i really did not need disc brakes to stop myself. Electric start is imperative as there is lots of traffic signals & on some occasions it would be at least a couple of greens before i would be able to cross over.

Initially i really took care of the bike, i mean drive slowly, keep to speed limits especially before the bike crossed 2000 km. Did all the necessary free services at authorized outlets. But slowly as the bike so did my niceness to the bike. I really did not look at the road, and the Honda Shine is pretty sure footed and the shock-absorbers are pretty good at their job.

The latest edit to this blog. In the year 2014, my bike (Honda Shine) had covered around 66,000 km and the engine gave up. I was working with Nandi Toyota as a Customer Relations Manager. And my office was around 23 km one way. So every day i travelled literally 50 km. I was shocked to say the least. At 66,000 the smoke emission from the bike exhaust was way beyond limits and the spark plug would get coated with oil regularly. 

So I called up Honda dealer and they connected me to the Honda 2-wheeler office and spoke to them regarding this deficiency. They agreed to give me a 50% discount on the repairs. So i went ahead and go the engine and clutch assembly replaced. It cost 14K and i put in 7K. 

As on date July 2020 (when the Coronavirus) is active my bike has run 98,000 km. Around 2,000 and it will be one lakh.