Mar Rides

Got the bike back from the mechanic. He put a plug into the cylinder head that would allow the spark plug to fit back correctly into the cylinder head. I had a speedometer inner cable as well, so I was excited to have the bike completely up and running. No speedometer yet though, as the cable I got was shorter than the outer cable... DOH!!!
Went back and got a complete inner/ outer set and fixed it myself - FERPECT - its all working now.
Rode around a bit and it felt good to ride with the wind in my face.

Sunday morning ride on March 13th started at 610 from home and we rode to Kanakapura road, went onto the NICE road and went all the way to Tumkur road. The sun was just rising and we took some nice pictures. We also saw fog crossing the NICE road and we were both glad that we were up early in the morning and were out on the rode. The early morning air feels fresher, cleaner and safer... its a great feeling- if you haven't tried it before, DO!!!

I found that the bike was riding well and that I was comfortable riding it. We rode at a max of 60kmh most of the time and the bike felt stable.

We stopped at the end of NICE road and waited for Doss. ZOOOOOOM - just like greased lightening, Doss and his black Ninja show up in a bit - it took us some 40 minutes to do the same stretch he did in some 16 minutes! :)

We rode back on the elevated Tumkur road to Yeshwanthpur, thru the metro traffic, past IISc, to Sankey Tank, to Veena stores for Idli Vada, to CTR for Masala Dosa and back home for a well deserved nap.

I found that the light in the speedometer was not working - broken bulb, cut wire? The light in the ammeter was working, so I disassembled the speedometer and found that the bulb was working, so I put it back in place and tried it before tightening all the nuts and found that even the ammeter light wasnt working now. Fuses blown to date - 1
I changed out the fuse, retightened the speedometer and tried and saw that the ammeter wire was touching a metal plate and.....
Fuses blown to date - 2

DOH!
I changed out the fuse again, ensured that the ammeter was also tightened this time and it worked. I found out though that the headlight was causing the speedometer cable to touch the speedometer light cable and it caused a lose contact.
I tightened the headlight and the problem was fixed.

Lessons learnt - fuses blow easily. Ensure things are tightened and no loose wires are present that could cause short circuits/ fuse blowing.

Its 19th March and we plan to do a ride on Sunday the 20th as well.

More in a bit...

More problems

A couple more days of rides around home, I realised that one day the speedometer wasn't working!
HOW CAN THIS HAPPEN - I BOUGHT A NEW SPEEDOMETER?
The cable was an old one though Mister!!!
The cable had cut and I figured I would need a new inner cable to make it work again - no problem.

After a 4 day trip with family, I came back and figured that it was time for me to give the bike in for the re-threading of the head for the spark plug.

I started the bike pretty easily, let it run a while and when I accelerate a couple of times in neutral, I heard a loud POP and the bike stopped. Smoke coming from the exhaust, from the cylinder and I then realized that the spark plug had flown out of the cylinder head!!! Re-threading HAD to be done now :)

I re-tightened the spark plug, started it again and this time I didn't accelerate. POP again and it had unscrewed itself! I figured that I would need to put a shim below the spark plug and then tighten it.
It worked like a charm. I slowly rode the bike to a cousin's house (my family mechanic) and left the bike there for the mechanic to fix.

I still need to get the speedometer cable and collect the bike back from the mechanic before I can ride again.
Hope to do so over the weekend!
Lets see :)

Feb Rides

In continuation of my White Elephant post, it sure is nice to ride around town on the bullet.
The wind in your face is a wonderful feeling. Wonder if dogs are an evolved form of man. They dont have to deal with driving around in traffic, can stick their heads out of the car and feel the win in their faces :)

A couple of things I have learnt are:
1)Be careful while doing electrical wiring. Any bare wire touching any part of the frame will cause a short and potentially burn out insulation on the wire.
2) Always have a fuse in the fuse box to prevent major electrical damage.
3) Don't be afraid to try any maintenance on the bike - I waited maybe 2 hours, to see that the only thing the mechanic did was to put some extra insulation wire, add one extra small piece of wire (which I could have done easily in 20 minutes) and checked to see if the horn would work even when the lights and indicators were on (to see if the battery was getting drained or not).

The ride in to work on Saturday was a lot more peaceful. I left home at 820 and traffic was less, as well as the weather being very pleasant. Got the ammeter clamp welded on and was glad that most of the things I needed on the bike were done.
Rode home in the afternoon, but the skies were a little cloudy and I wasn't sure if I wanted to go for a long ride or stay at home and sit on the couch and watch TV.
I realized that I had spent a lot of time getting the bike to a working condition, so I left home, went to the mechanic, got the ammeter wiring done and realized that the charging circuit WAS working! Great!

Decided to go for a long ride, so I went on the elevated flyover on Hosur road, went on the NICE road from Hosur Road all the way to Tumkur road, made a U turn and came back past Mysore road to the Link road near PESIT. The entire ride was around 80km and it was very enjoyable :)

After a few small rides around home, I realised that the sound from the bike was changing and realized that the spark plug was a little loose and after discussions with the mechanic, he mentioned that I would have to get the threads on the head redone as the threads seem to have worn out.

Didnt ride a lot in Feb, but the long ride made it seem like I would enjoying riding again :)