Vroooooooooooooooooom !
Last evening, after returning from office. I finally brought myself about to take my drowned bike for cleaning it up from a local mechanic. I was strictly instructed by the Honda service center to do only a minimal cleanup, drain the water and change the oil. This was my first major disaster with a machine and I was apprehensive all through the way if I was doing the right thing by taking it to the local mechanic. All the advice given by experienced bikers on all my bike forums running through my brain again and again - some saying do it some saying dont !!
There's this shop which I have been seeing for like 20 years now - Neetu Auto. Its owned by a very thin sardarji - Tittu they call him. Last year, he had changed my Unicorn horn. However that was a bad experience. He managed to fit the horns but took a looong time to do that. I dont blame him though as the Unicorn was a new premium bike in the market and the mechanic got his hands on one for the first time - mine !
The same mechanic who worked on my Unicorn last year - Babban went to work after I told him my sad story. I asked him if he had ever dealt with something like this. He gave me a sly look and a sneak smile and went to work without answering my question !
First - he opened the oil drain screw - half a litre of water poured out and then the old oil.
Next he attacked the Carb - I asked him not to open it but just drain the water as instructed by the Honda Service Guy. He smiled again, put a stool next to the bike and asked me to sit down and be comfortable while he worked with my bike !
He opened up the carb like he was opening a damn can of beer !! he blew air from all directions, then took some petrol and wiped it all clean - a thin film of something like soot came out to expose the shiny inside. He sarcastically told me as if replying to all my apprehensions - "never been opened by your Honda guys - ask them whos gonna clean this ?"
Smilingly he took one long look at me and went back to work - he knew he had bought me over by seeing him work on my bike !
Next came the Petrol tank. He unscrewed it and took it out - drained all the petrol along with half a litre of water. cleaned it thoroughly inside - emptied something from a Castrol sachet inside and swirled around some petrol.
Next came the air filter. He took one end of the air pipe blew air in/out of the fine mesh and put it to dry.
Next came the engine - he took out the spark plug and cleaned that. blew air through one end and another fountain of water came out. Again the oil+petrol treatment inside.
The whole bike was now dissected open and the parts neatly cleaned for the water and blown dry and then a final touch of that oil+petrol mix , allt he parts clean and shiny.
Now assembly time ! He emptied a new pack of Power1 into the oil compartment. In the meantime put the carb and the other parts back... and some good petrol
Tightened all the screws and a couple of kicks and Vrooooooooom the unicorn sprang to life - let it idle for some 5 minutes as the bike spat a stream of water vapour for the next 5 minutes from the exhaust.
It took him some 2 hours as the water seepage was high inside the bike parts. Anything he opened had some water inside. I guess atleast 2 litres of water came from all the parts in the bike.
All done - cleaned up the bike and I took it for a spin. It was as good as new... in fact I think its vroooooooooooooom really sounded better than before !!!
The cost :
Castrol Power1 = 180 bucks
All the servicing = 120 bucks
Total Rs. 300 for a brand new unicorn !!!
All through what amazed me was the simplicity of the bike parts. The carb, The air filter, The engine, The oil tank - it is such a simple technology. Simple but so very precise and complex once you open the parts inside. No wonder that bikes are one of man's ultimate fantasy objects !
There are new bikes expected this year and early next year which are going to be truly premium bikes. Bajaj is going to come out with the 250CC Pulsar variant using Fuel Injection, Hero Honda is expected to come out with the revamped CBZ Sports and Karizma with the FI. I hope Honda comes out with a 250CC varient as well with alloys - something like the CBR250.
Today morning I took it out to get to office. I went to the HP pump just outside my lane and decided to fill in HP Power and see how it suits my bike. Usually I have always filled Speed - typically the 97 octane variant called Speed97.
The bike took some time to start in the morning. I wanted to give it a ride to check if it was ok and also to tune it to my personal tastes as I drove along to office
It stalled once in between - took it to the side - adjusted the Fast Idle RPM using the Air Screw.
This is something I love about machines - the fine personal settings you need to do which makes it work perfect for you - perfect as you see it that is. Those settings will be miserable for someone else. Its just like your signature - a unique individual thing between you and your machine. Its just like a relation you have with the woman in your life (both ways). either its tuned perfect or will give intermittent problems. Depends on how well you understand and tune it right !
Sometime again while driving the throttle lost power when shifting to higher gears. I guess its just a matter of time for the bike to come back in shape from last evenings "reassembly". It could be the gear box and the engine as it was coming back to shape and trying to loose all the remaining water in some corners. Then the left rubber grip came loose. I guess I will have to fix it up in the evening using some fevi-quik. Dear old Pidilite - what would life be without you :)
Slowly; the bike; as if understanding what I was telling it to do with all the small tunings, decided to obey me. Then on every little command I gave it - it followed obediently - just like before. If I see my machine as a person - then I guess I can say that my bike caught a cold in all that water and these were the last few sneezes and coughs before it got better again ;)
There's this shop which I have been seeing for like 20 years now - Neetu Auto. Its owned by a very thin sardarji - Tittu they call him. Last year, he had changed my Unicorn horn. However that was a bad experience. He managed to fit the horns but took a looong time to do that. I dont blame him though as the Unicorn was a new premium bike in the market and the mechanic got his hands on one for the first time - mine !
The same mechanic who worked on my Unicorn last year - Babban went to work after I told him my sad story. I asked him if he had ever dealt with something like this. He gave me a sly look and a sneak smile and went to work without answering my question !
First - he opened the oil drain screw - half a litre of water poured out and then the old oil.
Next he attacked the Carb - I asked him not to open it but just drain the water as instructed by the Honda Service Guy. He smiled again, put a stool next to the bike and asked me to sit down and be comfortable while he worked with my bike !
He opened up the carb like he was opening a damn can of beer !! he blew air from all directions, then took some petrol and wiped it all clean - a thin film of something like soot came out to expose the shiny inside. He sarcastically told me as if replying to all my apprehensions - "never been opened by your Honda guys - ask them whos gonna clean this ?"
Smilingly he took one long look at me and went back to work - he knew he had bought me over by seeing him work on my bike !
Next came the Petrol tank. He unscrewed it and took it out - drained all the petrol along with half a litre of water. cleaned it thoroughly inside - emptied something from a Castrol sachet inside and swirled around some petrol.
Next came the air filter. He took one end of the air pipe blew air in/out of the fine mesh and put it to dry.
Next came the engine - he took out the spark plug and cleaned that. blew air through one end and another fountain of water came out. Again the oil+petrol treatment inside.
The whole bike was now dissected open and the parts neatly cleaned for the water and blown dry and then a final touch of that oil+petrol mix , allt he parts clean and shiny.
Now assembly time ! He emptied a new pack of Power1 into the oil compartment. In the meantime put the carb and the other parts back... and some good petrol
Tightened all the screws and a couple of kicks and Vrooooooooom the unicorn sprang to life - let it idle for some 5 minutes as the bike spat a stream of water vapour for the next 5 minutes from the exhaust.
It took him some 2 hours as the water seepage was high inside the bike parts. Anything he opened had some water inside. I guess atleast 2 litres of water came from all the parts in the bike.
All done - cleaned up the bike and I took it for a spin. It was as good as new... in fact I think its vroooooooooooooom really sounded better than before !!!
The cost :
Castrol Power1 = 180 bucks
All the servicing = 120 bucks
Total Rs. 300 for a brand new unicorn !!!
All through what amazed me was the simplicity of the bike parts. The carb, The air filter, The engine, The oil tank - it is such a simple technology. Simple but so very precise and complex once you open the parts inside. No wonder that bikes are one of man's ultimate fantasy objects !
There are new bikes expected this year and early next year which are going to be truly premium bikes. Bajaj is going to come out with the 250CC Pulsar variant using Fuel Injection, Hero Honda is expected to come out with the revamped CBZ Sports and Karizma with the FI. I hope Honda comes out with a 250CC varient as well with alloys - something like the CBR250.
Today morning I took it out to get to office. I went to the HP pump just outside my lane and decided to fill in HP Power and see how it suits my bike. Usually I have always filled Speed - typically the 97 octane variant called Speed97.
The bike took some time to start in the morning. I wanted to give it a ride to check if it was ok and also to tune it to my personal tastes as I drove along to office
It stalled once in between - took it to the side - adjusted the Fast Idle RPM using the Air Screw.
This is something I love about machines - the fine personal settings you need to do which makes it work perfect for you - perfect as you see it that is. Those settings will be miserable for someone else. Its just like your signature - a unique individual thing between you and your machine. Its just like a relation you have with the woman in your life (both ways). either its tuned perfect or will give intermittent problems. Depends on how well you understand and tune it right !
Sometime again while driving the throttle lost power when shifting to higher gears. I guess its just a matter of time for the bike to come back in shape from last evenings "reassembly". It could be the gear box and the engine as it was coming back to shape and trying to loose all the remaining water in some corners. Then the left rubber grip came loose. I guess I will have to fix it up in the evening using some fevi-quik. Dear old Pidilite - what would life be without you :)
Slowly; the bike; as if understanding what I was telling it to do with all the small tunings, decided to obey me. Then on every little command I gave it - it followed obediently - just like before. If I see my machine as a person - then I guess I can say that my bike caught a cold in all that water and these were the last few sneezes and coughs before it got better again ;)
posted by Manish Bhoola at 2:59 pm
2 Comments:
It's nice to know that your bike survived the wrath of the rains.
Can you tell me what effect has power 1 had on your bike? And is it safe? Cos I think I've read somewhere it isn't recommended that you use Power 1. Although it's real smooth, it damages the engine a bit.
Its too less usage to comment. I did notice that the engine, clutch and the gear box to be very smooth. I invite you to www.xbhp.com which is an online bikers community in India. You will know quite a bit about Power1 from fellow bikers !
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