During the ride, the bike finally rolled over to 45,000 KM on the ODO.
BHPian krishnaprasadgg recently shared this with other enthusiasts:
Went on the usual no-fixed destination plus breakfast ride over the last couple of weeks. Here are a few pics from the rides. I think I’m going to start posting less from the smaller breakfast rides because the photos seem to be getting repetitive.
Had a heartwarming incident happen during one of the rides. While me and Xaos636 were taking a water break 2 kids came running out from the opposite side of the road, one of the kids asked us if we could wait while he went and fetch his brother so that he could also get the see the bikes. Since we had ample time on our hands we decided to wait there while the other kid bolted on to bring his brother. What followed next was a detailed photo session for the kids with them sitting on the bike and allowing them to start up the bikes and blip the throttle too. The kids were very respectful and sweet so was more than happy to indulge them in their requests.
Hanging out with a young fan, while his friend went on to fetch his brother
So anyway, lesser of the usual pics from the next posts so enjoy these one more time
As usual, Xaos636 has been my partner in crime for the early morning rides, I think we have been riding together for almost 14 years by now.
During the last week’s ride, the bike finally rolled over to 45,000 KM on the ODO. That also means it’s time for an oil change and regular maintenance.
Finally, 45k has rolled on!
The happiness didn’t last long 
While on the ride back I was super chuffed about hitting 45k and looking forward to future rides my happiness was short-lived when I spotted a few drops of dark oil spots exactly below the rear suspension linkage.
And the leak has been confirmed! 
On closer inspection, my heart skipped a beat. Yupp the worst possible thing has happened, the rear shock seems to be busted.
Rode to Highlander and got the bike fully washed, especially the suspension linkage area to observe if the shock springs a leak again.
Cleaned up, going to observe for the coming days on how much of an active leak we have
The bike was parked for about another 5-6 days and so far no oil dripping has been observed. So it’s either the shock has fully leaked out which doesn’t seem to be the case because it does not feel like the bike has 0 damping in the rear, or the other option is that the leak is only happening when the bike is ridden for a while when the fluid is heated up and gets thinner.
I will be taking it for one more careful ride to observe and will report back. Anyway, now I am at a crossroads do I do a rebuild or should I get a new replacement shock? Tough decisions to be made.
Anyways, looking at the positive side, the rear shock took almost 45k KM worth of torture in our road conditions before giving out.
Anyways, another thing that was noticed ever since the rear tyre change was that my portable tyre inflator which screws onto the valve register 0 psi for the rear tyre no matter how many times I try screwing it on, while it shows the correct pressure for the front. That’s when I noticed the spring-loaded mechanism that locks the valve and retains the air is pressed in more than usual in the rear valve stem.
The silver one is the old / damaged one, the bronze one is the new one
Got a replacement valve and swapped it out in the rear valve stem and now I am getting proper readings with the screw-on type portable air inflator.
Anyway, that’s about it for this post. Here are a couple more pics of the R1 all cleaned up.
One with Xaos636’s beautiful blade, some folks might notice something different on the Fireblade. Brownie points if anyone can find it out.
As usual here is the ODO pic as the parting shot
Cheers
Krishna
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