I gave the motorcycle for the first (1000 km) service slightly early (930 km) as I’m planning on a longer ride soon, and only had time to visit the SVC on one particular day
BHPian after recently shared this with other enthusiasts:
First Service and ~1000 km Update
Riding Experiences
I’m getting closer to the end of the break-in period. As I had expected, I’ve ridden the motorcycle only on weekends and only for leisure, hardly ever to commute on it. Work got hectic, and I couldn’t ride as much as I wanted to, though.
My routine was to go out on a weekend morning, cover 100-150 km in mixed city + highway conditions, and just understand the motorcycle better and try to ride it smoother. This also gave me a good excuse to have a benne dose and other meals all around Bengaluru.
Of course, I didn’t stray too far from the city, as is recommended before first service. Luckily, I was never let down by the R3. Also, luckily, despite its reputation, Bengaluru has some gorgeous, smooth stretches (in the morning, without traffic) – Sankey road, the whole ITPL main road stretch, New BEL road, Chord road, Old Madras road, Old Airport road, STRR, IRR, to name a few. It made the odometer tick without getting me bored. Another advantage of riding around in the city is that the revs are varying throughout, I can use engine braking, and get plenty of practice with rev-matching. Despite my best efforts to only ride around in the dry, I got caught in a downpour far away from home one evening. On that day, I was sticking to the motorcycle for warmth and praying for the radiator fan to run at max speed
Wishing I had bought appropriately sized fork seal protectors
Pouring rain + leather gloves = black hands for 3 days
While drying, I realised one of my boots came with two insoles in it
The fuel efficiency has improved as time goes on. As mentioned in the first few posts, I was getting close to 18 km/L. On my most recent tank, I did a shade over 275 km and refueled with 1 bar of fuel left (not blinking), for an awesome 26.11 km/l. This means I could easily do 300 km on a tank and have plenty of margin left. Most of this riding was in moderate, non-rush-hour traffic as well as on the highway/empty stretches. I tried Shell for a couple of tanks, but didn’t feel any difference. I’m now sticking with Indian Oil’s XP95 since the price difference isn’t too much and it’s available basically everywhere.
Fuelio logs
While going to these different petrol pumps, I observed a ~6 PSI difference in the indicated tire pressure between machines on the same day. God only knows which one to trust. Plus, I realised the tires would always be warm by the time I got to any petrol pump, hence x PSI filled at two pumps on two days will give me significantly different cold pressures. So I purchased a Michelin double-barrel foot pump with an analog pressure gauge. It cost me a little less than Rs. 2000 on Amazon. I love how it’s ready to go anytime with no plug-in required, only a hefty application of elbow grease. If you pump car tires on the same day as well, it actually gives your quads a decent pump. You’re not gonna become Tom Platz, but it’s better than nothing, right?
Now, coming to the motorcycle, it’s been fantastic with only minor gripes. It’s addictive to overtake vehicles at will, coming from my CBR. It’s also awesome to hit the perfect rev match and hear those burbles (even through earplugs). The gearbox was initially tight, and I had a few 1->2 false neutrals, but this is almost gone now. The earlier issue of not being able to shift from N->1 has reduced in frequency, but still happens occasionally. I guess it’s a quirk I’ll have to live with. I’m looking forward to longer tours on the motorcycle now that the service is done. And on that note
First Service:
I gave the motorcycle for the first (1000 km) service slightly early (930 km) as I’m planning on a longer ride soon, and only had time to visit the SVC on one particular day. I went to Vinayak Yamaha, Domlur, as a few mutuals also give their R3s there. I dropped it off at around lunchtime, and the service was done by 6 PM as promised.
Since there was nothing wrong with the motorcycle, only an oil + oil filter change was done. Along with this, the motorcycle was washed. I had kept the motorcycle spotless until the aforementioned rainstorm, which splattered mud on the downpipe, swingarm, fairings, and mudguards. Seeing the extent of the splat,s I decided to just get it washed during service. Also, all hinges were greased/oiled, and the chain was cleaned and lubed.
I opted for Yamalube RS4GP 10W40 full synthetic oil. It’s pricey at Rs. 1500 per bottleand the engine requires 2 litres of oil. However, I figured since I’m only using the motorcycle for leisure/fun, I might as well go for the best they have to offer. At Rs. 480, the oil filter is not as cheap as Honda’s but still relatively inexpensive. The price of everything else was a shocker, though. Considering around 3.5k for the oil-related stuff, everything else cost close to Rs. 1000, and the final bill ended up being Rs. 4454! Hard not to feel fleeced by this, so much for a free service. Lesson learned, even if I’m giving it for service, chain cleaning, chain lubing, greasing and oiling will be done at home only. Everything other than an oil change at SVC is a scam. Below is the bill for reference. Unfortunately, it was crumpled by my laptop in the bag.
Realized close to the end of the service that I hadn’t taken any photos. Anyway, here’s the motorcycle getting diagnostics done
Drained the old oil and my wallet too
While the SVC delivered my vehicle on time, I later noticed both the mirror stalks had small dings on them, which I’m 100% sure weren’t there earlier. Now I don’t keep my motorcycle perfect and free from scratches – I just keep it clean. To me, scratches and swirls from normal use (ex., on the tank) are part of the vehicle’s personality, like creases on sneakers. But this is something completely avoidable so it really sucks. I also specifically asked them NOT to polish my vehicle, but they still did. On the ride back home, I was sliding all over the seat. I also had no brakes at all due to the polish on the brake rotors. I Hulk-stomped on the rear brake and still couldn’t get ABS to trigger. Eventually, I just rode around with the slight front brake applied for about a minute, which restored enough stopping power for me to leave the SVC lane and join the main road.
Small ding, massive disappointment. Similar story on the other mirror stalk
Post service, the smoothness is on another level. Some things I noticed immediately are
- Shifts are buttery smooth, even the sound while shifting has reduced significantly
- It’s harder to stall the motorcycle, and the engine doesn’t lunge at RPMs where it used to before
- More burbles from the exhaust
- Smoother on/off throttle
- Way easier to smoothly rev-match downshift
I won’t claim that this is all 100% due to the RS4GP oil; I’m sure just replacing the old oil has made things a lot smoother. But overall, I’m really happy with the R3 so far, and I’m pumped to go on longer rides now.
Gripes:
As mentioned above, here are a couple of things that are bugging me. I’d love to hear from you all about quick and cheap solutions, if possible.
- The 6k – 7k RPM vibrations are amplified by the front number plate, making a mosquito-like buzz. I’ve tried sticking double-sided tape (as can be seen in the mirror pic above), but it’s not helped
- Silver paint from the levers is getting on my gloves
- Hard to move the motorcycle around without a grab handle. Annoying when parked on a downhill incline
That’s it for this update; the odometer stands at 970 km. I know this post and the previous ones do not have too many photos of the motorcycle itself, but that’s because I haven’t had the chance to get out of the city yet. Rest assured that it will change once I go somewhere scenic. For now, though, leaving you all with this click from a recent ride. Happy riding!
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