This one is not really necessary...but nonetheless..

[Kaushik]

One of my good friends bought a Bullet 500 recently and is running it in. He takes his bike out in the mornings for shorts spins and yesterday being a sunday and I living on OMR [Chennai boys will know what I am talking about ] he asked me if I would like to join him on a morning ride down OMR. I agreed since it was a long time I had company on morning rides.

I had some problem with the accelerator cable and I had fixed it the previous day. I had to disconnect the oil pump cable from the accelerator cluster. The pump was still functional, except it wasnt connected to the accelerator cable anymore. Anyways, poured some fresh petrol in and added Motul and was ready to go.

Now my friend had an RD in his college days and knows the bike fairly well. We took off on OMR. We did some good speeds. It was one of those occasions where I did some 6,500 rpm shifts and boy did it feel good Couple times I was nudging 6,500 in 6th gear. Was an awesome feeling. Yes, yes, I know many guys call me an uncle rider and I dont contest that allegation. I am a sedate rider / driver but that doesn't mean I dont drive fast

A few things in perspective. It has been about 5 years since my bike rolled out of the dungeon. In these 5 years, the only times I have taken the bike to my mechanic is for water washes. There has been absolutely no breakdown whatsoever.
I am running the same battery for the past 4 years.
I am running the same set of NGK plugs for the past 5 years.
I am running the same set of UNIs for the past 5 years.
All mechanicals unchanged.

Well, basically the moral of this post - Thanks a ton to Ron / RDD that I have an RD which still makes me smile.
And of course, mine is no fancy 8k screamer RDD RD - just a simple streetbike set-up to run reliably.
Needless to say, my friend was impressed with the performance!

PS : Ron, the orange / red foam element has crumbled over time and I just have the black inner element which is in fine condition. Is it ok to run just with that?

[chinoy]

All too often the RD trip becomes more about moving into your Mechanics Garage. You know his name, his wifes name, his kids names. His chokra boy name. You spend more time every evening at the garage than you do with your own familly.

So when guys like you and mohit make posts like this it really makes my day.
If the RD dream is to stay alive and last it has to work like this.

Build it once and build it right. And then forget about it.

I still remember you bike. It came to RDD for a CDI install.
Bike didnt feel right and we opened it up to find half sleeves that where .5mm thick.
We then did a full sleeve job and gave you the bike.

You have been an inspiration to me and have done so much for me that I wouldn't know where to start in thanking you.
You represent what I could have achieved with the right education. So I will all-ways look up to you.
If only half the half baked automotive gurus in this country could be as nice as you.

Yeah its fine to run it without the outer cover.
Coastal town weather is quite harsh on bikes and cars.
But the trick to keeping them crumble free is to make sure they are oiled at all times (Any oil will do).
the black will never crumble because it gets wet from the oil and petrol spit back of the carbs.

[Kaushik]

Maybe I will use this thread / post as my annual pilgrimage

A couple other threads on realiability / performance / happy customer / engine life and all the blah-blah prompted me to make this post.
What exactly are people talking about when they say - ooh, my RD has a top speed of 160 kmph; my RD makes 50 bhp; my RD smokes other RDs / RXs.....I somehow fail to see the 'so what?' in all these arguments.

Does my RD scream to 8k rpm? - No. heck, it even struggles to get to 7.5k rpm.
Does my RD smoke bullets? - Maybe, maybe not.
Does my RD make lots of power? - I dont know.

I just ask one question always to myself at the end of all these thoughts in my head - Am I happy with the bike? - Hell yes!!
End of thought process.

Last weekend too went out with this friend of mine who has the Bullet 500 on OMR. We both took off and he decided to give his bike the stick, he started pushing 130. I backed off. My bike has drums in the front and I was not confident of braking if I went too fast and settled into a 100 kmph sustained run.

Was I disppointed that I could not keep up with a Bullet? - Of course not!
I will even go and say that his Bullt will probably beat my RD in top speed. There you go, ridicule me now

The bottom line is that I am very very happy with my RD and it has never given up on me during the past 6 years. That is all that matters to me. It has been as reliable as ever and performs to my satisfaction. The moment you shart chasing something, you have lost the plot.

A few things in perspective. It has been about 5 years since my bike rolled out of the dungeon. In these 5 years, the only times I have taken the bike to my mechanic is for water washes. There has been absolutely no breakdown whatsoever.
I am running the same battery for the past 4 years.
I am running the same set of NGK plugs for the past 5 years.
I am running the same set of UNIs for the past 5 years.
All mechanicals unchanged.

All the above statements remain true, except you do a +1 to all the years mentioned above

[danzel]

brother u let a bullet beat u ?? a bullet

And the bullet was doing 130 ?? thats something.

in the good old days we would have crucified you

[Kaushik]

Well bro, I am old man now, I am not confident doing those speeds with the stone-age drum brakes on my RD. OMR is a notorious stretch and I have a wife and kid waiting for me at home
Maybe he was doing 120 and not 130 - it doesnt matter. All I wanted to say is I am not in it for racing on public roads.

in the good old days we would have crucified you

Oh I dont doubt it one bit - havent we oldies seen enough battles on this field that is RDD

[ajaybiz]

Nice one and there's one saying that "if you have the gun doesn't mean that you always shoot" .
Plant a nice disc break setup as even after installing stock disc breaks i am not that confident once the bike goes in power band.
Now at this point of age really we cant ride like what we use to do, every time i take even small risk family pic comes in front of my eyes.

[danzel]

hmmm true even i have slowed down a bit. Brakes lol my old rd came with a swaying swingarm n no front brakes n we used to touch 150 plus speeds on that lol

[ajithk]

Am sure you dont remember danny but i still remember sitting pillion on the RD with you riding hell for leather through dark roads with a non-functional headlamp and drum brakes

[danzel]

oh that rd had a rear drum brake and a non functioning front disc, those were the times, i do remember very well.

Hell for leather yeah!!!

[Zloyd]

Yes you forgot to mention the bit about not having a front brake when I first rode it .... wouldnt have it any other way

[Zloyd]

AND ALL YOU FREAKING UNCLES PATTING EACH OTHERS BACKS FOR GOING SLOW ..... BOOOOOOOOOORING !!

[actamol]

Now at this point of age really we cant ride like what we use to do, every time i take even small risk family pic comes in front of my eyes.

+1

[danzel]

hahahah zloyd whenever i think of you the movie 'hangover' comes to mind.

And yeah the slow part is borrrriiiiinnnnnggggggg

[Kaushik]

I told you I will make this thread my annual pilgrimage

Maybe I will use this thread / post as my annual pilgrimage

A few things in perspective. It has been about 5 years since my bike rolled out of the dungeon. In these 5 years, the only times I have taken the bike to my mechanic is for water washes. There has been absolutely no breakdown whatsoever.
I am running the same battery for the past 4 years.
I am running the same set of NGK plugs for the past 5 years.
I am running the same set of UNIs for the past 5 years.
All mechanicals unchanged.

All the above statements remain true, except you do a +1 to all the years mentioned above

The above post was in July 2011. So, the updated figures are as follows.

It has been about 8 years since my bike rolled out of the dungeon. There has been absolutely no breakdown whatsoever.
I am running the same battery for the past 7 years.
I am running the same set of NGK plugs for the past 85 years.
I am running the same set of UNIs for the past 8 years. Yes, the UNIs have crumbled with age now, time to get a new set.
All mechanicals unchanged.

I still love my bike as much as ever!! Thanks to Ron!!

[Kaushik]

Oops, I am definitely not running the same NGKs for 85 years as mentioned in the post above, it was a typo!!
Supposed to be 8 years. And yes, the plug tips are a nice dry brown tan, they do not show their age and they still work like a charm.

[chinoy]

Thanks Kaushik.
People say my memory is crap. But it feels like only yesterday. I had this young guy bring his bike over from Chenai.
For a CDI install.
After we put in the CDI we found that the bike was not sounding right or running right. And then we opened up the top end and found. Dalada daba thin liners and a half sleeve job.

I then did a full sleeve job for you.
I also remember you carrying back a complete manifold with TB and injectors from the UK for me. Back when I wanted to EFI my esteem. LOL.
Happy memories fun memories.

Its sweet that people I meet and worked with over 8 years ago still make the pilgrimage to RDD every year. Day in and day out.
Friends like this is what makes life.

Id also like to thank you for your support my through short 2 years in racing. And being there at the chenai track for almost every race.

[Prd]

...But it feels like only yesterday. I had this young guy bring his bike over from Chenai...

Snigger! Snigger!

I am really proud that almost all RDD builds are such long running engines. Really speaks about the engine builder's caliber to build and the owner's ability to care for the machine.