TVS has launched its Phoenix 125 motorcycle.

The Phoenix 125 comes with a new 125cc EcoThrust engine that TVS claims comes with excellent pickup and best-in-class fuel efficiency.

On the mechanical front, the Phoenix 125 comes with a five-step adjustable ‘series spring’ suspension and a high response damper. An electric starter fires up the four-speed powertrain Phoenix 125 that puts out 11PS at 8000rpm. TVS claims the motorcycle has a fuel economy of over 67kpl under standard riding conditions.

The motorcycle features a fully digital speedometer with an amber backlight, a digital fuel gauge, low battery reminder, trip meter, service reminder, soft texture grips and soft-touch switchgear. The company has also equipped it with hazard lamps to enhance rider safety. A rotopetal disc brake, LED pilot lamps, an all-black engine, alloy wheels and a stitched dual texture cushion seat are also present.

MS Dhoni launches his bike racing team

India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who is known for his passion for bikes, launched his racing team in July which is now competing in FIM Supersport World Championship.

The championship is a support race for the World Superbike championship, which will make its debut in India in March 2013.

The team, named as MSD R-N Racing Team India, entered the 17-race championship in the 10th race at Brno, Czech Republic. It is expected to compete full season in 2013.

Tappet Adjustment

Fed up of excessive engine noise?
Does the bike's performance seems hampered even after checking air filter, tuning and sparkplug?
You may need to adjust the tappets. Loose tappets cause the engine noise and too tight tappets hamper the performance. This article simply shows the step-by-step detailed procedure to adjust the tappets of a single cylinder motorcycle in the form of pictures.


Note: The nut/bolt/spanner/feeler sizes mentioned are of RTR180. Your bike may have different sizes.

Yamaha to export "Made in India" bikes back to its home, Japan.

Twenty-seven years after setting up a manufacturing base in India, Yamaha Motor Company will export sports bikes to Japan from India, in what is a first in the history of Indian two-wheeler industry. 
India Yamaha Motor, the subsidiary of the Japanese two-wheeler company, will be exporting its first shipment of 300 deluxe motorcycles R15, a 150cc sports bike manufactured at its plant in Surajpur.

The idea is to test the product in Japan; if the response is good, the company may even begin exports of another motorcycle, FZ, to its home market. Confirming the development, Hiroyaki Suzuki, MD, India Yamaha Motor, told ET: "The motorcycles manufactured in India meet the advanced specification of developed markets and they are produced at a lower cost. We are sending R15 to Japan to test market them in the Japanese market and if the response is good, we may explore more products for export to Japan and other advanced markets." 

"Japan is a market for big bikes and racing motorcycles and within that, the 150 cc segment is emerging. Our R15 fits the image; not only is it easy to race and manoeuvre, but it could also be an ideal choice for entry-level racing," added Suzuki. 

Brakes Adjustment (Drum brakes)

BRAKE, a vital part of a motorcycle, even any random vehicle...! Without brakes, no matter how powerful your machine is, its of no use as the power is uncontrolable. As they say, great power comes with great responsibility, the brakes are a vital component of that responsibility to exist.

So, one should keep the brakes of his/her motorcycle suitably tightened because loose brakes can cause some accidents. Even if you keep your brakes tighter than required, it can prove to be fatal sometimes as the bike tends to skid due to excessive braking when applied all of a sudden.

Kawasaki Ninja 250R 2013 Model

Kawasaki releases new 2013 model of Ninja 250R in Jakarta. The front looks more like a change similar to ZX10R/ZX6R. . .Besides changing the body panels, the exhaust, the split-seat, turn signal in front are embedded in the fairing itself, like the Ninja 650. Add to the list the new tank, Digital Speedometer, Analog Tachometer, new exhaust make it look way better and eliminated the deficiency of basic goodies. It is expected to be available in the colors Lime Green, Ebony, Pearl Stardust White and Passion Red. Another variant of it is reported to be ABS enabled and will be costing a bit more than Non-ABS one.

Drive Chain adjustment

The DRIVING CHAIN is very important part of a motorcycle as it drives the wheel with the rotation produced by engine via sprockets. If the chain play is not right, then the performance as well as 'health' of the machine is badly affected. Here, the procedure of adjusting the chain is given and anyone who has some basic knowledge about bikes can do it easily.

Bear with the AXLE mistakenly written as AXEL in the pic.
Picture courtesy: Sam Takidar.

Tuning a Carburettor for Optimal Performance

Are you tired of cold starts? Need to raise the throttle everyday to get the cold engine running?

Does someone have the same bike with same setup as yours and are you tired of losing to him in drag races?

Suddenly, the fuel efficiency has reduced after a service?

Has the mechanic screwed up your tuning?

Engine gives hiccups when you open the throttle?

Or your bike is just missing that smooth acceleration whenever you want?

Or your engine overheats even if you did not race too much.

 May be the following will help you in tuning your mean machine for optimal power delivery and best fuel economy. This guide aims at tuning the fuel/air screw to give you an optimal air-fuel mixture.

Clutch Adjustment

This is a basic thing which a biker is supposed to know... Adjusting clutch is no rocket science but just a simple thing which anybody can learn and it comes quite handy for bikers.

The process of adjusting clutch is as follows:

Rotating the screws in the direction shown in the image will loosen your clutch. But first always start from the 2nd nut (as mentioned in the image below) if you want to loosen the clutch, and start with the 1st nut if you want to tighten it because the 2 nuts move the cylinder in the middle that makes the clutch loose or tight with the direction indicated here.

Carburettor Cleaning

For all those who still need to depend on their local mechanic for Carb cleaning, just follow these steps which will help you to clean it yourself properly...

Things needed:

• Screw driver.
• 13mm box spanner.
• 12mm box spanner.
• 8mm box spanner.
• WD40/Diesel/Petrol/Carb cleaner.
• Old/New Tooth-Brush.

Step 1-

Close the Fuel Valve and remove the Fuel connector to the carb (take a plastic container to collect the excess Fuel), then take a Flat-head screw driver and unscrew the Fuel-Drain screw 

DAY-2: Delhi-Dehradun-Mussoorie-Delhi ride.

Introduction and Prologue : Click Here!

Day-1 : Click Here!

DAY-2:

Woke up @ 8 a.m., got freshened and in the meanwhile we ordered a parantha and a cup of tea each as breakfast. Done with the gulping part, asked the hotel guys to open up the compartment where our bikes were parked @ night (well, it was a condition imposed by us to park our bikes in some locked lot in night). After bringing them out, we left our machines idling to warm them up meanwhile we got into our jackets, head lids etc. and we were ready to roll again. We started ripping down towards Company Garden visited the "bagh"... For us, there was not much to see, just an ordinary garden it was with a small but beautiful waterfall and green-house-like hut structure in the middle of it having various varieties of plants.


A couple of pics @ Company Bagh...

DAY-1: Delhi-Dehradun-Mussoorie-Delhi ride.

Introduction and Prologue : Click Here!

DAY-1:

At 6:30 a.m., Ashish called me and told me that he will meet me @ Madhuban Chowk @ 7:00. Reached there at 7:15 and found him waiting for me. Shaked hands, confirmed about whether we will ride to the pre-planned destinations or some other place, and started ripping towards NH-1. We started rolling on the mighty 8-lane National Highway-1 with butter-smooth tarmac, ripping furiously around 100-110kmph with the cold breeze of early morning peeping inside our head lids through each and every possible way to pinch our faces with needle-like sleek blasts of coldness. But we, atleast I, enjoy such conditions as long as it doesn't get real creepy ;-)... Enjoying the initial moments of a much awaited(still surprising) ride with almost the whole body covered under layers of clothes, we kept on zipping fast through the metal cages (read four-wheelers) on the road. Being the smallest vehicle on the huge peice of tar-covered land, getting way past the lorries with due respect from the truckers is what encourages you to ride long, hard, safe and sensible :-)

Let me share some lines which I read somewhere on xBhp and the trip reminded me all those one-by-one as I faced the similar situations and experienced those beautiful lines which made a place in my heart from the day I read them. Will keep on sharing them throughout the log wherever I found them applicable :-)

Special thanks to OldFox sir, LP and Sachin Rao (all from xBhp) for penning down the ultimate feelings of a biker... The Pleasures of Motorcycling :-)

• The pleasure is in doing three-digit speeds for hours on end when most consider 60 as dangerous and 80 as fatal!!
• The pleasure is starting your bike's engine for a long-distance ride on a cold morning and listening to its steady comforting idle while you prepare for the ride.

A surprising 3 days' ride... Delhi-Dehradun-Mussoorie-Delhi!

INTRODUCTION:

Riders and the rides:

Gaurav Kamboj [Garry_Menace] - TVS Apache RTR180

Ashish Verma - Hero Honda Hunk

 

Route Taken:

Delhi - Karnal - Bir Pipli - Yamunanagar - Paonta Sahib - Dehradun - Mussoorie - Dhanaulti and back.