Tips for new riders

Motorcycles are fun but but in fact they are more dangerous than a car. In the event of a crash the biker bears the maximum damage compared to a guy in a car.

Below are some of safety tips for the new riders from my experience:

• Do not start off your riding career with a big powerful bike: A smaller 200cc bike makes much more sense to buy than buying a litre class bike. You will get to know the basics of the bike and the sense of control over a bike and also the throttle control, you do not want to be twisting the throttle aggressively on a big powerful bike! But there are few people who tell it doesn't matter if you start off on a big bike but keep a check on opening the throttle.
  
• Invest on electronic aids: Electronics such as an ABS can help save your life and prevent a crash. Recently I locked up my brakes and crashed, if I had ABS then I think I would have had a crash. Click here to know the importance of the rider aids.
  
• Improve your skills: When learning to ride a bike, don't do it in the peak hours as you might get scared and annoy other motorists. Do it in an empty parking lot or in the night when the streets are empty. This builds your confidence and it slowly improve your skills and helps in understanding the bike's behavior.
• Use Good quality helmets: Your head is a vital part of your body! Invest good amount of money for a helmet and don't cheap out on it. Buy a helmet which is DOT certified and if you have the money to spend go for a SNELL certified helmets.

  

  My collection: Agv K5, THH, LS2 with the Lightmode Kit

• Wear the right gears: Jeans, T-shirt and sandals/flip flops are perfect for a painful disaster. You must invest on a gears which will protect you from the elements of weather and in the case of a crash. A bright jacket improves your overall visibility in the night.
  
  
  
  

  

  My gear.

• Look out for idiots: There are people who use their phone while driving. Keep a safe distance from the car in front of you so that you can react in time or stop safely. 
  
• Avoid bad weather: slippery conditions make it very difficult even for the experienced riders. Rain/Fog reduces your visibility by a huge margin. In rainy conditions avoid riding on the painted surfaces on the road as they may be slippery and turn on the lights including the hazard lights which improves your visibility. Avoid sudden brakes as there is less amount of traction between the tire and the road. Do not lean in to the corner too much and be careful with the throttle.
• Watch out for debris and potholes: Sand, mud, gravel, water can make the bike to slide out unexpectedly. Potholes are very difficult to avoid, apply gentle brake and slow down as much as possible and do not try to steer.

Just before you take out your bike, make a check on the lights and brakes. Make sure they are working as per designed. Happy riding!  

Importance of Riding Aids on a motorcycle

Abs, Traction control, Anti wheelie, power modes are really important and they help you get out of tricky situations. Manufacturers are realizing this need and they are equipping most of the bike with one or more of these aids.  But people need to understand that these electronics will not make you immune to the actions of your bad decisions.

ABS helps in maintaining the control of the bike in extreme braking conditions and prevents the wheels from locking up which results in a crash most of the time. But that doesn't mean that it will help create more traction for you to brake even harder. 

Traction control is designed in a way to prevent the rear wheel from spinning. Its a very helpful feature when there is a lot of gravel or sand in your path. But the main use of this technology is on the tracks where in the rider can exploit the maximum power of the bike without the bike loosing grip.

Anti wheelie comes into play when an unplanned wheelie or aggressive throttle catches you off guard. It prevents the bike from front wheel of the bike from lifting off the ground. When the motorcycle front wheel lifts beyond a safe limit, the power is interrupted and brings the wheel back down.

you do not want that to happen to you!

Power modes restrict power delivery and changes the engine maps to suit the conditions like in wet rainy conditions. You do not want all the maximum power when you twist the throttle in such tricky dangerous conditions.

The real deal is to understand that these electronics will prevent you from crashing. They are just a safety net in case of an emergency and people shouldn't depend on them all the time but it is a good thing to have them.

GoPro Hero 4 Session: Review

I'm not gonna talk about the camera in general but talk in terms of a biker and concentrate on few characteristics which is important. Should you invest in one to record your adventures? Let's find out

The characteristics are

• Its form factor: It sets the product apart from other products available in the market. Its compact and it is waterproof upto 33m. Hence no need to invest in a waterproof case and there is not need to stop riding.

One button on/record and off is really a good feature.

• Video and audio quality: Its a entry level camera and it cannot match the same quality as that of the top end cameras. There is a loss in detail when compared to the Hero4 Silver and Black models. But does that mean the quality is bad? No the video output is of good quality at 1440p @ 30fps and is acceptable at 1080p @60fps and 720p @ 100fps for slow mo capture. The camera has 2 mics and it shifts between the 2 mics to avoid wind noise. When the camera is attached to the helmet and you turn behind to check my blindspots, there is a lot of wind noise and the audio is unusable.

• Photo quality: It captures some great images when given enough light and the photo mode is limited to 8MP. There is huge amounts of noise when its dark which is common in most digital cameras.

So is it worth spending 20,000 INR? (I bought it at that price from amazon.in couple of months back)

If you want something which is easy to use when on trips or on trackdays and of good build

quality, the camera is a good investment. But if you want some top quality better go for the higher GoPro models. 

Wrapping a Motorcycle (DIY)

Why get a new coat of paint when you can wrap it? Give your bike a perfect makeover at a fraction cost of a paint job.

Ordered a wrap from Amazon.in

Why wrap a bike you ask? Let me explain

• Update the look of your bike
• Protection against scratches
• Cheaper than repainting
• Durable
• Protects the factory finish of the paint
• Easy to fix compared to a new paint job
• If you don't like it easy to peel off

These are the steps which I followed when wrapping my bike:

1. Measure the surface of each panel/part that you are going to wrap and get adequate vinyl. Excess vinyl will help in repairing any damaged part. 
2. Have these tools in handy: clean clothes, heat gun (I used a Hair dryer as i didn't want to invest in it as it's a one time deal) and a cutter.
3. Take off the existing stickers with the use off a heat gun or peel them off gently.
4. Remove the the body panels in order to wrap it. It helps to get a good finish around the edges

   

   Remove the fuel cap too. Makes it easier.

    
5. Now clean the body panels to get rid of dust,dirt and other impurities.
6. Cut the vinyl according to the measurements of body panel. Its better to cut a little excess over the measurements so as to work around the panels and curves.
7. Start applying the wrap, rub it down smoothly with your hands. When dealing with complicated areas like the tank, divide them into 3 parts thats what I did. Makes the process easier.

   

   I split the wrap into 3 parts to cover the tank.
   Very difficult to wrap with a single wrap.

8. Use the heat gun to make it stick and stretch it on to the curved surface. Apply adequate heat, we don't want the wrap to peel off after a few days.
9. Make sure you don't have air bubbles, if you do then use a squeegee to push it out or burst the bubble with a pin and use plenty of heat and rub it down.
10. If the wrap overlaps on complicated places like tanks where we split the wrap into 3 parts, cut the excess and make sure they don't overlap more an a centimeter to get a clean finish

    

    The tank was very complicated. Many curves
    had to make some cut outs otherwise it would peel off

11. Don't stretch the wrap a lot as they might tear and you end up starting from the first.
12. After wrapping let it settle for about an hour and check the corners and edges if they are peeling out.
13. Do not wash the bike for the next few days. The adhesive needs to dry up. Give it time.

Here is my bike after finishing up the wrap

It is still a work in progress, few small details like the KTM logo and stickers to highlight the curves are missing. Apart from that its a finished project. I'm no expert in wrapping, just wanted to give it a go and wrap my bike myself.

Motorcycle Washing tips

You might think cleaning your bike is as simple as scrubbing with soap & water, but there are few do's and don'ts.

• If the bike is too hot, then don't spray it with water. Water causes the hot metal to lose temperature suddenly and they might damage the metal.
• Do not use high pressure water sprays cause they can seep into the seals of the engine or electrical components

Now the steps to be followed:

1. Rinse the bike thoroughly to loosen the dirt and grime.Use a wet sponge with a mild shampoo to remove the excess dirt stuck on the bike.
2. After washing the bike with the shampoo, rinse the bike thoroughly. any residue of the shampoo can damage the paint.
3. Dry the bike using a microfibre cloth so as to prevent swirl marks. In case of condensation in the headlights, turn on the bike & switch on the lights.
4. Lubricate the chain again to prevent rusting as it would have been washed off when rinsing the bike. Click here if you want to know how to lubricate the chain.
5. The final step is to wax and polish the bike to preserve the clear coat which protects the paint. Read the instructions of the wax before you apply! Application varies from one product to another.
6. Make sure the bike is dry completely before you park it in the garage. Otherwise rusting could take place. 

And you are done!

Motorcycle Helmet cleaning tips

Its hot and humid time which makes your helmet dirty and smelling weird on the inside. When your helmet gets dirty/gross its time to give it a wash. Don't be that lazy guy.

A clean helmet not only looks good, its also comfortable to wear and feels fresh on the inside. So lets start with the cleaning of the exterior part of the helmet.

1. Before we start cleaning, first remove the visor and keep it aside (instructions on how to remove the visor can be found on the internet or the helmets instruction manual)
2. Make a mild solution of soapy warm water and with the help of a sponge or a soft cloth wipe down the exterior of the helmet. If there are dead bugs stuck ( YOU ARE A MURDERER :P ) on to the helmet then use a paper towel and let it get soaked for a few minutes and finally wipe it down.
   
3. You can use wet cotton to clean the air vents of the helmet.
4. Now to to clean your visor. Its really important to carefully clean the visor as to not get it scratched up and it would hamper your visibility. Clean the visor with plenty of running water and if there is any dirt or dead bugs stuck on to it then let the visor sit in warm water and add a little bit of soapy solution and clean it off. (if your visor has any coating like anti-fog etc better check the instructions on how to clean it, if you can't find it then clean it with plenty of water)
5. Wipe the visor with a soft cloth or a micro fiber cloth to prevent scratches 
6. Now to was the interior of the helmet, most modern helmets come with removable inner lining. Just remove them and wash it in warm water+soap. Dip them and squeeze them properly to get the dirt out
7. Finally wash them with fresh water to get the excess soap out and squeeze them and let them dry out
8. Just reinstall your inner lining and visor and you are all set

Don't worry if you don't have a helmet with removable lining, just dunk the whole helmet in the soap water and rinse it really well and let it dry naturally.

There you have it, that's how you clean a helmet!

Tire pressure and why it's important?

Tire pressure is not the most exciting topic but then the tires are the only thing which connects to the road. Tire pressure is the most neglected thing in any automotive machinery. Tire pressure affects the traction, stability, comfort, handling and tire wear.

You must check your tire pressure at least once a week with the help of a good quality tire gauge so as to get an accurate reading. The pressure must be checked when the tires are actually cold or before you start riding because when the tire heats up the air present in the tire also gets heated up and expands, this gives an inaccurate reading when checked.

If you don't ride your bike and it is left for a long time then the tires start to deflate .
If your tires are under inflated you end up with a soft tire and a big contact patch with the road. People might say that a softer tire might help in a softer ride, but that leads to heavy steering, sloppy handling, premature tire wear and a decrease in fuel mileage.

Another side to the story is that if the tires are over inflated it would decrease the contact patch with road and make the tire hard which translates to a rougher ride and less traction.
To know the right tire pressure check your vehicle's owners manual and sometimes they would be pasted on the vehicle itself. In case you changed the brand of the tires then better check with the tire manufacturer's prescribed tire pressure.

Filling the tires with nitrogen is better because nitrogen is less likely going to escape from the tires which means less frequent trip to the tire shop. But then there wouldn't be any noticeable difference in the handling of the vehicle. 

Motorcycle Chain Maintenance tips (KTM DUKE 200)

Hello all, this is my 1st DIY post

Your motorcycle bike chain is one of the most dirtiest parts of your bike and this dirt affects the longevity and performance of your your bike. A badly maintained chain can wear out the chain and the sprockets and thereby affect the performance of the bike.

Many bikes some with a center stand which makes the cleaning process of the chain much easier.
if your bike doesn't come with a center stand like a KTM bike or any other sports bike, you could buy a paddock stand to lift the bike off the ground and go ahead with the cleaning process. Never try to clean the chain when you have the bike up on a stand and the bike turned on, you can get your fingers caught between the chain and the sprockets and it won't be a pleasant experience.

If you don't know what brand of chain lube you have to use just ask your mechanics at the service station. Motul chain lube and cleaner is effective for me.

If you own a KTM bike just like me and are wondering how to clean the chain then fear not.. i will share my GYAAN!

I follow a couple of methods to lube the chain

• Method-1

One of the simplest ways is to spray the chain lube on to the exposed part of the chain and then on the rear sprocket. Be careful not to spray on the rear disc brakes! Then you move the bike forward and then spray the chain lube on the other part of the chain. continue to do this until the chain is completely covered with the lube. This is a time consuming fail safe method.

• Method-2

This method is applicable only if the bike is light weight and you have a good sense of balancing the bike on the side stand. I'm not responsible if something happens to your bike or if you drop your bike to the side or on yourself. Even if your strong and you can't balance the bike, don't be a hero.. just don't. its healthy for your wallet. :P

Balance the bike on the center stand and use your body as a support. lean the bike onto your body. don't try to bear the weight of the bike. let the stand bear the weight.
make sure your bike is in neutral and bike is turned off!
Rotate the rear wheel with your hand and just spray the lube at the sprockets.
this will cover the sprockets and the chain as well.

If your chain has a lot of dirt accumulation then use a chain cleaner and a old toothbrush to scrub it off. water wont wash off the greasy dirt accumulation
It is a messy job but it beats going to the service station very time and spending 200 bucks.

In case if you have used a lot of chain lube.. take an old piece of cloth and just wipe the chain gently to remove the excess the lube.

During monsoon a frequent check has to be done on the chain if they are properly lubricated or not. if they aren't then they will start to rust and finally the chain will break. the water washes away the lubricant and hence a regular check is needed and refer your bike's manual to know how frequently the chain needs to be lubed.

In case there is any surface rust, use a copper wire brush and brush off the surface rust. make sure the chain is clean and there is no signs of any grease or dirt.