New Bajaj Avenger Ownership Review


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re: Looking for a Trouble Free No-Nonsense Bike: Now bought Royal Enfield!

I am maintaining similar speed/ gear shifts- exactly 40kmph for 5th and she feels relaxed.(i wish it had 6th gear too). Please give some directives too . (no compromise to comfort)
Am attaching a few pics to illustrate what I meant. You would find some Kawasaki Eliminator (same as the Bajaj Avenger) snaps too among these. FZ16 Handlebar is also here. Let me know if you are interested and I will guide you further.

It is a good bike I can give 3.8/5 . for if it was more power full and refined it would have been a killer..!! but......While taking off from Showroom i felt too much of engine vibration on handle bar and all over which are now diminishing (220km on odo) .

will it get even smoother or is it the bikes are like that only?
It would reduce to some extent after you put on some kilometers on the bike and get it serviced but some vibration shall always remain present. As you come out of the running in period, try shifting gears at various engine speeds (e.g. try shifting to second at 20kmph, to third at 40 kmps and so on) to find the sweet spot for upshifting/downshifting. This would take care of a lot of avoidable vibrations. For now, please follow the running in schedule.

after coming from cars I feel refinement does not exist in Bike territory (But avenger felt better than Honda CBR250
Bajaj must feel proud of this - an Avenger with better NVH than a premium Honda motorcycle!

with single rider it is bliss to ride but with a pillion rider it feels sluggish and boring.
Can't do much about it. As they say, there is no substitute for cubic centimeters !

Pics not yet taken..please bear..camera is in bits and pieces..
Enjoy your bike and keep the thread updated !
 

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re: Looking for a Trouble Free No-Nonsense Bike: Now bought Royal Enfield!

First set of niggle..!!!
yesterday evening the bike handle behaved lunatic checked the tires and found the rear one flat!!! took it to nearby puncture wallah. he got scared after looking at the rim and said they are el cheapo and may get bent while removing the rubber . I convinced him and said go ahead I will take care of it...............
Don't use the same tube. It will go flat again. Replace it with a new one. For the rim, take the bike to the dealer, show him the rust and ask him to give you a new rim under warranty. With passage of time, all spokes wheel rims would catch rust especially from the inside.

And more ...

look, who else is interested in Biking..!!
So sweet [thumbsup]. But :please: make her put on a helmet henceforth !
 
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Thread Starter #20
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re: Looking for a Trouble Free No-Nonsense Bike: Now bought Royal Enfield!

Am attaching a few pics to illustrate what I meant. You would find some Kawasaki Eliminator (same as the Bajaj Avenger) snaps too among these. FZ16 Handlebar is also here. Let me know if you are interested and I will guide you further.
Thank you Sam for those Handlebar reference. as of now I will not change the bars very soon.
what my experience is- right now I am feeling backache ,let me suit myself for the perfect position then I will see which one is the best for me.
More over I have no Idea who does all these things (else I myself has to do it.)

(e.g. try shifting to second at 20kmph, to third at 40 kmps and so on) to find the sweet spot for upshifting/downshifting. This would take care of a lot of avoidable vibrations. For now, please follow the running in schedule.
You are right ,sure.

Congratz Jayadev on the Avenger a good choice, start crunching miles!!!!
Thanks ,Going to Vayanad to feel the chill tomorrow !!
 
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re: Looking for a Trouble Free No-Nonsense Bike: Now bought Royal Enfield!

First in morning while started it goes off,again start goes off, again try ..off..start.. no response-dead..wait for 10 second start-viola..!!

Why could be that?

which position shall fuel knob should be? anything to be followed while parking at night?

fuel-off-on-res ?
 
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re: Looking for a Trouble Free No-Nonsense Bike: Now bought Royal Enfield!

First in morning while started it goes off,again start goes off, again try ..off..start.. no response-dead..wait for 10 second start-viola..!!

Why could be that?

which position shall fuel knob should be? anything to be followed while parking at night?

fuel-off-on-res ?
Carurettors of all bikes are tuned lean (i.e fuel-air mixture pumped inside the cylinder by the carburettor is not rich) in interest of fuel efficiency and that is why your Avenger is behaving like this (dying off again and again when the engine is cold).

For cold/morning starts, please follow this procedure:

1. Switch the fuel cock and ignition to 'on' position.
2. Apply the choke.
3. Open the throttle by 1/4th.
4. Press the starter. The bike would roar to life.
5. Let the choke remain applied for a minute to let the bike get warmed up (its always a good practice to let the bike run at idle for a minute before starting off in the mornings/on a cold engine).
6. Release the choke and start riding !

If the bike starts after following the above procedure but shuts down again (with a ghurrrrrrr sound), release the choke immediately after the bike starts and maintain a steady idling speed by using the throttle.

If the bike does not start after 2-3 attempts even after following the above procedure, release the choke and try again after some time and it should start.

This problem could also be taken care of by adjusting the air/fuel mixture screw on the carburettor. But I suggest you don't fiddle with it at least till the first service. At the first service, ask the mechanic to set the air-fuel mixture screw at one and three quarter turns and all would be well.

Don't get too flummoxed by this problem. What you are facing is a very normal thing and really nothing to be worried about.
 
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Thread Starter #23
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re: Looking for a Trouble Free No-Nonsense Bike: Now bought Royal Enfield!

Don't get too flummoxed by this problem. What you are facing is a very normal thing and really nothing to be worried about.
Before posting here I have read the Manual about the procedure but to confirm and get convinced I asked it .
I bet Sam your knowledge and reply would be the best so here I am the happy one.[cheers]
 
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re: Looking for a Trouble Free No-Nonsense Bike: Now bought Royal Enfield!

Adding to what Sam has said, instead of using the Self Starter its better to kick start your bike every time its idle for a long time say overnight. As car even bikes will have maximum wear & tear during the first start of the engine. So kick start your bike instead of sitting & using the self start motor for a long time

As an example I rarely use choke on my bullet, I just put on the ignition & using the decompress lever, just use the kick rod for 10 times to just get the piston rod going up & down a bit & then finally try to kick start it (btw my bike lost its self start bearing 2yrs ago :stupid:)
 
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re: Looking for a Trouble Free No-Nonsense Bike: Now bought Royal Enfield!

There is no Kick start mechanism in this avenger.

Btw my dad who use honda activa does follow it relieously every morning as I suggested him it is better that way so the drain on battery wont be too much.
 
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re: Looking for a Trouble Free No-Nonsense Bike: Now bought Royal Enfield!

oops my bad Jayadev I forgot this one doesn't have a kick start, but I guess it would have been a fail safe measure in case there is a problem with starter motor & you don't get stranded
 
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re: Looking for a Trouble Free No-Nonsense Bike: Now bought Royal Enfield!

oops my bad Jayadev I forgot this one doesn't have a kick start, but I guess it would have been a fail safe measure in case there is a problem with starter motor & you don't get stranded
May be Bajaj guys forgot to fit it. people looking at it are really shocked to see a bike without a kick start.



I see a drain pipe (transparent plastic) connected to the ...(fuel air mixing valve) well I don't know the exact name but I see petrol dripping sometimes at the bottom of pipe.
what is that for...
I am really worried about the Petrol wastage, it is so expensive nowadays.


Can anybody guess what could be the rpm of motor in

5th gear at 40kmph and 60kmph

4th gear at 40kmph.

Maybe anyone of you having Tacho can guess it (220 pulsar guys)
 
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Re: Looking for a Trouble Free No-Nonsense Bike: Now bought Royal Enfield!

One more thing which is eating me up..
What is this Running in .
I know some bits and bytes but....
how stingy it can get if not followed properly?
 
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Re: Looking for a Trouble Free No-Nonsense Bike: Now bought Royal Enfield!

May be Bajaj guys forgot to fit it. people looking at it are really shocked to see a bike without a kick start.
Nope. It's intentional. Meant to give a cleaner look to the bike. The Eliminator and the Avenger 180 both used to have kickstarters. Bajaj did away with kickstarter when they launched the Avenger 200. Be extra careful with the battery charging - keep topping it up with battery water (available at petrol pumps - Rs 20/litre) and get the battery charged when you feel it going weak (horn/lights, etc getting weaker). Otherwise, be prepared to push start the bike when the battery gives up!

I see a drain pipe (transparent plastic) connected to the ...(fuel air mixing valve) well I don't know the exact name but I see petrol dripping sometimes at the bottom of pipe. what is that for.I am really worried about the Petrol wastage, it is so expensive nowadays.
That's the fuel overflow pipe. Meant to discharge extra petrol form the carburettor when it gets flooded. The semi-cylindrical part at the bottom of the carburettor is known as the float chamber. When the quantity of petrol inside the float chamber exceeds it's volume, the extra petrol gets discharged outside through the fuel drain pipe. This would occur only while starting the bike (i.e when the bike does not start after 2-3 attempts, petrol keeps flowing inside the carburettor each time you try to start it again and hence the overflow - that's why you should turn the fuel cock to 'off' position if the bike doesn't start after 2-3 attempts).

No need to worry. Just learn to start the bike in the first attempt[thumbsup] ! And do keep wiping that petrol which drips through the fuel overflow pipe because it would eat up your paint/plating/rubber parts etc.

Can anybody guess what could be the rpm of motor in

5th gear at 40kmph and 60kmph
(Guess - 3500 and 4500 rpm )

4th gear at 40kmph
(Guess - 4000 rpm)

Maybe anyone of you having Tacho can guess it (220 pulsar guys)
Require a tacho for this. maybe someone with a P220 could help

One more thing which is eating me up..
What is this Running in .
I know some bits and bytes but....
how stingy it can get if not followed properly?
Consider a creaking door hinge. What do you do to make it operate silently and without creaks? You pour some oil on it and slowly move the door back and forth a few times and et voila ! the movement becomes smooth(er). Crudely speaking, An internal combustion engine contains lots of moving parts that have to find a perfect 'fit' among each other. These various parts are made of different metals (eg piston = aluminium alloy, crank pin = steel, piston rings = white iron and so on) and since different metals have different coefficient of thermal expansion, they expand/contract at different rates when you ride/stop the bike after riding. Therefore, these parts have to be made slowly and steadily accustomed to operating harmoniously together at various engine temperatures. The procedure that you follow to ensure this is called 'running in'. Ideally, running in should be progressive, i.e if the manual says 'dont exceed 50kmph till the first 500 kms', you should not whack open the throttle as soon as 500 kms is reached. Rather, you should steadily start riding the bike at higher speeds in different gears so that the engine becomes used to operating at various rpm levels in all gears comfortably. Modern engines operate at very close tolerances and therefore, running in procedure for such engines is not as finicky as it used to be in the golden olden times; but it's still required nevertheless. Follow what the manual says for the first 500/1000 kms. Shall tell you more on this in future posts.
 
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Re: Looking for a Trouble Free No-Nonsense Bike: Now bought Royal Enfield!

Follow what the manual says for the first 500/1000 kms. Shall tell you more on this in future posts.
Sam,Thanks a million .
Waiting for more inputs.

Oh yes she is getting smoother. now 350 on odo.


I am bit disappointed with the ride quality from rear wheels. any tweaks/mods to get it better .


Ofcourse those Handle bar I started to find it bit boring like that of ladies bicycle....will upgrade after some running ..

be extra careful with the battery charging - keep topping it up with battery water (available at petrol pumps - Rs 20/litre) and get the battery charged when you feel it going weak (horn/lights, etc getting weaker).
What is the general rule of thumb for schedule to check battery- 3 months 6 months??

some more Pros.

headlamps have very good visibility.

Horn loud enough (but not so inspiring.)

No rattles and plasticity feel

never got tired (though i am experiencing bit of back ache maybe I am too new on a bike)

It has no "THUMPS" nor noisy. people are pretty much comfortable especially female members . me too like less noisy machines!Good when you are at critical areas like office premises,schools and residential area.yet my 1 year old child feel it is noisy and she is bit scared.

presently 50-60kmph is a sweet to ride without much vibrations.

gears engage like butter

Very torqey and powerful.

Cons.

"Neutral" is difficult to find(I realized it is common problem with Avenger) but often it comes to its own in dense traffic while engaging 1st.

Rear wheel ride quality is not up to the mark, not alarming but livable.

It lacks 6th gear.
 

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