The Mammoth GT - Royal Enfield Continental GT - November 2014

[deville_56]

May 2019:

Disastrous Sunday morning. Puncture!!! Nightmare for GT owners.

Bought the 24 mm spanner, saved a lot of mess this time.

Terrible design. Disc messing with caliper channel won't allow slotting in the wheel to sprocket in any way.

All set and done. Another sad truth, after searching all tyre dealers, there was not any tubes above 100/90 available in 18 inch as retail. They come only bundled with new tyre. Half-heartedly went for the 100/90-18 tube, assured by almost every tyre shop guy I met.

Brazza 100/90-18 Tube - ₹ 300.00
Fitting - ₹ 100.00 (Self removed and took the wheel to and fro)

Morning commute.

 

[2stroker]

Output is better than non-clear but couldn't compare the throw and spread. BTW this ain't sealed beam.

Noted, thank you for your feed-back.

Finally gets custom LED tail lamps. Superflux/Pirahna LEDs. Bought from Kwality Photonics. Ultra Red.

60 red + 3 white SMD for tail lamp. Connectors for plug and play.

Sir: If I may ask, did you purchase this from an on-line vendor? I tried looking up Kwality Photonics and I am unable to buy this on line. Your assistance is much appreciated. I am looking for exactly the same set up as yours above, in a round configuration though. Thanks and have a great day!

May 2019:

Disastrous Sunday morning. Puncture!!! Nightmare for GT owners.

View attachment 260354

Bought the 24 mm spanner, saved a lot of mess this time.

View attachment 260355 View attachment 260356 View attachment 260357 View attachment 260358

Terrible design. Disc messing with caliper channel won't allow slotting in the wheel to sprocket in any way.

View attachment 260359

All set and done. Another sad truth, after searching all tyre dealers, there was not any tubes above 100/90 available in 18 inch as retail. They come only bundled with new tyre. Half-heartedly went for the 100/90-18 tube, assured by almost every tyre shop guy I met.

Brazza 100/90-18 Tube - ₹ 300.00
Fitting - ₹ 100.00 (Self removed and took the wheel to and fro)

View attachment 260360

Morning commute.

View attachment 260361

That's a beautiful back-drop!

 

[deville_56]

Sir: If I may ask, did you purchase this from an on-line vendor? I tried looking up Kwality Photonics and I am unable to buy this on line. Your assistance is much appreciated. I am looking for exactly the same set up as yours above, in a round configuration though. Thanks and have a great day!

Not online vendor, but the manufacturer themselves. I usually send query via mail and they get back with invoice and payment options. Upon payment, they will send it across, which takes less than a week, usually via DTDC.
This is their mail ID - kwalitypolyWa@gmail.com

They got another name (or subbrand) LEDChip Indus Private Limited. Got SMD LEDs from them for indicator project.

 

[2stroker]

Not online vendor, but the manufacturer themselves. I usually send query via mail and they get back with invoice and payment options. Upon payment, they will send it across, which takes less than a week, usually via DTDC.
This is their mail ID - kwalitypolyWa@gmail.com

They got another name (or subbrand) LEDChip Indus Private Limited. Got SMD LEDs from them for indicator project.

Thanks very much for your quick response, much appreciated. I will reach out to them via email. I will order the LED (exactly like yours) but in a 360 deg. circumference. I hope they will be in a position to fab one up that will be a direct fit for my RD350. Thanks again for your time. Have a great day ahead!

 

[deville_56]

Thanks very much for your quick response, much appreciated. I will reach out to them via email. I will order the LED (exactly like yours) but in a 360 deg. circumference. I hope they will be in a position to fab one up that will be a direct fit for my RD350. Thanks again for your time. Have a great day ahead!

They will only sell individual LEDs.

 

[2stroker]

Noted, thanks much.
Will place an order accordingly.
Thanks once again for your help.

 

[deville_56]

May 2019: (Continued)

One thing I understood after having RE for 4+ years was each and every RE mechanics were money-thirsty. Simply overcharging 2 to 3 times for what others charge, leaving aside the RE-expert-only jobs. So thought of going DIY on this also, despite the fact that it will any way need to go an RE expert some day. Began with oil change.

Shell Advance AX7 15W50
Bought oil from Amazon. They always sell way less than market price. Got for ₹ 893.00, MRP was ₹ 1222.00. It's semi-synthetic. 15W50 is not available in 1 liter packs, had to compromise with 10W40 in FZ, which was not a great experience. Seeing the skyrocketing price of Motul, buying a 3 Liter can of AX7 is a wiser option.

Oil Filter with O-Ring Kit - 888414 - ₹ 80.00
Made by Elofic. Never heard before. Last time it was Minda.

Clutch Cable - 571156/D - ₹ 97.00
Still the cheapest clutch cable available in India (and the most frequently snapped).
Clutch has become spongy with a weird noise. Third cable in 17k km.

One of the oldest RE genuine spare outlet in Trivandrum, Sun Auto Spares. There is one more, Subha Autowares.

 

[deville_56]

Oil Change:

First and foremost, park on flat surface preferably higher than ground level, so that there is easy access under the engine. There are hell lost of drain bolts you have to fight with.

Decided to flush the engine as well, some left over flush from Duke's oil change. Wurth Engine Flush. ₹ 140.00 (MRP ₹ 150.00). Packing is not pleasing like the rival brands.

First roadblock is the filler cap itself. It messes with the wiring exiting the engine, which is another source of vapor leak and fixes with some sealant. Once open, pour the flush and idle for 10-15 minutes. Half the bottle would be enough. Drain when hot, don't let it sit.

Remove the oil strainer, and drain the oil. Sits in the middle of the engine belly.

8-mm socket would do.

Then the rear most.

It's a 19 mm bolt.

It's magnetic and collects all the metallic debris. Clean the muck.

And finally the one at the front end.

It's a 12 mm bolt. It's magnetic as well. Clean the debris.

Finally, the oil filter. Three 8-mm bolts.

Remove the filter.

and left everything drain.

Clean the oil strainer and install it back. Install the drain bolts also back after cleaning. See the amount of sealant used by the mechanics. Didn't remove them since I forgot to buy sealant, will do the next time.

Clean the oil filter chamber and install one of the O-rings.

Soak the filter in fresh oil.

Install the filter.

Install the second O-ring on the filter cover.

and install the cover. First put all 3 bolts, then tighten them equally.

Put in a funnel and fill oil. Got enough room for the funnel, love that.

My measure cup, a Motul can. Total 2.5 L needed.

Filler cap O-ring got flattened out, need replacement. Next time.

Idle the engine and turn off and check level after 5 mins. It would be almost the maximum level.

 

[deville_56]

May 2019: Clutch Cable Replacement (Just after oil change)

My easiest clutch cable replacement. Ran through the perimeter of the frame and being bare bone, everything was easily accessible in this part.

To start off with, loosen the nut

and disconnect from the engine side.

Remove the boot and nut

to take it out of this contraption. I would say a bad design, but it was a pre-independence design.

Then from the lever side.

Now the reverse process.

Once done, adjust the clutch play.

And secure the cable.

The whole thing took like 10 minutes, but no happy ending. The el-cheapo RE OEM bolt that broke off gave the trouble. The yoke was moving freely causing too much play. Since RE, don't sell yoke alone like others, no other option that to get the crap bolt out.

After a paintstaking hour of fight with the bolt and drilling, finally it came off. Added new bolt. OE RE bolt was kind of aluminium and gave way with just normal free hand tightening.

All set and done.

After a TD, things are smoother.

Gave a wash.

Took it out for a spin with wifey.

And never take out an RE just after the wash. Let it dry properly. It stalled multiple times on the way. A mystery that's not resolved by RE.

 

[deville_56]

June 2019 - The Vibratory Effect - Loose Indicators.

Indicators were acting like VU meter for engine notes. One bulb conked off too.

Loose nuts. Hard to access due to the numberplate clamp.

Number plate clamp was secured with nyloc nut, which was holding well.

Limited access. Managed to tighten them.

Indicator was complicated then I thought. Lot of parts.

Rubber cover and Bosch clips.

Even more parts. Connector was oxidized. Bulb didn't conk off. No supply at that end.

As expected, wiring punctured and cut off under mudguard. Common across RE models. Usually, the effect would have been either blown fuse with braking or indicator or all of them lighting up together when any one of them is on, like both indicators and brake light flashing with indicator.

Mended

and properly sleeved.

Primed and repainted the indicators. Paint was flaking as it was painted without primer previously.

 

[deville_56]

June 2019

Clear lens reflector started showing quality. First the headlight glare shield fell off. Can attribute this to quality + the typical bone shaking vibes of RE. Just over a year and a half of use.

Removed it through the bulb hole removing the cup and clip. Actually, I feel it is more like cosmetic that functional since all the bulbs comes with painted/coated tip.

Then noticed the reflector peeling. These are used in Amby overloaded with 130/100 W bulbs. Wonder how they take those kind of abuse.

Broken shield.

 

[deville_56]

June 2019:

Usage was decent in 2019 with almost 2.5k km with barely 700 km in 2018.

Lubed chain.

Wiring sleeve starts disintegrating like rubber parts. Wonder where in the world do RE source such third quality parts.

Removed tank for full access and next the fuel line itself was developing cracks.

Cut away the whole sleeve.

Bought a metre of the closest size corrugated flexible conduit hose.

Sleeved. Had to pull out the whole wiring from headlight to do it properly.

Done and through.

Junction box aka headlight. Squeezing wires through the tiny hole is a mess.

Assembling back.

Keihin Japan ECU.

Denso Thailand starter.

 

[deville_56]

January - April 2020

Since the purchase of EcoSport, GT is rarely used and adding to that self start packed up making it a mess. One-way clutch is gone. Cranking gives engine disintegrating/crushing kind of noise. Kick-starting is a tedious process thanks to the super weight and one-way clutch acting up. Clocked just 150 km in 6 months.

Covered in web and dust before I kick-started and took it home.

Kick-start won't work without battery. Used to charge the battery out of bike monthly and kick-start and idle it every 2 weeks. Insurance got expired in between, so couldn't hit road.

Then came the lock-down and put to rest with others, fully covered. Biweekly idling continued.

Waiting for lock-down to get over. (Flashback)

 

[deville_56]

May 2020 - November 2021

GT continued as the Garage Queen (or King). Start-ups and idling continued, but in May kicker also stopped responding and that stopped. Kept washed and covered from then on.

Tubes started degrading again.

Made sure to recharge the battery once in a while and tried kicking.

Fast-forward to November 2021 - Finally rolling out. Estimated expense including insurance around ₹20k.

 

[deville_56]

December 2021 - Parts Hunt

Finally, the time has come for the Garage King to roll out. Plan is to do as much DIY possible and push the bike to the nearest garage, just quarter mile away. Bullet mechanics would charge in SBK rates. Brakes were jammed, which were the first thing to be taken care of.

Front Brake Pads

Got the Honda CBR250R non-ABS brake pads. Original Brembo costs ₹2200 for a pair and our use won't justify the price. RE guys weren't positive regarding alternate pads. Honda guys were confused with the ABS/non-ABS pads(in their exact words, new expensive pads versus old cheap pads). ABS had Nissin pads and costs ₹4000+ and non-ABS Bybre pads ₹999 (used to be 700ish before). Showed the cropped Googled image as my pad and made him sell .

Honda CBR250R Non-ABS Front Pad Set - 06455KYJ711 - ₹ 999.00
Bought from Marikar Honda.

KBX Super 5 DOT4 (250 ml) - ₹ 135.00
250 ml more than enough to bleed both brakes.

Air Filter PAV Hose - 573984/A - ₹ 209.00
Third hose in 7 years. This one is for regular Bullet 500 EFI and Thunderbird 500.