The Mammoth GT - Royal Enfield Continental GT - November 2014

[deville_56]

December 2021 - Breaking the Brake

Brembo calipers

and worn out Brembo pads at 18k km.

Removing the caliper pin was a bit tricky. It won't budge like normal after removing the clips. You have got to hammer it with a small screwdriver bit (nail here) for it to pop out.

You need something to support from bottom while hammering. Used combo of 1/2 inch extension for that.

Condition of the pads. Wear indicator just made contact on one pad and the other had some more left. Perimeter was not making proper contact due to design flaw.

Pistons got spacers.

CBR 250 Non-ABS pads.

Came with shim plate.

New vs. old.

Parent vs subsidiary. Both FF braking gradient.

Road block. Caliper was jammed inside the rubber insulator/boots.

Had to remove the caliper from the bike. Handled with utmost care as Brembo parts can cost a bomb, but in the end, had to cut off the rubber parts.

Red pill or blue pill?

Sprayed rust off and hammered lightly and separated the bracket.

Remnants of the rubber parts, all of them carried Brembo name and part number and there was a sense of worry behind my head about the availability and (obviously/rather) price of them.

Rusted pin, root cause of the jam.

Pushed back the pistons in anticipation of rebuilding.

Brembo.

 

[deville_56]

December 2021 – Caliper Semi-Rebuild and Brake Pad Install

DIYs usually happens on Sundays with very limited scope of getting spares in case of urgency. I knew it's gonna be a sleepless night thinking of availability and (of course) the cost of Brembo parts. Checked with my old worn FZ parts lying around and they seemed to fit. Called up my buddy in Kochi running a weekend SBK garage, and he affirmed almost all bikes sold here shares the same kit, be it Brembo, Bybre, or Nissin, and he gets Yamaha ones due to easy availability. My usual Sunday spare store was closed and to my luck, another store was open for cleaning, Moto Tech Spares. He had Unicorn parts, which were cheaper than Yamaha ones.

Honda Boot Set (Brake Insulator + Dust Cover) - 06439MAK003 - ₹ 28.00

Villain of the show, the rusty guide pin.

Took some effort to remove.

Used 5-mm Allen key,

and jumbo pipe wrench.

Sanded lightly. Before-after.

Cleaned up caliper.

Second pin. Good shape.

11-mm spanner kits.

All cleaned and ready for fit.

Locations for new parts.

Installed.

Caliper clip. Cleaned and installed.

Brake pads ready to fit. Removed the shim as there was no room and fit was very tight.

Finally, the caliper pin.

All installed,

and ready to install.

Used TVS caliper grease, which I was not confident with. They worked on rubber parts without damaging them, but they seized up easily.

Copper grease was always in bucket list. My friend Krishna Prasad from Pattambi was kind enough to send the one he had, and it reached at the nick of the time. Wiped out all the TVS grease and reapplied with copper anti-seize grease. Reminds me of Nutella

 

[deville_56]

December 2021 - Brake Overhaul (Continued)

Front master cylinder removed for cleaning.

Condition inside after 7 years of not bleeding - muck and gel.

Did a quick coat of matt black. Ran out of primer, so didn't bother to do in detail, as I'll anyway redo it again.

Diaphragm.

Mounted the caliper.

Breaking loose the bleeding nut before going further to make sure not to screw up once more. Size is 11 mm.

KBX DOT4 brake fluid.

Connected hose and bled. Hose above the caliper level prevents return of escaped air bubbles.

To the level. One advantage of steel braided hose, I felt, was they were easy to bleed, will do in a single go.

Front brake light switch.

Checking the rear brake.

Rear brake fluid reservoir.

Emptied.

Breaking open rear brake bleed nut, 8 mm here.

Bled.

Rear brake mount is tricky. Have to adjust the mount during tightening the nut with surgical precision to prevent rubbing with the rotor. Not sure if it is one of a case or similar across all GTs/REs.

Pistons pushed back in.

Condition of pads.

Greased pins. They were dry, but not rusty like front.

Wurth Brake Cleaner. Came very handy in cleaning the spilled brake fluid.

 

[deville_56]

December 2021 - Will it Start?

Before pushing the bike all the way to the mechanic, decided to try one last time.

Removed the plug and it was in horrible shape.

It was RE OE part installed by dealer, Bosch Platinum Plus WR8DP. Claims longer life, but just clocked 8k km.

Made in Germany. Pin was bent by external forces.

21 mm spark plug wrench.

NGK G-Power, my love.

NGK G-Power BPR5EGP. MRP ₹ 270.00, got for ₹ 250.00 from Amruth Auto Spares (NGK two-wheeler plug dealer).

Needle tip.

Oops the terminal was big.

Made in Thailand. Used to be made in Japan.

Terminal nut is removable. @mayankdixit

Old vs new.

PAV Hose. Another sore part of the RE. Crap quality rubber made in entire India. Somebody suggested replacing with hydraulic hose last time, but had a heart attack hearing the price and rocketed to RE spares and bought the stock hose, roughly just twice-trice times the price. They gave one for Standard 500, which was a bit longer than GT535's hose.

Air Filter PAV Hose - 573984/A - ₹ 209.00

Old hose at PAV system.

Old hose. Brittle through its length.

Feed into the air filter box.

Spark comes to check the injector

Injector is installed in a tricky way with little room to play with. First have to remove the connector and the sensor. Then remove the 10 mm nut at the end of the spacer.

Injector comes off.

Injector. As suspected, it was clogged and wasn't pumping fuel. Couldn't remove either. Vigorously sprayed Magsol throttle body cleaner. Drained the short length of fuel hose from pump and filled with TB cleaner.

Primed the pump a few times to confirm it wasn't dead. Connected the fuel line back.

Checking air filter.

It wasn't bad either.

Sprayed some TB through the hole before installing back the injector. Starts in 2-3 kicks. Started off with rough idle and smoothed out once the TB cleaner got through the injector.

Now starts with single kick and idles smoothly.

 

[deville_56]

December 2021 - (Finally) Grab Rails

Stock dual seat of GT is scary for pillion, very poor support. Pillion part sinks, giving a feeling of falling back. Without grab rail, the pillion had to constantly watch their back. I literally check the rear end of the seat intermittently when I am riding in the rear.

Stock grab rail on Neil's GT, an enthusiastic GT535 owner. It wasn't a looker with odd upright shape. Liked the ones from GT650 twins. They had a slant instead of right angle. Inquired via our friend working at RE Factory Shop in Kochi, got affirmation, direct fit on 535.

Went to Subha Auto Wares, authorized RE parts dealer and they had GT650 grab handle, but they said 100% it won't fit 535. Bought it anyway, wasn't expensive.

GT650/Interceptor Pillion Grab Handle - 148703 - ₹ 252.00

Hex Bolt - M8x20 - 586002/A - ₹ 15.00 x 4

Spare guys were right. It didn't fit. Wider by around 2 inches, and holes won't alight. After pushing against the wall with the leg, managed to match the width.

Aligned one hole on either side. Checked Google and Youtube and found most of the export version had similar situation with only 2 bolts possible. Dropped the plan for drilling extra holes.

Trialling combination of holes. Maximum inward position. Looked odd with vacant space behind. Spray can killed the perception.

Outmost position. Liked it.

Installed.

Final outcome.

 

[deville_56]

December 2021 - Fork Reflectors

Bought them along with grab handle.

Reflex Reflector with Base - RAH00259/A - ₹ 85.00 x 2

Rinder brand. RR64060.

DOT approved.

Cleaned the forks.

Installed.

Final looks. Had the same installed on FZ.

 

[deville_56]

December 2021 - New Seat and Number Plates

Crow and cat attacked seat. Still can't digest we paid ₹ 4,150.00 for this inferior quality seat.

Got it redone by the veteran upholsterer in town, Balan. Charged ₹ 600.00 and done in 2 hours.

Old one was too spongy for pillion and tends to fall back and was scary.

Ordered number plates from Sagar, Chennai. ₹ 325.00 including shipping and delivered in 2 days.

Quality was good for the price, which would have been ₹ 500-600 if done locally.

 

[VISHNUCARCRAZY]

Can you share contact details of the shop you did seat?

 

[deville_56]

Can you share contact details of the shop you did seat?

A. Balan Upholstery Works

 

[deville_56]

December 2021 - Insurance Renewed

Renewed insurance before handing over to some mechanic for fixing the one-way clutch. Insured with Acko. Got comprehensive coverage despite a gap of 2-3 years. IDV ₹1,04,523.

Own Damage Premium - ₹ 536.00. No NCB due to the break.
Net Liability Premium - ₹ 2323.00

Total Premium - ₹ 3373.00 including 18% GST.

 

[JingalalaHoe]

Hello! Few comments from what I've seen on this page so far:

Condition inside after 7 years of not bleeding - muck and gel.

If the insides are this...grim, the master cylinder piston will be hiding even more muck. Its better you take off the circlip and the MC piston, give everything a good clean and reassemble it back. It will keep leeching out the muck and ruining the fresh fluid you've replaced now.

Greased pins. They were dry, but not rusty like front.

Don't use copper grease on caliper pins. It's meant to be used on the shims, edges of brake pads which move and the back of the brake pads. You're supposed to use silicone grease or a proper caliper grease with the pins.

I use this : Permatex® Ceramic Extreme Brake Parts Lubricant, 8 OZ – Permatex

 

[deville_56]

Hello! Few comments from what I've seen on this page so far:

If the insides are this...grim, the master cylinder piston will be hiding even more muck. Its better you take off the circlip and the MC piston, give everything a good clean and reassemble it back. It will keep leeching out the muck and ruining the fresh fluid you've replaced now.

Right said, the rear MC got stuck up and had to repair it. Replaced in Duke instead of rebuilding without knowing it could have been repaired.

Don't use copper grease on caliper pins. It's meant to be used on the shims, edges of brake pads which move and the back of the brake pads. You're supposed to use silicone grease or a proper caliper grease with the pins.

I use this : Permatex® Ceramic Extreme Brake Parts Lubricant, 8 OZ – Permatex

Understood the hard way. It was all dry when I removed the caliper again to sort out the sticky caliper. Silicone grease came with the repair kit rerouted me through Google to find what the white paste really was. Saw many packets lying at Yamaha dealer for years and rushed there and all were gone. Thanks for the link. Will give a try.

 

[deville_56]

December 2021 - Updates

Renewed insurance with Acko. Total premium ₹ 3,373.00. IDV ₹ 1,04,523.00. Own damage premium ₹536.00, nil no-claim bonus. Third-party premium ₹ 2,323.00

Battery was discharging quickly, needs replacement soon.

Bosch C7, borrowed from @vishnu vichu

 

[deville_56]

January 2022 - One-Way Clutch Replaced

Gave the bike during Christmas weekend to fix the sprag clutch issue. Gave it to Mr. Ali, a vetaran RE mechanic who runs an RE workshop in the heart of the junction for over 35 years. He has been my dad's friend and the first mechanic I knew of. Used to visit the shop during haircut days as the salon was close by. I am 38 now, he instantly recognized me. He was the one who dealt the purchase of my dad's first Kinetic (and screwed it and made us sell it), the guy who made me hate RE bikes as we spent a great time there fixing the bike (Most of my uncles and dad's friends had Bullets and they always mocked RX and HH guys (who never broke down like this)). The tin sheet shed is the workshop and used to have the similar coconut palm leaf and reaper construction. The quality of work was hit or miss, thanks to his assistants. He himself worked on cast iron bikes, while UCE bikes were worked by his assistants. One of the assistant has been with him all these years and takes up the major works while the new assistant does the minor jobs.

He gave me two options for the sprag clutch, the original and a non-OE make. He wasn't confident with the OE one (like most RE mechanics) and suggested the latter claiming that it was more reliable per his experience and was cheaper at ₹ 3,000.00 compared to ₹ 4,800.00 for the original one and had one-year replacement warranty. Chose the non-OE part as I too wasn't confident with original RE stuff . Took four days as the shop was busy after the New Year weekend with pending works.

Nothing wrong to complain about the work. Labour was dirt cheap compared to other RE mechanics, who charge in the SBK level and no signs of orange sealant anywhere. Had to wait for the battery, which was out for charging, and he recommended replacing it. He even offered home delivery after seeing I could barely reach down.

Bill:

Sprag Clutch Assembly - Non-OE - ₹ 3,000.00
Shell Semi-Synthetic Engine Oil 15W50 - ₹ 1,035.00
Oil Filter₹ 40.00
Labour - ₹ 375.00

Total - ₹ 4,450.00.

He took only ₹ 4,000.00 and gave bill for clutch warranty.

Unfortunately, Mr. Ali passed away about two months back.

Went straight to pollution testing centre and then to car wash, Autobox, where they would wash and detail anything. Wash was okay and as expected, it refused to start after the wash as always and drained the battery after a couple of cranks before I could stop them. Did the usual trick of blowing the plug cap and it started in a kick.

Reached home the longer route.

 

[deville_56]

January 2022 - New Battery

Finally, bought an Exide. If I remember right, first Exide purchased amongst all our vehicles in 15 years. 14 Ah batteries are harder to find with RE switching to 8 Ah. Getting maintenance free was even harder, but thankfully only MF was available. Came with usual 24+24 month pro-rata warranty.

Exide Xplore 12XL14L-A2 - ₹ 3,500.00 (MRP ₹ 3,865.00, ₹ 365.00 for old battery)

Pro-rata details.

.
The battery

Seems Exide is too serious about aesthetics.

Even the terminal caps were detailed.

New bolts.

Ready to install.

The drain tube goes into the bin.

Installed

and checked. Multimeter ran out of battery.

Ready to roll.

Stance correction. Adjusted the spring tension. Rotated freely with hand. Tightened about a centimetre on both sides. Now everyone gotta tip toe. Rear won't go down on load.