A classic 500 that has been lying dormant at home for the past 7 years. Being a 2010 model, the bike was converted to a carburettor in 2018 after running into so many issues with the EFI which RE was still fine tuning. I was liking the fact that the bike was more mechanical. In 2018 I had to put the factory exhaust after the MVD was on a rampage destroying any loud exhausts, and I was also taken to the station one fine day while in Trivandrum. Life happened, I moved to Chennai, and got the default exhaust fit by a local mechanic who did a piss poor job. He had welded an extra piece to the exhaust to connect it to the bend pipe. The bike, which had some issues even before the carb conversion, stalled one day and it collected dust for 7 years at home.
When Ananthan, who is actually a pilot, told us that he could fix up the bike, my brother and I were happy cause if there was someone we trusted the bike with, it was him. I sent the bike over to Trivandrum in a Tata Ace and Ananthan took delivery of the bike and an hour later he sent me a video of him starting the bike up. One could tell there were a lot of things wrong with the bike from the sound of it. He started working on it.
A day later and he had dismantled the engine, inspected the piston, and changed the sprag clutch and showed us marks of bad repair jobs of the past. The magnetic drain plug on the other side of the crank case had so much debris in it, metal pieces, silicone glue, that the bike was struggling to get oil circulated in the system. Ananthan meticulously cleaned and reassembled everything.
The major work, the engine side of the bike was now done. The bike looked okay apart from that, except the ugly chrome exhaust bolted on to an otherwise matte finished bike. I made my way to Trivandrum and joined ananthan at his home garage. We put new switch sets on the bike and me being a complete novice, had so much to learn. I was happy to be the assistant finding the 10 mil wrench and nuts that would go missing all the time. The learning curve was steep,..
Rest in the comments...
a year agomahath.xtiv
Part 2/3 Let's do what?", he asked. I looked at the bike and there it was, Ananthan had woken up earlier in the morning and had dismantled the bike and taken the swingarm out. Pleasantly surprised, we then set out to get a new bolt machined at the lathe(the circular turning machine in the video). The time and precision with which the person crafted the steel bolt made me realise how every single nut and bolt is in fact a work of art. The bolt was then welded on to the swingarm. As good as new, we went home and reassembled the rear of the bike. The ride quality was now improved. New shocks meant the unavoidable potholes now felt smoother. The torn seats were restitched and all was well. Except the ugly exhaust bit. There was leakage between the silencer and the bend pipe. Ananthan consulted his fellow bike enthusiast mechanics and found that the solution meant we will have to go to the lathe again, machine a new part between the silencer and the pipe. Another day and it was done. The bike now sounded like a bullet. Now there was only a slight issue of the chain making a rattling sound. We fixed the rear wheel alignment and the issue subsided. New mirrors were put on and it was looking fine. But it wasn't perfect. It was now time for me to head home and present the bike for retest as we were approaching the 15 years mark quickly. We were debating if we should transport the bike or ride it home on a 120km long journey. We agreed on making some arrangements to transport it via a pickup truck later that week. A day later, Ananthan phoned and told he wanted to replace even the front sprocket, as it seems like the noise is coming from there, that he did not feel satisfied. A while later, he called again and told me how the previous mechanic had installed the front sprocket the wrong way. Ananthan had by now fine tuned the carburettor that if you put your hand on the exhaust, it would get wet. Perfect combustion meant that there was moisture in the exhaust fumes from the hydrocarbon combining with oxygen. Two days later we made the call to ride the bike home, and the ride went without a hitch. The bike is now home, thumping happily. Ananthan was satisfied, seeing
a year agomahath.xtiv
Part 3/3 The bike is now home, thumping happily. Ananthan was satisfied, seeing the project become a success. I was a little less of a novice in the department of bike maintenance. It was a fine week of learning something new every minute and I couldn't appreciate you enough. Thank you once again @monkeyyy.brain
a year agomahath.xtiv
The learning curve was steep, and I was only dipping my toes into the world of vehicle maintenance. The front brakes were gone. The calipers had been stuck up and ananthan showed me how the new brake assembly is installed. An hour and a new brake set later, we moved on to yhe rest of the bike. Soon we realised whatever part we took a closer look needed repair or replacement. Ananthan diagnosed that the rear was sliding when accelerating and found that the swingarm bush needed replacement. The company installed fiber bushes, but the metal ones were better, which RE made and sold at the spare shop. Accessing the swingarm meant we had to remove the rear wheel, sprocket, chains, brakes etc. Once we got the swingarm sorted, we had cleaned the rear sprocket and found that it was missing a teeth. Added a rear sprocket to the shopping list. When we opened the rear hub, inside which the rear brake shoe rests, we saw that one of the brake pads had come off the shoe and was rolling around inside it. Add brake shoes to the list. Brake rod, gear lever, chains, rear light set, indicators, bulbs, air filter, all followed us from the spare parts shop. Rear shock absorbers were gone and they were also replaced. Time to put the rear wheel back, which was now spray painted black to cover up years of damage. It was all back on the bike when we noticed a slight seating issue with the shock absorber nut that connected it to the swingarm. Being the last nut to tighten that day, Ananthan put the impact drill to work. Four hits later, we heard what no one wants to hear. The sound of the bolt breaking. The nut came free with a bit of the bolt inside it. Ananthan dropped the tools and looked at me in silence. I knew that it was bad. How bad? Everything we had done on that day had to be taken apart. The bolt came from the swingarm. Rear wheel, chain, shocks, all had to be taken out to an extent. We put everything aside and arranged all the tools neatly before we called it a day. Next morning I woke up and we had coffee. Ananthan told me let's go get started on the bike and opened tha garage door. He had a funny look on his face. I said "let's do it!", enthusiastically..
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