My journey so far with my new ANNAMALAI

Again I am here after so long time.
This time about my new Annamalai :-)

Yes....This is about my TBTS. I am one of the proud owners of TBTS.

Here goes my story....
I usually travel around 40-50kms daily.
I was previously having the Bajaj Pulsar 180 Dts-i. That was an excellent machine, with the only
worry being the Spares and Service from Bajaj. I had that machine for 3.5 years and drove 53000 kms.
I gave that machine as at around 45000 kms the bore, pistons got worn out.

I would like to tell that I am not a smooth rider. I drove my
pulsar usually at around 60+ kmph. Every time in the morning when I go to my office(Wipro) in chennai through ECR, I usually cross the 100+ kmph with my friend seated at the back. So this was one of the reason why my pulsar got worn out soon......

Now to my TBTS. I was also one in the people who usually criticised RE for their machines being
highly maintainence required, not with great top-speeds for such a huge engine, not having great
initial pick-ups, oil-leakage and so on.... So when I decided to sell my Pulsar, I started to
go for options. I had the karizma,the R-15,Pulsar220, 200 and 180. I don't want to go less than the 180 as I felt I need to go to the higher segment.
I don't want to go for the karizma, because
1. The machine has a pretty old engine and at anytime hero honda might bring out its FI version, so I don't want to get outdated immediately.
2. Also the feedback on spares, maintanence and mileage are not so good.

I didn't preferred Bajaj Pulsars, because
1. The Spares and Service from bajaj is the worst.
2. They don't mind about the customer after they sell their product.
3. I already had a pulsar and wanted to go for a new product.

Then the remaining was the R-15. Its the flag-ship model of Yamaha. I know that its a great machine.
MRF has specially designed the tyres. Deltabox frame adds lot of stability.
It has an imported engine from Indonesia. But the one that stopped me was the Yamaha Service.
My brother has an old RX-135(2002) and I know how much he suffered with the Yamaha Service center
till he succesfully found a local mechanic. So for a machine of R-15's class service is more important
to maintain the machine.
Also when I sat on the machine, I felt something was missing from that for such a huge money.

So I was left over with only one option of exploring the RE.
I went through lot of feedback's on the websites. I spoke with many who owned that. Finally I thought I should go for a test drive. I went to the RE Brand store at Besant Nagar, chennai. I saw all the models.

I chose TBTS because
1)Standard Bullet is considered as the most stable product, but the brake and gear positioned
at reverse order made me not to chose that. Also the engine is of pretty classic type and at
any point of time there is lot of improvement left over.The Electra(AVL) and machismo(LB engine) are of
different genres but still the styling is not as I see in Thunderbird.
2) TBTS was newly launched. This UCE design is going to replace the Engine design of other Bullet genres in future. So I thought that I should be one of the owners of RE's new Engine design.
Also Lot of niggling problems that were common in RE machines has been sorted out to a large extent in TBTS. Looking forward, I could say that in 2010(mid or END) when RE is going to launch new versions of Electra and machismos, its sure that RE will give the best.

About my TBTS Experience:


I got my machine on November11, 2008. Till now I have been with my machine for 10 months and 13200 kms.
The day one I got the machine, the battery got fully discharged and I was not aware of this.
The Very next day I got held up on my way to my office. I called upon the Service center
at Thiruvanmiyur and spoke with Mr.Ganapathy. I was very much happy to get his response.
He was readily approachable and he sent the mechanic Mr.Dinakar who replaced the battery with a stand-by one that he bought. I was overwhelmed with the response from the service center as I faced really a bad experience with my previous vendor.

Whatever parts that I felt were giving problems were either replaced in warranty or made correct.
For example, I had oil seapage near the alternator at around 2000 kms. That was rectified immediately and after that it has never occured.
The worst thing that I did was that I tried to raise the throttle above 60Kmph before the 5000 kms mark. The mechanic person at the service center requested me not to go beyond 60Kmph before 5000kms. Also they suggested me if I could maintain my speed within 60Kmph till the free service i.e. 9000kms the engine will surely get tuned up better. I did that and I realized that at the end of 10000 kms my machine was really exhilarating the pleasure that I need during the drive.
The only thing that is required while you give the machine to service is patience.
You need to have patience to explain the problem, even if its occuring again. They take a lot
of care once you show them that whatever that is been done so far is not enough.

Moving Forward, with Each Service I was slowly able to understand about my machine and
all the credit goes to the service engineers.

After starting to drive this machine, I have now become so much patient that I am not the same as the one when I drove my pulsar. I don't unnecesarily throttle my machine, never did I tried to do abnormal driving. At around 2500rpm my TBTS crosses 65Kmph with high stability and when it crosses the 3000rpm mark it touches the 85Kmph.
This is the point where I start to get the breeze of the machine.

Its been clearly stated by RE in the wesite(http://www.royalenfield.com/thunderbirdtwinspark/home.html)
and the manual that 120Kmph is the top speed of this.
This was one of the reason why I bought this machine. I strongly believe that in two-wheelers, in India whatever it might be, whether in city or highways its better not to cross the 80Kmph. If you want to cross it better go in a four-wheeler. Moreover when we go beyond this any vehicle becomes uncontrollable, thats why even in cars when we cross this limit, the power steering is automatically cut-off.
Hence when we go beyond this 85Kmph there are little bit of vibrations you start to feel.
When one of my colleagues who had TVS apache told that he didn't feel that in his machine when he crossed it I told him to view the mirrors when he is reaching this point and see if the images are displayed correctly.
The point is that RE's machines are truly and wholly metallic,chrome and its not the same way of engine construction one sees in the other indian machines. Hence the feel of the metal is more in this as the vibrations are felt across the engine ,whereas in the other machines
you can still feel it through the mirrors. For example in Pulsar 180 at the end of the alloy handle bars you have two cones. Those are for vibration arresters and for equalling the weight of the machine. The same is with the other machines.

The comfort is best in this machine. I bet anyother machine cannot give this comfort. Excellent suspension, Comfy leather seats, Absolutely 100% best ergonomics.
Initially I felt hard to drive this machine in city traffic. Now I am handling it like a bi-cycle.
I can vouch anybody that once you have the feel of the machine, you can drive however you feel.

The mileage I get is 42Kmpl in worst city conditions. I am travelling between urban and sub-urbans and I am getting around 45-48 Kmpl.
I drive between 55-70 KmPH. I have tried it in highway just before service due and it gave me 50KMPL with the speed varying between 50-100KmPH

This machine requires oil change only every 6000 kms. This is after the third free service.
So far in the first paid service I paid Rs.1450. This is when I completed 12000 kms.
1450 constitutes majorly for the Disc Brake oil and engine oil.(Mind you, this machine requires the oil as specified in the manual and its 2.5 litres!!!)
I also changed my machine's brake shoes and disc pad that time.

I fell down once nearby my home. Only the CrashGaurd got hit and a little bit of scratches near the handle bars. Nothing much happend.

To add one more on the Road Presence it claims, the Traffic Police once stopped me. They asked my licencse which I showed immediately. When I was about to take the papers for the machine, one of them started to ask about why I bought this? how much it cost? what was the booking time and so on...
They told me about how they felt when they saw the machine and told me I look the best when I was on it......
Whenever I wash and clean my machine, when I go on the roads or to the Petrol Bunks, atleast I will get one query about the machine....
That's how its been so far for me....

I would suggest the TBTS owners of chennai to give their machine for service only at the RE in thiruvanmiyur.
I know that there might be some who would have got bad experience there. But I recommend them to have patience and yes you will surely feel
the difference. They are far better compared to any of the other company's service centers.
After all they are also humans and we need to understand them too....

For all the Bike riders, Have a great journey..................