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 The machine has a pretty old engine and at anytime hero honda might bring out its FI version, so I don't want to get outdated immediately.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..................

GAYATRI MANTRAM

Word for Word Meaning of the Gayatri Mantram

Aum = Brahma ;

bhoor = embodiment of vital spiritual energy(pran) ;

bhuwah = destroyer of sufferings ;

swaha = embodiment of happiness ;

tat = that ;

savitur = bright like sun ;

varenyam = best choicest ;

bhargo = destroyer of sins ;

devasya = divine ;

dheemahi = may imbibe ;

dhiyo = intellect ;

yo = who ;

naha = our ;

prachodayat = may inspire!

Summary of the Gayatri Mantram

(the mother of the vedas), the foremost mantra in hinduism and hindu beliefs, inspires wisdom. Its meaning is that "May the Almighty God illuminate our intellect to lead us along the righteous path". The mantra is also a prayer to the "giver of light and life" - the sun (savitur).Oh God! Thou art the Giver of Life,Remover of pain and sorrow,The Bestower of happiness,Oh! Creator of the Universe,May we receive thy supreme sin-destroying light,May Thou guide our intellect in the right direction.

I have added this in my blog, because i felt whenever I get to know about the meaning of whatever we chant or say its better to save it for the future as we need not stand meaningless before the future generations......

MY ANNAMALAI

After Long Time again....
Paypal and my Laziness are not allowing to Blog regulary..but still I Do this when I really feel that its time for me to scribble....
This should have been my first blog. But some how due to unknown reasons(!!!) and TIME ..I am atlast doing it now.My Bike .. Annamalai.....I feel the comfort, the pleasant, the rough and the style feeling together when I think about it.It was May31st 2005 afternoon 3:15 PM when I first saw this handsome...Its my Brother's gift...To say about Annamalai...One of the best thing that can happen for Super star and myself. For him it was the film that made him to reach new heights. For me this is the one which made me to have the style statement, for the first time as a boy(or male or adult, whatever you call) I showed to the world that I can ride a machine. Vow!! He is the reason for me to know riding...
Its now been 48000+ Kms travel together in all these 37 months. Even after a change in piston in the engine(due to my so called quality riding.. :) )... he has never lost his tempo....still I am able to clock the 100Kmph with ease as before...All these days he has bear with my silence,my songs,my crush,my words.......and still going strong... However I feel that I have always exploited this machine...Whenever i came in 11 minutes to cross the ECR stretch between Thiruvanmiyur Signal Junction to WIPRO shollinganallur...or from my residence in Perungalathur to the present PAYPAL building in 22 minutes...whatever it is...I feel these are not my riding statistics..but the power,strength of my annamalai....
My brother is constantly trying to convince me to change the appearence of this machine...but I am not able to even think that way as I feel it will loose its classical appearence that it has now...but who knows "TIME is the hero..TIME moves on.." I might even change the appearence of this machine .. ANNAMALAI to ROBOT.. :)

MY THIRD.......-BENGALURU!!!!!

After so long period, I now have another thot to be shared!!!first thing is to express my condolence for the demise of my friend Vidat(who as i specified before, made me to start blogging...). I pray to god for to restore the peace back in his family.
I was in bengaluru for a short stint and again will be back to chennai by November 1st....This time its something new experience that I got in life.
For the first time I stayed away from my house and have to go with the place which has a different environment...
I felt really bad when I have to go to my work place in Bommanhalli. A flyover was under construction and daily rains have made road very bad. The traffic was highly congested and I could observe people start complaining about bengaluru's environment.I have heard through my grand mother that bengaluru the garden city was once termed as 'Pensioner's Paradise' . A heaven for the old people, as we have the ideal climatic conditions to live in.So when I heard the remarks made by the people, I had a deep thought about the same. If we can think about the present condition of this Beautiful city, we can easily conclude the reason for its bad shape is no other than the PEOPLE themselves.
For an Instance, I could observe that the people who are staying in my Apartment have more than one car and they also own two wheelers. There are 114 flats with each family having atleast one car(leave the number of two wheelers) and likewise if there are 100 apartments in a particular region of bengaluru, we can imagine the rate of vehicles that float across. Its not a digestable fact but yet this is the truth!!!
bengaluru - the IT capital of india...I am so sure that no other city in India can match the IT opportunities with this City. But this has become the major cause for the breakdown of this city's yesteryear beautiful and peaceful environment.
The IT boom has brought in lot of changes to the society. One is the migration of people from all parts of india(even i am here for the past 3 months from chennai..). I can observe that this city has started to loose its own flavour and colour to the so called cosmopolitan culture!!
I am not against to the people who have happiness in enjoying themselves going to Malls, pubs and coffee shops..but when these started to overrule the lifestyle of the home place..?????The set dosas, maddur vadas are slowly replaced by the chat foods.....Its not like I dont like chat foods or I am against people who have it...but when a place starts to loose its traditional style its in some way a dark patch in its history....I feel in general people should start to live with the nature of the place. Rather than bringing in life styles of their own states, I feel when people come to bengaluru they should start to adapt to bengaluru so that they too learn a new life style which is considered to be one of south india's ancient treasure.....
I know that this cannot be followed or made into practice within a day or month..but still even if this is followed, we have two mutual gains...One is people from other states can get to know about bengaluru and the other thing is bengaluru ALWAYS REMAINS AS bengaluru!!

THE BOSS

Cannot Wait till 14th june 2007..this is what that is lingering in my mind.....

Yesterday evening i started from CDC6(thorappakkam). My ususal route will be through Pallikkaranai(via jerusalem college of engg) and then reach tambaram. Yesterday I started to explore the other route. The stretch connecting GST road with Thorappakkam. The travel was really pleasent with my bike clocking at 110Kph.

When I reached chrompet I noticed that there will be a special show for SHIVAJI-THE BOSS on 14th june 2007 9:00 PM IST. Since I was little bit tired I decided to go to my home and take some rest. I actually decided not to get too much hurry for the tickets. As this time for SHIVAJI I felt it has gone beyond the limits to get a ticket on the first day.......

Then When I watched the CNN-IBN channel, the short sneek on rajni, I decided nothing should stop me..(oru vaati mudivu pannitta yen petcha naanay keka maaten)I started towards chromepet (VETRI theater..paera ketaala summa athiruthulla...)and when I reached there it just took only few seconds for me to hear those words "Boss shivaji ticket venuma?" ........I thot to myself
"Then what for I am here..." .Gave away 900 bucks and got 3 tickets(one for me, other for my friends..all three belong to the same rajni bandwagon). And that time I was the proud owner of the admission for the preview show where I will be one among the rajni fans who will be the first one to watch my demi-god in the screen before the others.....

The other update is fortune always favours the brave,courage and the smart.....I got one more opportunity(last time the BOSS who took me for CHANDRAMUKHI) to see THE BOSS on 15th june at GanapathyRAM theater(night show). Today Morning one of my friend called me and confirmed a ticket at Mayajaal on 15th june noon show. Worshipping in three different temples..but the BOSS remains the same......
So Three cheers!!!!!!!!!!!!

will come back with the review ..sorry with the unique experience of celebrating THE BOSS.....

My first Blog - First Wish!!!!!

Hi.
This is my first blog. I must be thankful to vidat my colleague (vidzzzzzzz.blogspot.com) for encouraging me in expressing my thoughts through blogs.
As usual, anything that is newly started needs to be dedicated or devoted to my god and so I wish to dedicate this to my god, my mom!
Whenever I think (particularly) about Motherhood, the first thought that strike my mind is SACRIFICE. The second is the DIVINITY. When I say these two I really mean them and so at times I usually feel why people could not celebrate Motherhood all through their life rather than devoting a special day.
Why In earth do we celebrate mother's day exclusively?
I feel that people have gone to think the other way round. Those who have started this must have thought that they are starting to forget the sacrifice and divinity of their Mom and to get rid of this they have started to celebrate Mother’s day.
Shouldn't we feel that it should be done all the time till we are alive?
Today in this hectic world will we be able to imagine a person who can resist all our thoughts (even if it is idiotic or sarcastic or unmeaning and whatever bad it is...) and still encourage us the way we want to be? Yes of course it is our mom. Even if she is no more, you and I will be still be driven by her blessings.
Friend I feel that sometime or other this style of living the life should come to an end.
When you have made your mind to wish for your teachers or warriors or leaders or friends it does have a meaning as because they need to remain in our memory as some of us can often forget them(due to proper replacements).
But how can we forget our mom?
I feel even feminine gender becomes divine only when it attains motherhood.
If the creator of this universe would have decided to give man- the power to give birth, then the motherhood wouldn’t have been special as each and everybody would become a mother one day(at least before death). Someone well said that “the universe was first created with natural wonders like mountains, oceans and forests. To rule them Man was created. When Man asked the creator to accompany him, the creator created Woman, who will in due course be the replica (motherhood) of the creator.”
So I wish to pray that as time goes by things need to change as we are all expected to be more civilized and sensible (sixth sense!).