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Showing posts from June, 2017
There is a lot of misunderstandings of what ABS is and what it does and more importantly, what it doesn't do. Let us discuss it with a listing of what I think are 3 facts and myths surrounding ABS and why it could save your life someday . ABS is Anti Brake-Locking System As the name implies, it prevents brake locks - the heart-stopping panicking moments of wheel locking up if we apply brake too suddenly. Brakes? Kinda are more important than the engine themselves. This can cause awesome skids which could be attractive if you are a stunt rider and are stunnting. Whereas, if you are trying to stop because you are riding head-on onto oncoming traffic; I have no clue why you would be; but that wouldn't spell good for you, so stopping the biking when you want it to stop is critical for riding. ABS is any system that prevents the wheel lock, by releasing the pressure on the brake disc, if it senses a wheel lock. This is done using motion sensors, which in turn

Can We Compromise on Engine Life? Factors to Consider

W e often state "That's a Bajaj bike, its engine wouldn't last much.." How do Some Engines last forever? While Some don't?! To state that the life of a particular brand's engine is short is berating the entire RND team's work for that particular company - Let us discuss why Why is Bajaj still in the market if their engines don't last? The overall engine life depends on multiple aspects. Every engine looses power as it runs more Kilometers . The engine life can be defined as the time period cum kilometers ran by the engine before the power loss becomes too high. The engine goes through a lot of stresses during its operation; let us call this abuse as it is inducing wear and tear constantly. Let us take Conrods for example.  These are an essential component of any engine.  They transfer the energy created during combustion to the camshaft which in turn rotates the wheels eventually. Conrods connected to the Camshaft Onl

Travel Tamil - A Collaboration for Tamil Specific Travel Vlogs

H ello readers,           Happy to inform you that my friend has started a YouTube channel dedicated to traveling and all the various aspects related to traveling, budgeting, and planning which will be done entirely in Tamil! To all my friends, who are eager to learn more please follow up on the video, and like and subscribe for more content from a fellow avid traveler collaborating with me for making contents related to motorcycles and the state of traveling :)! You can catch my friend @ Travel Tamil and stay tuned for future posts on what factors do engine life depend upon ;)! and how to prolong yours! email: harishkarthik.tk@gmail.com

How to Break-In an Old Engine after 10,000KMS and How not to Break-In a New Engine

W hen an Automobile Engine is fresh and just assembled from a factory it will have microscopic imperfections. Even when they are produced through CNC controlled machines. If an engine is run at its top performance with these imperfections, the engine would get damaged due to irregular heating. The degree of imperfections has decreased considerably after computer controlled systems; okay maybe the one brand that still makes it by hand :P And yet we can see and feel a lot of difference between a Fresh Undriven Engine from Yamaha and Bajaj. This is not just because of imperfections but because it is almost impossible to ensure 100% purity in the materials made and hence the walls of the piston are always going to have at least one spot that will have a slight microscopic imperfection pushing against the engine wall and vise verse.  The process of refining and engine by gradually grinding down these imperfections by running it is known as Engine Break-In . This not o

What is Compression Ratio...? and how is it related to High Octane Gas...?

The internet has a lot of information regarding what Compresssion Ratio means for engines. But there are very few articles that mean much to motorcycle engines and about how the CR influences the characteristic of a motorcycle. In theoretical terms, the compression ratio is the ratio of volume between the top-dead-center and bottom-dead-center.. Here are the CR for some common Indian Motorcycles: Model Wet Weight in KG Compresion Ratio KTM D390 163 12.8:1 R15 136 10.4:1 CBR 250 164 10.7:1 RE Classic 350 187 8.5:1 Avenger Cruise 155 9.5:1 What this number actually signifies is how much the air-fuel mixture gets compressed to before being ignited . That is, how much pressure would the combustion produce inside the engine. To Simplify:     More the CR, more the internal combustion pressure     More the CR, more the heat produced during combustion     More the CR, more energy is sque

5 Myths around KTM RC/Duke 390

I am a proud owner of a KTM D390 since 2016 December and have been extensively riding it for long distance touring. Recently completed a 3300kms round trip from Chennai-Goa   Pic: @alamparai fort backwaters With that as a credential, I write this article stating why some myths are just plain stupid. Stay tuned for future posts on a detailed comparison between various bikes in its class, and also across classes. To describe the D390; it is a middle-weight, sub-500cc class, nimble and a costly girlfriend who can ensure that you have a great time as long as you know to control yourself ;)! without further ado, lets jump into the myths! Myth 1: Duke/RC is Light Weight WTF is this assumption? Where does this come from? I suppose our folks would have heard some genius European/US moto-vlogger mention this. The thing is, those guys are used to superbikes which usually weigh a ton, compared to which D390 is light weight. But by Indian standards, D390 is a heavy ma