Detailed Review of the Carberry Motorcycles- Vibration Reduction Plate

Detailed Feedback

After a long discussion on the theoretical benefits of the Carberry VRPlate with my close biking community, I decided to spend the 3000-odd on the plate and put it down to some money spent in the belief that someone could engineer a good quality add-on to a UCE engine. Both for the 350 as well as the 500.

Vinod, my go-to mechanic at Kalina, helped install it in under an hour on my TB350, and the first start up and idle- itself had me nodding- 'this sounds nice.'
Here is the review after riding about 55Km around the city.

The first start- idle, itself was steady and you realise that the key ring that usually sits and jitters while idling was steady and just sat there while the bike idled. The engine sound was muted and gone was the shake at every thump. My first reaction was as if some Japanese guys worked on the engine and made it super smooth. Yes. The handle bar ends and mirrors vibrate if left free- telling you that the pipe used for the handle must be some really cheap thin pipe thickness- that the rest of the bike sits there still- worth watching.
Getting out of the Kalina area and then the SCLR traffic, I was just loving the easy engine and have never been so content riding between 40 and 60KmpH and the engine so smooth at about a sahde over 2500rpm.

Once on the Eastern Express Highway, I was remembering- bike is smooth between 60 and 90--- must see what that is about. So at the first signal, I let it fly and the honest opinion is I missed the cues--- the engine ran to 4000 in first, and then touched 5000rpm in 2, 3 and 4th- by the time I was approaching the next signal, I was praying for a red light. In disbelief, I again gunned the bike, something that sounds so awful on a stock UCE- and noted the rpm- that the vibrations were felt (almost as a rev limiter) at the 4000 and 5000 levels. The bike was at an easy 100kmph- at under 4000- possibly more like between 3500-3750 and very easy.
At low speeds the bike engine is what a delight to ride.
At higher rpms, if you like that, then you have yourself a whole new bike.

As far as a recommendation goes, i can only ask you to get the following done- oil + oil filter change at the same time- if under 10K with company stock, and if above 10k then semi- or fully synthetic oil- and BUY the plate. You will love the engine all over again.
A few things that were different from the video- the magnet did not come off as easy as they showed, and needed some force and (err- lever force) to prise it off the shaft. The Shaft had a small 'chavi' or key, that easily fell into the oil, and will make a mess of things if you dont put it back on. If the chavi position on the shaft is facing downwards, then put the kick back on the open bike, and gently push the kick down to rotate the shaft till you see the key slot on the shaft.
After that its pretty much idiot proof, and follow the instructions- removing the dowels (two of them) and then placing the 4 parts in the sequence given on the paper in the box.
Please wash the front sprocket area and lubricate your chain while at it. Please use a new gasket for sealing the case when you are done. IF changing oil, then fill after putting the case cover back. If not changing oil, then check oil level, the oil lost is minimal and you many not even need to top up- but please check the window.

Ride well- and my closing thought was - had I kept my Classic 500- oh Boy! how it would have run.
#royalenfield #carberrymotocycles#vibrationreductionplate #thunderbird350

How to run in your Royal Enfield Himalayan

After many years of riding many kinds of bikes, I finally bought a Himalayan and that was delivered on the 14th.
From my experience I wanted to write about a few basic things a new Himalayan owner should know- some stuff i could not find on the net when I picked up my bike.

1. Tire Pressure
Roads, and hard ground
SOLO- 25F 32R
PILLION- 27F 34 R
Sand and very soft mud- this is very subjective and best learnt with a lot of riding experience.
20-22F and 26-28R
Remember that bikers you see on trails in africa or the US or Europe, are often ridng with slightly low air pressure but with 4mm thick butyl tubes, which enhance the integrity of the tires and make sure that the side walls act as cushions to prevent rim damage.

2. Running in- very important
The idea behind running in is to allow the piston and the cylinder liner to get mated and the pitons rings to get pushed back and out and allow them to be 'bedded' properly.
RE recommends a top speed of 60Kmph, which runs the engine at about 3000RPM. Using this as a benchmark, the idea will be as follows-
Start the engine before you wear your helmet and gloves so that it has time to start circulating the oil that would be cold and pooled at the bottom of the crankcase.
Change gears between 2200-3000rpm and keep the bike moving.... while lowering gears every time you have a drop in momentum, or you feel the gradient has changed.
When in 5th gear, you can maintain 3000rpm, but keep varying the throttle position, and load on the engine, say by cutting the throttle to zero while coming down a bridge
Keep varying the gears and speeds while avoiding static throttle- so what would be an ideal run? If you know Mumbai city- a weekday ride from Thane to VT- would give you decent straights and a dozen flyovers and a lot of miserable bumper-to-bumper traffic so that in a distance of 60-odd Km you could not hold a steady throttle for too long, and mess up you liner.
Riding from Pune to Lonavala or Mumbai to Dhule is NOT the right way to do this- flat roads and hardly any variation in the throttle position.
This messing up happens when some larger metal particle gets caught in the cylinder space and cannot get dislodged- and causes a groove in the liner. The recommended change of oils, I have asked for one additional- and you should try this- take a fine muslin cloth and drain that oil at 200Km, and if possible spin a magnet in it for a few mins, and you will be surprised at the kind of fine metallic dust you will see. And if you dont, you can only thank yourself for checking. Total cost will be about 800-900 bucks, which with the 2L Rupee bike, is nothing for 'engine insurance.'
Now the oils- the idea of the running in is to allow the piston and the piston rings to be properly worn in. If you use synthetic oil or some really nice oil, you would be interfereing with this, and therefore its a request to stick to company oil, till atleast the 2000km run-in is complete.
Riders using Google will find alternate methods of running-in like riding full tilt, and absolutely hammering the engine- like it happens in the case of race bikes. Please remember we are not having race bikes nor does RE have metallurgists who are designing these kinds of bikes.

3. Oil Change + filter change at all three times
@200Km just to wash out any crap that may be there in the engine- this is the burrs that come off the gears and all other parts that mesh and which accumulate at the bottom due to gravity overnight.
@500Km at first service
@2000Km at second service
Use factory Liquid Gun till this 2K service. After this till 5000 you can use MOTUL that comes recommended by many across various forums, and then after 10,000 you can use fully synthetic, or whatever you want thereon.
For some reason, the first oil change is 2.3L, whereas subsequent oil changes are 'about 2L' and this is something I will figure out soon or maybe i have read something wrong.
While changing oil, always try and let the oil drain for a good 10-15 minutes after opening all drain holes and removing the air filter too. Just have patience and leave it alone.
I will look at putting in my feedback on the ride experience and as and how the bike gets treated at Service time. I invite owners to send in their comments on what we new guys/gals can watch out for.

#REH #Himalayan #RoyalEnfield #HimalayanSleet

PS- repeat there are others who talk about nikasil-coated cylinders and advanced metallurgy- apparently none of this applies to RE  as they advise the slow run-in in their owners manual. As always other view points are welcome.