I can understand the frustration Vikash must have undergone. I also came across some problems in the beginning when I brought her home in Jun 2007 (yes, already 5+ years). I was a first time bulleteer & had no clue how to tame this big cat, while I had been a successful nation-wide rider of my Bajaj Caliber in the past though. While I had already started forming an opinion that this beast is a huge trouble and nothin else, I came to realize it’s main problem is poor electrical. They have given fuses in 4 to 5 places & once they are off due to wrong & poor connections thanks to bad service people, you are stranded in the middle of the road clueless.
One bitter reality, which holds good for any two wheeler / four wheeler in India is, the ’official’ or ’company’ or ’authorized’ service stations of all these vehicles are so overloaded that they simply cheat the customers & do not carry out real servicing. Many of them don’t have good mechanics. I took her to 4 different such service stations in Mumbai & had the same experience. I just let all the free servicing to complete & took her to my old trustworthy neighborhood mechanic, who eventually did Bullets also. And ever since she is running & loving like a pet horse.
I had to go abroad soon & mostly she remains parked in our stilt. I get to come home & take care of her every 3 to 4 months say for 2 weeks & believe me, she is just a single button push or single kick start. Me & my wife on the seating & our two kids (9 & 6) on the petrol tank ferrying around our Mumbai / Navi Mumbai suburbs on our Bullet Electra 5S is a familiar sight to our folks as they fondly call us a ’Bullet family’.
The experience of sheer power & absolute comfort during long rides cannot be expressed in words here. When I purchased this bike, she was the only machine from RE stable to have left foot gear shift (though now I hear almost all are like that) & that is the reason I went for this as I was really afraid to ride anything with right foot gear shift given my Bajaj Caliber love affair in the past.
No man or woman or machine is perfect in this world. I really wish I had the real Bullet thump on this bike & the handle like the original bullet & also the emblem. While all the superficial make-ups can be performed, my honest opinion about any technical modifications is ’better avoid’. I dont believe anybody is wiser than the R&D lab technicians of a world renowned company such as Royal Enfield.
So the key is to find a good caretaker for your machine & then trust him ’fully’. Normally I have seen the Bullet passionates do not cheat the others in the same league!