Bullet electra 5s -after a year !!!. Review on Bullet Electra

Trying to do justice to people who check out reviews before going for the buy a product. I am a proud owner of bullet electra 5s - silver.spent around 1 lac ( including extra fittings..) on the purchase. I have already written a review about the bike in mouthshut.

Now this review is a reality check. Afetr riding my bike for over 3 & half months (around 7k kms ) I have found out few sweet n bitter facts.

Gud things first-

• It still is the king on road.people dare to cross the road soon after hearing the thumping sound even if you are way far.

-Even cabs & auto guys doesn't try to cut you or do a dangerous overtake ( one good thing in Banglore traffic )

• Long distance riding comfort is amazing. when I say long distance..you can consider 100-150 kms with a break of 5-10 mins in BTW.

  
  




• you can cruise effortlessly at speed of 80 kmph ( thtz the best riding speed of bullet) . no vibrations nothing.

  
  




• its got thumping sound which even the thunderbird or machismo owners envy. I have seen thunderbirds fitted with short silencers for that sound. well the credit goes to the cast iron engine ..

  
  

Every product has pro's and con's. so here comes the bitter side of the story

1st let me list the problems I faced within 3 months of purchase

1.Air filter welding had to be done ( 1st service)

2.wheel alignment gone and wheel throwing was done.( 1st service)

3.head gasket got bust and had to be replaced under warranty ( days before 3rd service) .

4.rear brake switch stopped functioning and had to be replaced under warranty ( after 2nd service)

5.Gear shifting is very hard.downshifting is not efficient.if you have happen to apply sudden break and down shift from 5th great to say.. 2nd gear ..forget about it. coz with pressing clutch.. it simply refuses to downshift. need to come to 4th gear, then release the clutch lever.again press clutch lever n come to 3rd.. like that. in city limits and traffic its a PAIN

6.The front foot rest's connecting rod in between is not of hard iron.its aluminium and gets bent and needs to be replaced if bikes foot rest hits the road divider.. or if bike falls sideways ( rare chances ).

7.the center stand touches ground when ever bike encounters small road pits/humps.its due to shock adjustment or fitting of center stand is not proper.

8.clutch cable got cut once after 3rd free service.apparently the service guys had made it bit tight.(bad servicing :( )

9.For normal indian male hight ( I am 5.9") seat is bit hight.say 1 inch.so everytime I stop my bike in traffic, I balance the bike with one leg and the whole weight of bike ( 170 kg) falls on my leg.which is v bad. I am planning to reduce the seat height for this reason.

Over all I don't regret buying this heavy maintenance beanfeast I wanted to own one..

But when you spend around 1 lac, and a bike which has such a good track record.i never imagined to spend 10-15 visits to service station.

After all its not even 4 months old bike.and I was expecting it to be trouble free for at least 1 year. Mileage wise its giving around 25kms..because I tend to hold clutch a lot since the gear shifting is not smooth.so until I am confident the shift has happened I wont release the clutch.

Ask any genuine bullet mechanic, he will tell that the 'dum' in old bullets is not in new bullets.

I think the below factors are the reason for the downfall.

1) The new management "Eicher group" is not doing enough quality checking before delivering

the bikes

2) Demand for bullet is high nowadays, so the manufacturing is more bulk(quantity) oriented and not quality oriented

3) the free servicing is not up to standards/mark ( after 2nd free service , they didn't even bothered to wipe my bike before delivering it..which accounts for serious customer dissatisfaction )

4) Everyone tend to say that - ' these are minor problems with bullet as it takes time to understand the bike etc.' but my opinion is - "when they have used so much technology and research , these minor probles account for major over sighting on the quality of the product and am sure this will spread from mouth to mouth..which I fear will kill the legend :( "..

5) I had mailed to royal infield customer service with all the problems and got no response ( though the website says it will be addressed within 48 hrs )

I am waiting for the 4th free service to get over so that I can get my bike serviced with a specialist in banglore or Mysore and get all the problems rectified.

I will update my tryst with my bullet in my future reviews.** The content presented above is from my own experience and has nothing to do with dampening or hurting any brand or persons sentiments or feeling.

Regards

Chandan