An Afternoon Ride with Black Stallion

And t'was a good ride with Black Stallion this afternoon...

Naza Blade 250R Special Edition aka Black Stallion

I have been busy with my business travels so I hadn't had time to put up the pictures that some readers were asking for, with regards to Black Stallion after the make-up session as blogged vide the entry @ http://kawasakier6.blogspot.com/2014/09/692014-3rd-servicing-7300-km-and.html.

Well, Black Stallion went for a simple nip-and-tuck session and exited looking like a million buckaroos.

And handling has been improved tremendously after Ah Ho worked his magic on the bike. The gear change felt even better than day one when I received the bike, and the changes during shifting of gears were as smooth as a baby's bottom. Neutral to 1st gear and vice versa has always been an arse on race-inspired bikes, such as my previous Aprilia Tuono and this current Black Stallion; but this was now as easy to ride as my Kawasaki ER6F's touring gear change.

I've probably plonked in some RM2k of extras and servicing to transform this baby, but it sure was worth it. This Black Stallion could just beat any new stocked Naza Blade 250R in the looks and handling department now.

Enjoy the pictures :

10/9/2014 : Oil Change for Sym VTS 200

My elder son told me that he preferred the Sym maxi-scooter as it was bigger and he could climb onto the scooter by himself. After watching the Turbo movie, I felt that the scooter should be named Whiplash - tell me that you don't see the similarities between the two.

The mileage has just touched 9,000 km so I planned to ride Whiplash to collect Black Stallion next Monday, and to get Ah Ho to change the motor oil and install the Borsch double BM horns on the scooter. The battery (Yuasa YTX9-BX) was just changed as a preventive maintenance on 26/7/2014 so that would give peace of mind for another year of ride.

Whiplash has been a dependable and comfortable ride; and I have no doubts that she would continue to serve me well when well-cared for as per my fussy style.

NB : It turned out that there were too many bikes there for servicing, so I had to make another trip another day then.

6/9/2014 : 3rd Servicing @ 7,272 km and Installation of Goodies on Black Stallion

It's make-up time, for Black Stallion at least. In my last blog entry, I mentioned that I had some plans for Black Stallion and well, I decided to drop off Black Stallion at my regular mechanic's place for the tune-ups and upgrades.

Ah Ho's place was packed with super bikes when I got there, so I wasn't sure if he would be able to assist me today. But having been his loyal customer since I started playing with bikes of 250cc and above, he told me to leave Black Stallion with him and to pick the bike up on Monday. That meant that I couldn't go for a ride on Sunday morning; but oh well, you gotta give and take sometimes.

One of the customers there was pretty interested with the bassy aftermarket exhaust that Black Stallion was using. He had a Naza Blade 250R that was using the Twin Brothers Racing ("TBR") exhaust slip-on, but he felt that Black Stallion's had a nicer feel to it. He asked if he could check out the exhaust setup and I gave him the go-ahead.

The exhaust set-up was courtesy from another shop, and nicely resonating the V-twin fierce growl that bikers would appreciate. He asked if I would be interested to trade with his TBR exhaust and I told him that I would think about it.

The new items that would be fixed by Ah Ho on Black Stallion included the following :

1) Barracuda-style carbon fibre side mirrors with LED indicators;

2) Barracuda-style Quadra LED indicators;

3) Ermax-style tail tidy number plate bracket;

4) Borsh double BM horns;

5) Monster Energy reflective wheel liner stickers;

6) Rubber shift sock for gear;

And since I have to leave Black Stallion over the weekend at Ah Ho's place, I also asked him to do some gear tune-up and changing of motor oil on the bike; although the bike registered only 7,300 km thus far and the next servicing was actually scheduled at 9,000 km.

This was the first time that Black Stallion was to be serviced externally as the previous 1,000 km and 5,000 km servicing was done at Naza's authorised dealer as the bike was still under the 1-year or 10,000 km warranty. Now that the warranty period has lapsed, I would prefer for Ah Ho to service the bike as per what he has done for my other bikes thus far. The current mileage was 7,272 km while the next servicing was supposed to be 9,000 km i.e. 1,728km away. But since Black Stallion was there for those works, why not do it another round of servicing then?

(Note to self : With the current servicing, the next oil change would be 11,272 km.)

Oh, and since the battery was more than a year old, why not do it together?

Well, the above would cost a pretty penny but it's all worthwhile to ensure that Black Stallion continues to perform in top-form for riding safety and enjoyment. Until I get her back and update on the matter next Monday, we would just have to reminisce her through her pictures.