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30 May 2008
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An interesting little thread, thanks for the usefull comments. Especially as me and a mate are riding India built 500's from the UK to Mongolia in the summer.
I hope that we have as good reliability as you did.
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30 May 2008
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Royal Enfield
sorry for the late answer , I was away.the bike was the new generation with 5 gear and electrical starter.
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31 May 2008
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Thanks... the electrical starter was fitted to the old type engine also from about 1990. Was yours a lean burn?
How was the gearbox? the special builders use and abuse the five speed sometimes with quite large diesel engines.
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31 May 2008
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500 enfield
mine was a lean burn, regarding the gear box I had no problem and the gear were fairly well spaced. I will have enjoy a bit more power on first gear but that can be work with different sproket. The top speed 1 up was about 110KM, 2 up you could reach 100 but not very fast.
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31 May 2008
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Thanks for your clarification, and useful information.
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2 Jun 2008
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We have done around 6000 miles on our enfields. 500 lean burn electra's.
The wifes bike is still pretty vibe free, has survived a tumble and the only thing has been a snapped clutch cable at 5000 miles.seemed quite a short time to me but there you go.
Mine on the other hand is on engine number 3.The others lasted 99 and 1200
respectivly before the same thing happened.piston clip came out, destroying piston / sleeve etc.replaced motors under warranty first time and goodwill second time as outside 1 year warranty. Valve clearance closes up and needs adjusting quite frequently. 3rd motor now vibrating so bad am considering either getting crank balanced or selling the bikes - which would be a shame as hers has been no trouble. Mine however is green - so maybe there is something to unlucky green bikes.
not got alot of confidence in setting off for long distances on mine now thats for sure.
saying that they are reasonably easy to work on - even at the side of the road, which may well be important, and unbeleivably economic 80+ mpg.
There was a blog on the travellers tales, richard meyer I think - went down thru africa and then most of the way back up but needed 2 or 3 engine rebuilds along the way.You don't find many jap/other bikes needing that level of repair or maintenance...
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5 Jun 2008
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bikerz
There was a blog on the travellers tales, richard meyer I think - went down thru africa and then most of the way back up but needed 2 or 3 engine rebuilds along the way.You don't find many jap/other bikes needing that level of repair or maintenance...
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Strikes me that bike travel like everything is becoming overly techno-dependent, ie: based around a bike that will get you from dealer a to dealer b or complete the trip without requiring anything beyond some oil or maybe a chain (gasp). The upshot is that so called "travellers" don't have to concern themselves overly with the "how" of the bike anymore and bikes that need a little TLC like the Bullet put people off taking them. After posting the above reply with regards to speed I checked out the gallery - bloody hell! - now I am no longer surprised. In fact I am surprised it got around at all.
In the 19th century explorers used to take all sorts of things on expeditions including dining tables etc, everything they could possibly need. Could it be that the art of travelling light by motorcycle is being lost?
Stephen
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5 Jun 2008
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HendiKaf
mine was a lean burn, regarding the gear box I had no problem and the gear were fairly well spaced. I will have enjoy a bit more power on first gear but that can be work with different sproket. The top speed 1 up was about 110KM, 2 up you could reach 100 but not very fast.
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That seems pretty poor. My 500 with the classic motor will clock in over 80mph, not that you would want to hold it there for an extended period of time.
Stephen
you got the tools thing sorted, I take it?
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