hi!

we are two overlanders on old enfields, 350 and 500ccm bullets, riding from india to austria and holland.
our bikes have some troubles and could need a service, maybe we need some spareparts aswell.

list of troubles:

bearing of the stearingbar gets loosen all time
rearaxe bearings fail every 500-1000km
oil leaking between zylinderhead and engine
mainstand and sidestand troubles

almost nothing severe but we would like to fix it somewhere in iran or turkey before heading to europe.

see my homepage to get our position:
www.longwayhome.at - A dream comes true...

would be great if anybody with experience on enfields could help us!
thanks in advance, matthias & olaf

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TRy here, ( select the forum) they have lots of experience with old style Enfields

Hitchcocks Motorcycles -- Royal Enfield and Amal Parts and Kits

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Two Indian bullet clubs (there are more - Wanderers, Eastern bulls, indiethumpers etc).

These people may be able to help you regarding practical difficulties/ possible fixes

Or, contact RE!

Hi Matthias and Olaf,

Unless exhaust gas it actually coming out between the cylinder barrel and head, don't worry. Pretty much all Enfields leak a little bit from there even from new. If it is leaking gas you can either get a new gasket (get one made locally from solid copper) or lap the barrel and head together (go to an engineer shop to do it if you're not confident yourselves) and then the bikes will run fine without a head gasket.

The steering bearing looseing problem could be that the lock bolt is loose - they usually don't bother to tighten it on India. Look under the handlebar clamp on the right and you will see a large allen bolt, check that it is tight. If it isn't adjust the bearings with the large central nut and then tighten the allen bolt to lock it all up.

Rear wheel bearings shouldn't wear out like this. It sounds like the spacing may be wrong. Check that when you tighten the rear wheel up you are not clamping down on the bearings. If you are they will fail quick. To remedy just taken it along to an engineer shop with a lathe and get them to measure up and make some new spacers. The bearings should be easy to find anywhere - just check the code on the bearing (6203 I think from memory) and go to a bearing shop for new ones.

As for the stands - could be anything but probably wrong spacers and bolts used? Any good mechanic should be able to fix. You'll find that most in major places in Turkey and Iran are pretty competant.

Finally, good luck!

Cheers

Richard

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