Author Topic: My Royal Enfield  (Read 18521 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

young gun

  • Bulleteer
  • ***
  • Posts: 218
  • Karma: 0
on: March 19, 2013, 11:12:31 am
Hi,

I'm a big marine reefer, I own quite a few Marine tanks and I moderate on a South Africa forum. On that board, we have a section where people create a thread for their tank/s, its a good way to introduce themselves and post any additions, disasters or changes that happen to their tank, any updates happen there. There doesn't seem to be a sub forum for that here so I'll just post here :)

Anyways, I introduced myself awhile back, I am a proud owner of a 2007 Royal Enfield Bullet 500 Iron Barrel. It's a bit of bitter sweet, I wanted a vintage bike and I got it, however the performance could be, and I was expecting, a bit better. SA highways unfortunately are unforgiving on the slow and the back roads are unforgiving on everyone! We have one of the highest road death rates in the world so you definately need to have your wits about you.

That being said, its something i'm happy to live with as the bike is a pretty thing and nothing this pretty is without its drawbacks :) So if I can eek out a few more km/h i'll be a happy camper.

So, I have done a bit research (and thanks Ace for your fantastic contributions! they have been very informative) and I have realised what needs to be done in order to eek out a few more torques from the engine. Basically what we have is an engine that likes low revs and in order to make the bike faster while, keeping reliability, we need to make the bang bigger and more powerful which would move the bike and I forward at a faster pace without putting excessive strain on the crank.

Saying all this, I dont want to dismantle anything just yet so in the next few weeks i'll be looking at placing an order with Hitchcocks and it'll be the basic 1 stage upgrade. A freer flowing pipe, replace the air filter, bigger jet on the carb and a bigger sprocket. I'm hoping that these upgrades should give me another 10 - 15kmh in which case i'll be happy. Hitchcocks suggest I use a 175mm main jet for Silencer I want to purchase, can anybody confirm this? Also as far as I have read, the PAV system on my bike doesnt take away from my performance, is this correct?

Ace I would like to look at the air filter you sell, where would I be able to get pricing on this?



« Last Edit: March 19, 2013, 11:25:57 am by young gun »


young gun

  • Bulleteer
  • ***
  • Posts: 218
  • Karma: 0
Reply #1 on: March 19, 2013, 11:24:50 am
Oh and what does this pipe do? Right now its just floating around, doing as far as I can see, a whole bunch of nothing?


ERC

  • Grand Gearhead
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,810
  • Karma: 0
Reply #2 on: March 19, 2013, 12:31:40 pm
I'd go with what Hitchcocks suggests.  ERC
2-57 Apaches, 2-57 Trailblazers, 60 Chief, 65 Interceptor, 2004 Bullet, 612 Bullet chopped.


ace.cafe

  • Grand Gearhead
  • *****
  • Posts: 14,457
  • Karma: 1
  • World leaders in performance/racing Bullets
Reply #3 on: March 19, 2013, 12:45:27 pm
Those mods you suggest are fine to do, but I wouldn't count on them increasing your cruising speeds any. You might get just a couple more mph for cruising speed, but it isn't a solution for that.
The problem is not that the Bullet can't reach the higher speeds. It can reach pretty near 80 mph at top speed.
But it is the long term cruising speeds which kill it.

Every Bullet owner faces this issue, and it's been going on for over 50 years.
If there was an easy cure for it, then we would all know about it.
Don't exceed the recommended cruising speeds for any length of time other than short bursts for a few minutes at most. You can pass traffic or do other maneuvers which might require going near top speed at times. But just slow back down to the recommended speeds for cruising.

To get faster cruising speeds, much more modification must be done, and that is costly.

The tube you show in the photo is a vent tube, and you can remove it if you want to, but don't plug that hole in the carb if you take it off.

The PAV system doesn't really harm performance, but it doesn't help it any either. All it really does is add another place in the intake system to get an air leak problem.

Regarding the "175" main jet, that doesn't sound right to me for a Bullet equipped with a Mikarb. You might want to check the listing again. It might be for another different carburetor.

« Last Edit: March 19, 2013, 12:54:18 pm by ace.cafe »
Home of the Fireball 535 !


young gun

  • Bulleteer
  • ***
  • Posts: 218
  • Karma: 0
Reply #4 on: March 19, 2013, 01:09:22 pm
Apologies ace that should read 117,5 (I think)

Here's a screengrab from hitchcocks..


ace.cafe

  • Grand Gearhead
  • *****
  • Posts: 14,457
  • Karma: 1
  • World leaders in performance/racing Bullets
Reply #5 on: March 19, 2013, 01:19:18 pm
What is your elevation above sea level?
Home of the Fireball 535 !


Darvin Jahnke

  • Scooter
  • **
  • Posts: 35
  • Karma: 0
Reply #6 on: March 19, 2013, 01:30:00 pm
It sounds like you bought the wrong tool for the job you're trying to do. You can't make a racehorse out of a packmule. If you need a bike for sustained high speed,a long stroke single is not the answer. You can throw a lot of money and effort at it and still not be happy with the result.


ace.cafe

  • Grand Gearhead
  • *****
  • Posts: 14,457
  • Karma: 1
  • World leaders in performance/racing Bullets
Reply #7 on: March 19, 2013, 01:33:33 pm
It sounds like you bought the wrong tool for the job you're trying to do. You can't make a racehorse out of a packmule. If you need a bike for sustained high speed,a long stroke single is not the answer. You can throw a lot of money and effort at it and still not be happy with the result.


Actually, you can make a race horse out of it, but it might be out of his budget range to do so.
It won't be a race horse without significant modifications. But it can be done, and it can be quite a fast and reliable machine when done right. And that costs quite a bit of money to do.
Home of the Fireball 535 !


young gun

  • Bulleteer
  • ***
  • Posts: 218
  • Karma: 0
Reply #8 on: March 19, 2013, 01:52:10 pm
Lol, Darvin Jahnke i'm not looking to do 180km/h but I dont think 95 - 105 kph is a unreasonable request ;)

Right now the bike is willing but I am a bit nervous to push it over 90 until I have taken off some of the restrictions off ie restricted pipe, dodgy air filter etc, its just making the bike work harder when it doesn't need to.

So no, i'm not looking for a racehorse, im pretty happy with what I have.

Ace my elevation is 1741 meters :)
« Last Edit: March 19, 2013, 02:02:16 pm by young gun »


ace.cafe

  • Grand Gearhead
  • *****
  • Posts: 14,457
  • Karma: 1
  • World leaders in performance/racing Bullets
Reply #9 on: March 19, 2013, 02:07:37 pm
Lol, Darvin Jahnke i'm not looking to do 180km/h but I dont think 95 - 105 kph is a unreasonable request ;)

Right now the bike is willing but I am a bit nervous to push it over 90 until I have taken off some of the restrictions off ie restricted pipe, dodgy air filter etc, its just making the bike work harder when it doesn't need to.

So no, i'm not looking for a racehorse, im pretty happy with what I have.

Ace my elevation is 1741 meters :)

For that elevation, probably the 117.5 would be okay, but I'd also get a 120 just in case.
Your situation is one of the few which don't require much richer jetting, due to your elevation.
You can also add a few degrees of timing advance with your elevation too. And you could benefit from some increased compression, because the thin air at your altitude causes lower working compression than the Bullets at sea level.
Your horsepower is probably at least 10% less than a comparable Bullet at sea level because of altitude.

BTW, I would not include 105kph in your goals to achieve with this bike for cruising.
I would use 100kph as max, and use that only occasionally.
It's not a matter of what anybody might consider a "reasonable request". That is immaterial to the situation. It is all about what the bike can withstand. If the engine blows up, it doesn't matter at all how "reasonable" you thought your "request" was.

Also, check your speedo accuracy with a friend in a car, or use a GPS to verify the speedo. Most of the Enfield speedometers read high, and it can vary from a few kph high, to even10-15kph high.

In the end, we are just making suggestions, and you have to make your own decisions about what you do.
Just remember that we are not arbitrarily making these recommendations, and there is plenty of history with this bike to support our recommendations.
« Last Edit: March 19, 2013, 02:23:04 pm by ace.cafe »
Home of the Fireball 535 !


young gun

  • Bulleteer
  • ***
  • Posts: 218
  • Karma: 0
Reply #10 on: March 19, 2013, 02:32:22 pm
For sure, that's why I'm on the forum :)

Right now 90 on the Bullet is 80 on the GPS so yes, 10km/h out.


barenekd

  • Grand Gearhead
  • *****
  • Posts: 5,516
  • Karma: 0
Reply #11 on: March 19, 2013, 05:26:52 pm
The thing about cruising speeds up to 105 kmp is that the old iron barrel crankshaft bearing just will not handle it. If you need performance in this range, for the life of the engine, you need a new crankshaft rod and bearing. Htis is hat expensive that Ace is talking about.
The 19 hp shown on the Hitchcock's chart is just about what a new UCE puts out. They have the power to eke out the cruising speed you're looking, but they also have the roller bearing crankshaft, and a far superior oiling system. The top speed on them is still below 85mph, so to go faster then you need more money to do the top end of the engine to muster more horsepower. It requires about 30 rwhp to do the ton, so if you are looking for that kind of speed, that's the minimum power you need!
Bare
2013 Moto Guzzi V7 Racer
2011 Black Classic G5 (RIP)
I refuse to tiptoe through life only to arrive safely at death
http://www.controllineplans.com


young gun

  • Bulleteer
  • ***
  • Posts: 218
  • Karma: 0
Reply #12 on: March 19, 2013, 06:14:39 pm
Yeah I'm going to need to think about this...I need practical, 80 - 90kph is not practical in my world unfortunately. Guess I need to look at some of the UCE bikes.
« Last Edit: March 19, 2013, 06:29:27 pm by young gun »


young gun

  • Bulleteer
  • ***
  • Posts: 218
  • Karma: 0
Reply #13 on: March 24, 2013, 08:15:39 am
So I'm gonna keep this bike for awhile yet. Ill be doing the standard mods and see where it leaves me :)


cafeman

  • Grand Gearhead
  • *****
  • Posts: 567
  • Karma: 0
Reply #14 on: March 24, 2013, 12:40:20 pm
The biggest issue is probably learning "discipline" when riding one of these bikes. Coming from riding fast sportbikes for the last 10+ years and now riding a Bullet as my only bike means I have some serious reprogramming to go through again. But this is what I wanted to do, and I know full well what my Bullet requires and simply will not put up with. My scenario is not unique. Practicing discipline, or better yet "restraint" applies to anyone riding one of these bikes. When you have roads of all sorts around you where you can pick and choose to ride the "bike in it's element" and not being tempted to push things too much is one thing, but being amidst fast roads and the hustle and bustle as your only real choice sounds like tempting fate at any given moment and a recipe for disaster.  Sounds like your on the right track though with the standard mods, maybe do drive sprocket changes, and then think about the money needed to beef up the internals later....good luck :)