[Travelon]

Hi Everyone.
I'm new the the forum and new to riding RE's. To start with, I'd like to thank all of you for posting your problems, solutions and general comments on Royal Enfields because it sure has helped me a lot to understand them better and it motivated me towards my purchase of a 2015 B5 this May. Since then I've put 2500 miles on the bike - 2500 happy miles!

Sure, there have been a few minor issues but nothing that couldn't be easily taken care of, mostly adjustments that were expected thanks to you all. The negative battery terminal was vibrating against the frame of the bike so put a piece of rubber behind the battery to bring it out a bit - problem solved. The brake rod was vibrating against the muffler bracket - easy fix. Stuff like that.

The one thing that had me puzzled was that I could never see oil in the sight glass even following the owners manual method for checking it. Since the bike is new, all the oil changes have been done by the dealer (love the dealer) so just had to trust that the oil level was correct. Today while laying on the ground with a flash light and once again looking for any signs of oil in the engine, I decided to add just a little oil at a time to the crankcase to see if I could tell a difference. Bingo! All of a sudden after adding about an ounce of oil it showed up in the sight glass plain as day!  I'll speak the the dealer next time I'm there but I'm thinking that they just measure in the correct amount of oil and it's just short of showing up in the glass. Took the bike out for a 30 mile ride and rechecked when I got home and was happy to see the oil level between the marks on the case.

Just another happy Enfield owner. 

[johno]

glad to hear you are enjoying your B5, I have around 10,000 miles on my 2012 version.
and loved every mile (apart from when the drive chain snapped!)
I found when checking the oil the bike needs to be parked in the same place every time to get a consistant, if not accurate level.

[Travelon]

glad to hear you are enjoying your B5, I have around 10,000 miles on my 2012 version.
and loved every mile (apart from when the drive chain snapped!)
I found when checking the oil the bike needs to be parked in the same place every time to get a consistant, if not accurate level.

Thank you for the reply Johno. Wow, that's a lot of happy miles on your 2012!  I've never had a drive chain snap and hope it never happens to me. Hopefully you weren't hurt when it broke, as I've heard horror stories concerning broken chains. I'm not too concerned about absolute oil levels as long as I can tell there is oil in the crankcase, which I couldn't before I added that little extra. I am curious about chain tension on the bike. Most of the bikes I've had before seemed to require a lot less slack in them than the RE does. I've always heard that too tight a chain causes wear but the same for too slack a chain. Can you give me your thoughts on correct chain tension on the RE?
Travelon

[Ice]

 Welcome Travelon and congrats on your Bullet !

 

[johno]

The chain needs a fair bit of slack when static, so when weighted by rider etc the tension is taken up with enough in reserve for the movement of the swingarm.
the handbook states play in the centre of the chain on the top run should be 25-30mm ( 1"-1 1/4")
I found poorly surfaced roads the chain was being stressed, so I set mine to 40mm (1 3/4")
I measure mine against the swing-arm.

The chain that parted company was a new one with less than 1000 miles on it, one of the side-plates snapped, the chain guard did its job and took the brunt of the force, expelling the chain out the rear like a long bullet, the driver in the following car was a bit shocked! The bike and myself were fine and were later recovered to our destination...it's all part of the adventure.
The chain went back to manufacture for investigation and was found to be the 1 in million that was faulty...just my luck 
I now have a heavy duty D.I.D. chain fitted

[Travelon]

Welcome Travelon and congrats on your Bullet !

Thank you for the welcome Ice. I'm loving the bullet and also having access to this forum for the information that I sorely need. I've always done a lot of the mechanic work on my bikes (mostly Japanese) so this is a bit of a switch and am enjoying the help of fellow RE owners.

[Travelon]

The chain needs a fair bit of slack when static, so when weighted by rider etc the tension is taken up with enough in reserve for the movement of the swingarm.
the handbook states play in the centre of the chain on the top run should be 25-30mm ( 1"-1 1/4")
I found poorly surfaced roads the chain was being stressed, so I set mine to 40mm (1 3/4")
I measure mine against the swing-arm.

The chain that parted company was a new one with less than 1000 miles on it, one of the side-plates snapped, the chain guard did its job and took the brunt of the force, expelling the chain out the rear like a long bullet, the driver in the following car was a bit shocked! The bike and myself were fine and were later recovered to our destination...it's all part of the adventure.
The chain went back to manufacture for investigation and was found to be the 1 in million that was faulty...just my luck 
I now have a heavy duty D.I.D. chain fitted

Thanks very much Johno for that great explanation on the chain! I was totally forgetting about the change in chain\sprocket geometry from when I adjust it while on the centre stand till it's on the ground with my 68 year old butt on the saddle. Never thought about road conditions either but luckily they're pretty good around here.  Also thanks for your run-down on the chain "adventure" that you had. Ride safe and enjoy!

[suitcasejefferson]

Welcome. The Enfield will not have enough oil in it when you first change it, unless you did what I did, and figure out how much it really takes. You can fill it up to the top of the sight glass when changing it, then after a ride and letting it sit overnight, there will be no oil in the sight glass. I had to top up mine twice after changing the oil. So now I basically overfill it according to the sight glass, but after a couple of days, the level drops to normal.

[JVS]

Congrats! Enjoy your bike, and ride safe 

[heloego]

Congrats on the B5, Travelon!
Kinda fun, ain't it? 

[Travelon]

Welcome. The Enfield will not have enough oil in it when you first change it, unless you did what I did, and figure out how much it really takes. You can fill it up to the top of the sight glass when changing it, then after a ride and letting it sit overnight, there will be no oil in the sight glass. I had to top up mine twice after changing the oil. So now I basically overfill it according to the sight glass, but after a couple of days, the level drops to normal.

Thanks for the tip suitcase.  I'm learning!

[Travelon]

Congrats! Enjoy your bike, and ride safe 

Thanks jvs it's a sweet ride and I'm content!

[Travelon]

Congrats on the B5, Travelon!
Kinda fun, ain't it? 

Thank you heloego. This is great and the most fun I've ever had on two wheels ! The RE is made for the way I ride!!

[krimp]

Don't forget to lubricate your chain on a regular basis. Also, buy some blue thread locking compound and go through as much of your bike as you can. And don't forget to change the battery terminals as soon as possible, they are due to break any time now. Mine broke somewhere around the 2500 mile mark.

[The Old Coot]

And don't forget to change the battery terminals as soon as possible, they are due to break any time now. Mine broke somewhere around the 2500 mile mark.

I made 750 miles before mine broke. It's a simple upgrade to use a 10g ring on the both the  negative and positive post.