Author Topic: The Enfield Gearbox ?  (Read 4323 times)

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wildbill

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on: November 16, 2015, 01:29:29 am
not this again...yes!  ;D I remember the first one I bought and not that long ago about or almost 3  years or by jan 016. in those days I really had trouble with the frigg'in gearboxes and the shifting and the neutrals...........oh the neutrals. they were bloody everywhere.
I'd say sometimes on my very first few rides I'd hit neutrals 10 or 20 times on that one run. usually in between 3/4 or 4/5 or sometimes anywhere followed by a loud rev. sometimes the complete opposite I'd stop and had trouble even finding the bloody neutral.
now you could say maybe your bike wasn't prepared correctly by the dealer which is probably a fair call and worth thinking about. thought crossed my mind too. now I don't really think so.
over the past year my last 3 bike all have had excellent gear boxes. now you can't say they were dealer prepared well as one had a spongy front disc and a over tightened steering head bearing...lol
what I can say from past experience on the black/chrome and this camo so far I never have hit a false neutral or either bike. plus there have been quite a few time when I have changed gears and I've thought - shit I've missed that one and we all know the feeling -not so! into gear and problem free.
the new bikes or the ones I have ridden lately have the best gear changes by far. I was a bit jealous of the continental gt when I had it. after getting off a C5 with a problem gear changer the GT had a bloody good box. best box ever...pity the bike only lasted 350 klm...lol
but now I don't miss that changer. these bikes now change and change well. good and positive and I am not down by the side of the clutch housing trying to adjust that friggin cable ;) then up by the clutch lever thinking -did did he say 3mm or 5mm of slack  ::)
now I want to know from the mechanical mined seeing I am not mechanical minded could there be an improvement in the gears/clutch whatever or have I struck 3 good bikes in a row ;D


Ducati Scotty

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Reply #1 on: November 16, 2015, 02:50:12 am
I think your bad one was the exception. 


Rattlebattle

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Reply #2 on: November 16, 2015, 11:15:03 am
Both the CGT I test ride and my own C5 have nice gear changes. I've never found a false neutral nor has it jumped out of gear. I found initially that I was using more pressure on the pedal than was necessary. I find the old BMW riders' trick works best on most gearboxes; lightly preload the gear lever before just dipping the clutch a little and don't close the throttle much if at all. It's just as well the gear change is so good because if it had the awful Albion copy fitted to the pre unit ones the high tickover would produce an even nastier change.
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Narada

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Reply #3 on: November 16, 2015, 03:19:10 pm
My 2015 C5 has been perfect.  My only problem is when I shift up and don't allow the shift lever to fully return. It won't shift again until you do. 

That's just bad shifting on my part. I'm getting better with that it almost never happens anymore.
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ToesNose

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Reply #4 on: November 16, 2015, 03:25:51 pm
1,000 miles and only one false, shifting has been quite precise.
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Carlsberg Wordsworth

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Reply #5 on: November 16, 2015, 08:21:08 pm
I think I've got tuned into my B5 gearbox now and missed selections are few and far between, usually me forgetting to preload.


pmanaz1973

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Reply #6 on: November 16, 2015, 09:16:29 pm
My 2014 C5 shifts smooth as butter.  My buddy complains about his 2012 C5 and the false neutrals he gets.   I've ridden his bike many times and it shifts just fine; he won't let me move his shift lever up or down...glutton for punishment that one is.

I think a deliberate shifting technique helps quite a bit.   
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Rattlebattle

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Reply #7 on: November 16, 2015, 10:43:07 pm


I think a deliberate shifting technique helps quite a bit.

It certainly helps but the UCE gearbox is a long way from being a bad gearbox; mine is light and precise and a delight to use. Maybe your friend positions his foot in such a way that the selector mechanism cannot centralise for the next change?
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wildbill

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Reply #8 on: November 16, 2015, 11:02:28 pm
now that's a problem when you have had too many bikes - you have trouble keeping track of them. two years back when the neutrasl were running rampant on the forum - go back and check the archives we tried all sorts of things to try to get them to slip into gear better.
even removing the shifter and placing one or two washers on the shaft itself to help pull the shaft closer and tighter to help engage the mechanism better ;)
did it work. well I think it helped some ;D I tried it myself...lol


Scotty Brown

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Reply #9 on: November 25, 2015, 05:42:26 am
I use just a few ounces of Marvel  mystery oil with every change.  My gearbox has worked extremely well since the first oil change.  2013 C5 --Also have used it in Yamaha TW with similar results.  Good stuff ~!


malky

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Reply #10 on: November 25, 2015, 11:41:20 am
Anything after the 4speed box is a luxury, though I miss the neutral selector. The 5 speed on mine is as slick and positive as any Japanese bike, and no false neutrals, maybe I'm lucky.
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AmBraCol

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Reply #11 on: November 25, 2015, 12:35:20 pm
The only issue I've had on the Rumbler (same engine/gearbox as the Classic series) is that it has a "heel - toe" shift lever. That's a good thing, for the most part.  My problem is that my wife's little Honda Biz100 scooter has the same type of shift lever. After 10 years of occasionally riding the little scooter, the brain circuitry has been burned into "down is up" and "up is down" - which is how I've taught myself how to do the sift pattern on it.  1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th gears are all down, just like 1st on the Enfield.  This means, of course, that using one's heel to tap the rear of the shift lever moves to a lower gear.  Riding the Enfield is, of course, the reverse of this. I've managed to go from 2nd to 1st or 3rd to 4th a time or two.  It's quite a wakeup call to start to release the clutch and have the revs zoom UP instead of bubbling down to lower RPM's.  No harm, no foul, just pop in the clutch again and tap the shift lever in the right direction twice.

When I do MY part, the gear box works great!
Paul

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