[Lefty52]

Hello all,

I've just put a deposit on an 06 Sixty-5,(it's brand new) and I'm very excited!  I'm sure this question has been asked before, so please forgive me in advance. What upgrades/performance options do I go for? I'll want to spend about $600.00 over the winter months and I'd like to get advice from those of you who've made upgrades and are happy with them.

[Foggy_Auggie]

Get the sidestand right out of the Classic Motorworks book.  I'm using part #Z90103.

The Oil Change Kit.  Five oil filters and gaskets #Z90053.

Tune Up Kit - points, condenser and spark plug #Z90723.

Carb intake Turbulator #Z90877.

Top Dead Center timing tool #Z90710.

Ignition point file #Z90703.

Spoke key #Z90981.

Mini-Feeler Gauge #Z90704.

Royal Enfield Parts & Accessories (Classic Motorworks) catalog.

Shop manual of choice.

I believe the above are necessary items for normal servicing and riding.  And way below your total budget!

Follow break - in instructions religiously in your owners manual.  After break-in think real hard about any modifications.  The Sixty-5 is a great bike as it is.  Modifications require more maintenance and more money in the long run.

Keep the rubber side down!

Regards, Foggy

[Bullet500Dude]

Hi ya Lefty !   Welcome to this insanity I call Royal Enfield.  Well, foggy mentioned is all thats really needed.  Please don't get all involved in making performance modifications !   You will have alot of work on your hands getting things correct, and spend big bucks.  I went through all that crap, and now am saving money to put mine back to basicly stock.  Just put on a long header/short silencer, rejett the carb, high volume English oilpumps, some heavy cluch springs, and an 18 tooth countershaft sprocket.

                  Take CARE, be BAD ;-) and ride SAFE...... D.B.

[Lefty52]

Thanks guy's,
These suggestions are wonderful. I'm new to the motorcycle world, having purchased my first bike,a 1974 Suzuki GT185, this summer. I got the bug bad and now I want to move up to the RE. I'm 55 and I love the retro look.
I must say that reading the posts here leaves me somewhere between heaven and hell. I can turn a wrench, but am I good enough for a Bulllet? I don't have a garage, but I do have a warm place for winter storage.
The posts on break-in do's and don'ts are stagering. Do I ride her home from the dealer(25 miles of country roads)?
Any further advice, suggestions or myths you'd like to pass on will be read with great interest.
Thanks again,
Lefty

[gapl53]

Welcome to the fold Lefty,
Sure you can ride home from the dealer. Make sure that they go over the bike WITH you and whatever you don't understand ask them about. Remember there is never a dumb question!
Whenever I pick up a new machine from the dealer and before I ride it home, I always take the time to look through the owners manual. I look for anything that I might have a question about and I read about the break-in procedure. The first 300 miles are critical in a air cooled motorcycle engine, this is because of the heat generated. Too much heat and you will harm parts, so follow the recommended break-in. The factory spends a lot of time coming up with these guidelines.
This all means that with a brand new Bullet Classic you will need to stay below 40mph on your ride home, without getting run over by other traffic. So pick your route home carefully and enjoy they are a really special machine as you will find out.

[Thumper]

The posts on break-in do's and don'ts are stagering. Do I ride her home from the dealer(25 miles of country roads)?
Any further advice, suggestions or myths you'd like to pass on will be read with great interest.
Thanks again,
Lefty

After receiving break-in advise from the dealer, I would suggest that you go to the engine break-in or run-in section of your new Owner's Manual and read what it has to say. It's very brief and specific. Further, if there's a discrepancy between what the dealer says and what the manual says, *I* would go with the manual. After all, it is the manufacturer's recommendation, and warranty *is* a consideration.

Some people (like me) are very anal about a strict break-in. Others who are more 'flexible' have done just fine.

The things to watch out for (aside from monitoring your road speed per mfr recommendations) is to vary the throttle position, do not lug the engine by riding in too high a gear, do not over-rev the engine by riding in too low a gear, do not overload the engine with a passenger or by climbing long upgrades.

[Sam]

Well, have fun with it!

While I'm relatively new to the current generation of Enfields (the 50's model I had some decades ago doesn't count), I'm pretty well acquainted with making old technology engines work well.

I won't bore you with my radical approach to break in, which involves following the manufacturer's recommendations and managing heat cycles in a conservative manner (told you it was radical. None of this "fast break-in, fast bike" nonesense.)

I have a new-to-me sixty 5; here's what I'm doing.

Replacing the exhaust with the classic exhaust; the comes-with is apparently solid inside. Although it's the size of a locomotive boiler, it behaves about like a piece of wood. It chuffs like a steam engine. I can't stand it.

I slipped on a K&N, but I'm not sure it's really necessary, the OEM air box looks like it can be tweaked to breath pretty well and looks very cool. More on that later.

Re-jetting to work with the breathing changes, of course.

7" headlight, just because it looks better.

Different seat; the OEM is actually pretty decent, but what the heck.

Pulled off the catch can, let the breather vent to the world. There are lots of solutions to that, including a nice kit sold by CMW to vent the breather to the oil tank.

Removed the jumper in the headlight shell so the lights can actually be turned off. No particular reason, other than a retro-lust for things as they were before the motorcycle design engineers in Congress got into the act. What's that you say? There aren't any engineers in Congress? That's a different rant.

I think it's gonna stay like that for a while, at least unitl the big-bore bug bites, aside from cosmetic issues. I'm going to re-paint a tank with the screw cap over the winter because I like the screw cap better than the flip cap, but that's just a personal quirk, hardly a necessary or performance item. I've got an electronic ignition sitting on the shelf that might or might not make its way on.

Personally, I think the turbulator is snake oil, if it did anything useful we'd find it OEM someplace. There's plenty of turbulance now what with a big ol' piston churning up and down and all that other stuff. Some swear buy, it, and it's cheap, so have fun.

[Foggy_Auggie]

Well, have fun with it!


Personally, I think the turbulator is snake oil, if it did anything useful we'd find it OEM someplace. There's plenty of turbulance now what with a big ol' piston churning up and down and all that other stuff. Some swear buy, it, and it's cheap, so have fun.

I thought the Turbulator would be snake oil also (in the Dark Ages I built racing engines) but after fiddling with dive and flat spots in acceleration and at cruise, I installed the cheap and easy Turbolator.  It is now smooth at all RPM ranges.  Semi-blueprinting the carb didn't fix the flat spots - the Turbulator did.

This is probably an individual issue with each bike.  The all are individuals due to production tolerances.

Regards, Foggy

[jonapplegate]

Sidestand? Are you serious?  sorry too get back too you so late. I am new to this motorcycle thing but I am not new to this hi-po thing. Seems like the motorcycle boys are living in thee dark ages, Ya thats right, I said THEE DARK AGES. As an old muscle-car owner I would suggest building up your bottom end and oil supply first. Then, Go with the big bore kit, Alloy of course' cams, big exhaust. You will be rockin' and rollin' like no ones business!~

Long live modern MODS!   

[Thumper]

Sidestand? Are you serious?  sorry too get back too you so late. I am new to this motorcycle thing but I am not new to this hi-po thing. Seems like the motorcycle boys are living in thee dark ages, Ya thats right, I said THEE DARK AGES. As an old muscle-car owner I would suggest building up your bottom end and oil supply first. Then, Go with the big bore kit, Alloy of course' cams, big exhaust. You will be rockin' and rollin' like no ones business!~

Long live modern MODS!   

I bought a Bullet precisely so I could live in the dark ages, thank you very much!

[hutch]

Well, have fun with it!


Personally, I think the turbulator is snake oil, if it did anything useful we'd find it OEM someplace. There's plenty of turbulance now what with a big ol' piston churning up and down and all that other stuff. Some swear buy, it, and it's cheap, so have fun.

I thought the Turbulator would be snake oil also (in the Dark Ages I built racing engines) but after fiddling with dive and flat spots in acceleration and at cruise, I installed the cheap and easy Turbolator.  It is now smooth at all RPM ranges.  Semi-blueprinting the carb didn't fix the flat spots - the Turbulator did.

This is probably an individual issue with each bike.  The all are individuals due to production tolerances.

Regards, Foggy

Foggy, I agree with you on the turbulater. After installing them on several other bikes a couple of years back I was sold. When I put one in my Classic there was a big difference in throttle response, as in the bars now want to jump out of my hand as if I were speed shifting. I am running a stock air box because I like the look. They might not work for everybody, but they have every time for me, on every type bike.    Hutch

[Sam]

Sidestand? Are you serious?  sorry too get back too you so late. I am new to this motorcycle thing but I am not new to this hi-po thing. Seems like the motorcycle boys are living in thee dark ages, Ya thats right, I said THEE DARK AGES. As an old muscle-car owner I would suggest building up your bottom end and oil supply first. Then, Go with the big bore kit, Alloy of course' cams, big exhaust. You will be rockin' and rollin' like no ones business!~

Long live modern MODS!   

Wouldn't that kind of blow his budget of $600? the 535 jug & slug would eat up most of that (although that's probably a worth while mod). Add in cams and exhaust and you're sneaking up on a grand. I'm not sure I'd go with high capacity oil pumps right off the bat, either; they put more stress on a part that's already stressed, and the bottom end doesn't seem to be a trouble spot. I think some muscle car dogma might not transfer. We're dealing with rolling element bearings for the most part, and the BMEP is pretty low no matter what we do.

The 8.5:1 piston at a little under $300 might be well worth while, though.

[Foggy_Auggie]

Sidestand? Are you serious?  sorry too get back too you so late. I am new to this motorcycle thing but I am not new to this hi-po thing. Seems like the motorcycle boys are living in thee dark ages, Ya thats right, I said THEE DARK AGES. As an old muscle-car owner I would suggest building up your bottom end and oil supply first. Then, Go with the big bore kit, Alloy of course' cams, big exhaust. You will be rockin' and rollin' like no ones business!~

Long live modern MODS!   

I used to build racing Mopar "B" blocks and Hemi's in the 60's Dark Ages.  Completely different analogy and ambiance in comparing a Royal Enfield to any other modern bike sold today.

If you want to go faster and mod get a new muscle bike.  A Suzuki Hyabusa will top out at almost 190 mph top end and do 10 second quarter miles right off the show room floor.  And every level of performance envelope can be bought off a motorcycle show room today.

Why screw up a new classic bike by gaining a little bit of performance by trading off a whole lot less reliability and whole lot more of garage time and money.

We bought our bikes to regain some bucholic joy by thumping around country lanes in a great handling English frame engineered single that has a great clutch and great brakes for it's application.

I was going to buy a Suzuki Savage single thumper before I got my RE Sixty-5.  A test ride on the Suzuki showed handling like a dump truck and clutch operation no less than a Harley.  Plus some Savage owners I know have said there are engine top end issues if it is pushed beyond it's normal speed envelope.  So much for modern engineering...

I like the living in "Three Dark Ages" you quoted for bikers.  Since you're new to motorcycles you'll get to know us better the longer you ride on two wheels - you'll be one of us in no time!

Keep the rubber side down!

Regards, Foggy

[hutch]

Sidestand? Are you serious?  sorry too get back too you so late. I am new to this motorcycle thing but I am not new to this hi-po thing. Seems like the motorcycle boys are living in thee dark ages, Ya thats right, I said THEE DARK AGES. As an old muscle-car owner I would suggest building up your bottom end and oil supply first. Then, Go with the big bore kit, Alloy of course' cams, big exhaust. You will be rockin' and rollin' like no ones business!~

Long live modern MODS!   

I used to build racing Mopar "B" blocks and Hemi's in the 60's Dark Ages.  Completely different analogy and ambiance in comparing a Royal Enfield to any other modern bike sold today.

If you want to go faster and mod get a new muscle bike.  A Suzuki Hyabusa will top out at almost 190 mph top end and do 10 second quarter miles right off the show room floor.  And every level of performance envelope can be bought off a motorcycle show room today.

Why screw up a new classic bike by gaining a little bit of performance by trading off a whole lot less reliability and whole lot more of garage time and money.

We bought our bikes to regain some bucholic joy by thumping around country lanes in a great handling English frame engineered single that has a great clutch and great brakes for it's application.

I was going to buy a Suzuki Savage single thumper before I got my RE Sixty-5.  A test ride on the Suzuki showed handling like a dump truck and clutch operation no less than a Harley.  Plus some Savage owners I know have said there are engine top end issues if it is pushed beyond it's normal speed envelope.  So much for modern engineering...

I like the living in "Three Dark Ages" you quoted for bikers.  Since you're new to motorcycles you'll get to know us better the longer you ride on two wheels - you'll be one of us in no time!

Keep the rubber side down!

Regards, Foggy

Be careful Foggy, there might be some Savage owners that aren't as agreeable as me lurking about. The people on the Savage page are a little bummed that I am selling the Savage and keeping my Bullet Classic. Most think the Savage is a better bike. I have to agree the Savage handling is not even close to the Bullet, you left out the 1 ton truck ride of the suspension on the Savage. You can't pull the spark plug without doing one of 2 things. Either make a mod to the chrome top cover to get to the plug, or pull the seat and gas tank to change the plug. On a lot of the bikes(like mine) you can't get the tank off without taking out the petcock and draining all the gas. Real fun on the side of the road. You have to make parts or modify other bikes parts because there are no factory accessories to speak of for them. It may be a little faster, but I like simple to work on, and a great parts supplier like CMW. I had my Bullet and Savage in the front yard for sale, and everyone ignored the Savage. The people on the Savage page were bashing Enfields and I came back fighting about what a great bike the Enfield was. My Bullet is back in the living room and the Savage goes out in the yard for sale every day. I love my Bullet.   Hutch

[mbevo1]

Lefty -

Lots of sound advice in this thread... here's a couple more ideas...

1.  There lots of very experienced Bulleteers and dealers that post on the Royal Enfield Yahoo groups - several of them have said they take a new bike, start it up and run it (on the center stand) for 30 minutes at idle to low throttle with a big fan blowing on it.  Let it cool for an hour, do another 30 minute run, then change the engine oil and filter.  Makes a lot of sense to me...

2.  Blue Loctite and dilectric grease - When I got my bike home, I installed the custom bits I had, then started removing and loctiting all the fasteners I could find.  Probably spent 10 hours on it, but NOTHING has vibrated loose in 5000 miles.  Spent another couple hours pulling apart every electrical connecter I could find and putting a dab of dilectric grease on it.  Found a handful that needed a squeeze to get a tight connection.  The electrical connections on these bikes don't have a very good reputation, and I had a couple of things to track down on mine, too, but after I checked and greased them all, no more problems.

ENJOY!

Mike and Stumpy in Michigan