Just as precaution I would check the clutch cable now, maybe you can catch it before it breaks too.
Yes; I'm replacing them as a pair. They are both of the same "vintage" (
2006!? 5600 miles!?)
You have to wonder, in this century should this be happening? I don't know about you guys, but Most of the other bikes I have owned went their whole lives without these failures.
The thought's crossed my mind on more than one occasion.
In 9 months and 5400 miles:
Rode it home on "Reserve". Apparently it had never been ridden on reserve before; coughed, sputtered, and stalled all the way home. Rinsed the tank, replaced the fuel line, added in-line fuel filter, stripped and cleaned carburetor. Now I ride it on reserve once a week, just in case (actually used reserve as it was intended once, and it worked as intended, too).
On start-up engine made the most ungodly clattering noise I've ever heard an engine make and survive. Adjusted exhaust tappet A LOT. I suspect it's exhaust valve seat slipped, something I've
never heard of except with Royal Enfields; what can only be described as shoddy manufacturing. Now I
always leave it on the compression stroke when parked.
Coughed, sputtered, backfired, wheezed, stalled; just made it to work fiddling constantly with the choke and throttle. Rubber manifold had failed, ubiquitous to Royal Enfields. Made it home with duct tape, replaced with radiator hose and good stainless hose clamps. Piece-of-crap part; no other way to describe it.
Dead on side of road; rode home in back of truck. Despite fuel filter, something gagged one of the jets. Cleaned the carburetor and recharged the battery.
Ejected spark plug. It apparently unscrewed itself from vibration. Installed extra plug, but it had apparently discharged the increasingly feeble OEM battery. Pushed home, installed new plug (heavily torqued this time) and new battery. Ordered a capacitor.
Broke throttle cable. Rode home in back of truck again. Piece-of-crap part paired with poor engineering; no other way to describe it.
While two can be ascribed to ID-10-T errors and one to simply the fickleness of the internal-combustion-engine gods, that does seem to me like an awful lot for an essentially new machine.