Unofficial Royal Enfield Community Forum
Royal Enfield Motorcycles => Bullet Iron Barrel => Topic started by: asubramanian2 on April 29, 2021, 11:41:52 pm
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Hello RE world,
I am Adithya (or Adi) from Chicago, IL.
I would like to introduce myself to the RE world. I became an owner of a 2007 Iron Barrel in the Chicago Area, USA.
Have been riding a lot of classic 350 and 500s in India, mostly in Himalayas. Moved to USA 4 years back and have been in a constant watch for a RE Classic and glad I got hold of this beauty.
I had easy access to RE mechanics back in India but its a different story here in the USA and I was full aware that it will be an all hands DIY to maintain this bike and keep it running. I would be super glad to have your help with any starting tips and tricks.
Thank you.
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Hello Adi,
Welcome to the forum!
I live in Chicago, on the Northwest side. I own a 2012 Classic 500 UCE, Desert Storm color.
There was a green 2007 Bullet for sale on Craigslist a couple of weeks ago, in Deerfield with 3600 miles on the odometer. Is that the machine you purchased?
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Welcome to the Hoard of the Archaic! Lots of help here. Searching the archives reveals lots of knowledge, as well as the on-tap current knowledge & experience of the membership.
Hitchcocks is a tremendous resource, with on-line manuals and their on-line parts book. Most things are only 3-6 days out.
https://accessories.hitchcocksmotorcycles.com/Parts-Book-Online
E-Bay is a good resource too if you know exactly what you need already. On this side of the pond Tim at: ( https://westerncyclesupply.com/ ) is a font of knowledge.
Any pictures of your new-to-you Chi-Town Iron Barrel yet? Stock Mikcarb or other? Points or electronic conversion? General condition & mileage? 4-speed? 5-speed? Front Disc or drum?
My most significant comfort/control choices were installing all heavy duty Hitchcocks cables for way better feel & longevity, a flat bench seat allowing me to move around more for comfort and the "sticky" shoes for the front drum for at least 50% better brake action.
Tire choices will be more demanding for you, as the weather around Chicago mandates tires that actually stick when cold & wet. Here it's dry & reasonably (sometimes unreasonably) warm, so durability is the prime criterion.
Welcome! - ACR -
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An '07 should be five speed and hand grenade electric start. (Pro Tip: never use the electric start).
Let us know what carb is on it as my '07 has a PKW conversion. I believe the importer at the time offered this upgrade.
Cold start procedure on mine:
Pull up fuel enrichener knob
Turn ignition on
Kick through to resistance/TDC
Pull compression release and nudge past TDC. Ammeter will flick back when this has been accomplished.
Kick smoothly
Enjoy sound of Enfield single
Mine does not want any throttle in starting.
I let it run a minute and then snick the enrichener back off.
If you have the original Mikarb the procedure may be different. It may or may not want some throttle to start. It may or may not want to idle on it's own until warm. Each bike will be a little different depending on tune and equipment (carb, ignition style).
If you are finding you have to kick it multiple times to generate noise, something is probably amiss.
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Welcome Adi! I'm (fairly) new around here too--last year saw a 2007 500ES come into my life as well. mine's been treated to a free flowing, high-level trials exhaust, and I expect the original Mikarb got new jets when it got a canister filter on the back of it, prior to my ownership.
Starting routine for me is to open the fuel tap, pull the enricher plunger, open the compression release and kick it through gently three or four times, once with the throttle half open or so. Then I swing it around to top-dead-center, crack the compression release to dump pressure, then flick the key to on (and the lights to off), and give it a good kick. I'll feather the throttle as soon as it catches, and can turn off the enricher more or less right way.
Also excited to see pics of your bike. This is a great forum; good to have you aboard.
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Hello, Yes that's right. I bought that very model.
Do you have any comments on it?
Hello Adi,
Welcome to the forum!
I live in Chicago, on the Northwest side. I own a 2012 Classic 500 UCE, Desert Storm color.
There was a green 2007 Bullet for sale on Craigslist a couple of weeks ago, in Deerfield with 3600 miles on the odometer. Is that the machine you purchased?
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Welcome Adi,
I own the same kind of bike. Yours is 4/5 gears?
My personal experience on this forum is very good. Lot’s of experience from the members here and always helped me with improvements and solve problems.
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Hello, Yes that's right. I bought that very model.
Do you have any comments on it?
I don't have any experience with that model, only with my C5 UCE, but I recall seeing the bike on CL and thinking it was very nice looking. I even listed a link here on the forum because other members are looking for an Iron Barrel. They are pretty scarce, but so are interested buyers. Glad you found your machine, and then found the forum.
I actually don't recall exactly what model yours was, and the ad pictures are gone, so I'd encourage you to post pictures. I'm sure others here will recognize the model and give you very helpful information, as they have already done. The warning about the electric starter seems particularly important to consider.
Again welcome, ... I've only met a tiny handful of Royal Enfield riders, here in Chicago, all were riders of 500s UCE and IB, and one AVL, so far. I'm sure I'll meet more when moto activities pick up again, after the pandemic. The 650s have sold fairly well, and I'm sure that there must be a few in the Chicago metro area, and perhaps some Himalayan's or Meteor riders as well. The 650s had just been introduced in the US two summers ago, which was the last time much motorcycle related socializing was encouraged.
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Welcome Adi! I am from the Chicago suburbs and have an 07 as well haha! Its funny you mentioned you got one, was it a red one from Arlington motorsports? I say that because i saw one listed there a couple weeks ago about. Anyways welcome aboard and if you have any questions or need help with something let me know, and of course if you're out on it it would be cool to meet another old school Enfield, its rare by us.
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Hi Adi
Welcome
I was new last year
2007 Ed 500
The guys on here are a huge help. I have had a few jobs to do and the support here was invaluable
I’m happy to chip in too now, as I have a few “experiences “ to share
Enjoy your new bike!
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Thank you all for this amazing response. I am glad I decided to introduce myself here along with my new machine.
I will soon post more specs of my RE soon as I am still exploring and trying to figure out everything.
For now, I shall leave the pictures here and see if you can already figure out the specs just by looking at it! :)
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Looking Good!! - ACR -