[mtrue77]

Now that I've got things running again, I thought I'd change the oil.  I find, however, that I must have used my last filter the last time.  I went to the Hitchcock website, but I'm having a lot of difficulty matching my motorcycle with their dropdown menus, and a search for AVL yielded nothing.  Is there another source?  I've always referred to it as a Bullet AVL 500 (or maybe Classic AVL 500).  I always thought it odd that my owner's manual says Electra.  Bought it in 2008 though the label on the front fork gives a manufacture date of Jan 2009 (so I call it a 2009).   I just found the manual.  It says, "The Bullet Electra Classic that you have just bought..."

[AzCal Retred]

Look like this one?

2008 Electra X

https://accessories.hitchcocksmotorcycles.com/9891?qty=1&continue_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.hitchcocksmotorcycles.com%2Fpartsbook-pages%2F6110

PART No. 500613 ; OIL FILTER, FOR: THUNDERBIRD, ELECTRA X & EFI MODELS ; £6.12

[mtrue77]

That's probably it.  Thank you. 

[tooseevee]

Now that I've got things running again, I thought I'd change the oil.  I find, however, that I must have used my last filter the last time.  I went to the Hitchcock website, but I'm having a lot of difficulty matching my motorcycle with their dropdown menus, and a search for AVL yielded nothing.  Is there another source?  I've always referred to it as a Bullet AVL 500 (or maybe Classic AVL 500).  I always thought it odd that my owner's manual says Electra.  Bought it in 2008 though the label on the front fork gives a manufacture date of Jan 2009 (so I call it a 2009).   I just found the manual.  It says, "The Bullet Electra Classic that you have just bought..."

        Your bike's ENgine is the so-called Electra engine same as mine. You won't find anything in hitchcocks about "AVL" or anything like that in Hitchcocks. Everything for your ENgine will be found by getting to the 2008 (or 2009)  Electra section.

         The only parts book (which I have) for my AVL Classic is the Electra Parts Book. You'll find everything in this paper parts book is exactly the same as Hitchcocks online parts book. It's all the other parts other than the engine/tranny that can be a problem finding. IOW you won't find any drum brake parts in the parts book because the Electras have a front disc brake.

          Just remember that your ENGINE/Transmission package is an Electra. 

          And Ebay is tough because very few of the vendors even tell you which SPECIFIC model the damn part is for.

         https://www.hitchcocksmotorcycles.com/partsbook/340/2008-electra-x

[Adrian II]

Remember Hitchcock's parts lists will feature models sold as official UK imports, though they do carry some parts for other models.

Stick with the 2008 Electra-X parts list for engine and gearbox, for 2009 the UK get the Electra-EFI, even though the last pre-EFI models were still being built for the USA.

For cycle parts the Sixty-5 parts lists will help, though even there there will be some differences as the running gear for the AVL Classic seems to have been based on the iron barrel 5 speed Deluxe models, which, again, were not imported into the UK, so you're back to parts-book roulette! Fortunately the differences seem mostly limited to having fork gaiters instead of tin shrouds and different paint schemes.

+1 to tooseevee's warning, as Indian ebay vendors tend to have even less idea about the differences between home and export models with the same name. The Electra name over there covers various 350 iron barrel Bullets with different forms of electronic ignition as well as a 350 UCE model. The Electra-X is practically unknown over there, but they did have the A500 Machismo, which was their home market 500 AVL, sort of a half-way house between the US AVL Classic and the Electra-X.

Ordering from India can still be worthwhile if you know exactly what you're buying. Somewhere I posted a link to the RE Retired Models on-line parts books, if you can identify a part number you stand a better chance of getting the right item.

A.

[mtrue77]

A big Thank You to everyone here.  Much appreciated.  By the way, last night i sent some numbers and photos to Hitchcock.    I got a response today.

Hi,
  Ok, you have the what we call the leanburn engine so order oil filter part number 500613 - £6.12 -  the special offer 6 for the price of 5 is part number 90063 - £20.00
    Regards,
    Wayne

[AzCal Retred]

That's an incredible "top box" - your work or a lucky find?

[allanfox]

Out of interest AVL are the Austrian company Enfield used in the design of the leanburn engine, taking the old one and making it EURO regulation compliant

https://www.avl.com/?avlregion=GLOBAL&groupId=10138&lang=en_US

Thus we use AVL  when referring to the leanburn engine.

[Adrian II]

ISTRC that AVL ended up subcontracting the re-design to Dr, Stuart McGuigan then of Shrivenham Military College in the UK, who is also known for his work with diesel engined motorcycles for the US military. At one stage he had a prototype diesel engine based on set of RE Bullet crankcases with a custom crankshaft and 4 valve top-end. This used the stock RE 4 speed transmission, with the whole lot fitted in a Cheney MX frame and MX forks.

The first AVL Bullets were for the Indian home market with the A350 Machismo (as far back as 1999) and later the 350 Thunderbird, the first 500 was the export only Electra-X in late 2004, belatedly followed by the AVL Classic for the USA and the A500 Machismo for the Indian home market.

While the Electra-X was intended as an emissions dodger, it was only Euro2 compliant, and the old iron barrel models could still just about meet Euro2 anyway, so both types were sold alongside each other until Euro3 killed them all off, with only the EFI models then compliant. It makes me wonder why they bothered!

Never mind, a well-sorted 500 lean-burn is still a good fun bike.

Terry Pratchet fans will be looking at the top-box very closely for signs that it can move unaided...

A.

[allanfox]

Yes did think the 'luggage' may move! 

[mtrue77]

That's an incredible "top box" - your work or a lucky find?

The rare compliment.  Thank you.

This is my first motorcycle.  I bought it when I was 53.  One of the first things I discovered (besides my invisibility) was that I needed more than my pockets for a place to put stuff (tools, extra qt of oil, maps, food, water), so I built the box.  I'm a hobbyist woodworker, and I pretty much designed this as I went along.  Eventually, I built another one, but no one seemed interested, so I recently gave it to grandchildren for Lego storage.  The boxes I've made have been bolted down to the luggage rack. 

Here's a picture of my most recent, though it's not on the Bullet.  The Janus is two years old, and it's my second favorite.

The boxes for the Royal Enfield were oak.  The box for the Janus is cherry.

[heloego]

Beautiful box work, and good choice on the bags, too!