Unofficial Royal Enfield Community Forum
General Discussion => Trips/Ride reports => Topic started by: calman28556 on August 16, 2008, 04:24:32 am
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Got on the road Thurday morning at 0400 in a dense fog (weather kind) from Whortonsville, NC. Made it to Maggie Valley, NC (482 miles) before crashing for the night. This morning I took the 500 and hack through The Dragon's Tail and at the moment am in Jackson, TN (another 450 miles).
Tomorrow there's a planned stop in Memphis at the RE Dealer there. Need for them to find the short I have had in the ignition system for the past 700 miles. Have gone through 8 fuses and still have to kickstart the engine. Hope it's something simple (famous last words).
Will provide link to the journal I'm doing once I get it formatted and set up.
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Sounds like you are on a very ambitious trip with your Bullet!
Best of luck to you, and enjoy the ride!
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What happened?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Motorcycles___2008-Bullet-Classic-with-Sidecar_W0QQitemZ260277719809QQddnZMotorcyclesQQddiZ2283QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item260277719809&_trkparms=72%3A727%7C39%3A1%7C65%3A12%7C240%3A1318&_trksid=p4506.c0.m245
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Not able to fix the fuse blowing issue perhaps? Or just discovered that the Enfield just isn't a cross-country vehicle.
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Blue Ridge,
This is the same guy from the Tail of the Dragon picture link you posted the other day.
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check your breaklight switch .see if the terminal to the switch is hitting the little metal plate above it . a slight tweek fixed mine . a contact there blew my fuse on my trip to the british biker coop rally.
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I can understand the owner may not want to say anything until after he sells it. The reason I ask is I bought the Enfield with the idea of someday hacking it.
An Enfield Hack setup will run you about $8K+.
A new Ural Tourist, 750cc and with a reverse will run you about $12K. In addition there are a lot of barely broken in Urals showing up on Ebay for significantly less. (just as there are a lot of Enfield solo's showing up on ebay)
I realize the Enfield is a lighter duty unit, but I wanted to know if the owner suffered any significant problems in his trip. That he never completed his trip report makes me think perhaps that was the case.
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It's only been about a week. Maybe having long days no computer.
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It's only been about a week. Maybe having long days no computer.
The bike is in CA and is for sale on ebay.
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It looks like a good deal..
Raybo , you should bid on this thing and convert it to a diesel.
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It's only been about a week. Maybe having long days no computer.
The bike is in CA and is for sale on ebay.
Must of been tuffer than it looks, I just drove a rental car 3000 miles, had fun but glad to take a rest.
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Here's answer to your questions:
a. Blown fuses caused by short due to rear brake light switch not completely installed.
b. Naked wire from brake light switch eventually rubbed paint off tool box door and shorted solenoid.
c. Had to replace a new C/S rear tire after only 2,100. That's after replacing original rear tire after 2,500 miles.
d. Weather in Oklahoma and Texas beat me to death. Wind, rain, and hail took its toll on this 60+ YO man.
e. Finally realized this 60 YO + man is no longer 32 and that there is a difference between doing the trip in a car and one on a cycle. Took me 3 days to recuperate once I got out here.
h. The 500cc Bullet is not really suited for a cross-country trip. Burns way too much oil and the chain requires very frequent tightening. Latter may have been caused by the "speed bump" roads of Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas.
i. When tire iwas replaced n Amarillo and found chipped rear sprocket.
j. This looked to be another two days not moving (like in waiting for an express shipment of the tire) while waiting for a rear sprocket to arrive.
k. Did not want to risk getting stuck between "somewhere" and "someplace" with "nowhere to go" being the place. Had deadline in San Diego so put Bullet on truck for the other 1,100 miles.
From the good side, I report that:
a. Was able to run at a maximum speed of 65 MPH a couple of times. That was measured on my GPS.
b. Mostly rode at 50 - 55 MPH and averaged 52 MPG. No problems on the Interstates with trucks, cars or truckers.
c. Handled Dragon's Tail very well.
d. Hack carried all the gear I needed to camp cross-country with ease plus 4 pounds of Eastern NC BBQ for my daughter in San Diego. (Ice to keep it cost more than the BBQ.)
e. I think my Bullet (with the sidecar) is a great little bike suited to short runs and at speeds under 50 MPH.
f. As noted above weather beat me to death but the cycle itself was not a fatiguing factor even though I had the stock seat on it.
Cal
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Cal,
Thanks for your honest feedback. Reality seems to be that a RE hack is a great around town vehicle. Nothing wrong with that.
Most things work well when used within their design paramiters and when we start to push the envelope it all goes to hell. (You don't take a full dresser on a forest trail).
I too am 60, and sometime reality kicks me in the ass (where did the years go?)
Sometimes on the ADV forum I read about someone going cross country on a 50cc scooter, and everyone oohs and ahs about what a hero he is, but when no one is around I bet he feels like a jackass when caught in a hailstorm in East BMFK Montana.
I bought my Bullet as a high mpg around town vehicle. I admire the simplicity of machines like the Bullet and the Ural, but quality control is not their strong point.
I remember growing up as a kid in the 1950's, and the drills our elementary school had with hiding under the stairwells in case of nuclear attack. Having owned a Ural, I no longer fear the Russians. Should they lob a missile towards New York, it would land in Paris. ::) You don't use the words "Russian" and "craftmanship" in the same sentence.
But when you deal with any niche bike, you have to put up with its' quirks and faults.
I love my Ural. I am new with my Enfield. Time will tell.
When you get back, will you get another?
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Have run afoul of a couple things in the CA DMV laws so I am keeping it. They are (a) needs to have at least 7.5K miles to qualify as used (mine is 3K short.) and (b) folks I've talked to last couple of days (interested in it) say it won't pass the CA Smog Test so it can't be registerted here.
Instead of riding it back, I'm having it trucked back by a shipper since I still need a sprocket. I could rent a truck and drive the 3,091 miles, take a week and spend the same amount of money. Sure it'll take a week to 10 days for them to pick up the cycle and like amount of time to get it to me but monetary wise I come out ahead with the vehicle shipper. Also, I'll end up with fewer gray hairs and wrinkles.
Gonna shoot for military hop on Saturday back to MCAS Cherry Point. That'll save on airfare.
Cal
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Cal,
Your explanation was very much what I expected.
I sold mine because I didn't think that it would be up to the longer touring I want to do and I just couldn't justify owning two bikes right now.
That said, I think that you will be glas that you kept it. I know that even though my replacement bike is well suited to what I want to do, after over 500 miles of riding in the month since I bought it I have come to really appreciate how much fun the Enfield was and how well suited it was to 90% of the riding I do.
Riding my bike now is like drving a Camry after an MGB. Sure, it's faster, more comfortable, and more versitile, but it's deadly dull and doesn't inspire the automatic smile that was on my face and on the faces of people who saw me riding it.
When I finally have the room for 2 bikes another bullet will find its way into my possession.
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You know the tire wear issue probably had a lot to do with the sidecar.
I could be wrong, but the sidecar stresses the tires in a different way than they were designed for, which likely accelerates wear. It's possible that the rear sprocket wear was similarly affected.
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On my Ural I get 4000 km (2400 miles) from a pusher (run down to the 3rd set of cords). CS are known to give up the ghost before that.
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Hello my name is Jerry from Logan, Utah. It is true that crosscountry trips are hard on old men. I am sixty four and will soon be sixty five. I have made a trip from Logan to Sargent, Texas back in april and back to Logan on a Honda Reflex 250cc scooter. This was the third long distance trip I had taken with this scooter. I road to Metropolis, IL to visit my brotherlast month. He has bought a BMW and he gave me his Honda 600cc Silverwing. I rode it home to Utah and now I am planning a trip to Arkansas next month. I am retired also.
I am looking to buy a new RE in the near future to ride around the country. It is nice to hear what others have to say about the bike. Thanks for letting me enjoy this forum.
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Well good for you jerrydwelsh, us old retired guys got to have some way to pass the time.
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Ride safe and check 6 ! ;)