[lowjoe]

Has anyone here converted a C5 front disk to drum for a more vintage look? If so can you provide some info on it please

[AzCal Retred]

The actual "vintage" bike here is the Pre-Unit Iron Barrel, still available for reasonable money. The UCE is the upgraded, modernized version of the Pre-Unit. RE added hydraulic lifters, 5-speed, Disc brake, EFI, all the nice bits riders were clamoring for. Unless you are thinking of adding a comparable performance drum front brake, like some 4 leading shoe racing Brembo, a front-drum equipped UCE will just evoke thoughts like "Wow, that guy trashed his front end and was only able to afford salvage bits from an old Pre-Unit".

Pre-Unit forks & sliders are smaller diameter items, so inherently more flexible and easier to bend. You lose the better braking ability of the disc. Overall length may come into play also. Bushings would need to be machined. If you just want to adapt the drum hub, there may needs be welding & machine work required of at least the left-hand slider, plus whatever you'd need to do to the hub to adapt a "spear thru" axle to the forks unless they were of the bolt-on axle variety already.

Basically you'll create an expensive "art project" that has reduced safety & functionality over the stock machine. For about the same money you'd end up spending on a drum conversion, it'd make a lot more sense to just acquire a Pre-Unit for $1500 - $3000 and polish that up. Then you'd have the real experience of genuine hardware from back in the day. Once you work out the kinks, the old Iron Bellies are reasonably reliable and eminently repairable. And you'd STILL have your nice C5 to toot around on whenever you wished, the one that starts with the push of a button, stops from 60 MPH in 150 feet with two fingers on the lever, and doesn't need any fooling around with the valves.

[axman88]

The actual "vintage" bike here is the Pre-Unit Iron Barrel, still available for reasonable money. The UCE is the upgraded, modernized version of the Pre-Unit. RE added hydraulic lifters, 5-speed, Disc brake, EFI, ...

I've been led to believe that some versions of the UCEs for domestic production continued to use front drums for quite some time, although perhaps all the exports had front discs.   Lots of domestics certainly did not have EFI.

Like this one:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Enfield_Bullet#/media/File:Bullet_350_Twinspark.jpg

I didn't realize the fork tube diameter changed between IB and UCE.  I have a small collection of fork assemblies at home, including from a 1999 IB, from ~ 2011, with a leading offset axle, and from a ~2016 with the inline axle, so I can slip a caliper on those and directly check.

Because the way the tubes mount into the casquette are different on all three of these, it seems to me that one might have to change the entire pivoting assembly to most easily accomplish a changeover: tubes, sliders, triple tree and casquette.   If the diameter and length of the head is the same, that might not be such a big deal.  If I lived in India, and had access to the piles of parts I envision exist there, I might go for something like this.  Discs are great for braking until they start dragging just a little bit, and then you need to push the bike a few miles.  Not very fond of brake fluid either.

I'm not so concerned about braking ability as some other folks.  People say that the rear 6" single leading shoe brake is underpowered, but I've managed to lock mine up several times, once for fun, once in an emergency stop, and one time that was a big surprise and did a fair amount of damage.

[GSS]

Has anyone here converted a C5 front disk to drum for a more vintage look? If so can you provide some info on it please

Probably not worth the aggravation as well as reduced functionality.

[axman88]

I didn't realize the fork tube diameter changed between IB and UCE.  I have a small collection of fork assemblies at home, including from a 1999 IB, from ~ 2011, with a leading offset axle, and from a ~2016 with the inline axle, so I can slip a caliper on those and directly check.

Because the way the tubes mount into the casquette are different on all three of these, it seems to me that one might have to change the entire pivoting assembly to most easily accomplish a changeover: tubes, sliders, triple tree and casquette.   If the diameter and length of the head is the same, that might not be such a big deal.

I looked at the fork tubes and I found that all three , the 1999 Bullet, the 2011 C5 ( actually Jan 2012, but built  like a 2011), and the 2017 Bullet ( I said 2016 earlier but they are marked 2017) all measured identically at 35 mm tube OD with my caliper.

It was interesting that the thread on the casquette end of the 1999 tubes seems to thread just fine into the socket on the 2011 casquette, although the machined detail on the ends of the tubes are different. 

The neck length and inside diameter of the bearing cups appears to be identical between the 1999 frame and the 2011 frame.  It does appear to me that it would be relatively straightforward to substitute an entire front end from the 1999 with the 2011 going either direction.  I can't speak for the later models, I don't have a later model frame to look at.  This would as I said, mean swapping wheel with hub, fork assemblies, fender stays, fender, triple tree and casquette.  I didn't look at potential issues this would create with speedo, headlamp or any other components.

The fork spindle rotation stop and the fork lock mechanism are different between the two bikes, so that might have to be modified.

It may be possible to assemble fork assemblies from the 1999 IB with the casquette from the 2011, perhaps with some machining required on the casquette.  I only looked at this very casually.  Because the fork tube machining on the later models, after 2012, with inline axle, and without externally threaded tubes is quite different, I'd expect that the 1999 (IB era ) tubes would not assemble to a later model C5 casquette.

I hope to be starting to reassemble my 2011 C5 in another month or so.  I could potentially try fitting the 1999 front end to it at that time if there was interest.  I doubt I would do this for myself, but it is interesting to know what's possible.  Although the individual parts are pretty readily available from India, it's unusual to find complete assemblies being sold off as a package, and it gets a bit expensive to buy all the parts individually.

[AzCal Retred]

The GT535 forks are 41mm - I assumed that the bigger, stiffer, better forks would be used across the line. Apparently not, lesser beings are relegated to the noodle forks!   Just another reason to get the GT535 besides that double loop cradle frame I suppose...

https://www.motorcyclespecs.co.za/model/Royal_Enfield/royal_enfield_Continental_GT.html

[Othen]

Has anyone here converted a C5 front disk to drum for a more vintage look? If so can you provide some info on it please

What a bizarre idea. Perhaps people will want to delete the electric starter and add a few oil leaks for authenticity!

[dickim]

My dealer added the oil leak at the 1st service and didn't even charge me for it and really didn't want to do much except give me an "O" ring to do it myself when I complained about the 120km round trip to fix THEIR SCREW UP! funnily I managed what a trained bike "technician" couldn't.
Anyone else noticed "Technicians" sound better & more professional, but are inversely proportional on skills 

[Othen]

My dealer added the oil leak at the 1st service and didn't even charge me for it

Wonderful, perhaps the OP would be keen on that modification to complete the drum brake look :-)

On a more serious note: my Pegasus is 3 years old (of course - they all are!) and so well out of the warranty period; it had just been serviced by the supplying dealer when I got it a few months ago, but I wasn't going to get it serviced by a dealer again. I've downloaded the manual (very good) and the bike is very simple, so there is nothing I don't think I could handle myself. I'll just sign off the service book with a list of all the jobs I've done each year (I've done the same with my Triumph and CCM - both owned from new and never had any problems). I'm not so fussed about saving a few hundred quid in dealer servicing costs every year, but like you I'm not convinced a dealer will do the work properly (whereas I know I will).

:-)

[Keef Sparrow]

What a bizarre idea. Perhaps people will want to delete the electric starter and add a few oil leaks for authenticity!

Some people actually do remove the electric starter and associated parts, fit a blanking plate etc.    I wonder if that still seems such a great idea when you stall it at the front of the traffic light queue when the lights go green? Some also do things like remove the fuel injection and convert back to carb, remove the auto de-compressor and other stuff that makes no sense to me. RE spent many years developing and improving the bike to make it more reliable, easier to use, and more efficient, and yet some people seem to go to great lengths to remove the upgrades and deliberately make the bike worse. If it ain't broke... Why not not buy on old one in the first place if that's what you want? Each to their own, but I'd rather spend my time riding instead of endlessly tinkering.

If I did want to remove the major safety improvement of modern disc brakes/ABS just for the sake of appearance I would think by far the easiest way would be change the entire front end - forks, yokes, mudguard and all and bolt the whole lot onto your existing frame. RE Bullet parts are cheap and plentiful new or used 

[axman88]

RE Bullet parts are cheap and plentiful new or used 

Not in the USA, not the IBs and the AVLs, these seem quite few and far between.  350s are the extremely uncommon.  The UCEs are and will continue to be more plentiful, but still rare in a spare parts sense, and since these spend most of their time in the garages of old men, the likelihood of them experiencing an event that will result in liberation of an entire front end is small.  I ride mine, forum members ride theirs, but judging by the mileage claimed on machines coming available on the 2nd hand market, the average C5 owner in the USA, rides his machine primarily in dreams.

I see UCE parts on Ebay from bike breakers, but they tend to tear things down to their smallest bits.  Buying the entire assembly as parts could end up costing $500 or more.

[lowjoe]

I am up in Canada and even a UCE is a rare site.  Pre UCE units are pretty much non exixtant here

[Othen]

Some people actually do remove the electric starter and associated parts, fit a blanking plate etc.    I wonder if that still seems such a great idea when you stall it at the front of the traffic light queue when the lights go green? Some also do things like remove the fuel injection and convert back to carb, remove the auto de-compressor and other stuff that makes no sense to me. RE spent many years developing and improving the bike to make it more reliable, easier to use, and more efficient, and yet some people seem to go to great lengths to remove the upgrades and deliberately make the bike worse. If it ain't broke... Why not not buy on old one in the first place if that's what you want?

None of the above makes any sense to me. Here in the UK it would be far easier and cheaper to buy an older bike (complete without electric boot but with authentic oil leaks).

Ho hum.

[AzCal Retred]

Othen - the dealer I got my IB Bullet from was staffed by young tigers that had absolutely zero frame of reference for archaic hardware. I just assumed everything was screwed up, and I wasn't disappointed. After a couple years of sorting and fussing my 1999 is finally where it needed to be all along. You are doing yourself a big favor by pulling your own maintenance. There is zero interest or enthusiasm at the dealership for other than mainstream hardware.

[Othen]

Othen - the dealer I got my IB Bullet from was staffed by young tigers that had absolutely zero frame of reference for archaic hardware. I just assumed everything was screwed up, and I wasn't disappointed. After a couple years of sorting and fussing my 1999 is finally where it needed to be all along. You are doing yourself a big favor by pulling your own maintenance. There is zero interest or enthusiasm at the dealership for other than mainstream hardware.

:-)