[lucho_nqn]

I made some speed tests, in order to convince myself to improve the engine. 55.4 F degrees, wind calm.
2012 (maybe 2013 got to look at VIN), only mod is a 19T sprocket, Avon Roadrider´s 30 psi rear / 20 psi front.
Just in case, for your info:
121 km/h (75.6 mph) gps max speed in a flat road.
I felt some slight unstability (wobbling??) a few seconds in each pass.
I need more speed. 120 km/h to cruise in a hurry and some juice to go to 130 km/h. Got to change shock absorbers, tires and make all that engine mods...

[heloego]

Ordered a $2.00 Speedometer boot for the Electra some time back. Couldn't paint today, but finally received the part so I marveled at the way the received item was packed. STITCHED LINEN! 

Ok, so maybe it's just cheese cloth, but it's the thought that counts! 



For a $2.00 item! 
It's so cool I almost don't want to open it! 

[Arizoni]

If I tried to stitch up a bundle like that it would take me an hour and it wouldn't look nearly as good as that. 

I'm betting whoever did it had her/his arms and fingers flying so fast you couldn't see them and it was done in less than a minute. 

[Narada]

That must be from India!  Some I've received even had tamper proof red wax seals stamped into the stitching!  Just amazing...

[Ice]

 Hauled groceries home then a case of canning jars out to our friends and a gallon of blackberries home grinding the foot pegs in every turn.

[malky]

home grinding the foot pegs in every turn.

Delinquent. you'll end up giving Enfield owners a good name.

[Rattlebattle]

I made some speed tests, in order to convince myself to improve the engine. 55.4 F degrees, wind calm.
2012 (maybe 2013 got to look at VIN), only mod is a 19T sprocket, Avon Roadrider´s 30 psi rear / 20 psi front.
Just in case, for your info:
121 km/h (75.6 mph) gps max speed in a flat road.
I felt some slight unstability (wobbling??) a few seconds in each pass.
I need more speed. 120 km/h to cruise in a hurry and some juice to go to 130 km/h. Got to change shock absorbers, tires and make all that engine mods...

I recently found out that mine develops a slight wobble at 75mph (I've only reached that speed once because I'm in the later stages of running in). I do wonder if the front wheel needs balancing. I've never seen any balance weights on any new RE. I'm going to check this by easing back the pads or removing the caliper and removing the speedo drive, then rotating the front wheel to see if it stops in the same place each time- bet it does. When I get round to it I'll report back. Has anyone else checked the balance of their front wheel?

[heloego]

   A video was posted here somewhere that analyzed that very issue.
   In the video, the rider reduced/eliminated that wobble simply by leaning forward while on the bike. Leaning forward moved the CG forward (bit more weight on the front wheel), and reduced the parasitic rearward CG movement caused by the air blast against his chest.
   If I recall, when riding two up, the additional weight in back also contributed to the problem.
   The video was made in the late '50's or maybe 60's, but is very thought-provoking.

[AmBraCol]

It wasn't today, it was yesterday. Rode back from Bogotá.  A good day in the Andes. Down the western side of the eastern range of the Andes, across the Magdalena River Valley, up and over the Central Range of the Andes.  Good run, relatively light traffic.  The double lane most of the way between Bogotá metro area and Ibagué makes a real difference.  The Rumbler's up over 5,000 km now, had it's 6,000 km checkup while in Bogotá, oil and filter changed, air filter blown out (note to self, check air filter before traveling - dirty filter makes for lousy gas mileage) and everything given a clean bill of health.  Hopefully will get through the next checkup before warranty expires in October. This has been a busy year, not enough riding time.

Another thought on the whole trip, with the engine now at 5,000 km it is running smoother than ever.  Kept mostly to 80 kmh (50 mph) but there are a couple spots along the route where I could open up.  She cruises nicely at 60-65 mph and got up to 75 mph (120 kmh) a couple times.  No undue vibration but she really likes the lower speeds which is just as well since most of our highways are built for 80 kmh or less.  The twisties over La Linea pass were a hoot. Used most of the tires' width, very narrow chicken strips.  It's hard to get the best use of them when navigating semis, buses and cars on a two lane narrow Andean highway.  There were a few long stretches of uninterrupted riding, however, and the Rumbler handled superbly. Folks tell me I'm nuts for riding a motorcycle here, but it makes more sense to me than trusting my life to a suicidal bus driver over these roads!

[heloego]

   Pulled the Electra Chain Stay (swing arm) to cleanup and check on the chain rub I felt during the pre-buy inspection.
   Here it is cleaned up:
   

   Looks worse than it is. Depth measured at .002"/.05mm. Not even close to 10% of the tube wall thickness so I'll dress it out, paint, and re-install.
   Was a bit surprised to see the bushings are elastomerics. They're in good shape, too.

[Ice]

Changed the fluids and went for a 350 mile ride.

[Narada]

I finally found time to tell of my recent adventures with Hitchcocks HP EFI UCE cams and my PC Internet went down so here's my story from cellphone without pictures.

Having done the recent piston, head, valve gear upgrades I decided to go for a set of HP cams.  The only ones currently available were from Hitchcocks, and knowing they have an excellent reputation for quality, I did not hesitate to order a set.

Having never installed cams in an RE or any other motorcycle before, I first assembled them without setting the backlash. Luckily I had been communicating with gas house gorilla and he quickly set me straight on that.

We also checked valve to piston clearance using clay on the piston top and determined that i could remove one of the 3 layers of head gasket and still have clearance, bringing the compression ratio up to 10.3 : 1. I will definately be running on premium fuel from here on out! 

So, I tore back into the motor, and using a popular 3 part you tube backlash video for reference, I set the backlash in one location for each gear, assembled the engine and found on start up that it made a really horrible gear mesh sound.    Like a Chevy starter motor without shims, or one of those gear drive timing chain replacement sets. 

So, I tore the engine apart again.  Upon inspection of the gears and their operation, I realized that there was a huge amount of excess metal on the ends of the gear teeth which was preventing them from moving in and out on the spindles.  I also realized that the gears couldn't mesh properly with this metal interfereing. 

Being in a hurry I used a hand file and removed quite a bit of the material.  Thinking this was probably good enough, I put the cams back in, this time, checking the backlash on every tooth of both gears and setting it a little on the loose side, just to be safe.

I put the engine together again, fired up and... aaagghh!!!  That horrible sound again!!!    So, I tore the engine apart again, bought a pretty nice little pencil (mini die) grinder cheap at Harbor freight, used a tiny HSS bit with cam gears in a vice, a bright light, and a high powered magnifying lens, to do a very meticulous cleaning and polishing of the cam gear tooth ends.  They came out beautiful! 

Once again, I re-assembled the engine, checked backlash at each gear tooth of each cam, put in new oil and filter for the second time, just for good measure fitted it up and....! $@#&**!!!!! That horrible sound!!!  Aaaghh!!!

Finally after having done all I could to correct the obvious problem of excess material I had to accept that these cams either are really loud by nature or completely defective.

I contacted Hitchcocks, who told me they had a bike which they had just put 3 sets of cams into from the same batch as my cams, and they were all defective!  They advised me to pull them out of my engine and return them for a full refund, or exchange in approximately 8 weeks or longer after they fix the problem and manufacture a new set.

I got them out, put my stock cams back in, and am sending the defective ones back for eventual exchange. 

I do not blame Hitchcocks at all. These things happen every now and then.  They are standing behind their product which was made by an outside vendor and they apologized profusely for the trouble I went through. 

Obviously I would not have wanted to get a bad set of cams but the bright side is, I've learned a lot about RE cam installation and backlash setting, and just may qualify as an amateur expert of some sort!   

With a little patience, I'll have my new cams in, hopefully before christmas, and in the mean time I have one bad ass Hindu Hot Rod with 10.3 : 1 compression and vastly improved fuel flow!   

[gashousegorilla]

  Nice job on that Narada.... way to trouble shoot it.    I admire your determination and great attitude !         And +1 on Hitchcock's for testing, checking and doing the right thing without question.

[Lane]

Sold it to a friend.  Had a lot of fun with it since 2008, just time for me to move on.  Actually it was July when I sold it but just now getting around to posting.

I'll leave you with a couple of my favorite memories of the bike and me!

MN


WY


CO




WY


SD/NE

[AmBraCol]

Sold it to a friend.  Had a lot of fun with it since 2008, just time for me to move on.  Actually it was July when I sold it but just now getting around to posting.

So what are you riding now?