[Bullet Whisperer]

I had a bit of free time this afternoon and there had been some requests, so ...
https://youtu.be/TXPnUQciYr0

 B.W.

[Seipgam]

Well I haven't really had the need to, but to me that linkage adjustment seemed quite daunting.
Great video and I can now see it's nothing to be afraid of.
I do get the odd false neutral or missed gear so perhaps in the winter it might be worth taking the outer case off and checking the adjustment.

Thanks BW.

Geoff.

[axman88]

I had a bit of free time this afternoon and there had been some requests, so ...
https://youtu.be/TXPnUQciYr0

 B.W.

Thanks for posting the video, very informative.

The strobing effect of your hand light is very noticeable.  I assume that it doesn't "really" look like that to your naked eye, but what I am seeing is a "beat frequency" interaction of the video frame rate with the high frequency pulse rate of the LED light?  Interesting!

Maybe the old fashioned incandescent flashlights or mains "trouble light" still have their place.

[AzCal Retred]

BW - Thanks for making that!

I have found that one of my main problems with the Albion is my shifting technique. I was trying to operate it like a Japanese gearbox, giving it a casual quick stab. None of that marvelous clockwork shifting wizardry appreciated that and rewarded me with lots of neutrals, everywhere.

The Albion technique that works best (i.e. more reliably) for me I found on an old REOC forum reprint of a 1940's magazine article:
1) Engage clutch.
2) Toe into selected gear and HOLD shift lever there.
3) Release clutch.
4) Release shift lever.

The stop plate positions the bellcrank. The bullet plunger has to lock into the detent to keep the bellcrank in position after you take your foot off the lever. Holding the shift lever in position against the stop gives the plunger time more to index, increasing your chances of actually engaging and staying in the desired gear. 

As with all things Enfield, taking your time pays dividends. Of course, the corollary is that you may need to plan ahead a bit! 

[Bullet Whisperer]

Thanks for posting the video, very informative.

The strobing effect of your hand light is very noticeable.  I assume that it doesn't "really" look like that to your naked eye, but what I am seeing is a "beat frequency" interaction of the video frame rate with the high frequency pulse rate of the LED light?  Interesting!

Maybe the old fashioned incandescent flashlights or mains "trouble light" still have their place.

Yes - you should see what the chuck of the lathe looks like through the camera, spinning at various speeds with that light shining on it. It must be connected to the FPS the camera films at, I am guessing. Might be worth a video in itself!
 B.W.

[Bullet Whisperer]

BW - Thanks for making that!

I have found that one of my main problems with the Albion is my shifting technique. I was trying to operate it like a Japanese gearbox, giving it a casual quick stab. None of that marvelous clockwork shifting wizardry appreciated that and rewarded me with lots of neutrals, everywhere.

The Albion technique that works best (i.e. more reliably) for me I found on an old REOC forum reprint of a 1940's magazine article:
1) Engage clutch.
2) Toe into selected gear and HOLD shift lever there.
3) Release clutch.
4) Release shift lever.

The stop plate positions the bellcrank. The bullet plunger has to lock into the detent to keep the bellcrank in position after you take your foot off the lever. Holding the shift lever in position against the stop gives the plunger time more to index, increasing your chances of actually engaging and staying in the desired gear. 

As with all things Enfield, taking your time pays dividends. Of course, the corollary is that you may need to plan ahead a bit! 

There is a fair bit of merit in what you state there, AZR, but it is possible to set the clutches and gearboxes up to give pretty fast changes, without bungling it. But, as I state in my video, it is vital not to have any extra gear lever movement, once the indent plunger has engaged, or it may overshoot into a neutral. On the other hand, too little gear lever / selector movement can stop short of the indent plunger catching its next stop, also resulting in a false neutral If we throw in a dragging clutch, this will compound matters by keeping weight on the engaged gears, while trying to shift them, which can also lead to missed gears. There are lots of things going on at gear change time, and everything relies on precise settings - which are actually achievable, but can be tricky to do so.
 B.W.

[ddavidv]

I had to fiddle with all of that when I repaired the 350 cafe racer.
https://forum.classicmotorworks.com/index.php?topic=28418.0

Though it had a clutch release problem it was also miserable to find gears with. I found this series of articles particularly helpful (one can click ahead to the gearchange setup instructions). https://accessories.hitchcocksmotorcycles.com/core/media/media.nl?id=188675&c=1062795&h=76121e09273374803d6c&_xt=.pdf

As Paul points out, the setup needs to be spot on. Having (I think) accomplished it properly the cafe bike with the homemade rear sets remained miserable. I eventually accepted that the slightly wonky linkage was the real culprit. My Interceptor, even parked on the center stand, has very good gearchange. The shifts are pretty light in feel; doesn't have a heavy 'snick' feel in the foot. I'll have to see how it is on the road (still going together in my shop) to see if the plunger may need a twist inward.

Though fiddly I don't think they are terribly difficult to set up but you do need to understand how they operate to know why you are moving the various bits around.

[Bilgemaster]

Between Paul's (aka. "Bullet Whisperer'") superb video and "ddavidv's" link to the first of Hitchcock's "Albion Gearbox Rebuild" PDFs in five parts, found in full in its website's Technical Notes under the "Gearbox and Clutch" section, along with other helpful resources at https://accessories.hitchcocksmotorcycles.com/Technical-Notes, I do believe this may be THE thread to be referring newcomers with gearbox or shifting issues to in future. So, I'm just gonna leave this mnemonic bookmark here for later reference and search retrieval purposes, if that's OK:

In the time of King Ærik, Three-Hundred-and-ten,
in ancient England, Called Albion then,
the Monks of old looked to the sky,
to ask of their God who, what, how and why,
their 4-speed gearboxes were none too spry.