Motorcycle Diaries. (The art of breaking things)

All that I can do all the time is talk motorcycles talk more than I ride them. Confession again haven’t been able to ride much lately!!!!! So that what I have been doing “breaking things”
I took this motorcycle attitude test on the internet a couple of days back. and the result was not very shocking yet interesting.
You like working on your bike more than riding it said by the end of it. If I had the time ! yes I have been working on the bike a lot breaking things as there’s nothing broken to be fixed. The Idea is improvement. Now the bike is a simple one to work on as they say but they never said easy to work on. So the first damage was breaking the Oil Filter cover I screwed it too hard after the filter change.

I was able to fix it for the time with some sealant. Next was the electric starter. Who need a starter on such a classic bike? The fun of getting a kick back from the heavy crank is fun if it doesn’t hit you hard. It takes practice and accuracy to start the bike with the kick and once perfected works real well but again it’s no Childs play. So off went the side cover then the clutch and the magneto and off came the sprang clutch making the rattling noise that you never hear while riding. Hmm got my hands dirty, cloths sweaty and one good afternoon with the bike and my tools(collection of every possible tool needed to work on the bike). Started the bike with the kick and it kicked back like a bull. That’s where the work BULL..et comes from. I must have messed up something while putting things back. So off goes everything again but dint find anything wrong. So living with the bull kicking back for now, planning another weekend dismantling and learning the science of adjusting the ignition timing.

The New Enfield "still not the 500EFI"

Last week I went to test ride the new bike from Royal Enfiled. Royal Enfield was doing a customer survey and trying to get detailed feedback. It was a good experience talking to the design head and and some other officials. They did take feedback very positively.


I was expecting it to be the 500 Classic UCE EFI but it was not. It is the look alike of the classic but has the twin spark 350 engine. The styling is good/ old school with the 18 inch rear tyre.

Though one question in the feedback form was the name for the bike il bet its Classic 350.

Styling:
Being a look alike of the Classic the bike is surely a head turner, One can surely fall in love with the looks if one likes the retro old school looks , The paint job and chrome was real good quality (if all this will be the same when they deliver the bikes)
Performance:
I have never ridden the twinspark thunderbird but the bikes performance was better than any other 350CC Enfield. the bike did touch 90KMPH well though after that it had to be pushed a bit. I did touch 100 KMPH once the bike can do better than that after a good runin and some performance mods. The torque was good and the delivery was smooth. The gears were precise and accurate felt like a pulsar gearshift.

Ride/Handelin/Breaking:
Not sure if it’s the 18 inch rear tyre or Royal Enfield messed up the bikes handeling(may be just the test bike) but the bike was no where near to my Electra 5S in terms of handelling and breaking. The bike pulled towards the right side under hard breaking think it’s the new rear hub and break setup causing that. Now that the bike did not break well I did not try and bend it a lot. The suspention was better than the current enfields and the bike took humps real good.

Sitting Position:
The feedback form emphasised a lot on this one. The hight if the bike was good and the sitting position was good in terms of the position of the footpegs and break. The handle is a new designe and is better than the standard or electra handle but still not very comfortable I had to lean a bit forward while riding so this will be a problem for long rides. (I have a thunderbird handle on my Electra which is very comfortable on long rides)

The Thumb:

No Thumb at all at idle felt like im sitting on a generator. Once it took off the engine sounded good and there were no vibrations at all even at 80kmph.


Some feedback questions and my answers:

Will you exchange your current Royal Enfield with the test bike?
Ans : NO

How Much will you pay for the Bike:
Ans: Not more than 90K (thuugh they will not launch it below 1.1L as the twin spark thunderbird is more than that)

Will you recommend this bike to friends/family:
Ans: To anybody who needs a retro looking bike with good performance.




The bike defenately performs well and looks good taking into concidration that the breaking was an issue on the test bike only. The new engine is better in terms of reliability as it has hydraulic tapets and a better oil circulation system. Not sure of the fuel average may be someone riding a twinspark can comment on that.


The good news:
Now that I got friendly with the guys I asked them about the new 500 UCE EFI and the 350 UCE EFI , well they did not give me a date of the launch but told me that the 500 UCE EFI will be launched soon and there are no plans to launch a 350 UCE EFI as the EFI has only been tested on the 500CC engine. I asked if we can expect it to come before Diwali the answer was much before that.
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