2003 Royal Enfield 500 Deluxe

Bob, if you've never had a Royal Enfield, you've never had a Neutral finder. One of their innovations nobody ever copied AFAIK.

Look carefully at the side view picture and you'll see an extra lever on the gearbox. In addition to the long shift lever with the rubber tip, there's a small lever behind the kicker?

Just gone and took some close ups:

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So, motoring along in 2nd, 3rd or 4th, you de-clutch, lift your heel up and press down on the front pad on the lever and, hey presto, the box is in neutral.

The regular gear lever works as you would expect. Well, except it's right foot, up for first, down for second third fourth. And of course, it moves back to a central position after each change. But when you shift, the little lever moves round, and stops in a new position with the pointer showing the which gear you are in.

If you look at the rear of the lever, see it best in third picture, there's a gear indication scribed on the case. By the time you're in fourth, that pointer is round at 4 so front of lever is quite high! I can change gear without looking but I still need to look down to find that little lever.

I've wundered whether you could use it from 1st by getting heel of boot under the lever and lifting but I don't know if that would work and not gonna try in case I damage sommat.

The explanation is quite long-winded but using it is quite easy. I'm sure with time it will become second nature.
Bonkers....every bike should have one.......I think:umm:
 
It's good to have a bike for tinkering. Recently, felt there was sommat not quite right with the ignition circuit.

Tank off, check the logic, check continuity, tank back on. Hmmm. An intermittent problem, hard to trace. Decided to embark on rewiring the bike again. Sounds like a drastic way to solve an intermittent problem I know.

There's a lot of connector blocks and bullet connectors at the front of the bike, bit of a squeeze, and removing/replacing the fuel tank seems to be enough to give the bike a fit of sulks. Kind of thought, if I rework things, rationalise (haha), move those connector blocks somewhere with a bit more space, such as under the tank . . .

And it kind of worked for tracing the fault. The ammeter sits on the main wire from battery to ignition and on pulling things apart, found the two-wire connector for the ammeter very slack. As if the least disturbance, such as tank off/tank on would make/break the circuit?

So there's the problem then. But for reasons I cannot fully rationalise, have carried on with the rewiring project:

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Never thought I'd say this but it's been fun, sitting in the sun, pulling the harness apart and taking notes where I could use new connectors to simplify or even just tidy up.

Once I can trust the electrics, might even set out on a longer ride on this museum piece . . .
 
Yes, Bob, I recall you commented https://www.xs650.com/threads/2003-royal-enfield-500-deluxe.60842/post-719542 that smoke would come out of your ears wiring mismatched components?

Well, doing the wiring for the second time, can refer back to my notes from the first time. A brilliant resource:


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Yeah it’s crazy the kind of stuff we think is fun isn’t it? :laugh2:

The kind of thing I do for fun, brings out the twelve year-old, playing about with coloured felt-tips. Mrs thinks it's a bit sad but find I need a scheme to work to or would get confussed very quickly.

Reason for doing it again is tidy up the mess of wires and plastic connector blocks that get pinched between the headstock and the tank. So the 9-wire connector for the r/h h/bar is now replaced with a 6-wire block, and the wires are longer so the block will sit below the frame above the engine out of sight and hopefully out of risk of being moved when the tank comes off & on.

There's lots of earth wires and it was probably the factory that soldered them all together in a nest-of-vipers arrangement. Solution I've come up with, don't know if this will work yet, is put ring terminals on 'em all, put a bolt through, tighten it down with a coupla nuts, and lead a tail to a secure frame mount? Here's the hardware for two common earths plus there will be a common power feed for the side, pilot and instrument lights done the same way:

PICT2886.JPG

Took metal tube out of some ancient damper in my old hardware box (everybody has one of those?) and used a junior hacksaw to make some thin rings - feed these as well as the ring terminals over the earth bolts so things don't get crushed. Then I'll insulate the whole shebang inside a length of bicycle inner tube, hog-tie it under the frame tube with cable ties.

And then . . . I'll see if it works . . .

As I said, it's good to have a bike for tinkering.
 
While re-doing the electrics, thought I'd fit an MPH speedo instead of the original KPH. Lots of options, ended up with this:

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Lovely white Smiths chronometric repro, made in India but not very expensive. Didn't take very long to make the journey either. Hitchcocks sell the same item for uhm, well, they've got to make it worthwhile I suppose? But bought a new white-faced ammeter from Hitchcocks, with Royal Enfield on the face.

Fink the new instruments will set this old museum piece off much better than the originals which look a bit Jap-1970s? Hopefully give the bike that 1940s vibe . . .

Will lose the main beam warning and turn signal repeater but can live without those.
 
I do like the look, but I’m curious, aren’t your speed limits marked in KPH? Why the change?
I believe a lot of Europe uses KPH but UK uses MPH? I watch a lot of bike reviews and sometimes its MPH, sometimes KPH, sometimes driving on the left side, sometimes on the right. I realized quickly if I ever crossed the pond I'd be driving some speed (how fast I'll never know) and I'll know if I'm on the correct side by if headlights are in my lane or not.
 
I do like the look, but I’m curious, aren’t your speed limits marked in KPH?
Absolutely not! Britain uses miles for distances and speed limits are posted in MPH only.

There was a rumour once that Britain was going metric. But as one German commentator said, 'Metrication? You Brits are getting there inch by inch!'

Reason for the change is 50% to have an MPH speedo, and 50% to have an odometer recording miles. And 100% for that antique look.
 
Jessee, we crossed in the post. The situation is not quite as chaotic as you suggest. Britain is one of the few countries, there are others such as Japan, Australia, Eire, S Africa, Cyprus, that drive on the correct side of the road. Everybody used to - psychologists agree that passing to the right of strangers is the natural pattern.

But 200-odd years ago there was some French bloke, Napoleon Bony-part, decided to change all that. And went on to conquer most of Europe to get his way, though he never managed to invade Britain. The French system enforced driving on the right, and the French Academy came up with a revolutionary metric system and a new measure of length - the metre is one 40 millionth of the equator. Wow. We have yet to bend the knee to that wonderful rational idea.
 
Ebay, loads of sellers listing this or similar, try this: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/114483653181

or if that fails try the seller: https://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/autospareparts1978?_trksid=p2047675.m3561.l2559

As said, not very expensive. Makes you wonder whether it will work but Hitchcocks sells what appears the very same item and I don't think they would jeopardise their reputation selling garbage that don't work?
Thanks Raymond. Amazing how they can be Made so cheap.
 
Will lose the main beam warning and turn signal repeater but can live without those
On my 2011 Bullet Electra 500 my turn signals are seldom obvious during the day. It takes noticing the blinker itself to know if the switch off was successful. It takes a very delicate touch, and easily overcompensated or missed altogether. I haven't ridden at night yet.
'TT'
 
Yes, Bob, I recall you commented https://www.xs650.com/threads/2003-royal-enfield-500-deluxe.60842/post-719542 that smoke would come out of your ears wiring mismatched components?

Well, doing the wiring for the second time, can refer back to my notes from the first time. A brilliant resource:


View attachment 212140




The kind of thing I do for fun, brings out the twelve year-old, playing about with coloured felt-tips. Mrs thinks it's a bit sad but find I need a scheme to work to or would get confussed very quickly.

Reason for doing it again is tidy up the mess of wires and plastic connector blocks that get pinched between the headstock and the tank. So the 9-wire connector for the r/h h/bar is now replaced with a 6-wire block, and the wires are longer so the block will sit below the frame above the engine out of sight and hopefully out of risk of being moved when the tank comes off & on.

There's lots of earth wires and it was probably the factory that soldered them all together in a nest-of-vipers arrangement. Solution I've come up with, don't know if this will work yet, is put ring terminals on 'em all, put a bolt through, tighten it down with a coupla nuts, and lead a tail to a secure frame mount? Here's the hardware for two common earths plus there will be a common power feed for the side, pilot and instrument lights done the same way:

View attachment 212141

Took metal tube out of some ancient damper in my old hardware box (everybody has one of those?) and used a junior hacksaw to make some thin rings - feed these as well as the ring terminals over the earth bolts so things don't get crushed. Then I'll insulate the whole shebang inside a length of bicycle inner tube, hog-tie it under the frame tube with cable ties.

And then . . . I'll see if it works . . .

As I said, it's good to have a bike for tinkering.
You wouldn't like to swap the KPH speedo for an MPH speedo would you? I have been unable to source a KPH speedo here in Aus
 
Hey, Captain, don't need the swap, I've fitted that chronometric now. Going to keep the KPH instrument for a little while till I ride the bike and confirm the new one works but I'd be happy to pass it along then. But take a look at ebay or wherever and there's loads of speedos, mph or kph, for cheaper than the postage would work out?
 
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Put the Bullet back together today.

Gorgeous day for it too - the photos don't show how bright and sunny it is:


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With eager anticipation started the engine. Immediately apparent something was wrong - revs far too high. Took seconds to diagnose rear of fuel tank pinching throttle cable - there's no clearance in that area.

Tank off, adjusted position of carb slightly, tank back on, started the engine.That's better, throttle closes properly.

With renewed eager anticipation, set of for a test ride. Managed halfway through the village and engine starts to misfire. Just would not run. Limped part way back home, pushed the bike down the street we live in. I suspect HT lead is being pulled out from the coil?

At least we went far enough to confirm the new speedo works . . .
 
Well, it's obviously an electrical problem. So I'm starting to suspect the carb now.

Pushed the HT lead more firmly back into the coil, started the engine, feels better? Hmmm. Set off again, similar distance, maybe half a mile, splutter, stop. It starts again pretty much right away, but just won't take any throttle. Manage to limp almost home - well that's progress, only had to push along the back lane.

Left the bike sitting, cold drinks with the neighbours, wondered if the problem was related to time?

Started the engine and sat on the bike just idling in the back yard. Ten minutes and it's still fine. Set off again. Similar distance, splutter, stop. Able to restart right away, limped home and it ran as long as the throttle was kept almost shut. At least I didn't need to push this time.

Now wondering whether the carb is gummed up and it's when I open the throttle just a tad the bike gives up? Tried bigger handfuls and that just kills it too.
 
Not to take away from your thread Raymond but I just wanted to say these RE bikes are amazing. I have a riding demo this weekend and my 650’s are all in either a state of restoration or repair which left me with just my massive touring machine. My neighbor(which coincidently is from the UK) offered up this jewel to me.B2139A1A-AD11-4B05-A7D9-8A8E6DF6A60C.jpegI took it for a test spin and was very impressed by the power, handling and overall smoothness of the engine. Took me once to figure out the turn signals were not self-canceling and there was a false neutral between 4-5th gear that got me twice but once I knew about it no issues. For the price it could be a real consideration.
 
Over the past couple of days, have removed, dismantled and cleaned that carb. Today, went for a test ride. Two in fact, according to that splendid chronometric instrument we covered a giddy 11 miles today. The Bullet behaved perfectly. Some pictures:


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