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-   -   RE Classic Chrome 500 (12,500kms Done):The "Maroon Marauder" THUMP's home!! (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motorbikes/113632-re-classic-chrome-500-12-500kms-done-maroon-marauder-thumps-home-16.html)

The classic, like most Indian bikes, offer the best comfort iff the person is around 5.5, which happens to be the height of average Indian men.

The Thunderbird, on the other hand, is more suited for tall folks. I am 5.11 and the 40k+ kms I did on that vehicle was an absolute breeze.

I did try out the classic before moving back to a standard 1995 model. Somehow, there is a difference in the seating position between classic and standard itself. The older models offer me the same comfort as my Thunderbird did.

Tyre pressure is very critical for Enfields. Irrespective of the weight of the person, a higher tyre pressure will make your ride bumpy.

My mechanic had a theory that the amount of surface area in contact with the road is what ensures the stability of the vehicle and therefore, the comfort while riding it. I for one, think that he may be right.

Hence, sticking to the recommended values, 18-28 for solo and 20-30 for pillion riders, irrespective of the weight and build of the person might be the better choice.

While the air pressure of the tyre might impact the amount of surface area in contact with the road, I think a +/- 25+kgs variation in the weight of the rider may not have that kind of an impact.

Shyam

Thanks for those inputs. I have never dared to ride the bike with lower air pressure as you recommended which actually I think is also the same as RE recommends

Always stuck to 35(R) and 30(F)

Will try a slight higher version that what you quoted soon. 30(R) and 20(F) and see if there is a lot of difference including in gear changes

A Quirky Update :-

Last evening went out for a long ride as the weather was simply mind blowing with cold winds blowing and even it was drizzling a little but, i enjoyed that rain slapping my face throughly

Somewhere during the ride, I stopped for some reason.

Re-Started the bike, and switched on the light before moving ahead. Engine switched off :Shockked:

Tried twice the same thing. Thumbed the engine, switched on lights, engine shuts off. Then I started the engine and "Didn't" switch on the lights and engine didnt shut-off

I rode for 0.5km without lights and then switched it on, no issues at all

Then during the night, stopped a few more places and this issue never re-occured.

RE is one crazy bike. But, I'am loving it for these quirky issues. :uncontrol

What could be the problem?

What a coincidence! Last night on Discovery Turbo, "Wheeler Dealers" (Trading Up episode) the host bought an old Toyota Celica with exactly the same issue and immediately diagnosed it as an alternator problem.

What should be the solution?

I havent experienced it again last night even after riding for about 30kms-35kms after that incident and this morning again rode for approximately 40kms and it performed flawlessly ( ofcourse there was no need to switch on the lights)

As it is a Bullet, it could simply be some loose contact, bad wire, or water.

Don't bother till and if it happens agin.

After that check the alternator. The magnets have a tendency to go weak after a while in some bikes.

It could be the alternator but alternators with weak magnets don't repair themselves.

I would check the plug in from the alternator to the main wiring harness to see if it was loose. On a UCE engine this plug will be found on the end of the wiring bundle that is coming out of the upper right hand side cover and heading rearward towards the back at the top of the transmission.

Another possibility is one of the wires that is connected to the headlight switch or the headlight has worn thru its insulation and is grounding out on something metal.
Examining this will require unscrewing the three screws that hold the headlight in place and pulling it out to get to the snarl of wires inside the casquette.
Look for frayed or loose wires.

It definitely has to do with wiring being short somewhere. Please get the whole circuit checked once. I personally don't like the rear tail light wiring, it runs from inside the rear mud guard and can get damaged easily with all the mud , rain and flying stones. Also suggest to check into the fuse box and sort the wiring if they are entangled. Three of them are live and there are three spare fuses.

Just as precaution tighten and secure the swing arm nut as well when you go to the ASC next.

So this happens to my bike too. On and off. From the time I bought the bike.

Any light switched on or brake light pressed when engine is running leads to bike switching off. However the issue never lasts for me to get a view by mechanics. Decided to live with it as we all do with numerous smaller issues with RE bikes.

Although the electrical wiring can be confusing it all works on a pretty simple principle.

The power starts with the battery and heads for the ignition switch. This is usually the Positive (+) voltage.
If the ignition is turned on, the power can go to all of the other places it is needed to do work for us.
The power supply always runs thru wires covered with some sort of non-conductive insulation.

After it has done this work (lighting the head light, running the computer, lighting the rear brake light bulb...) it returns to the battery thru another wire, usually to the Negative (-) side of the battery.

Many of the electrical parts are connected to some metal part of the engine or frame and the designers (in their infinite wisdom) often connect these engine or frame parts to the negative (-) terminal on the battery. This in effect gives a electrical part two return paths to the battery. One being the return negative wire and the other being the frame or engine.

This is all well and good until one of the supply (positive) wires has some insulation damage. If the insulation is cut or abraded away and the wire inside touches any part of the metal frame or engine the electricity (being lazy like myself) takes the easy path and uses the frame to get back to the negative terminal of the battery.
This is called a "short circuit" and it will often cause the fuse that is there to prevent overloads to burn out.

The other failure mode is due to the way the wiring is attached to some other wire to get to its needed place.
The electrical designers use plastic clips with small metal contacts in them called connectors to connect the wiring to lights, switches, other wiring harnesses etc.

If any of these connectors becomes loose, the wiring will loose its contact with the next part or wire and the system will fail.

When tracking down a electrical fault, use your common sense. Power from the battery thru the fuse thru the switch to the item, back thru the wiring or frame...

Having said all this, if a motorcycle is having its fuses burn out look for some place where the insulation or wire is damaged and is contacting the engine or frame.
The fuse should be the first thing to be checked.

If the powered part is not working, look for a bad or loose wiring connection or a cut or broken wire. As was mentioned, the wire to the rear taillight is often damaged by rocks, sharp metal edges cutting the insulation or being broken.
Wires inside the side cover are often close to sharp metal edges that can cut them. (I covered these with pieces of vinyl tubing that I slit from end to end so I could put the wires inside to protect them.)

If the wiring seems to be good, suspect the item that is supposed to be working or the switch that controls it.
Something that works intermittently is almost always due to a bad connection caused by a loose wiring connector.
One moment the wire is connected and the item is working. The next moment the connection fails and the part quits working.
It's all pretty simple when you think about it.
What's not so simple is finding the place where the bad connection is located. :)

Thanks for the replies guys.

I have been riding daily since that issue happened and it has never re occured. I reckon will just forget about it till it surfaces back again.

Btw, first time changed the air pressure to 30(R) and 20(F), dont feel much difference except that the bumpiness has reduced to some extent.

Hi Mobike008,

Thanks a lot for sharing the info on the custom-made exhaust. clap:

My friend is currently in Hyderabad and will be relocating back to Bangalore in a couple of weeks. I'm thinking about asking him to visit Zameer's garage and buy that exhaust pipe and bring it back with him to Bangalore.

Is this advisable to just buy it from Zameer and have it installed by the RE Service Center here in Bangalore?

Please advise. please:

Thanks,
Si1ver0ne

Sure, he can visit him and get the exhaust from him. Landmark is his shop ( small one) is diagonally opposite to Hotel Niagara in Chaderghat

He can visit him and pay the money and ask him to keep it ready and collect it when leaving for Bangalore. As mentioned before, you just need to tell him its for 500cc EFI bullet and he will know the exact measurements

Ofcourse, you just need to replace the stock with this one. Its unscrewing some nuts and bolts and refixing them. Iam sure its easily doable at RE service center.

Hello Dada,

Reading your ownership experience had motivated me to go for Amun-Ra. I am waiting eagerly to read something more about your Maroon Marauder.

Best regards,

Hi Majumdarda, Hope your doing fine. Been quite busy at work and not getting enough time these days but, Iam enjoying Maroon Marauder as much as I can but, not as frequently as I would like to.

It's really a long time that I shared an update here. First off, earning a living is putting a lot of strain and reducing quality riding time and due to which writing an update on Maroon Marauder's escapades regularly is becoming increasingly tough. But, I have been riding a fair bit most of which is each evening either to gym, jog or a short ride at night. Now the odometer is reading 8,300kms

I try to go for a 250-300kms ride once a month and usually on a saturday morning as that's the best time it works for most of my small group (Includes BHPians Insearch, Xydon, Rider60 and some non members) which we call it as a "Breakfast Ride". We now enjoy each others company and love serious riding and wrap up each ride with a hearty breakfast together before closing our ride around 12pm-1pm. We plan to stick to that routine due to busy work life

Coming back to bike, there is hardly any issue with it and iam throughly enjoying this beast and its majestic ride, it's also one of the reason iam not active as there is nothing to complain and MM rides like a dream. Another thing I have noticed that very few cars can overtake the 500cc and almost no bike (Regular bikes) can overtake it for sure on two laned highways, either iam riding too fast or others are riding below average speed.

As a group, we vary our speeds between 80kmph-110kmph and hardly ever go down below 70kmph so perhaps that is reason for a healthy average speed. Torque and thrust of 500cc is very satisfying and it's a pleasure to overtake vehicles who just gape at the way we maintain our speeds.

We rode to Vikarabad (75kms from Hyderabad) about 3 weeks ago and went beyond to a lake which is a further 35kms via. ghat section and farm lands and it was an enjoyable ride. Sharing some pics from that ride in this post.

Serviced MM post above ride and I was a bit embarrassed when speaking to Purshuttom ( Kay Jee Service Manager) as I had zilch issues to speak about and I joked as I asked him, if he really sold me a Bullet:D

As experienced in my previous service intervals, impeccable service, timely delivery and great respect and attitude of Purshuttom and his team. Extremly glad with their service and attention to detail.

Oil Change, Air Filter, Regular service including labour etc costed Rs.1600

Just for sake of outlining some issues, I did outline a few points to them when leaving the bike for service :-

1. FE has reduced to 22-24kmpl. Well, my BULL sounds glorious and I love to revv it a lot and its quite apparent that this also leads to lower FE

2. Clutch was slightly away from the grip bar and wee bit tight. They fixed this issue and clutch is butter smooth and in perfect graspable position

3. With winters setting in, whenever I start the bike after 2-3 days in evening. Start Bike, Switch ON headlights, bikes switches off. Same issue as outlined before. Minor irritant and i dont pay too much heed to it.

We are set to another ride this saturday to Medak church which is 100kms away from Hyderabad and this route is my favorite as it's a continous snaky route cutting through forests with thick trees on both sides. Should be fun riding this saturday, will share pics of that ride once done with it.

My bike is finally showing some signs of being a bullet!

Two issues faced :-

1.Last weekend we went for another 250kms ride and during the middle of ride the bike sputtered and was shutting off even from a coasting 40kmph+ speeds. I immediately realized that it has to do with headlights (we ride with our headlights on even during day-time for couple of important reasons). When bike is restarted, it starts and dies down the moment I thumb the lights ON. Thereafter decided to not switch on headlights and continue the ride, after a few kms, it again sputtered and died. I wait for a few moments and then it immediately started. After that no issues with the bike till I reached home (thank god!)

Didnt touch the bike for 3 straight days and rode last evening, same headlight issue...Whew !!

2. Another problem most of the surface of our ride was awesome with twisty roads cutting through dense forest area and great for a ride but, some surface had small slits in the road and during that patch, i felt the bike wobble a lot, especially the front hang. I thought for a moment, the front tyre was punctured but, that was not the case and tried leaving both hands and could feel the bike wobble more than usual. We decided to return through NH7 which is beautiful 4-lane highway and then tried opening her up and went up to 125kmph ( my highest till date) effortlessly and whatever symptoms of #2 was not glaringly visible. However, i still feel there is a very light wobble when i leave my hands

What could be the issue?