[A350]

Great to see a well run and well maintained Electra. I have a 2001 A350 which has run approximately 10% of your total distance and now goes out for a spin on a few weekends a year, am hoping to cover a 1000 Kms in a year but don't know which one Please keep posting sharing your updates.

[tharian]

Originally Posted by A350

Great to see a well run and well maintained Electra. I have a 2001 A350 which has run approximately 10% of your total distance and now goes out for a spin on a few weekends a year, am hoping to cover a 1000 Kms in a year but don't know which one Please keep posting sharing your updates.

A 4 speed A350 was quite rare back then, even more today. I remember riding one back when my bike was relatively new and since both were the same except for the engine, it was easily quicker and less of NVH and I clearly remember the claimed top speed which was 20 kmph more than a cast iron 350 and that was actually same as the claimed top of a 500 cast iron.

I guess because the bike has not run much, you don't have to worry about the engine parts.

Feel free to post a picture here, it's been long since I saw a 4sp AVL Bullet.

[tharian]

Replaced the front tyre today with a Michellin Sirac Street.

The older one was a MRF RIB tyre and was 7 years old and had minute cracks on the sidewalls all around. Although it had run less than 25k kms , I decided to replace it especially when I saw this one of Amazon. I had no idea Michellin made motorcyle tyres in 19 inch, there was the same Sirac street available for the rear as well. The back as of now is 6 years old and not worn out fully. So decided to push that to next year.

This is first time I am using a thread such as this on the front and yet to ride a bit more to get a feel of it.

[ashwinprakas]

Originally Posted by tharian

Replaced the front tyre today with a Michellin Sirac Street.

The Sirac's and Sporty's from Michelin do have a really bad rap when it comes to wet grip. If I'm not wrong they used to be made by TVS back then.

So do take care. I've used the Sirac on my ZMA and I'm surprised how it didn't kill me with all the slipping and sliding it did during the monsoons.

Regards,
A.P.

[tharian]

Originally Posted by ashwinprakas

The Sirac's and Sporty's from Michelin do have a really bad rap when it comes to wet grip. If I'm not wrong they used to be made by TVS back then.

So do take care. I've used the Sirac on my ZMA and I'm surprised how it didn't kill me with all the slipping and sliding it did during the monsoons.

Regards,
A.P.

Thanks for letting me know. I had put up a post on the motorcycle tyre thread a week ago, asking how good they were.

Anyway I don't think it would be much of a downer for this bike since it is not a fast bike nor ridden as one.

[tharian]

Replaced the CDI unit again within 18 months of the last replacement.

The last one was a SWISS make since I couldn't get a RE OE part for this model. Although RE had a CDI unit for this model, it never worked and I returned it and bought the SWISS one which was 1/3 the cost.
This unit had an issue that it kicked back one out of two times I kick started it. At the beginning, I didn't bother much thinking it will sort itself out and later I just got habituated to getting kicked back.

Sometime last year, I got the part number for the CDI unit for the CI Electra and went to the same RE genuine parts shop on JC road and ended up with the exact same defective CDI unit they had given me earlier and I got the same one since that was the only CDI unit they had for the old bikes.
Threw it in my junkyard cupboard and forgot about the kick backs since I got used to it until recently when it was kicking back almost every time I kick started it.

I had a feeling it must be an issue with this CDI unit since apart from the kick backs, it was firing perfectly otherwise. So I picked up another one of the same make-SWISS and fitted it today and no surprises, the kick backs stopped and the firing is perfect too.

Took it for a spin and the engine was ticking over perfectly. That was issue of many years fully resolved now.

[tharian]

Finally, crossed 1,25,000 kms mark on a nice long ride. Odo stands at 1,25,080 kms now.

Headed out on Saturday early still undecided where to head and decided to hit Tumkur road and figure out on the fly. Traffic was high being the weekend with few bikers in groups and one or two like me doing solo. Most of the traffic cut off towards Hassan and I headed straight towards Tumkur and decided to hit the Shimoga road and head back after I have covered some distance.

One surprise was the Tumkur bypass which is finally done completely end to end and is proper 4 lane divided road. This road was always in bad condition through all the years I have used it. The second surprise was the 4 laning of the Tumkur-Shimoga road. The last time I did a good part of this stretch was 4 years ago. A good number of short stretches have been completed and is transformed the route.
I headed upto the Coffee Day just outside Arsikere which is hidden now because of a flyover that is coming up next to it. The last time I was there was when I did a similar one day ride to Chikamagalur on my 500, 7 years ago. The place like the road has completely transformed because of the 4 laning. I cut off a little further ahead towards Halibeedu which was a good two way road and then from Halibeedu to Hassan and back via Kunigal.

Covered around 425 kms in total and apart from a seizing feeling from the engine everytime I crossed 70 kmph, it performed fine all the way. Got a fuel efficiency of 28 kmpl as well for an average of 50 kmph. Didn't bother pushing it on some long down gradients this time as I was afraid of seizing the engine for good. The usual oil leak increased from the head gasket and a bit more from the PCV which drains onto the chain. The oil service was done last 2.5k kms ago, so will be giving it for the next service in another 2 k kms.

[KkVaidya]

Originally Posted by tharian

Finally, crossed 1,25,000 kms mark on a nice long ride. Odo stands at 1,25,080 kms now.

Wow - You are properly enjoying the cycle the way its meant to be.
Mine is the same as yours except it has run around 26,xxxkms in the last 19 years of ownership

[tharian]

Had been planning to change the complete exhaust system on the bike for a while now. The bike back in 2002, was from one of the first batches of the long muffler/short bend pipe type when it was introduced to meet noise pollution norms.
I had replaced the original set up with the old type, long bend pipe and short muffler once before when the bike was relatively new. (The picture below was from a trip with the same set up some time in the mid 2000's.) I got rid of it and sold it for scrap later since I had too many mufflers lying around and was changing them frequently and stuck to the original bend pipe. The note with the long bend pipe was nice and muffled too, but no were near the old heavy crank exhaust note, since my bike was a light crank.

In between, I went through all possible types of mufflers and kept swapping them whenever I felt like I needed a change. Finally, I stuck to the original long muffler and at times the short doom muffler which could be fitted on the original short bend. By now, that muffler was in bad state as it had rusted all over all though the internals were fine and I was looking to chrome plate it. The bend pipe was in same state too, but not as bad since it still had the original factory plating on it.

I had heard some of the Classic350's with a short doom muffler which sounded just like the old heavy crank cast iron 350. Since I had no idea what they were called, I didn't bother following up until last month when I went to my usual spare parts shop and asked for the old type bend pipe which they didn't have in stock. They got it this week and it was a RE genuine part, but they didn't have the muffler since RE doesn't make that anymore.
I knew a famous shop on JC road will have it for sure. Visited them and asked them for the same and I confirmed if it is going to be soft and not loud since from looking at the internal's from either ends will only tell half the story. He said it is the stock Bullet note and got back and fitted the new set up.
When I looked inside the new muffler, I noticed that the chambers are small and there is no filtered pipes in it which I knew will be loud in other words. This was called the 'Indore' muffler and the stock type muffler which had the filtered pipes inside to soften the note, was not available anymore.

After firing up the engine, the idle note seemed fine, but when I raised the engine, it was loud, but not annoyingly loud. It had the exact same old heavy crank note and looked completely stock just like in the picture, although it was much louder than that since that had filtered pipes in it. I was happy with it since that was exactly what I was looking for and the best part being, the smoothness of the engine was retained with this set up. Torque has increased too since this set up helped in early delivery of torque and it almost feels like riding a heavy crank now.

Much needed change in character of the bike.

[Sarvodaya]

Mine completed 120000 in six years

[tharian]

Originally Posted by Sarvodaya

Mine completed 120000 in six years

What bike is it? Doesn't look like an Enfield for sure.

[Sivacar]

Originally Posted by tharian

What bike is it? Doesn't look like an Enfield for sure.

Console is showing as Extreme

Must be the Hero CBZ Extreme

[tharian]

Visited Quality Metal Works when I was visiting Chennai last week and got my hands on the stock cast iron engine exhaust muffler.

With a renewed interest by the cops in Bangalore to catch bikes with loud exhausts, I was in no mood again to loose another muffler to them. The one that I got a month ago was loud, but not annoying. The other reason I wanted the original type of muffler was because with the older one, I was loosing power or there was a flat spot at a certain rpm which I had overcome every time by opening the throttle more. The sound and torque was just right with that muffler, but after a certain rpm or above 60, the vibes were more.

Since the shop in JC road didn't give me the exhaust I was looking for, I contacted Quality and they asked me to visit their shop in Chennai which was close to where I was staying when I visited. Had some difficulty in explaining to them what I wanted since they were 20 different types of muffler's available. Thankfully, I got the right one which looked exactly the same except that these had bigger chambers and filtered pipes on the inside.

Came back home and fitted it on the bike and the sound and feel was right. The torque and smoothness has reduced a bit, but the engine feels free compared to the other muffler.
Bike has run just 200 kms on the previous muffler.

The last picture is the Indore type which is much heavier because of the thickness of the metal, and the first and second pictures are the original type Bullet muffler with the filtered pipes inside.

[tharian]

Didn't realize it has been 3 months since I updated the thread.

The bike wasn't being used much. The last ride was to run in the new exhaust pipe and muffler which was around 120 kms. That would mostly be the last ride on my Electra as it got a new garage mate this month in the form of a BS6 Interceptor 650 which will take over highway rides. It was 20 years ago that I bought the Bullet, although I had a 500 cast iron in between for few years on which I had done most of my rides on.

The Bullet will be with me for city use and I plan on continuing clocking more relaxed kms on the stock engine as I don't have to stress it on a highway now.
The bike has clocked just over 1,25,600 kms. Selling it off will be a difficult option for me and I plan on keeping it, since a 4sp cast iron engined Enfield is quite rare already.

The 20 years fitness certificate is due this year and hopefully I can clear it.
Some pics of the new bike along with senior.

[navin_v8]

Tharian mate it is nice to see you retain your 2002 RE Electra. I believe the asking price down south (especially Kerala) for an RE with a CI engine 4 speed is very steep. Good that you didn't give in to the temptation.

Contrary to some peoples belief the Bullet CI is an excellent city bike. I too use my 1969 B1 Bullet and 96 CI Bullet (having CB Point) in the city and the overall comfort it provides in terms of tractability with minimal gear shifts is a boon in slow moving traffic conditions. Highways though are reserved for the Tbird500. I haven't felt the need to upgrade from the Tbird500 as yet, maybe in another 2-3 years I might consider.

Congrats on the RE Interceptor, she's a keeper too...