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Old 27th August 2014, 21:44   #31
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Re: Royal Enfield Bobber Project

Looking very rat rod'ish there mate.Amazing.Love that exhaust.Is that brass at the end of it?

I suppose that red on the filter won't be staying
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Old 1st September 2014, 13:44   #32
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Re: Royal Enfield Bobber Project

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Looking very rat rod'ish there mate.Amazing.Love that exhaust.Is that brass at the end of it?

I suppose that red on the filter won't be staying
yes it is reddish but i like the red!! it goes well with brass don't you think? but ya i might have to change it anyways as the red filter is a cheap one. once final paint is done will end up with a K&N.
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Old 6th September 2014, 19:04   #33
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Re: Royal Enfield Bobber Project

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but ya i might have to change it anyways as the red filter is a cheap one
Yeah me and red don't get on well together.

Does a K&N give any significant increase performance for the 500?I've always thought that the stock filter or no filter was the least restrictive for RE's.

On another note,Would you happen to know where to source high quality parts from?I need a tail lamp(Round lucas).Also I'm lookin to buy a springer fork.
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Old 6th September 2014, 19:40   #34
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Re: Royal Enfield Bobber Project

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Originally Posted by B O V View Post
Yeah me and red don't get on well together.

Does a K&N give any significant increase performance for the 500?I've always thought that the stock filter or no filter was the least restrictive for RE's.

On another note,Would you happen to know where to source high quality parts from?I need a tail lamp(Round lucas).Also I'm lookin to buy a springer fork.
Let me know if you find high quality springers (not royalenfieldzone or nino customs) anywhere as well. Looking or a set myself.
 
Old 7th September 2014, 00:44   #35
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Re: Royal Enfield Bobber Project

BOV
When I installed a new, oiled K&N air filter on my Royal Enfield G5 (basically a fuel injected 500cc UCE Electra imported into the USA) I was amazed at the loss of power.

So much so that I built a airflow test device using a clear vinyl hose with the end in a glass of water (to measure the vacuum under the filter), a plastic food container and a vacuum cleaner (to provide suction) to compare the airflow with the stock OEM paper filter.

I must first explain that when I read the instructions for the K&N filter it said to apply the special K&N oil to the filter. This I did, but I admit I sprayed it on rather heavily. Not dripping wet but thoroughly coated.

The factory pleated paper air filter produced less than half of the restriction that the heavily oiled K&N filter had!

Suspecting the heavy coating of oil was at fault I used the K&N cleaning kit to remove all of the oil from the filter media. I then retested the filter.

With no oil on the K&N filter element the airflow was quite a bit less restrictive than the OEM paper filter.
While this may appear to be a goodness, a unoiled K&N filter is about as good at filtering dirt as a fine screen. Definitely not something I would want to use on my expensive engine, so I applied a very light coating of the filter oil to it.

With a light coating of oil, the K&N filter was slightly less restrictive than the OEM pleated paper filter so I installed it on my G5.

With the K&N installed, my G5 seemed to produce less power than it had with the OEM filter.
My fuel economy also dropped from an average of 73 mpg (US gallon) to 61 MPG (US gallon). This test period lasted thru two refueling's covering 300 miles (484 km) to make sure the drop was not an anomaly.

With the test results in, I switched back to the used OEM pleated paper filter.
The engine power returned as did the fuel economy to the pre-test 73 mpg.

The filter K&N made for the Royal Enfield was made for the C5, which is about the same as the standard fuel injected 500cc sold in India. That is to say, the plastic air filter box is a different shape than the one installed on my G5.

I attributed the loss of power and the drop in fuel economy to the fact that the K&N filter is larger in diameter than the OEM filter.
The outside diameter seemed to be blocking off the engine air intake inside the plastic air filter box.

I don't know if this is the case with the C5 motorcycle and some of the RE owners in the US who have installed the K&N filter seem to think it improved their horsepower. They haven't written about their fuel economy.

Following this experiment I now only use the OEM pleated paper filter and my expensive K&N filter ($55 USD) sits on a shelf in my storage room.
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Old 7th September 2014, 01:09   #36
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Re: Royal Enfield Bobber Project

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Originally Posted by B O V View Post
Yeah me and red don't get on well together.

Does a K&N give any significant increase performance for the 500?I've always thought that the stock filter or no filter was the least restrictive for RE's.

On another note,Would you happen to know where to source high quality parts from?I need a tail lamp(Round lucas).Also I'm lookin to buy a springer fork.
BOV, i bought both my headlight and tail lights from US. what I found is its easy to buy stuff off ebay and get it shipped to india. in many items customs duty is like 29% which is not really bad. i also bunched up a few items together this way you can save a bit on shipping. i bought a few things from royalengieldzone but was not really happy by the quality.
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Old 7th September 2014, 13:57   #37
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Re: Royal Enfield Bobber Project

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Originally Posted by the-mechanic View Post
Let me know if you find high quality springers
Sure,Will drop you a pm.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ArizonaJim View Post

So much so that I built a airflow test device using a clear vinyl hose with the end in a glass of water (to measure the vacuum under the filter), a plastic food container and a vacuum cleaner (to provide suction) to compare the airflow with the stock OEM paper filter.
Thanks for the detailed reply.73 to 61 mpg is a huge drop.I feel like these bikes are best left stock in terms of performance.I mean there's not gonna be any significant increase in power from this 50's era design(barring a few minor changes).

I've run my '83 CI 350 without an an airfilter(by mistake actually,the screw holding the oval plate came loose and the filter fell down somewhere).I really didn't feel any difference.Except for the sound of the air getting sucked in.

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BOV, i bought both my headlight and tail lights from US.
Thanks.Even I was going through ebay us and found a lot of the parts that I wanted.Could you post a picture of your tail lamp?
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Old 7th September 2014, 21:53   #38
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Re: Royal Enfield Bobber Project

BOV here is the pic of the tail light .i think i picked it up from TC Bros. Royal Enfield Bobber Project-tail-light.jpg

ArizonaJim, I noticed you are in Phoenix, I have a question. I am planning to be in LA next summer. I was thinking if it would be possible for me to ship my bike from India temporarily? what are some of the restrictions? its a royal enfield 500cc (India version) that is converted into a custom bobber. it would be a dream to drive on route 66!!
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Old 8th September 2014, 01:30   #39
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Re: Royal Enfield Bobber Project

krcustoms
There are a lot of hoops to jump thru and bells and whistles to ring and blow to import a vehicle from outside the US.
One of the most difficult is getting around the Department Of Transportation (DOT) requirements for their roadworthy requirements and the emission requirements of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Then, there is the cost of transporting the motorcycle both ways. (You cannot bring a vehicle into the USA and sell it here.)

I really don't know what the total cost would be to do what you are wanting to do but I would bet you could buy a fairly new model used motorcycle in LA for less.
For instance, a quick web search for motorcycles for sale in California gave me a lot of 2008 and newer Japanese and BMW motorcycle hits for $3000 USD or less.
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Old 9th September 2014, 11:51   #40
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Re: Royal Enfield Bobber Project

Thank you kr.I found exactly what I wanted.Only issue is that they charge a bomb on shipping.The lamp costs 30$ but the shipping is 40$

On another note.That seat looks like the classic seat?There's a nicer lookin one that should be available at the major spares shops.Costs 3200Rs.
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Old 9th September 2014, 18:47   #41
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Re: Royal Enfield Bobber Project

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Thank you kr.I found exactly what I wanted.Only issue is that they charge a bomb on shipping.The lamp costs 30$ but the shipping is 40$

On another note.That seat looks like the classic seat?There's a nicer lookin one that should be available at the major spares shops.Costs 3200Rs.
BOV yes that is the original classic seat , slightly modified but i am not happy wit it. planning to get a proper bobber seat.

yes shipping is a killer but if you add a few more things to the shopping cart what you will see is the shipping is still about 40. alternate option is for somebody from USA to carry the stuff for you. often time that's what i did
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Old 23rd September 2014, 15:15   #42
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Re: Royal Enfield Bobber Project

Can somebody point me to some good rust proofing products? It will be a bit more time before i am ready with actual paint but in the meantime I want to protect the metal.

Any product that I can just spray on and it will protect the un-painted parts of the bike for a month or so. I am fine tuning the ride quality so I suspect that I am still atleast a month from final paint.

cheers
KR
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Old 23rd September 2014, 18:42   #43
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Re: Royal Enfield Bobber Project

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Can somebody point me to some good rust proofing products?
The only thing that comes to my mind is WD-40,however it gets sticky and will attract dust.But it will not let the unpainted bits rust.

Alternately there are a few products like you mentioned but some of them don't work well with certain qualities of metal.So be careful if you do decide to buy them.

By unpainted bits do you mean the rear fender,tank and the linkages for the shifter and brake mechanisms?

Last edited by B O V : 23rd September 2014 at 18:47.
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Old 23rd September 2014, 22:39   #44
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Re: Royal Enfield Bobber Project

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The only thing that comes to my mind is WD-40,however it gets sticky and will attract dust.But it will not let the unpainted bits rust.

Alternately there are a few products like you mentioned but some of them don't work well with certain qualities of metal.So be careful if you do decide to buy them.

By unpainted bits do you mean the rear fender,tank and the linkages for the shifter and brake mechanisms?
yes B O V, that's correct, fender, tank, linkages etc
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Old 28th November 2014, 00:06   #45
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Re: Royal Enfield Bobber Project

got the new Sinister seat. let me know how it looks!!
Royal Enfield Bobber Project-img_20141127_174213650.jpg

Royal Enfield Bobber Project-black-sinister-seat.jpg
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