[Twister_In]

Hi Guys,

I am searching for a Modified Thunderbird, or a pre-owned thunderbird which can costs me around 35-40K which i can again get modified to the interest of mine.

I want some help from you guys,
1) Where can i get reliable dealer who can supply me a nice bike(thunderbird)
2) Any information about the mechanic who is best in the modifications/customizations
Place - Hyderabad

please share the information with me .

Looking forward for some great responses, thanks alot

[Elvis_007]

Hello there,
I own a Thunderbird 2002 Nov model. Have been driven only for 16k kms as mostly I was out of India. The bike is great to ride after so many years of sitting at home. Was only started few times, may be one a month and one of my friend drove for 2-3 kms and was kept back in the home after that.

With this background, I have exactly same requriement as you mentioned in your post.
I am looking to do some modifications to the stock Thunderbird that I own.
Some thoughts that I have for modifications are basically divided in 2 categories:

Performance enhancements
1. Add K&N Air Filter and replace the jets to suit the new filter
2. Reduce overall wait of the bike whereever I can, some thoughts:
a. Rremove the back rest
b. Remove the crash guard in front. ( I Know it may not be a good idea from safety point of view,but if it helps in reducing the wait then I wanna atleast try to see the difference)
c. Change the back wheel from current 19'' inch to 18'' and get the MRF Moto C tyre or something similar.

Looks:
1. Get the wheel rims, front mudguard, fork, engine crome plated.
2. Change the handle bars to something better and more comfortable.
3. change the silencer to either a BSA or something better. ( not sure which one will work and look best)
4. Changes to the color scheme
5. Few others...


Now, I am also in hyderabad and sailing in the same boat as you i.e. finding a good enfield mechanic who can suggest and help in getting the above and may be some more modifications that would make my TB looking unique without affecting performance from negative point of view.

I have gonbe thru almost all the threads that talk about Bullet or any enfield modifications and have not found any that tells about getting this job done in Hyderabad.

Request your inputs to help me and Twister on this.

[Twister_In]

Looks like no one here is interested to help me in getting some information regarding the customized Bullet
Anyways thanks for your Add-in Elvis

If i find any more information which could help us i will definitely share it with all BHpians and also with you Elvis.

[FlyingSpur]

Check out the Khalidaro thread. Or maybe I'm talking rubbish and you aren't into that sort of modification. Sorry, I'm alien to the bikes section hehe.

[rider60]

guys if seriously interested in a thunder bird and enfield league bikes, i suggest you try contacting the guys from Xbhp.com, a dedicated forum for bikers.

and since we are Hyderabadis and i am proud to call it a mecca for willys & like jeeps and enfield bikes so finding one shouldnt be difficult, just look at right places!

a couple of mechanics at ramkote should help along with the community called hyderabad nawabs in orkut or just google for it!

and please put down the results here!

EDIT: what ever mods you plan i strongly recommend you staying with the mechanic unless you manage to find a professional

[redfire]

Elvis, very sensible and good mods are listed by you. Hope you will post pics once it is complete. Sorry for not being able to help you out as I am from a different city. You can try royalenfield.com forum (company site has a forum) and post your query.

[Elvis_007]

Found a guy (he is not mechanic by trade) in hyderabad who modifies bikes (bullets, thunderbirds, and all the other 100-200 cc bikes). I went to him and saw his album which had pictures of all the bikes he has modified till date. Man.. it was awesome... some of them I couldn't recognize their original version.....
He modifies based on your taste, needs and obviously budget.
I discussed the mods with him and he also gave some suggestions....I am planning to get with him by this month-end and then get started on my thunderbird mod project.
One question to all Bullet/thunderbird or any RE owner...

Changing the back wheel from 19'' to 15'' will cause any performance issues ?
He suggested that I can get the back wheel changed to 15'' (Eliminator) with a 150 tyre to give better stability on straight ride (may not be real good on corners though) and excellent looks... He had Kings Tyres that he was fixing to a pulsar (15''/150) that looked good but I was not sure of the brand hence got confused.
But he can get any brand fixed that I can buy and get to him.


Hopefully I will finalize my basic design for mods before this month end and then get with him to do all the mods that I always wanted on my Thunderbid.

ohh yes, also found couple of Enfield mechanics in Sec'bad/hyd whom I plan to go and get some good tuning done for the bike.

For normal service I plan to go to RE company service centre...

Any help and suggestions from this group are really appreciated and needed at this time as I am new to modifying bike.

[Twister_In]

Hey thanks for the Replies guys...

Elvis if you don`t mind can you share the address of the person you have mentioned so that i can go and meet him and check what he has in his store related to modifications. I want to visit him once and check out what all modifications i can go ahead with.

can you please PM me with his details.

XBHpians i am planning to own a second hand Bullet Electra 350 or a Bullet ThunderBird can some one guide me where i can find the best one.

I have checked at Ramkote.... but could not find any good model. if some can suggest what could be the price i can quote for the 2004 Bullet electra and other models... that would be great ...

thanks for your information Rider60

[kkr2k2]

@twister, a friend of mine, bought a 2003 machismo 350 recently for 38K, later he put in another 7k to make sure the bike was according to his satisfaction. (though it didn't required that much spending immediately)

PM me, I can lead to that person who helped my friend to find this bike. (Mind both of them are not bike dealers, both are hard kaur bikers..... rather bulleteers) But you have to wait till 22nd, he is on a ladhak trip and yeah! on a bullet.

raj.

[Twister_In]

Raj, thanks for your suggestions
check your inbox i have sent you a message.

my expenditure for the bike is 36K -42K and i alloted 6K-8k for the minor modifications and later i would check for the complete transformation.

suggest if you have any good conditioned bikes ready for sale.

[redfire]

Elvis - I will never recommend a 15", you will loose the ride quality of Enfield. go for 18", it is the best bet with a wide veriety of tyre choices. An 18' with a Moto C tyre is a best combination, tough personally I always stick with 19 as this is what unique in an RE and has the greatest ride quality.

[Elvis_007]

Originally Posted by redfire

Elvis - I will never recommend a 15", you will loose the ride quality of Enfield. go for 18", it is the best bet with a wide veriety of tyre choices. An 18' with a Moto C tyre is a best combination, tough personally I always stick with 19 as this is what unique in an RE and has the greatest ride quality.

Thanks redfire for the suggestion. Can you put little more light on why we loose the ride quality and what impacts may be expected if I use 15'' tyre.
Basically I was trying to modify the thunderbird to a real chopper with a little fat tyre ( 15'' / 150, to fit this type of wheel there would be modifications anyway that would be required) back and probably (17'' / 120) front. The reason for this combination is:
1. It will lower the bike and give a broader look from behind.
2. The shorter wheel in front compared to stock one will give little extra gap between the wheel and the engine, making it look a longer.

I am worried about 2 things from the above:
1. The overall performance of the bike (top speed and acceleration)
2. The stability on Indian roads.

Anyone can throw some light on these aspects ?

[kcstheg]

Hey Guys,

Have you been able to make any progress on your mods ?

I would love to learn about your experiences...Have some ideas in my mind for my tbird that just completed 5 yrs

[Twister_In]

Originally Posted by kcstheg

Hey Guys,

Have you been able to make any progress on your mods ?

I would love to learn about your experiences...Have some ideas in my mind for my tbird that just completed 5 yrs

I have an address of a person who does the mods for Bullet, I am planning to check his place this weekend.
I will let you know once i get the details.

I am yet to buy Bullet(Thunderbird/Electra), i am looking for some second sales. did not found any better yet.
Let me know if you have any in your contacts who want to sell there Bullet (after 2003 model)

[gt_mustang]

by any chance wouldnt this guy be dadu bhai near sarojni eye hospital

if it is then let me tell u the guy has definitly peaked. he has many guys working under him with whom i had a bad experiance once with my t bird long time ago
plus he takes AGES to do any mods nowadays

if it him then i would advise not to go to him