[jocreative]

Hello Guys,

My 1 year warranty period just expired on my RE Machismo 500, and I thought I should play around customizing or transforming the looks into fairly decent street legal Bobber.

As far as my experience with machinical or customizing stuff goes, its pretty much close to none so please bare with my no-experience info or queries if anything comes up. I am pretty much comfortable with loosening and tightening bolts, but if I have to look up a wiring diagram, I would be totally clueless. Ha!

The plan is simple. Purchase Harley components and integrate them on my RE Mach 500. Things I look forward to replacing/adding on are -

1. Complete Front end (Raked Triple Tree, Fork, Riser, handlebar, Cables)
2. Petrol Tank
3. Air Filter
4. Add Front Foot Controls
5. Rear Swing Arm
6. Wheels and Tires
7. Seat
8. Remove,Clean up unwanted wires or parts.
9. New Fenders
10. New Lights
11. Lower 11" shocks

I did alot of searching online and could not find any info spefically for a few things. My doubts are as follows - (please bare with me if they are really basic in nature)

1. What is the neck pole width of Machismo 500? Or if its a standard width for all Motorcycles? I am reffering to the piece that goes into the neck part of the frame. They have 3/4th width and 1inch width trees available.

2. What is the Fork tube Diameter on a Mach 500? I read somewhere that its 47mm fork ends, but the fork tubes might be lesser. Anyone know the exact measurement?

3. Is the rear Swing arm bolted on? I took a look around on my RE and noticed that there are axles and bolts hinting that if they are taken off, the swing arm might just come off. If thats the case, I assume I can just but another one that can accomodate a slightly more thicker wheel and fit right in there if its the same width.

4. The stock swing arm on the RE, has a 1inch spacer on the right side. I wonder if this is removed, it can accomodate bigger wheels. I am looking for a 150 or 180/16 and they say it can be done on a 3.5" wheel rim. Can anyone tell me if the stock swing arm can fit a 3.5" wheel?

5. Front/Rear Axle thickness? Standard size leans towards 3/4inch. Can anyone confirm this is right for RE?

I am sure I will come up with more doubts along the way. I hope I can find some good input from here.

Thanks in advance to all.

[aargee]

Originally Posted by jocreative

I did alot of searching online and could not find any info spefically for a few things.

You might've wanted to only searched TBhp for this

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/modifi...st-design.html
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motorb...tom-bikes.html

[jeepster]

how about this?

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motorb...s-inquiry.html

yes the rear axle is bolted on.

you can fit wider tyre but the chain is the limiting factor not the swing arm. (you will get fantastic FE after that)

rgds,
Nikhil

[jocreative]

Originally Posted by aargee

You might've wanted to only searched TBhp for this

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/modifi...st-design.html
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motorb...tom-bikes.html

Hello Aargee, thanks for the links, although they aren't really what my post was asking for. There aren't very many posts on how exactly to customize an RE. I know there are custom modifiers who do it as a job... hope they can pitch in.

Originally Posted by jeepster

how about this?

yes the rear axle is bolted on.

you can fit wider tyre but the chain is the limiting factor not the swing arm. (you will get fantastic FE after that)

rgds,
Nikhil

Hello Nikhil, that bobber looks cool. I think I will be aiming for something in-between a bobber and a chopper. I want it to look classy and also street rideable.
I know the axle is bolted on. However my question was is the swing arm bolted on?

Ideas are not the main aim of this post. It's mainly to collect the most basic info required to do a decent mod to an RE. I hope I get some good info on here that could possibly help other RE owners with a slight modification dream and a little bit of spare time.

[jeepster]

Originally Posted by jocreative

I know the axle is bolted on. However my question was is the swing arm bolted on?

bolted to what?

the swing arm is a single welded unit.

there are very few thumpers here who have info regarding your query's.
(like the neck rake angle)

[aargee]

Originally Posted by jocreative

The plan is simple. Purchase Harley components and integrate them on my RE Mach 500

Be very cautious on this my friend unless you're planning to order the parts from abroad. If you think HD India will help you source the parts off their shelves, then a big sorry. From what I heard, HD is not selling the parts to any individual unless they bring the motorcycle to the HD.A.S.S.

Again, if you order from abroad, the shipping charges are terrible unless you get it carried from US through your friends/relatives.

[jeeva]

Originally Posted by jeepster

bolted to what?
the swing arm is a single welded unit.

Jeepster, I guess what jocreative's query was whether the swing arm is bolted onto the chassis.
Yes it is. The swing arm is a single welded unit and its mounted onto the chassis on bushes and nuts on either sides.

[jocreative]

Originally Posted by jeepster

bolted to what?
the swing arm is a single welded unit.

Attachment 441210

there are very few thumpers here who have info regarding your query's.
(like the neck rake angle)

Hello Nikhil, Thanks again for your reply.
I meant bolted onto the frame. I was just trying to make sense of the architecture without dismantling it . I figured the swing arm was bolted on to the frame, and the shocks where connected the top part of the frame and the lower joint to the swing arm to give it the bounce. I ran my fingers along that rod from the wheel to the bolt, and do not remember seeing any welds in between. I have to take a look again. Attached is a pic for reference.

Regarding the Neck Rake Angle, although that wasn't exactly my question, Attached pics shows a small quick way I found out the actual rake angle of a RE through Photoshop . For some reason they aren't in the right order. Rougly I assume, the stock angle of the neck is raked at around 25*. I plan on getting some raked Trees to insert better tubes. This would further increase the angle by another 6* making the ride longer and possibly lower with a smaller rear wheel.

Originally Posted by aargee

Be very cautious on this my friend unless you're planning to order the parts from abroad. If you think HD India will help you source the parts off their shelves, then a big sorry. From what I heard, HD is not selling the parts to any individual unless they bring the motorcycle to the HD.A.S.S.
Again, if you order from abroad, the shipping charges are terrible unless you get it carried from US through your friends/relatives.

I will be ordering from abroad. Haven't thought of buying any parts from here because most of them just end up rusting or cracking soon anyways. The shipping charges are ok. I already purchased a few items and waiting for it to arrive. The way I look at it, you can spend around 50-80K and bring in quality parts from abroad, or spend 80-1Lakh and get locally manufactured parts from here which generally do not last long because the base armature is always old. Sorry if I am being pessimistic about the whole Indian parts scenario. I have purchased a few parts from here and they hardly lasted a month before it got covered in rust.

Originally Posted by jeeva

Jeepster, I guess what jocreative's query was whether the swing arm is bolted onto the chassis.
Yes it is. The swing arm is a single welded unit and its mounted onto the chassis on bushes and nuts on either sides.

Jeeva, interesting answer or maybe I am reading too much into it. I understand that swing arm is one piece, so your answer to if its mounted on the frame using bolts is yes, and that its not directly welded on to it. Correct?

The second part to that question would be, if the swing arm is welded onto the frame, then what is the maximum width of the wheel rim that can be mounted onto the stock swing arm?

[jocreative]

These attachments would further explain what I meant by all the swing arm questions.

Will it be possible to unbolt it and remove it as a piece like below? Or is it actually welded onto a chassis/frame like a hard-tail?

Note: Attached pics are random yamaha or suzuki swing arms found online for reference and I do not intend on using them on the RE.

[jocreative]

A few of the parts came in a few weeks back and my hands have been itching to try them on even though the rest of the parts are not here yet.

1. LED LR Indicator Lights
2. LED Tail Light + LR Indicator
3. Harley Chrome Switches + Wire Harness
4. Harley Chrome Clutch and Brake lever with master Cylinder
5. Chrome Harley handlebar grips 7/8th size.
4. Chrome Billet Headlight
5. K&N Filter
6. Forward Foot Controls

So after 3 days of work, I finally got most of them on. It’s probably lame considering the time I spent on such simple tasks, but it was a huge learning process for me and the results were all good.

Figuring out the Wire connections was fun! I looked online to see if anyone had any wire color-code manuals that would make my work easier, but nothing helped. So I had to do a bit of digging of my own.
I stripped down the stock RE switch controls. Unscrewed everything until I saw the wires going towards the switches. Labeled the ends of each wire with what I thought would be the +ve -ve and common or live wire of the lights, indicators and horn etc.
Once I got those labeled, I had to do the same with the Harley switch wires and I must tell you, the Harley wire design was much simpler. They had very few common live wires, and not much -ve or ground. Just enough. As compared to the RE, each switch had a different wire for +ve and -ve. Agh!
I connected them one by one and made sure they worked before I moved on to connecting the rest. That helped a great deal. Half way through I figured out that the labels marked "+ve and -ve" did not exactly match the Harley way of switch logic, and I had to connect commons for LR indicators and Head Lamps.. and I tell you, it was a like solving a puzzle! All went well and I ended up getting all of them connected without blowing a fuse. (I did end up blowing a few fuses 2 days after though. More on that later)

Installing the Indicator and Tail lights were cool too. The tail light has LR function too, so now when I have 2 indicators for L and R each. More the merrier! I had to leave the old Tail light case on just because I couldn’t drill holes into my Rear fender with the drill set I had (the drill bits were defective, blunt or bent). Tail light would have looked much better with it loaded directly onto the fender. I will be doing that soon though.
If you can’t already tell, sometimes my patience runs a little low when I am in a hurry to see the results . This is not a good thing at all times, because then I turn to be sloppy!

To install the K&N Filter, I had to remove the stock Filter Box and the metal Air container. There were also 2 tubes connected to the air container that is now left open. These tubes were cracked and brittle anyways so I figured if it was running well with them having cracks, then it probably doesn’t need too much purified air anyways. Please let me know though if this is necessary. Right now the conical K&N Filter is directly mounted onto the Carburetor using a rubber tube.

I was getting ready for my drive, when I realized that my horn is actually connected to my Left side Indicator light! I was thinking to myself, when did that happen? I spent a couple of hours trying to trace the problem and realized that the Harley wire setup had a common for LR Indicators, High/Low Beam and Horn but the RE had a distinct connection for the horn. After blowing two 15AMP fuses and one 10Amp fuse, I realized that I cannot connect my Horn along with any of the Light common wires or else I will have blinking headlights or unwanted LR lights. So I had to add an extra wire from the switch all the way down to the end of the tube which would serve as the –ve. This worked fine. Just had to blow 3 fuses to get there, but oh well, another lesson learnt.
My first day drive with these installs was good, other than every single person on the road blinking their hands to say that my lights are on! That’s because there is no headlight off switch. American vehicles have the lights on by default. So much for keeping the Planet Green!
Even guys from inside their cars had to roll down the window to say that my lights are on. I know that they are on. I had to buy a standard ON-OFF table lamp light switch so that I can turn it off . Attached is my ghetto setup of a head light off switch. I will be replacing that too with a more standard solution soon.
I found the ride to be much smoother with the K&N filter. Earlier on I used to find the bike quite jerky and rough. I liked the over all feel of riding the bike with these accessories on.

I couldn't get the Clutch lever to fit perfectly as the clutch cable kept slipping out. Maybe I have to get a bigger head cable for it. I also did not venture into changing the master cylinder. I checked on a few youtube videos and they were quite informative, but just was too tired to do it, so I have the old ones on right now.

I also could not install the forward foot controls onto the frame because the Motor box is blocking one of the main bolts that I need to remove to install this thing on it. So for that either I have to dissemble and remove the Gearbox/Motor cover or unbolt the entire engine off the frame. Guess the fun never ends!

Itching for the remaining parts to arrive -

4” over Chrome Springer
1.25” Chrome handlebar
4” Handlebar riser
Digital multipurpose all-in-one Speedometer, RPM Meter, Trip Meter, LR/N indicators etc.
Custom Chrome Billet headlight.
11” chrome cover Shocks.

More to purchase in the next few months –
Side mounted License Plate
Custom Tank
Custom Fenders
Wider Front Tyre
Wider Rear Tyre + Rims.
Rear and Front DiskBrakes + Rotors.

[jeepster]

congrats jocreative !

RE electricals suck!! (& with Harley Davidson switches its a nightmare for DIY'er)

keep us updated regularly.
in case of any problems feel free to ask here, we are more than happy to help fellow DIY bhpian.

best of luck for next things to do.

EDIT: move rear tale light a little upwards. have you figured out the swing-arm geometry?
a picture attached.

[jocreative]

Thanks jeepster.

Next on my list is to install the forward foot controls onto the frame. For this i may have to remove the entire engine / motor block from the frame. Any idea if i may run into any complications for this?

[jeepster]

no no need to remove engine.

here is s bolt on kit for you.

link- Royal Enfield Zone - Accessories for Royal Enfield Bullet, Electra, Machismo, Thunderbird, Standard :: Royal Enfield Zone, New Delhi, India

another type. (Vardenchi bike)

[jocreative]

Jeepster, the first few pictures you posted is not of a 500cc Mach. The last two looks like its a 500. If you notice on the last two pics, on the right side of the pic (or left side of the bike) there is a curved area on the motor box near the ignition that blocks the 2nd bolt which needs to be removed inorder to fit the kit. That one bolt is going to cost me days of work!! Or else I have to make a small 1cm gap on the top hole of the clamp on the forward control and try to wedge it in there. There is only like 5-8mm gap left and I hope it fits in there.
I bought the kit from Royal Enfield Zone and its the all chrome bulky looking one. I dont trust their chrome though. All their base parts are rusted and it comes out in 2-3months. I may paint the pole black matte.

Royal Enfield Zone

[jeepster]

above pictures were for reference only.

what do you think about Vardenchi ones?
you can buy the foot controls from Akshai Varde.

::: vardenchi :::




you can change the exhaust bend pipe to 350 one.