[madhkris]

Hi Siva! Congrats on your purchase. You have a legend and I know it is in good hands. Like always your thread is a treat to read with lots of suspense thrown in! How was the long ride? Please post some pics of the bull and the long ride.

[BulZire]

Excellent choice tram, Congrats and Good Luck on the buy! Welcome to the Bullet club
Wish you have a hassle free ride and do munching miles in it.
May be we should all form a Team BHP Bulleters group and meet sometime

[jeeva]

Hi Trammway,
Congrats
You have got yourself a beauty. If you are planning to keep it for a lifetime, do stock the spares : timing wheels, valves/guides, piston and rings. The 500 head and cylinder are very very hard to find these days. But you being the Shiva I know from Shibu, would find better alternatives, I know.

A 5 plate clutch will be a good upgrade. The new UCE 500 comes with 6/7 plate clutch. Not sure if its interchangeable though.

[trammway]

Thanks to everyone.

Day before yesterday night I started from Chennai to Coimbatore on a Volvo bus carrying my helmet in hand. I must say that excitement I had during the whole bus trip to see my recently acquired beauty was so so good.


Powertwin had sent his son to pick me up from the bus stop in coimbatore, the young chap gave me weird look and asked me why do you carry helmet in the bus?

Later in the day after picking up couple of brand new HMT automatic beauties, we went Powertwin garage, there you go the new era RE 500 was standing tall with all it's siblings and elder cousins from British land.

The bull was looking amazing and only thing missing was the rear view mirrors and crash bar. I requested Powertwin to take me to the spare parts shop so I could select the crash bar and rear view mirror and we did so.

The whole thing pushed us till 4:00pm in the evening, after customary acceptance of the bike, I started driving towards Chennai with "MY" Royal Enfield 500 bike. Since for long time I didn't drive a bull, to make my mind into the right to left brake pedal setup I decided to ride her not above 40kmph speed within the city limit. It was all very good, I filled the tank before leaving the cotton city of south.

There you go, I found some irregular vibration on my right handle bar, I thought it was due to the uneven road and my drive style and started moving on my route. I was on the Coimbatore to Avinasi road, everyone knows what is the situation out there, completely displaced road.

The vibration level started going up whenever I cross 60kmph, it vibrated really hard at some time I felt numb on my right hand. My instinct started saying something is going to go wrong. Seriously! Tried to call Powertwin but his mobile was unreachable. Hmmmm I can't help what is going to happen.. Pushed here with in 60kmph and keep riding on the smooth highway, not bad it was manageable.

When I reached the first toll gate, Suddently some noise and the bike stalled. The noise was kind of knocking and loud. This around 80kms away Coimbatore. I thought this is the stuff my instinct was telling me, so left the vehicle to cool for some times and started.. there you go.. she started rolling again. But the vibration didn't go off.. couple of calls to Powertwin discussing all about this, I know he was disappointed too.

When I reached Salem I missed the bridge which takes me to the city and gone on the one goes on the bypass, I was riding long but couldn't reach the city. I stopped at a shop only to find that I have already reached a spot which takes me to Harur. My god, going back to Salem will increase my trip to 30kms, I decided to proceed further 80kms to reach a know bullet mechanic to consult the abnormal issues.

This time I was riding her in good speed and no issues, when the bull crosses above 80kmph the vibration goes missing so I was sticking to over 80kmph speed.

With some false neutrals between gears while lowering but ride was good. I reached the bullet mechanic at around 9:30pm, the garage was attached to his house. I knocked the door and came out seeing my bullet looked happy. I explained him the issue, he called his son to check (in order)

1. Air pressure in the tyres
2. Front shock absorbers
3. Rear shock absorbers
4. Center nut (loosen it a bit after seeing tight handle bar)
5. Loosen the air inlet banjo bolt on the head
6. Opened the tappet door and looked for something (?), started and raised the accelerator and observed for some more.
7. He took a ride of the bull, came back with sad face saying I need to open up the engine and do crank shaft resetting.

I was at shock, and asked him why? He told me the oil seems to be not coming in good quantity for 500cc bullet. So, he suspected the crankshaft floating bush / bearing a culprit.

hmmm may be this is what my instinct telling me all these times, I asked him if he could fix it in there but he told me the oil circulation is found but it is not that good level as required and he suggested I can go to Chennai and nothing will happened and as he retired from doing mechanical job he won't be able to do even in the next day. After couple of hours of investigation, chat and all I decided to continue my trip till my native (80kms from the mechanic's place).

The NH66 (Krishnagiri to Pondichery) was the worst road in country, bull was riding comfortably well in the road. I reached safe at my home in Tiruvannamalai for night stay.

The next morning, I went with another childhood friend for hunting houses in my native. The bullet was packed full and I had plans to push the bike to chennai after seeing couple of properties with my friend.


at around 12:30pm, my trip to Chennai continued. Luckily there was no sound/vibration etc until this point. I hit the NH66 again towards Dindivanam, with in 18kms from Tiruvannamalai I started hearing lots of knocking noise from the bore, but no power loss or anything. I was riding very slow and still the noise was loud. I halted for few minutes, and started the bike and same loud knocking sound.... My instinct is never gone wrong, looked like the connect rod bearing gone.

I was between Gingee and Tiruvannamalai, so I decided to push the bull to Gingee where I have a friend who is a bullet mechanic.

to be continued...

[madhkris]

Whoa! What an experience on the very first day of ownership. Your bonding with the bullet has already started my friend

[BulZire]

That is one hell of an experience tram, the first impression of owning a old CI bull is always bad. But once it is yours it is a treasure that everyone will envy about. They are all part of Bullet Myths !!! It will never let you down in middle of nowhere. Carry on, i am glued to this to know what happened

[Ride_4_Fortune]

Hi trammway, CI 500 is a good choice and congrats on your buy.

Also see that you have faced lot of problems with your beauty. It just takes sometime to tame her. A tamed bull is all you need to conquer the road and she would never let you down.

I own a Bullet STD 350 (2009 model). I had lot of issues with starting, misfiring, carburetor tuning, electricals and many more. Over the time, she got accustomed to my riding style and takes me to unknown roads whenever I wish.

Wish you a safe and happy motoring with your tamed bull !

[trammway]

The mechanic in Gingee observed the noise and told me the crank bearing is gone and he need to open the engine for further assessment. He also advised me not to ride the bullet any further. As I had no other option, I opted for him to work on my bull.

As a continuation of the previous shocks, when he opened the rocker door and dismantled the rocker I found the newly installed rockers were accumulated with lots of metal debris which would have brought up by the oil circulation. The rocker also was badly damaged. Alright rocker needs to be changed, let us go on what else?

The head was removed and the piston looked too big for me, may be as I have not seen 500cc piston. The mechanic tried to shake the piston by his finger to observe if any excessive play and quickly he told me crank floating bush and bearing is gone.

He remove the head only to show me the badly seized piston(german make), Which I suppose Powertwin had changed recently. Lots of surface damages to the piston. That was one indication that the whole engine work is now required to be done.

The mechanic went on opening the rest of the parts from the engine until he opened the oil pump and reported me that the oil pump gear was not good and needs replacement.

He started listing all the parts required and all the lathe work needs to be done. The very first experience of my RE 500 endup this way, but I wanted to see how to fix the issue now. I called couple of known people in bullet world and started asking for oversize pistons and new bore kit and other parts.

Found some brand new bore kits were available for sale in Coimbatore, Trichy and Bangalore etc. The price for the same kits were differed from 8000 to 15000. Now it was time for me to ask for good lathe workshop, Trichy had a good lathe but parts are not available, or oversize piston was quoted Rs.1800 that too powersafe or powerpace company not the original. No lathe in Pondichery but parts were available, hmmm lots of confusion so I diced to hire a taxi to carry all the engine components that required lathe work to Chennai. At least I will have options to see if over size piston or sleeve with std size piston and good lathe shops etc.

After reaching home at 1:30am today early morning, I called it a day.
Now pictures of the nasty day:




















Today as a continuation of my yesterday's episode, again at 11:45am I reached Govindaraj motors (Parts dealer and Latheshop) an old time shop to complete all my tasks. The shop owner recognized me as I have already dealt with him for my 1955 bullet parts in the last few weeks. Now it is time for me to explain my sad story of RE 500.

At first he gave me a good news that the last RE 500 standard bore kit is available with him at Rs.7000 price. WoW, cheaper than any other place and also told me he can supply over size piston if required too. Very good news.

Now it is time for him to un wrap the engine I was carrying for lathe work, and he turned red and asked are you sure it is a Royal Enfield STD 500 bullet?


to be continued...

[Randhawa]

Let me guess, you have a 350 std crank with 500 head and block and probably 350 oil pump too!! That wouldn't be possible if RC said 500 right?

Oh dear cant wait so let it out.. What is it?

Not rubbing salt but Classic 500 UCE barrel and std piston with rings is just 3k.

[Beast_of_Burden]

Originally Posted by trammway

Now it is time for him to un wrap the engine I was carrying for lathe work, and he turned red and asked are you sure it is a Royal Enfield STD 500 bullet?


to be continued...

Allow me to commend you on your equanimity at a time of such extreme stress. I am sure you will not find this funny but your dead-pan writing style is incredibly entertaining. I am hooked to this thread.

I happen to be riding a green CI500 right now and it is the last of the great motorcycles that RE ever made. After the LB500 and the C5, they will make a few more models only to prove that the CI500 was a better bike. Used CI500s command prices north of 90k these days and in my opinion that is worth every single rupee as long as the engine is original and unopened.

It is very unfortunate that you ended up buying a mish mash of parts. This is a cautionary tale and needs to be told, please continue writing.

[trammway]

Originally Posted by Beast_of_Burden

Allow me to commend you on your equanimity at a time of such extreme stress. I am sure you will not find this funny but your dead-pan writing style is incredibly entertaining. I am hooked to this thread.

I happen to be riding a green CI500 right now and it is the last of the great motorcycles that RE ever made. After the LB500 and the C5, they will make a few more models only to prove that the CI500 was a better bike. Used CI500s command prices north of 90k these days and in my opinion that is worth every single rupee as long as the engine is original and unopened.

It is very unfortunate that you ended up buying a mish mash of parts. This is a cautionary tale and needs to be told, please continue writing.

Thank you for the wonderful feedback on my post.

I will continue to narrate the chain of incident by monday. I'm typing this message using my hand phone sitting next to my newly built CI500 enging. My bull got back the life and breathing now(idling after the new cylinder installation)

In another few hours of the village mechanic's full night service(special)to the bull, I will be riding back to her to Tiruvannamalai and once again my journey to Chennai will be resumed.

[trammway]

The puzzling question from the lathe shop is definitely not a good sign. I've dialed Powertwin to understand more on the previously done work. He had a discussion with the lathe shop too, like me he was also shocked hearing the inputs from lathe shop.

The turner in lathe continued to explain about the bore / piston I carried saying that it has 87mm where 500cc bullets will have only 84mm.

He asked me if the bike I own looks similar to Thunderbird ? I said no, He continued to ask me questions to make sure I get an idea of Royal Enfield Lighting 535.

I told him that I had a 535cc bullet in the past and this one is clean 500cc bike, He asked me "Clean 500cc bike?"

Sir, I'm sure this bike had gone through engine mix and match of parts from RE stables. Actually the previous owner seems to swap parts form RE Lighting bike such as bore and piston with RE 500. Ah.. not to forget the head also RE 535 model one, the shop owner showed me a change in the head for RE 500 and RE535. I really worried hearing all those words as the main reason for me to reject two bike on my initial select was due to mix and matched parts but now I'm standing with completely mixed bike.

Past is past, Let me fix the problem. I asked the shop keeper if he can give me over size piston for the cylinder, he replied no. Alright do you have the sleeve for this cylinder ? so I can put a standard size piston ? He once again replied with the answer no. The shopkeeper continued to tell me that the RE535 bike's cylinder kits are the rarest thing to find and even if it is available the MRP itself over Rupees 18K

While I was talking to the shopkeeper, Powertwin got some contacts in Delhi and send me the details of a person who has got a std piston for RE 535. It was again shock, the std piston will cost me Rs.6500 + Sleeve (though not available) + lathe charges = over Rs. 12000

I'm deep trouble hearing all these information, already the damages are estimated over 20K. My cylinder head's exhaust mouth also had a crack, I believed that the crack is only on the outer surface but when the exhaust pipe was opened, I understood that the crack is little deeper and fixed with some paste in the past. The only good news for me from the lathe shop that I don't need to worry about this as even if the crack becomes bigger an aluminium welding could fix it to originality.

Finally another experienced turner came and told me that the RE 535 head could be used with RE 500 as well. So, I decided to use the same head with brand new RE 500 cylinder kit. At least in the future I can do re bore to oversize pistons (5-6 sizes) and live happily without worrying about bore piston availability for the RE 535 setup the previous owner had made to this bull.

I will post the exact parts purchased along with cost breakup for parts/lathe/mechanic labour charges in the next post.

to be continued...

[desideep]

the best deal for you would be to start finding the so called 5-6 over sizes for the STD 500 piston. cause you just hear about then but never see them. but dont worry TRAMWAY you would end up getting good .

[trammway]

Originally Posted by desideep

the best deal for you would be to start finding the so called 5-6 over sizes for the STD 500 piston. cause you just hear about then but never see them. but dont worry TRAMWAY you would end up getting good .

Yes, you are right. I'm keeping my fingers crossed to get the oversize piston on stock. Anyway if that is not the case, I will keep some std pistons so sleeve may work.

As you rightly said, I have ended up getting good (at least with the cylinder kit deal), today I went to the same shop where I got the cylinder for exchanging a faulty oil pump and few additional items. That time only he was unpacking newly arrived cylinder kit consignment and showed me the MRP Rs.84xx/-

Good I bought the cylinder kit just 2 days before the price hike by saving 1.5K

Originally Posted by Randhawa

Not rubbing salt but Classic 500 UCE barrel and std piston with rings is just 3k.

Hmmm I think some one from RE production/marketing team noticed this post, the new price list as carried by the shop keeper shows UCE 500 cylinder kit is priced over Rs. 8000/-, Just see if you can access the same price list from your dealer too.

[Randhawa]

Oh dear! Thats 200% increase. By shop keeper you mean a non RE parts dealer? I wont be needing it soon but if thats the case then I might as well stock it if they still have it at older price which I seriously doubt it they will give me at old price.