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My 1995 RE Machismo 350: Maintenance, repairs & other updates

I went to my mechanic to get my rear wheel adjusted as the chain was rubbing against the chain cover. Also, my indicators had decided to stop flashing for some reason.

BHPian SgtGAWD recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Patience- nowhere does its indispensability shine brighter than while troubleshooting an old RE.

With the monsoons finally setting in, I decided to give my machine a much-needed wash and some form of protection from all the water and muck being thrown around whenever I venture out in the rains. I washed my machine with soap and mild shampoo, taking extreme care not to let any moisture make its way to the CB points, and wiped her dry. I proceeded to spray down all the metal parts with a mixture of diesel and engine oil as suggested by my mechanic (poor man's anti-rust spray/polish).

All said and done, the machine looked impeccable and I shall let the pictures do the talking:

I took her out for a spin and went to my mechanic to get my rear wheel adjusted as the chain was rubbing against the chain cover. Also, my indicators had decided to stop flashing for some reason. He was able to adjust the wheel so that the chain did not touch the cover while riding solo. However, taking along a pillion results in a rhythmic slapping of the chain against the cover. My flasher had decided to throw a tantrum and refuse to flash the 4 LED turn signals that I had installed. It did however flash when I substituted 2 of the bulbs with halogen units. Funnily enough, I had replaced my old flasher for the very same reason and the new unit from Lumax worked perfectly with the LED bulbs until now. I decided to unplug the flasher as I wanted to retain the LED bulbs due to better visibility. The only drawback is that the turn signals don't flash now and stay illuminated whenever they are turned on. Old Enfields never die and so do their niggles.

I was yet to resolve the issue with the wiring and the blown fuses. Mulling over the issue led to me concluding that something must be wrong with the tail lamp wiring as the entire wiring harness was new and everything was connected using proper connectors without any wire splicing. However, my mechanic had spliced the wires of the tail lamp holder as the connector failed to match the new wiring harness. I had spotted the issue a while back but was hesitant to check it out as dismantling the tail lamp bracket was quite a chore. However, I could substantiate my hypothesis by disconnecting my tail lamp assembly connection and waiting for the fuse to blow up. I decided to go for it and disconnected it before taking out my machine for a 20km trip the next day.

Needless to say, the ride went smoothly and I was able to keep up with my buddy on his C350 at speed of up to 80 km/h. I faced zero electrical issues on the way. Here are a few shots of the ride:

While returning, I went straight to my mechanic and informed him of my diagnosis. He suggested I also get my rear mudguard welded as the rusted edges could have been stripping the wires of their insulation. My tail lamp assembly had indeed fallen off twice from the rusted mudguard. The first time the issue was fixed by using an oversized washer to hold the bolt in place. When that gave up as well, I ended up using the upper hole on the mudguard meant for the wiring to hold the tail lamp assembly in place. while I was there, I also got my seat aligned with my tank. Thanks to the amazing quality control at the RE factory, nothing could be done to the tank to save it and I did not want to scrap a finely chromed tank, so my mechanic decided to bend the front supports of the seat to the right to align it to the tank.

The first time the tail lamp assembly came off while was riding and I had to tie it to the back seat in order to make it home:

Before vs After. It is still far from perfect but then, are project bikes ever perfect?

The next morning, I went to my local welder and fixed the rear mudguard. I had to open up the taillamp assembly and got a chance to reinsulate all the spliced wires. The welder arc welded a GI sheet to the mudguard to cover the hole. Interestingly enough, he only welded the top half of the sheet and when I asked about it, he reasoned that the bottom half was left unwelded to enable water to pass through and prevent rusting of the mudguard. The reasoning seemed infallible and all that is left to see is how it holds up to the ravages of time, mud, and moisture .

All opened up. Also, I have deliberately routed the tail lamp wiring externally instead of under the mudguard to preserve it from moisture and muck. Elegant? Most definitely not. Practical? Yes!

The sorry state of the rear mudguard:

Work in progress:

The final result:

Here is how it looks from the inside:

The tail lamp sit around 2 to 3 inches lower now:

This is all for now,

Cheers.

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