THE TRIP HOME PHOTOS AND SOME BORING STUFF

MOTORBIKES

• PAPERWORK REQUIRED    

• THE BIKES    

• SPARE PARTS    

• MAINTENANCE    

THE BIKES

The motorbikes we intend to use for the trip are Royal Enfield, Lightning 535's. These bikes may be 535cc however the power output is pretty low at only 25bhp. Big bikes are not generally available in India and the Royal Enfields are the biggest ones made there(as far as I was able to find out anyway(rhumors of a 625cc Royal Enfield but no definate info. available). The cost of buying and importing a big bike into India would work out at least double what the locally made Royal Enfields would cost(Rs 68,000)(Currency Conversion). For this reason and the availability of parts we decided to go with the Lightning 535's. In addition the Royal Enfield bikes have allot of style/character(in the old fashioned sort of way) and after all "Image is everything". The bikes are also relatively simple to fix when problems occur. I think the picture below is of the 500cc version but I assume the 535 is very similar. A good site which explains all the paperwork involved in buying a New Bike for export from India is: http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/paper/enfieldindia.shtmll .

The tinkering goes on

This is the latest Enfield to hit Indian roads soon. It is also the most powerful, and offers the sheer luxury of highway four-stroking to the niche few who subscribe to big bikes.

We can hardly wait to test this sumptuous beast, so look out for further news in our pages.

RECOMMENDED SPARE PARTS

spark plug, contact breaker assembly,

head light lamp,

solution, ??

several tubes (they easily tear apart when you have a flat tire),

fasteners of all kind,

chain lock,

front break and clutch cable,

eventually one tire.

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Maintenance:

 keep a close eye on the oil level: it WILL use oil and you
may have to top-up during a long ride (300 - 400km is, believe me, a long
ride on an Enfield). Lots of oil over the primary-drive case
(left-hand-side) is due to the C shaped clip on the breather hose: replace
it with a jubilee-clip or something else O-shaped.

Check the tappets EVERY day when you first get the bike; you'll find
somebody to show you how if necessary. When you're familiar with the
machine you may want to check them less often but I did it every day for
nine months. Tight tappets will kill the valves very quickly.

Get familiar with the points, keep them clean and adjusted and learn how to
adjust the timing (ignition) so you can counter the effect of crappy fuel
(as we approached Goa over a number of days we had to keep retarding and
retarding the ignition as the fuel got worse and worse). Also, they cut the
petrol with kerosene sometimes so you have to put a little 2-stroke oil in
with the petrol because the kerosene washes away the lubricants from the
cylinder head.

On a 350, never go over 50mph (80kmh - ignore what the books say about a
design speed of 100kmh). We stuck to this rule religiously and were
rewarded. You probably shouldn't do much more on a 500.

Check the motor oil level regularly.

It may be useful to have a fuel filter.

If you don't like unpleasant surprises in the morning, then close the fuel tap overnight, otherwise it could leak until it's empty.

Check and tighten all fasteners daily. We lost several parts of our motorcycle, because we didn't do so.

Tappets are a weak point in Enfield technology. You have to adjust them regularly and it's wise to try to learn it from the dealer or someone who knows how to do it.

You can get big metal side boxes, but the frame fixing points are quite weak and break easily if they are to heavily loaded. You can also get a smaller version of the boxes, which we took.

We could drive 340 km with a full tank and never needed extra fuel on our trip.