Snufkin
pfm Member
The early Suzuki 4 strokes had roller cranks but they soon went to plain bearings IIRC.
Time for a motorbike list
- Thread starter Rasher
- Start date
richardg
Admonishtrator
46bhp and 241kg......hmm ok, it has 20 more bhp but it is 50kg more than the 350.....I'm not sure you will notice a huge difference in pick-up, but I am sure I would notice the downgrade in handling more. Get a Ducati V4 Diavel or Triumph Rocket 3 GT if it must be a cruiser!After scrapping my plans for acquiring a Royal Enfield Meteor, based on very mediocre acceleration and poor cruising speed/smoothness.....
Enter the "Super Meteor", with the Interceptor's 650 lump under the tank and many other design changes, I'm hoping this could be the beast for me.
Love the looks and I'm on the waiting list for a test ride when it arrives here.
It obviously won't perform like an average, modern 650 but it should hopefully have enough for my needs. Really fancy going up country on a tour of the North West, which I've seen nearly nothing of...
cj66
pfm Member
The Duke is nearly 4x the price here and don't look like no crooza to me y'all. More a gym bike on steroids.
As for the Triumph, some of the other models look great but not this. Really, WTH is it?! Again 3x the price.
Yeah, the figures are not convincing for the SMeteor but the test ride will tell all...
As for the Triumph, some of the other models look great but not this. Really, WTH is it?! Again 3x the price.
Yeah, the figures are not convincing for the SMeteor but the test ride will tell all...
Rockmeister
pfm Member
Suspect from what I read you may need to add cost of new rear shocks...standard springs are hard I'm told.
cj66
pfm Member
This is the India schedule;
SERVICE (km/time) PARTS COST SERVICE COST TOTAL*
1st at 500 km / 1.5 months 2941R
2nd at 5000 / 6 month 93R
3rd at 10,000 / 12 month 3217R
4th at 15,000 / 18 months 93R
5th at 20,000 / 24 months 3529R
6th at 25,000 / 30 months 93R
3000 Rupees is approx. £30. Thailand will, for sure, charge roughly double that so call it £60+ every other service plus any non-standard requirements.
However RE Thailand throws in lots of freebies on new models e.g. roadside assist, free labour on services etc.
I'll check out the rear shocks thing...
SERVICE (km/time) PARTS COST SERVICE COST TOTAL*
1st at 500 km / 1.5 months 2941R
2nd at 5000 / 6 month 93R
3rd at 10,000 / 12 month 3217R
4th at 15,000 / 18 months 93R
5th at 20,000 / 24 months 3529R
6th at 25,000 / 30 months 93R
3000 Rupees is approx. £30. Thailand will, for sure, charge roughly double that so call it £60+ every other service plus any non-standard requirements.
However RE Thailand throws in lots of freebies on new models e.g. roadside assist, free labour on services etc.
I'll check out the rear shocks thing...
So it looks like the 3000 R is oil, once a year, filters etc, fair enough. The small service at 93R (a pound!) Surely this can't include labour, it must just be oil the chain and cables, blow up the tyres and make sure nothing is falling off, isn't it?
Rockmeister
pfm Member
That's india. Labour included I'd guess? (Although my last visit was 15yrs ago
)ROYAL ENFIELD SERVICE PRICES: 300 MILES, 3000 MILES, 6000 MILES, 9000 MILES, 12000 MILES, 15000 MILES 18000 MILES...
HIMALAYAN£199.00 (V) £169.00 £199.00 (V) £169.00 £199.00 (V) £169.00 £199.00 (V)
BULLET/CLASSIC 500 £149.00 £149.00 £189.00(V) £149.00 £189.00(V )£149.00 £189.00(V)
METEOR/CLASSIC 350
£199.00 (V) £169.00 £199.00 (V) £169.00 £199.00 (V)£169.00 £199.00(V)
TWINS £229.00 (V) £199.00 £229.00 (V) £199.00 £229.00 (V) £199.00 £229.00(V)
pinched from a dealer chart. 3000 mile intervals. Does the typical enfield rider do 3000 a year? maybe. average of 215 a year aint at all bad.
-alan-
pfm Member
Surely they do more than that.. take them about a decade to run one in at that rate
I suspect that this is a big difference between India and UK. Bikes in the UK often struggle to get to 1000 miles a year, based on mates of mine who own them. Meanwhile the Indian RE is probably the only transport for work, shopping, etc and they'll soon be on 6k a year. When I've been bicycle commuting it's easy to do 50 miles plus a week, and it doesn't take long to do 1000 miles of so and see things starting to wear out.Surely they do more than that.. take them about a decade to run one in at that rate
cj66
pfm Member
Yes, exactly that. Free labour on first 4 services.
For Indians that can afford one bike an RE would not be it. Like the Thais they opt for a much cheaper and more practical scooter.
The REs in India are aimed squarely at the massively expanding middle class there, they have the income for multiple household vehicles. Usually a car or two, a scooter and a play thing i.e. the REs.
I had a look through our local second hand sales for REs and averaged out the most recent 10 ( after removing one because it was 1 year old with 78k on it, most likely a typo and another six year old with only four hundred on it ).
The result was an average of 3.2 years old with 3,730 kms per year.
My own current scoot is 3.5 years old with 4,800 per year, I'm a lowish user.
George J
Herefordshire member
I found a nice photo of my 1941 Royal Enfield Model CO. This was sold initially to the War Department, and sold back to Enfield at the end of hostilities, to be civilianised and sold to a public hungry for basic transport. It had two layers of WD paint, sand colour for North African service, and khaki for when it served in Italy.
The bike is an interesting modification for military service of the pre-1939 Model G. 350 cc, hardtail, but in CO form having a four speed Albion gearbox to replace a three speed ... It still had robust girder forks which had a quite a long travel for use off road. The lowest gear was a crawler, so that if the bike got stuck off road, the rider could get off and push with the rear wheel driving at a maximum of six miles an hour!
This gave a very interesting effect that on tick-over the bike progressed at about one mile an hour or less, which makes the usual cycle test manoeuvres very easy! I could manage a figure of eight in the serving quarters on the tennis court without having to put my inner foot down.
I never did take the bike test. Rebuilding it to 1946 standard was the main fun!
IMG_2470 by George Johnson, on Flickr
Has anyone here run an older machine than this? The photo dates from 2000, and though it is not easy to see, the hills in the back ground are the Malverns as seen from Crown East, Worcestershire.
Best wishes from George
The bike is an interesting modification for military service of the pre-1939 Model G. 350 cc, hardtail, but in CO form having a four speed Albion gearbox to replace a three speed ... It still had robust girder forks which had a quite a long travel for use off road. The lowest gear was a crawler, so that if the bike got stuck off road, the rider could get off and push with the rear wheel driving at a maximum of six miles an hour!
This gave a very interesting effect that on tick-over the bike progressed at about one mile an hour or less, which makes the usual cycle test manoeuvres very easy! I could manage a figure of eight in the serving quarters on the tennis court without having to put my inner foot down.
I never did take the bike test. Rebuilding it to 1946 standard was the main fun!
IMG_2470 by George Johnson, on FlickrHas anyone here run an older machine than this? The photo dates from 2000, and though it is not easy to see, the hills in the back ground are the Malverns as seen from Crown East, Worcestershire.
Best wishes from George
wow&flutter
pfm Member
Popped the bike up for an mot on Wednesday, all good though the oil filter had some stone chips that had gone rusty (but not leaking oil). I was told that the metal on the Suzuki filters is really thin and best replace it sooner rather than later. Sure enough, pulling the filter you could push your finger nail into it at what would have been the underside!
Still, it appears I’m keeping the mileage low for a 2015 bike
Still, it appears I’m keeping the mileage low for a 2015 bike
richardg
Admonishtrator
I inherited my grandfather's renovated 1932 600 Sunbeam Lion. Didn't ride it more than a couple of times. Everything was hard work, from kick-starting it, clutch, gearstick, crazy steering damper which simply tightened the headstock, brakes, vibrations. Had loads of torque, though.I found a nice photo of my 1941 Royal Enfield Model CO. This was sold initially to the War Department, and sold back to Enfield at the end of hostilities, to be civilianised and sold to a public hungry for basic transport. It had two layers of WD paint, sand colour for North African service, and khaki for when it served in Italy.
The bike is an interesting modification for military service of the pre-1939 Model G. 350 cc, hardtail, but in CO form having a four speed Albion gearbox to replace a three speed ... It still had robust girder forks which had a quite a long travel for use off road. The lowest gear was a crawler, so that if the bike got stuck off road, the rider could get off and push with the rear wheel driving at a maximum of six miles an hour!
This gave a very interesting effect that on tick-over the bike progressed at about one mile an hour or less, which makes the usual cycle test manoeuvres very easy! I could manage a figure of eight in the serving quarters on the tennis court without having to put my inner foot down.
I never did take the bike test. Rebuilding it to 1946 standard was the main fun!
Has anyone here run an older machine than this? The photo dates from 2000, and though it is not easy to see, the hills in the back ground are the Malverns as seen from Crown East, Worcestershire.
Best wishes from George
George J
Herefordshire member
Dear Richard,
The old Enfield was, or more like I found it so, easy to kick start. I fitted a new old stock Amal carburettor, and when that was well tuned it was very willing, though you had to be careful not to flood it! Tickle the carb, but use no choke at all unless it was very cold. You had to be determined or it could kick back even with the timing retarded [manually of course].
Though it was a hard-tail, it was surprisingly smooth, and easy to handle, being quite long and not nearly so high as the BSAs of the time. It had friction dampers on the steering tube and girder forks, but these worked well with new damper circular bits [can't remember the proper name].
The best part was the rather slick gear changing though, on a modern style pedal shifter, albeit on the right side and down for first and up after to go to faster gears. Enfield made quite a thing of this, and the was a Cush Drive to take out the shocks and shakes, consisting of a substantial rubber splined moulding that fitted between the rear wheel hub and the back sprocket. The clutch was light smooth and not snatchy at all.
The worst part was the brakes, which were genuinely dire! I improved things by getting the originally ally brake shoe metal parts covered in modern friction material by a company that does this for drum brakes on old cars and m/cs. I was recommended to use them by several Royal Enfield Club members. It made things at least safe, if not impressive!
Basically the bike might have been capable of sixty but I never took it more than fifty, which seemed fast enough. It was a torque monster and not a free revving engine, so altogether it would have made for a relaxing steady machine, but I sold it in slightly unfortunate circumstances, once it was restored.
Best wishes from George
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richardg
Admonishtrator
55mph for the Sunbeam, and I did take it on the dual carriageway to properly give it a chance having been quite disappointed on several attempts to at least break the 60mph speed limit. These bikes are for looking at these days, not riding.
I just got rid of my long owned Yamaha XJ900s Diversion under the ULEZ scheme. I have ownded it for 25 years and was in just fair condition and high mileage of 70,000 but the engine had a few more years life in it. These are good bikes shame they are out lawed by pollution standards. If I get another bike I may get a Kawaskai VN900. I dont want a chain driven bike and a rubber band drive is as close to a shaft as you can get re-maintenance. And a 2007/2008 one can be bought for not much money 2nd hand with low miles & in good condition as these are normally "Sunday bikes", that will still meet ULEZ standards.
