Quest for Perfect Thump

Every bullet owner want the best thump from Bullet. When I bought my Royal Enfield Electra CI 5s I did not had much idea about the effect of silencer on thump. Me being the second owner din have any idea what changes have been made by the previous owner. My bullet was damn loud . Following are the issues I found with the existing silencer :

• The thump was very loud ,specially at the higher speeds. It was not tolerable beyond the speed of 70 kmph.
• The stray dogs in neighborhood find it very unsocial and used to chase the bull every time i pass them :)
• It was difficult to convince any female to be pillion rider.
• Extra attention from the cops, although they never stopped me but the sound was enough for unwanted attention.

Finally I visited my mechanic and asked him the reason for it being so loud and solution. He simply told me that there is no Jaali (Glasswool) in the silencer and also liked the sound of my bull :) 
You can see the hollow silencer here , i am still having it :
 

He told me not to change the silencer but I decided to go for a new silencer. Went to the spare shop and asked for the silencer with jaali. He was surprized “sir aajkal to sab jyaada awwaj wala maangte hain UCE bullets ke liye .” !!! I explained mine is CI bullet and it’s already loud.

Purchased the Ludhiyana made Laxmi udyog silencer for Rs. 600 and got it installed. All the issues were solved but thump was muted now. Even I din like the thump now !!! It was too low , sound like bigger splendour .

In the next service mechanic recommended me to go to a welder and ask him remove only one of the three jaalis from silencer. I asked the welder not to remove all the jaalis but only make small holes across it.
He said “kewal aawaj thodi moti karni hai naa , ye to main karta rehta hoon”. He did the job in a minute.

What welder did : He inserted the welding rod from from backside of silencer and made few holes in  the jaali (muffler) . In this process he had to use 2 -3 welding rods because once the length of rod is reduced , it will can no more reach the jaali.

I installed the silencer again and voila !!!! the perfect,old school dugh dugh dugh dugh sound was finally here :)
I am enjoying every bit of it , sweet thump not so loud , prefect mix of bass and treble .

Tools for Bike/Home/DIY jobs

Following are the tools I have bought for all sort of repairing jobs. I keep on Adding them as and when required.

 

Tools are as following :

1.Screwdrivers (3nos. Normal,electrical tester and Philips)

2. Pliers

3. Nose Pliers

4. Wire stripper

5.Ball hammer

6. Fevi quick

7. Spare spark plug

8. Tape

 

 

9. Triangular File

10. Allen Keys 1 to 10 mm

11. DC cigarette lighter for mobile charging on bike.

 

12. Open end wrench/spanners from 6 to 19 mm

13. Ring spanner 8-9 mm,10-11mm, 13 and 24 mm.

14. Wire soldering iron

15. hand drill mini

 

 

Apart from this I also have following items for multiple jobs :

 

1. Grease remover OKS brand

2. WD-40

3. Bike Chain Lube Motul Brand

4. Spray can

5. Lubricating can (old school)

How to replace/bleed disk fluid in Royal Enfield Electra 5s

Warning :
1.Disk brake fluid is very corrosive and can damage paint so cover the bike parts with some cloth.
2. You should be very careful in following the instructions and have patience otherwise you may end up air in the disk brake system and zero braking.

What we need:

• 100 ml of DOT3 or DOT4 brake fluid. I could find DOT3. Only use from sealed bottle.
• 8 mm Ring spanner [Warning : Open end wrench/spanner will not work here and may damage the nut!!]
• Philips screw driver
• Transparent pipe around 12 inch in length.
• Empty plastic bottle

Step 1: Open the Main Fluid reservoir using Philips screw driver and you will see white plastic cover.

Warning : Be very careful while removing screw with screw driver. first fix the screwdriver properly into screw head use some force downwards as well and then remove it . The head of screw is made of very soft metal and it can get damaged even if screwdriver slip even once !!!! If screw head is damaged , you will not be able to remove it.
 
Step 2 : Remove White cover , you will see rubber diaphragm .

Step 3: Remove Rubber diaphragm and you will be able to see old disk fluid.

Step4: Here is the bleeder nut on the disk brake assembly .
 
Step 5 : Remove the cap from bleeder nut and fix 8 mm spanner to it . Attach it at such an angle so that you can move it freely up and down.
Warning:Don’t open this nut yet.

Step 5:Attach transparent pipe to it and put another end of pipe in to the empty plastic bottle.
 
Step 6: The reservoir should be filled so that air should not be able to enter in disk pipe.
Loose the bleeder nut by pressing the 8 mm spanner downwards.You will see the fluid coming out of the pipe.


Step 7: Be very careful in following step : Press the front brake lever  to increase the pressure in system Keep holding the brake lever completely and tighten the bleeder screw again to prevent air entering in the circuit AND then release the brake lever.
Whenever disk brake lever is pressed you will see old fluid going to the bottle. Make sure you don’t release the brake lever with bleeder nut open otherwise it will suck the air through bleeder nut.Also always keep enough fluid in master cylinder.

Step 8: Top up the Fluid reservoir with fresh fluid from bottle.
 
Repeat the step 6 , 7 and 8 multiple times. i.e. [Loosen bleeder nut ---> press the brake lever—>close the bleeder nut—> top up the main cylinder —>release the brake lever ]
Things to keep in mind :
Never Release the front disk brake lever when bleeder nut is loose.
Never let the Master Fluid reservoir be empty otherwise system may suck air through it.
Eventually you will see fresh fluid ,good in color coming out of pipe and getting stored in to bottle.

Finally all the fluid is clean and fresh in Fluid reservoir .


Tighten the bleeder nut and close everything in order.

 
Dispose off the old fluid carefully. It is highly corrosive in nature.

How to change Gear Box Oil in Royal Enfield Electra 5 s.

Recently I changed the Gear Oil of My RE Bullet Electra 5s. As per user manual one should change it on alternate service for better performance of gears.
This is so fascinating for me that very few bikes have gearbox as separate unit now a days (old school).
I am sorry for the pics from Actual Job .These pics taken later for illustration but still you can easily follow them.
What you need for getting this job done :
1. Gear Oil of 90 grade. I used Castrol Gear Oil which costs Rs. 120. You may use MICO as well .

2. Open Spanner :  14 mm and  18 mm.
3. Oil pan to collect old gear oil. I bought it for Rs 50 and use it specifically for this sort of jobs.

Step 1 : Place the oil pan to collect the old gear oil below the vehicle.
Gear Box is located in the pic below.

Step2: Loosen the Nut on the bottom gear box by 14 mm Spanner .

Wait for 5 minutes so that old oil drains out till last drop and it get collected in the vessel below.One can use plastic mug also.
Step 3: Tight the bottom nut again.
Step 4: Remove the side Nut in picture below by 18 mm spanner.

Step 5: Add 500 ml oil in the Gear box using funnel and close the side nut after the Job.

This was the simplest job one can do. Dispose off the waste oil responsibly. Don’t flush it to drain. It’s toxic in nature and harms the environment. Best thing will be give it to some mechanic.

Experiments with seat and handlebar on my Royal Enfield Electra.

This was the stock handlebar and flat seat on my Electra but I did not find the combination very comfortable. I could feel pain in lower back,neck and hand joints.So I decided to go for a change.


Attempt 1: I got the handlebar changed to Yamaha RD350 handlebar  in Karol Bagh. This handlebar which is very popular among bulleteers . I also made following changes : Thunderbird style back rest and chromed handlebar end weight.The handlebar end bar weights are very important as they reduce the vibrations in handlebar by acting as dampeners.

This is how RD 350 handlebar looks like, they come as chromed and black powder coated as well. If you notice this is up rise and extended as well.

Note : Please check for the clutch , gear shift and accelerator settings after handlebar change. Sometimes mechanic doesn’t fit wires properly. Check it by moving handlebar from left to right , there should be no change in engine RPM’s automatically.

I rode the bike with the changed handlebar and could feel relaxed arms. There was no stress felt in arms and neck/shoulders. The only issue still felt was pain in lower back after rides. So I decided to go for seat change as well.



Attempt 2: Changed the seat to Cruiser style seat from Khajanchi in Karol Bagh. I am using this setup since last one month and very much happy. I don’t feel pain in arms/neck/shoulders or lower back.
Cost involved:
Handle bar: Rs. 350
Chromed End bar weight: Rs. 150
Thunderbird Style backrest: Rs. 650
Thunderbird style seat: Rs. 1400

More pics are here.