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[Scalyback]

THACK, Your B5 is not rattling, it's talking to you mate, and it's saying "Let's go!"

[Thack]

Scaly, that second video of you returning from a ride, with the engine warm, is very useful because the clickety clackety noise is clearly audible and very much like mine.

I find this amazing - only Enfield could install hydraulic tappets and make them noisier than their solid predecessors.

I say "tappets" because the clicks are at valve speed, not crank speed, and I don't know of anything else in a valve train that can make that much row without being totally shagged.

[Scalyback]

Thack,

spend some time with your bike alone, listen to it, ride it, get to know it. Let it get to know you.



If you are receptive, you may discover that '"Enfield secret".



I did for both of mine, and they are so different!

[Thack]

Scaly, I'm always open to learning the Enfield Secret! My first was an '02 500ES (with the iron barrel) and I quickly discovered the secret: the engine was a pile of junk. It was wrong in so many ways, but perhaps the most wrong was the appalling lubrication system, which must have been a bad joke back in the '50s, never mind nowadays.



The next one - an '06 Electra X - was a breath of fresh air. It drove beautifully, gave not one jot of trouble, and I totally bonded with it.



I'm still learning the secrets of my 2014 B5, but my first impression is that only Royal Enfield could launch a brand new engine with fuel injection and closed-loop engine management and still - five years after launch! - not have sorted the mapping to give us a reliable idle. So the first of the new "secrets" is to disconnect the lambda sensor under the tank and run it open loop, which improves it enormously.



I'm building an electronic gadget for monitoring the fuel injector pulses so I can see more clearly what is going on, and then I'll have more of a clue about how to improve things. When I've got some data I'll report back.

[Scalyback]

OK, OK!


good 97-98 octane fuel, and an iriduim plug!


may not work for yours, but mine improved instantly.

[Norm]

Thack I can honestly say you were dam lucky with your Electra even though you didn't put a lot of miles on it but it could have so easily turned ugly for you, you got a lucky break.