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[Les]

A ratchet strap



[center]

[jefrs]

Aha! - a tie-down strap - no I don't have one

[ric]

You could always ball up an old rag and sit it on the lower chain rung and turn the wheel forwards trapping the rag between teeth and chain. This will force both snail cams against their stops providing the wheel is held in position with the brake whilst you tighten the nuts up.

[zonggong]

Then idea that the rim could be offset on the hub has been bothering me. I should have thought of it earlier. With help from a neighbour I've held a piece of string from the side of the tyre across the edge of the hub to the other side of the tyre on both sides of the wheel. On the LHS there is a 4mm gap (I can measure with a caliber) between the string and the hub. On the RHS there looks to be about a 5mm deflection in the string (I can't measure this). It seems to me then that the rim is not central on the hub. I can use the string to demo the dealer so he can see the problem.

[2cvandy]

lots of bikes have the rim offset from the hub by design, it doesn't necessarily mean there's anything wrong with yours.

[papasmurf]

Before I lose the will to live reading this thread, instructions on how to make and use a wheel alignment tool/gauge.

http://www.realclassic.co.uk/techfiles/ ... nment.html

[ric]

Loss of will occurs on page 4.

[jefrs]

This is what I did. Although the angle-iron looks a bit wonky but is only out by about 2mm against the spirit level, the spirit level is dead straight, both extend past the front wheel, wheels on the deck. The clamp partly seen left of pic was used to hold both against the tyre. The axle stands are on their lowest setting. With the notches 12/12 the front wheel was a long way to the left, with the notches 10/12 it was a long way to the right, with 11/12 it was dead centre. Because we can only adjust by one notch there is no real need for a precision jig.

[zonggong]

At the risk of increasing the thread to 4 pages I thought I'd provide an update. The dealer accepted that there was a problem with wheel offset/alignment and had my bike (2015 B5) for 6 weeks. After about 4 weeks they decided to order a new swinging arm, hoping that this would sort out the problem. I gather the response from India and the importer was rather poor so they decided this course of action independently. I picked up the bike yesterday. The ride seemed improved although I may have been enthusiastic about getting back on it. There is a considerable improvement in the offset and now acceptable and the wheels are aligned with both cams on notch 12. Reading through a number of other Royal Enfield forums it seems that encountering offset wheels on REs is not uncommon with quite a few complaints about dealer inertia in getting the problem resolved. Now I need to take the bike on a longer run to get a deeper appreciation of the improvement.

[jefrs]

Six weeks! They could have built a new bike in that time!



Part of the problem on mine turned out to be that it needed the torque wrench applying to the swinging arm bolt. Not much but made a significant difference; much tauter, improved predicable handling, a more relaxed ride, no need to keep micro-managing the bike. Five minute job (four of which are finding the torque wrench).

Also note that the subframe to which the swinging arm hangs is attached by bolts that need a periodic torquing to too.



As you have had a new swinging arm fitted, it will need re-torquing soon enough.