Hitchcocks Forum

'Aving a few issues with my 2003 4 Speed/Kick start Bullet 500. My Power box (Voltage regulator) went yesterday. Nearly got home. A few miles short, but no big swing. A few weeks ago my main fuel tank ran out of fuel. Normally no big swing but When I switched over to the reserve I found that it was already empty!!! Son of a...! Haven't had a chance to look into that but obviously the, not so old, petrol tap is not to be trusted. Been more regular about refuelling ever since.

This question is however about gearing as my gear box sprocket (19 Teeth) is well worn. I don't think that's standard as I think that the, single, previous owner, (Hello Fife) put in the changed first gear ratio and up'd it to 19T.

So is now the time to tinker or is now the time to leave well enough alone? I guess that we'd always want more out of our rides, but gearboxes are a trade off. The engine is never going to cruise at motorway speeds so there's no point even thinking about changing the gears, dreaming that you'll get there. You'll only put undue pressure on the poor engine.

So they're my assumptions on gear boxes. Does anybody have actual experience who can say that they've run with 20 Teeth on the gearbox sprocket and it can handle it. Or does a 20T conversion, even if it does work, mean changing out some of the gears internal to the gear box?

Just thought I'd ask before I order my new power box. Thanks for reading and hope it makes sense.

You seem happy enough with things as they are so I'd say replace like with like

The standard gearbox sprocket for an Indian 500 has 17 teeth, so why the P.O. went straight to 19 isn't obvious, unless the c/r conversion made it practical. Others have tried 19T with an un-tuned Bullet and found it to struggle in top. Unless your engine gets some extra clout from somewhere I doubt if it would cope with a 20T at all well. I know there's someone running an Electra-X happily on a 20T sprocket, but that is with a tuned engine and the five speed gearbox.



My own Electra-X was much happier going down a tooth from the 18T sprocket they came with as standard to a 17T, no loss of top speed **and** nippier around town, which was what I needed for a commuter bike. This might not be a requirement for you, especially if you eat fewer pies than I do.



A.

Pies are becoming an issue, think it's an age thing. But having said that I might hold off on the pie configuration and try with 19T again. Defo not going to 20T given that info. For some reason I assumed 18T was standard. Thanks for the help.

The 19-in wheel current Bullet 500 has a 18T, the 18-in wheel current Classic 500 has a 19T, the result is roughly the same gearing.

The RE CGT set a (500MPPS) land speed record of 97.67mph at Bonneville in 2014 with an engine modified to 60bhp, so the stock models' top speed (flat out, down hill etc) of maybe 80+mph is none too shabby.

We cannot fit a smaller wheel sprocket than the 38T because the brake drum is in the way, the CGT has a different arrangement and can.

One other way of increasing the gearing is to fit a taller rear tyre.

I ran my 2002 out of fuel.I had accidentally turned the tap on to reserve,rather than off while the bike was stood.Unfortunately the carb float needle wasn't seating correctly and the fuel had slowly dripped out and evaporated off the concrete floor.When I came to use the bike I turned the tap to the on position.It conked a few hundred yards up the road.I put it on reserve and conked again about five miles further.Obviously the leak had drained most of the reserve without my knowing.Could be worth ruling out a similar experience before changing the fuel tap?

60bhp, jefrs? Are you sure? That 535 GT should have managed at least 130mph if that was the case! For the record, I would not go higher than 18t on a 500 Bullet, unless it was tuned to a pretty high level. Regards, Paul.

Just a thought - perhaps they lagged the exhaust pipe on that L.S.R. 535 GT, that might explain the power !!

I thought 97mph was a bit tardy for 60bhp but it was a flying mile both ways. Anyway just reporting what was said e.g. here

https://grrc.goodwood.com/road/news/goo ... jXOMSRu.97

"Over 60PS" here with more description of the bike -

http://www.cb750cafe.com/blog/royal-enf ... 97-67-mph/

In the 500MPPS class so may not have been a 535 although it does say souped up CGT.



Of old, a 34-40+bhp single of this weight would top 100mph, so I'm wondering why not faster, and what an ASBO might do if tricked up for the job?

It never ceases to amaze me how people seem to just pluck horsepower figures out of fresh air! Another example of this was on telly the other night where two 500 'iron' Bullet engines were joined [badly] together to make a twin of ... wait for it ... 64 bhp !! How did that bloke know, without testing it on a dyno? He DIDN'T !!! It is becoming tempting to make some numbers up for our bikes, in fact, here goes - someone may well quote this having 'seen it on a forum somewhere' one day - at a rough guess and by the way it accelerates, along with hitting 96mph on Pendine Sands, I would say our 350 Clipper racer produces 44 bhp. Likewise, the 500 hit 110.5 mph on the sand, so it must have around 62bhp. Let's leave it out there and see if anyone bites ! regards, Paul. P.S. I know the REAL figures for these machines are lower, by the way!