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By Revband
#74445
I was recently reading are re-building article in a classic bike mag from 2006, the bike was a constellation, the expert shall remain nameless, he found that the rear sprocket was fouling the swinging arm, he ground the swinging arm away to give clearance, then welded a gusset on for strength, of course now the chain run was wrong so the sprocket was ground off and a new one welded on. He then went on to say he had to make a cranked rear brake rod to clear the rear suspension unit, the photos clearly showed that the operating arm on the rear hub was pointing up when it should be down. "Expert's" believe them at your peril.
By Rasp
#95271
Just a quick update on an old post. My Constellation with it's battery and capacitor has been running and starting very well since i fitted the capacitor and started this post. I recently had a problem with the battery (flat). Even after an overnight charge the battery (12v) would only show 8 volts. The bike with the capacitor and 8 volt battery still started and ran normally. I only knew that there was a problem because my indicators (I know, indicators on an old Constellation may upset some purists) wouldn't flash at tickover. So the manual that 'Valsp' quoted from was right. An Enfield twin will start with a bad battery with the help of a capacitor.
By Himself
#95290
In regard to Rasp's last post, I think there may be a difference between a bad battery and a completely flat one. I'm sure I've been able to kickstart and bring to life my 2008 Bullet (12v) when the battery was very, very low. On the other hand, the bike refuses to start with the battery totally flat. The discussion on this thread has been very interesting because I've been asking myself recently, why does my 1960 Clipper (6v) start so easily with a totally flat battery on the emergency start position when my 2008 Bullet won't. Obviously, the 2008 bike doesn't have an emergency start position on the ignition switch and I was wondering if this could be introduced somehow. It appears, however, from the comments of Revband and Dennis C this wouldn't either be possible or practical.

I've been frustrated with my cheap (bought from Lidl) so called smart or intelligent battery charger. When batteries have little or no charge in them the charger refuses to operate. I believe more expensive such chargers do have a mode for dealing with completely flat batteries. Non-smart type chargers are capable of putting enough juice into a flat battery to enable my 2008 bike to be started. I realise the 12v battery needs to be replaced and that allowing batteries to go completely flat knackers them.
By Rasp
#95307
Himself,
Check the wiring on your clipper and you will find, as others have said, that bikes with an 'emergency ignition switch' do not disconnect the battery from the circuit when in use. Flat batteries are not a dead short and will not drain all the power provided by the alternator.
Royal Enfield themselves said that they fitted a capacitor to there later Interceptors to assist starting with a low battery. It works on my Constellation, has nobody tried it on a Bullet?

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