Hitchcocks Forum

Hi guys just to let you know that for the whole of September me and my bike have been enjoying the roads of France and Spain yesterday was in Gibraltar so far we have covered 2800 miles this on a 2009 Efi trails as if this was not all she is loaded up with about 6 stone of gaming gear have had no problems so far apart from both front indicators snapping at the brackets (fixed with tye wraps) the bike has cruised at 60 mph on the dual carriage way ,which is a must to keep out of the way of fast h g v s in the alps could have done with a bit more power and on the down side of the mountains the single disk did seem to fade but in normal condition no problem and put in 9 euros of fuel every 100 miles aprox off to North Africa on Thursday so far so good ps 31degress here stay wel mr h

Well done Mr H! You are obviously able to post while on the road so please keep us updated as you go? Especially when you get to the wilds of North Africa!
REgards, Mark

Of course it can be done! Enjoy your trip... I did around 3000 miles last summer, two up with 10 days worth of camping gear (probably similar amounts). No major problems, except for a droopy tail-light and a seized cam on the brake drum (which was my fault)...



It can be done!

Hi guys---------- Well done indeed MrH..This forum tends to be full of doom and gloom re}--- Enfield reliability but for every one thread started there has to be a hundred or more "happy-chappies" out there ?? ------------- Hang on !!------------ Mr H ??------------ as in HITCHCOCK ??--------- you old cheat, you.... I bet there's a Transit van full of spares just behind, eh ??? HEY !!only joking matey---Was based in Gib for a while in the RN..Have a GOOD, successful ride and a safe return ---------

That's the thing about marque-specific web forums, many of them are used by owners to ask advice on and report situations with their vehicles. Not many posts say 'guess what my bike/car is great and I've not got anything to say about it'!!!
I also visit a forum for my car - a Jaguar. Most posts are about issues yet out of the 1000's sold the issues are a tiny percentage and whilst I can recognise some of the issues most of them haven't happened in my car or are not relevant to me/my car.
In fact my car has been 100% reliable, proving that forum are not conclusive.

As far as Enfields are concerned I have found them to be mechanically reliable and the EFI UCE bikes an improvement in build quality generally. I am not in the least surprised that Mr H has done this trip without major issues.

However, will this silence the 'gloom & doomongers'?
No chance, they thrive on it. But the informed and fair amongst us know better.
I can't wait until the spring and swap my BMW for a Conti GT535 - I'll be back 'in the fold' again.

Shame on you Alan R I have no connection with the boss boys but to be fair I have bought a fair few items of them the best being a power commander and had the bike dyno what a difference !, however I have a zero mechanical. Knowage just check the oil etc (. It's not used any so far ) so as they say ignorance is bliss put petrol in 98. And ride on regards mr h

Stu,
I bougt a late model cast engine Bullet last week, one owner with 7000ks on it and the motor in boxes.The transport driver rang me yesterday to tell me about all the boxes of bits and it I had any idea how to put it back together. I have no idea as to how many of these I have rebuilt and of the ones I have rebuilt I have not heard of one failure, so they can be built properly, it was just that the factory built junk and didn't give a toss about it and blamed the customer for the fact these motors were a discrace

Hi Mr H ------------ Ha-Ha, nice one indeed !!....... Any chance you could post some photos when you return ???

Norm, 7000ks and motor in bits? We don't really know why though do we? E.g how did the owner treat it before taking it apart?
The iron engine bikes definitely need more sympathetic treatment than Electra AVL and EFI's, they are an 1950's design and I wonder if some of the owners in AUS consider the temperature out there and maintenance requirements of such a design? Having said that there must be loads of them in AUS which provide perfectly reliable service.
As RE stopped making the iron engine in 2008 I think that we should really consider the later AVL and EFI bikes. These are more robust and the build quality continuously improved. Anyone buying a brand new RE will get a machine built in a new state-of-the art factory which will be up there with the rest of the world.
Having just bought a very tidy 2007 BMW G650 I can confirm that the build quality is not significantly better than my Electra XS. The engineering and design is better on the BMW but then it is a 2000's design as opposed to largely 1950's. There are a few issues with the BMW too - it is not perfect and to be fair I miss the thump, sound, low end torque and character of my Enfield.

Hi Stu, the owner is in his sixties and retired so I can't see him flogging it to hard, they were rubbish out here but they can be built into a good motor. The factory just didn't give a toss, all they had to do was fit good quality piston, big end and main bearings, wasn't rocket science but obviously something they were incapable of doing.