Hitchcocks Forum

Bullet MOT'ed today and the first proper ride, (other than the short private road behind the house).
Cruised nicely at 50-55 as several have said on here, I think I saw 65 on the clock at one point but taking it fairly easy on the old tyres which are past their best and not entirely sure as the needle was bouncing around a bit, is that a common thing on the indian bullets?, (i'm no stranger to worn clocks on the old jap bikes and the cheap aftermarket speedos doing it)
Had a nice ride to the garage and back, about 45 miles and popped the plug to check before going for a fill and further ride.
(Standard toolbox air filter assy and silencer, 25 pilot and 90 main with needle on second clip from the top, was middle but colortune showed a rich midrange)
Looked pretty good for mainly midrange running as per pic.

Hopefully getting a shorty silencer soon and converting airbox to the tea caddy unit so a bit more jiggling will be needed then.
Gearbox is fun, may have to look into the mods to the outer case flexing
Next on the to do is the tyres/tubes/tapes, ATF in the primary drive, change the engine oil and filter and fingers crossed for decent weather for some more riding.

Great! Get some riding in while you can!
REgards, Mark

Plug looks ok to me !
The speedo needle on my 2008 350 Classic seems to have a life of it's own. Some day's it's steady as a rock. Other days it bounces about all over the place, and I just try and guesstimate an average !! Either way, I think it reads a good 10% higher than the actual speed, so I don't suppose I'll ever get done for speeding!!
Enjoy the bike!

Thanks, I thought it wouldn't be an isolated case, next time i'm out i'll stick the satnav / speedo app on and see how closely it reads, for the ride yesterday i was just taking the lower of the wavering needle point as a speed guide, i.e. hovering between 50-55, assume 50.
Of course when the wheels come off for the new tyres i'll check the cable, routing, speedo drive unit and lubricate it just in case, the MT I had before was a bit jumpy and a good lube of the gear and cable helped, (didn't cure it but helped quite a bit).

New tyres, tubes, tapes ordered, Mitas HO2 rear, HO1 front and other bits, just under £100 shipped.

Hello Matey !!----------------- Back on the road again ( Canned Heat ??)at last. I'm with the others on the various topics raised. Might I suggest that ATF be used in the forks as well ??.... Just change the oil for now----it really does improve things and you can actually see the forks (shadow) working.....So, how about a quick run to Muckle Flugga and back ---- just for the hell of it ??? ..........LoL !!!

I'll certainly look at that when I have time to drain and refill the forks. I want to ride it much as possible just now.
Oil isn't bad, clearly not very old but I have the filters and quill corks and will do it anyway.
When I pop the primary case off, (which i'm pretty sure has oil in presently), i'll check the timing with the timing wheel and what have you before refitting and putting in ATF.
Do the forks have a drain screw, are the easy to refill without removing the casquette etc? if so i'll look into that sooner but I certainly wouldn't call it particularly uncomfortable currently, it would be nice to ride another well sorted one for comparison to mine at some point.

hi mike
will weigh silencer tomorrow and let you know postage.
when i fitted short silencer,after much swopping of jets and slide all that was needed was bigger idle jet to stop banging on overun and raise needle one notch

Fantastic thanks.
It's running a standard 90 main right now and a 25 pilot.
I have a 95 main and 27.5 pilot anyway but will check running with the colourtune, needle is currently on 2nd from top so plenty of mid range adjustment on needle and 90 main before jetting up needs thinking about. I think it'll seldom see full throttle for anything beyond quick bursts. Shouldn't need much twiddling with stock airbox.

Hello again ---- the big nut at the bottom of each leg is where the oil drains out from...when removed there will be a short length of threaded shaft protruding out. This is normal and stays there.... You might want to replace the copper gaskets. The 2 chrome screws with a single slot in at the top of the casquette are the re-fill points( they have an o-ring fitted).... No need for any "special" tools. Check your manual for quantity------- 200cc's I believe. A couple of hours work at the most.

Nice and straightforward and easy to access, just what I like. I would have left it for now if removal if the casquette and legs were needed, (o may leave then just now anyway as they're working fine and the tyres and primary dive are more of a priority for me, with luck I'll have the tyres this weekend to fit.