Forum

[grunda 12]

hi to all efi owners,i have just finished rebuilding the engine on a 58 plate electra efi and i can tell you this ..i had considered buying one of these machines but i can now confirm my worst fears in my opinion they are poorley engineered and the wiring loom is a complete bodge with unsoldered connections to silly plastic plugs that wouldn,t look a miss on a hi fi let alone a motorbike my conclusion is that if you have an efi consider buying a classic iron barrelled bullet or some other make the efi is a budget bike built shodilly to say the least ,i put it to the owner of the bike i,ve just repaired like this ..its a bag of shite i have worked on chinese scooters for £1000 that are built better with better quality electrical componants what ever happened to good old bullet conectors oh yes they faded away after the iron barrelled bullets what a shame you wouldn,t catch me spending 5k on a load of rubbish ,sorry if this offends any efi owners but i,m affraid to say that budget bikes should be sold at budget prices ,my money looks like being spent on either a motoguzzi v7 stone or a nice triumph thruxton ...there thats out of my system...on the upside after fitting the engine and repairing the shoddy wiring loom we did over 10 miles bike and sidecar running truly sweet so juan can now live to ride another day see him next week for new rear tyre and oil change atb paul.

[rustygman]

Hi Grunda, thanks for the feedback on the new bikes, I for one have been tryIng to get info before spending my hard earned. Could you give your opinion on the quality of the actual engine build and the level of wear on the engine - was it 15,000 k or miles? Many thanks.

[John L]

Paul -
Could you please explain "unsoldered connections" ? Are these soldered connections that have shed their solder ?
As a result of excessive heat, maybe ? I have one of the iron-barreled Bullets you mention - the only soldered connections on that are the ones I've made........

[Michael]

Owning an EFI with some issues myself, I can assume that Pail is referring to the plastic push-fit connectors where the wiring loom is simply crimped into the copper contact. These fail a vibrate out quick enough, so every time I have a failure I solder a new connector. The factory have clearly gone for 'simple and quick' regarding electrics. This has its benefits, but also many drawbacks (regular electrical blips).

[Norm]

There is little incentive for a manufacturer to improve quality when you sales books are full and there is a waiting period to purchase a new bike

[Frank]

I think a lot of the problem lies with the extensive use of thinwall cables. It may be strong enough to carry the electrical current but it lacks physical strength to withstand movement and vibration. Soldering is not without drawbacks. Heat can make the wiring brittle and prone to breaking at the weak spot beyond the flow of solder.

[grunda 12]

Hi rusty the mileage was 15000miles in reply to John the connections are just crimped and crimped very poorly on earlier models the looms were 100 percent better as we're the couplers used as I say I know in India they used to mend classic models by the dirt track side but I bet they aren't doing much with these heaps of the proverbial the bore on the bike I repaired was good as was all other components apart from the chocolate big end as I say I now would not buy an efi or any new model atb paul

[Phil Ashbrook]

I have an iron barrel 1995 500 export , wire nipples are firm but rather untidy wire loom in headlight ...a dreadfull charging system but you know every bolt and casting dimensions are layed on solid British thinking and my engine was sound and has tuned up very well , electrics sorted . The last pre-metric Enfields are the best , all the way to 9/99 ! I jest .

[Cristeele]

Given that my (1990 Enfield 350) engine has just given up in a fairly spectacular manner I would have agreed with you, but then I thought about it. I know the history of the bike and engine from 1995 onwards. From 1996 to 2005 it had a single seater sidecar attached and was a regular visitor to sidecar meets across the south and midlands. From 2005 to 2008 I owned it and it was used pretty much every day and went all across the north and even as far as Wales. From 2008 onwards it had a one and a half seater attached and again, was used almost every day. During that time it had a new cylinder head, a new set of piston rings and a pair of new push rods (my incompetence!) You know that's not bad!