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[Riggers]

Hi DaveB - A mate of mine bought a low mileage second hand Electra X and it was a total disaster! Problems manifested themselves with oily mayonaise gushing out the breathers but eventually all this crankcase pressure was down to horrible piston blow by. An engine strip down discovered crank cases out of alignment and consequently a crank shaft running out of true, and also causing the cylinder barrel to not sit 'squarely' on the crank case mouth (hense the piston blow by). Good job my mate's an engineer who had the nowse to sort it all out - Jo Bloggs would have been knackered. Now it's all sorted it's not a bad bike, but how the hell did all that get through quality control (if there was any!). Tony.

[Riggers]

Back on the subject of reg plates I run my 2000 Classic on a black and silver plate and usually don't have a problem at MOT time. The guy at my local back yard station has told me in the past that number plates are nothing to do with the MOT but come under some "Construction and Use" act of long ago. However I always take the yellow plate with me as now and again if he's got a cob on he'll state that "They're tightening up on this sort of thing" and make me change it. As for the Bobbies on the Beat, well around here there aren't any beats and there aren't any Bobbies on them. And those in cars wouldn't know what should or shouldn't have a yellow or black plate and couldn't care less anyway - no Brownie points in it. Cheers. Tony.

[Dave B]

Thanks, Graham, and Riggers. (Graham) Yes, I've heard the sprag clutch can be problematic, so I'll be sure to adhere to recommended starting (and stopping?) procedures, and hopefully learn the art involved. (Riggers) That is a horror story for sure! I can only hope that your friend's bike was an assembly line 'rogue', and that I'll be luckier. They can't all be like that I hope! Thanks also for your comments re the number plate topic. I'll probably bide my time before I do anything about it myself. Cheers lads. Dave.

[Dave B]

Thanks, Graham, and Riggers. (Graham) Yes, I've heard the sprag clutch can be problematic, so I'll be sure to adhere to recommended starting (and stopping?) procedures, and hopefully learn the art involved. (Riggers) That is a horror story for sure! I can only hope that your friend's bike was an assembly line 'rogue', and that I'll be luckier. They can't all be like that I hope! Thanks also for your comments re the number plate topic. I'll probably bide my time before I do anything about it myself. Cheers lads. Dave.

[Norm]

Sprag clutch is the least of the Electa problems, besides the motor is as ugly as sin, looks like they dragged it out of some old compressor

[Dave B]

Norm wrote: "Sprag clutch is the least of the Electa problems, besides the motor is as ugly as sin, looks like they dragged it out of some old compressor"

You really like them then, eh?

If you'd care to enlighten me as to the pitfalls of buying a bike like that, please feel free to let rip!

[Norm]

Dave, I have said enough about Electras over the time but riggers summed it up fairly well and just think about the future availability of parts that they made for only 3 years, where are you going to get barrels and heads in the future, it is hard enough now and you will get no parts for them on ebay

[Paul M H]

Biggest problem Ive come across with the Electra X models is the bigend runs directly in the conrod which could give major problems and expensive repairs when it wears. But lucky enough there a complete New built crank & conrod excellently built and engineered from scratch available on this site.

[Dave B]

Ok on that, Norm. I'm new to this forum, so I haven't read all there is to read regarding member's opinions on different models, so I'll keep my fingers crossed that the one I'm committed to get is less troublesome than you say. I haven't ridden the bike but the engine sounds nice enough to my ears, and being low mileage I'd be hoping it might hold together for a wee while yet. In any event it will only be getting light summer use (I'm 66, so I won't be exerting it, and it will probably get polished more often than ridden). If there's any tips you might have (apart from don't buy the bl**dy thing), I'd be grateful to hear them. Cheers.

[Norm]

Dave, only tip I could give you is don't buy the bl**dy thing if you haven't already, why put your head in the lions mouth