Forum

[Exile]

@ Cafeman.

I take offense on your response here. I fitted an electronic ignition to my Bullet for none of the reasons you suggest.

Summers here in Denmark are short and not always sweet. The more time I can spend riding my bike instead of having to having to tinker with it is why I chose to fit an electronic ignition. The 'fit and forget' element was instantly attractive in that it would cut down on maintainence time..

It requires a certain degree of aptitude, knowledge and expense to convert the system and I would suggest it is not something one does lightly or without due consideration, which is what I believe prompted the original post.

Therefore, to label me (and others) who have chosen to do so as being incompetent, lazy or boastful is, at best, misguided and unfair and downright insulting at worst.


You, Sir, are entitled to your opinions on the advantages or disadvantages of such a conversion, as are others. Each to his, or her, own after their own convictions.
,
There is, however, no excuse for dismissing by derogation those of us that have chosen to do so.

[Beezabryan]

Hi cafeman, I agree with your first sentence, sort of, but as for the rest...
As one of our contibutors occasionally says - other opinions are available

pax vobiscum

[Barnes]

TBH CAFEMAN i also take mild offence to your post. I fitted a powerspark ignition system to my super meteor. This was after 4 sets of new points none of which mated properly and took a great deal of time to fit properly. Only to have each set burn out within 100 miles. I fitted the system and in the corse of the 2800miles i put on the bike last year it never gave a whiff of trouble. Please be abit more considerate of other peoples personal preferences before casting wild aspersions. Ed

[Norm]

One thing I have come to realize is that asking about points versus electronic ignition on Enfield forums is about as dangerous as asking about what type of oil should I use on any forum for any make of bike

[Bullet Whisperer]

I cleaned and re gapped the points on my Son's Bantam the other day, to keep it starting and running at its' best. Most of my other bikes have points, including my 350 Indian Enfield, which runs a 10:1 compression ratio and all sorts of other mods to liven it up a bit and I know for a fact that I have had the head off more times than the distributor cover ! I once fitted a B.B. electronic ignition to a BSA Starfire I restored and the main reason for this was we were missing all of the ignition components in any case and the standard ATU, backplate, points, condenser etc would have cost just as much as the B.B., so in this instance, it was indeed a 'no brainer'. Paul.

[Scalyback]

GENTLEMEN...



it is 09:40 here, 2 degrees C (36F) damp and misty. My bike has electronic ignition and shortly, I will be off to the Hollyville cafe for brekkie.



Tornado is required in all conditions, and I don't carry WD40 (Start you bastard). My bike will start, probably first kick, and the cafe trip will appear here later.



Dave (Bertie) If you are using Bertie this time of year, consider an electronic if Bertie becomes hard to start.

[Dennis C]

Come on now guys, I think cafemans remarks were possibly intended a a bit tounge in cheek.

I at the moment have four bikes, a 1955 BSA B31, a 1959 Royal Enfield Super Meteor, a 1964 Triumph T90 and 2004 Triumph Sprint ST955, Three of these bike still have points (can you guess which three?), the only time I touch these points is when I service the bikes and it probably takes five minutes more, Talk of poor quality points I can understand but I have not had any problem personally, the Triumph T90 I replaced the points when I restored it 25 years ago and they are still in there. the Enfield I replace six years ago and still fine, the BSA replaced last year due to a faulty armature burning them, again no problem yet with quality.

I think that points or electronic should like all other things be your own choice, but poor Bertie asked for advice (foolish boy) and is now more confused than ever, lets be honest if you can't clean and gap the points correctly on a Bullet or similar then these bikes are not for you, you should go to your local Japanese bike dealer and buy a Honkawasuki and take it back each year for service. to avoid confusion the last couple of sentences were TOUNGE IN CHEEK, but you know what I mean, routine maintanence is a part of the old design bikes.

[Exile]

Dennis.


Not so much tongue in cheek as foot in mouth.


I still take objection to being labelled as incompetent, lazy, boastful et al, or that I "suck at knowing how to adjust them.." None of which is true. I find his remarks to be indefensible.


That aside, if Bertie was looking for some advice or inspiration, I can only speak for my own experiences, as described under this link..

[Dennis C]

Hi Exile, That link just proves the point. Definitely not lazy, don't take it personally. I don't think Cafeman was directing his comments at anyone in particular just generalising, he does appear to be American after all and they do seem to be a bit blunt at times.

[Scalyback]

It was cold, wet and foggy this morning.

My Bullet and I got soaked on the journey to the Hollyville (Post now up).

Tornado started second kick and performed faultlessly for the entire trip on his electronic ignition.

YAY!