Forum

[MartinB]

I hate to be negative but i did replace mine with one of our host's replacement sprag and tci unit and mine still went again........As others have said if you can remove / blank off the electric foot that's the best solution.Unfortunately due to my age and being brought up on mostly Jap bikes i couldn't live without the electric foot so i swapped my Electra for an EFI and haven't looked back since!IMHO the EFI is a much better bike.

[Beezabryan]

More reasons why I am happy with my easy starting old nail.

[Adrian]

Thack, Norm's fix is basically it, though it's not straightforward. I think Norm had to turn down a set of classic Bullet tappet guides to match the O/D of the Electra-X tappet guides, in order to allow classic Bullet tappets/cam followers to be fitted. Like you, I just had standard replacements fitted when my Electra-X broke an exhaust cam follower (and bent the inlet). However, my AVL project bike engine was based around a set of modified classic 350 cases, decent cam followers as standard, though I swapped them for a set of even thicker stemmed Samrat cam followers in nice bronze guides from our hosts. Unfortunately they were out of stock last time I checked.



A.

[Thack]

Thanks for the explanations, Norm and Adrian.



I should point out that I now run a UCE, so that particular problem doesn't happen any more, but I'm very interested to hear how you went about fixing it. I wonder how widespread the tappet breakage problem was. When I looked at them on my own Electra X I wasn't surprised that one had broken: the width of the head compared to the width of the spindly little stem worried me. Although this is totally unscientific, my "gut" told me that the design was poor - the stresses at the bottom of that stem were too much.

[Adrian]

I think it is more common than at first realised, I've seen a couple of examples where the offending motor was put up on ebay - the second occasion was when Tollgate Classics put an otherwise very good pair of crankcases (with broken spindle still in place!) up for sale cheap. No need to guess where they've gone. For the life of me, I still can't figure out why the factory had to replace an apparently fool-proof design with the feak and weeble item that they fitted, especially as the originals were still being made in quantity for the classic models. As the Electra-X fades into what Norm would no doubt call a well-deserved obsucrity, it will largely cease to be an issue as the RE Bullet landscape settles into a mix of (mostly) happy UCE/EFI owners and classic Bullet die-hards, leaving only a few of us Electra-X (or whatever) outcasts to keep the flame burning.



Sorry, started to go off on one there.



A.

[sofiaspin]

Dont for a moment think that the UCE/EFI is a sprag-failure-free zone. My new (jan 2014) Woodsman failed at 300 miles. After MOTO GB finally produced the part, it was sorted, did 4000 miles and was put away in Oct after a full service, oil/filter etc etc. Couple of weeks ago - the familiar clicking clicking clicking on the starter. Kick start - no problem. A week of Optimate and it fired up - once. And that was the last hurrah. Second year warranty gets you the part, but not labour. So - unless the new battery is gubbed - it is the sprag, again. Not good and ruining an otherwise good friendship.

[Norm]

Adrian, out here in an attempt to gain some dignity the few remaining Electra oeners in the Club have banded together and dubbed themselves the EE, Electra Elite, there is only a handfull left

[Michael]

EFI sprag failure here too!! Sofia, if you can lock the clutch and engine sprocket it's an hours job to get the UCE sprag out and in again...

[Adrian]

Norm, if the EE want to start a UK chapter, let me know! (Unless I'm disqualified for removing my electric start.) Sorry to hear the UCE/EFI models aren't immune. A.

[Bet]

Recently carried out this modification to the cam followers, and changed to Bullet cams at same time. Follower guides need to be turned down to suit the case, 30 thou taken off radius of follower head (got the working faces hard-chromed), exhaust push-rod became inlet one, inlet push-rod extended to become exhaust one, slight relief required on piston crown for inlet valve clearance. Decompressor mechanism junked a long time ago. This work has given a slight increase in mid-range power, and hopefully will go towards the goal of finding a Bullet proof Electra.