- Wed Dec 02, 2015 10:29 pm
#53209
James, all those fall into the "old wives' tales" category. That said, we are talking about a bike built by a small Factory on limited resources 45 years ago. On top of that many of these machines were seriously abused and had short lives ending up falling victim to the Easy Rider chopper craze or ill informed amateur mechanics or tuners. In order: oil pumps are fine, but you might want to (must!) check that the crank oil seal is sound and wired in place. You would do this on ANY Enfield Twin being restarted after a lay up. Crankshafts were balanced at the Factory but some are better than others and any crank work done after the original build can upset it. This applies to any British twin balanced or not. No timing gear problems outside normal maintenance routine. Clutches are not noisy unless the chain is loose (maintenance again,) nor are they fiddly. They are easy to set up if a little heavy in use but you can buy a belt drive and modern Bob Newby clutch if you want. I have both standard and belt, not much to choose between them on the road. Gearbox is slow by the standards of others and is probably the worst thing but can be set up to be reliable or replaced (if you sell a kidney!) with a 5 speed modern box from our Hosts. Seriously, I'm surprised you didn't do this research before you bought it! Lastly, the Inter site is moderated so you will need to wait until Royal approves your membership which won't be long. Did you buy that one from Allan? Looked pretty good to me when I saw it last week. See you over at Yahoo. Scaly, you still with this? Yes, you're right, I now have the set, but I'll pass on the Rickman, genuinely the most uncomfortable bike I have ever ridden! And you are welcome to come and ride, you know how to contact me!
REgards, Mark
