Forum

[Alan R]

Hi guys, am having a "spot of bovver" with my recently acquired Bullet 65 5-speed gearbox.....It changes up to 5th with ease but seems prone to the occasional overthrowing when changing down...ie}-- a false neutral occurs which is rectified by lifting the gear lever up slightly to find the gear ratio required...

I'm guessing that the internal design is along the same lines as a Brit.Bike box ??---ie a rotating cam plate which moves gears into and out of mesh ?? A detent plunger on the cam plate and a single. twin long-legged spring that centralises the gear lever in either direction ?? ----------- Has anyone a schematic diagramme and how do I adjust the throw ??.......It's not impossible to ride, just xxxx annoying in town traffic..

[Bullet Whisperer]

Hi Alan, these two videos might be of interest. Regards, Paul. ... https://youtu.be/M8QNcabGAKA ... and ... https://youtu.be/J1fqiZbCI24

[Alan R]

Cheers Paul----exactly as I anticipated re}-- construction/operation.....Two very helpful videos indeed..Can that selector plate be removed to work on without having to dismantle the mainshaft etc ??---PS I owe you a very belated apology I think.. Some time ago I had indicated that I was bringing a 500 bottom end to you for roller end and steel con-rod conversion....But for some reason long since forgotten I decided to sell-up all my RE items and turned Japanese instead !! ( I feel a song coming on here !! --- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LR4XNqrqxrU )....Are you still near that railway line ??

[binary]

It seems that everything made in India is suspect to quality control problems. I have fitted a 5 speed gearbox to my RE and I am having no problems. I have been saying what a good move it was fitting this gearbox and saying so on this forum. Now I find that people are writing saying that they are having problems with there 5 speed boxes. The 2 video's from Bullet Whisperer shows more problems with these boxes.
People should not have to repair brand new gearboxes in this day and age of 2017. My RE motorcycle is going good at the moment but I just know that some time in the future I will be pulling the motor down again when something goes wrong. You really earn your riding time on these old fashioned poor quality motorcycles. Even brand new ones are suspect. I get so dis-heartned by my reading of RE forums that I just want to sell my RE and all the collected junk associated with it and buy a nice reliable Honda CB250.

[Alan R]

Hi BINARY--- Don't despair..If you look very closely at the Latin motto on an RE badge it translates thus}----" Requires a large amount of Owner Input"----LoL !!...I have a nice Honda XBR 500 that'll be up for grabs soon----interested ?? ..Nothing wrong with the bike--just downsizing and concentrating on 5" gauge live steam railways more...

[Alan R]

Just some additional thoughts}---- my bike is 2004 ie 13 years old and came with a 5-speed box as OE....I suspect the problem will be wear-related rather than design hence my question being about adjustment/adjusters.....BULLET WHISPERER'S gearbox is on a track racing machine so wear and tear is to be expected ( I designed, built and raced BSA C15, B40 and B50
Grass-Trackers back in my day )...As mentioned many times on here in the past these forum contributors describing their bikes faults represent a very small percentage of the overall ownership numbers and ----- unless a trend is detected ( eg Sprag Clutch )----- should be viewed generally more in isolation than applied each time to the whole fleet.....Don't forget that even modern day bike and car manufacturers have the occasional product re-call for one reason or another... BINARY, Keep the faith--- keep the bike --- Keep riding --- but keep a CD200 as stand-by !!

[binary]

Hi Alan R,
Thank you for your kind words of encouragement. We RE owners some times need all the encouragement we can get as we battle on in our lonely quest of making the perfect RE. It is winter where I live at the moment
and my RE has to live in the garage. I have had to provide a heater that goes all the time to keep the moisture off and it is well worth the extra power cost, and besides the spiders like it. The RE has a unique feature that I bought it for and that is the right hand foot gear change. My left ankle is worn out and has to have the joints fused together some time in the next year or so. I had to sell my old Honda
750 four as it was too heavy for my ankle and I could not change gears properly any way. I thought if I bought a small Honda CB250 I would have better reliability and about the same power as the RE. But I would have to then buy a Pingel Electric Shifter for about 800 pounds and fit it up so I could change gears again. Well after your answer to me I have decided to stay with the Bullet and its right shifter and if anything happens at least I know exactly how to go about fixing it. Fixing a single cylinder motorcycle is a dream after rebuilding a 4 cylinder motorcycle engine. With the Honda 750-4 everything is multiplied by 4 making it a very expensive motor to work on. I hope that you sort out the problem with your 5 speed box. At least you will not have to take it out of the frame to fix it and it will not be full of grease.
I have been looking for an old hospital bed the ones that foot pump up evedently they make a pretty good motorcycle lift. If you can get it up in the air it really makes things a whole lot easier.

[nickbarber]

It amazes me that a gearbox developed in the 2000's misses gears and finds neutrals so often. It's rubbish.

[Bullet Whisperer]

I wouldn't describe them as 'rubbish' - the design is pretty sound, but production and assembly can let them down. Shoddy workmanship ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_ZeJqNt4Hk

[Adrian]

The quality of the design might exceed the quality of the manufacturing and assembly. I have ridden two REs with the 5 speed box(right-foot shifted), my Electra's was a very sweet gearbox, the identical box on my Redditch/AVL hybrid isn't quite as nice to use but still OK. A simple thing like keeping the clutch cable adjustment right is a big help, even a little excess play can make the gear change notchy and unpleasant as the actuating mechanism loses travel and the clutch disengages less effectively.



A.