Forum

[PeteF]

Most of the instances of oil pump gear failure are caused by kick-backs. That bevel gear does not take kindly to going backwards. Keep the bike tuned properly and it won't kick back.

[Thack]

Presto writes: "I’d say that the emphasized reservations about the Bullet lubrication systems are unnecessary. Of course the oil flow is less than a modern engine. But it does not need to be equivalent to a ‘modern’ engine. There are umpteen thousand of these engines that have covered umpteen thousands of miles with no problem at all related to lubrication."



I'm one of the guilty for belabouring my reservations about the iron-barrel lubrication system.



Let me be clear: I think it is adequate PROVIDED you ride it like the Indians do (for whom the iron-barrel was really intended - it was principally a home market product). They have very few high speed highways and many of their roads are unmetalled, so speeds above 30mph are pretty unrealistic.



The shortcomings in the lubrication system only really become relevant if you push the bike too hard on modern British roads. If you can resist that temptation, and ride it like the vintage bike it really is, it'll be fine.

[Norm]

I would say the biggest cause of pump spindle failure is the big end failing and whitemetal getting caught in the rocker blocks and as a result stalling the scavenge pump and this strips the pump spindle

[Scalyback]

CONS



Learning right shift

doing 55 MPH or under

adjusting push rods and primary chain



PROS



Enjoying being able to right shift!

chugging away at 40-55 MPH in a relaxed fashion on a really neat bike

Getting a sense of achievement, when you can 'spanner' your own bullet!



Forgot the cry mongers, go get on your bullet, be careful and spend time getting used to it, go ride it and then...



Try to remember the last time you had a smile so wide.

[Chris Tindal]

Didn't think the oil pump was a weak point, if anything it's Indian metallurgy. My BIghead motor was totally worn out but the oil pump spindle, floating bush and alloy rod were sound. The motor was and is a sound design, but any 50's vehicle held at high speed will break something eventually.

[dave p]

I've ridden my iron barrel bullet from Daventry to Istanbul and back and around France and Spain.I'd have no compunction
about taking off tomorrow to any European destination.Keep the oil clean, don't hold it over an indicated sixty per and smile!

[Pantherman]

Hi Norm. The Meteor 700 is on the road though it took itself off the road after 130 miles with what is probably a stuffed coil that I bought new on ebay from Trojan m/cycles a while ago. So have ordered a new coil from Mr H together with new condenser for the distributor. Lovely bike to ride though..........bit of trasnsmission noise from the gear box when I load it using engine braking so I wonder what is worn out in there and how long it will last. It also blows small oily bubbles from the joint between the primary chain-case and the crank-case. A unique feature, I gather.

Cheers,
Bob

[Norm]

Hi Bob, good to hear it is up and running, been a while but they are a reasonably tough old motor. Did you ever do anything with the Indian front end? Problem with the joint between the crank case and inner primary is the dodgy seal setup, new gasket should fix it. Coils can be a real pain, I put new coils on my Honda a few years ago and I think they are failing again, can be hard to determine. If that is the only problem with a Meteor you are doing well. Have you recovered from your BMW episode yet?

[Pantherman]

Gidday Norm,I haven't used the Indian front end. I had the front brake drum machined circular as it was slightly out of whack and found that whoever had put the bike together had not tightened up the head-yoke bearing properly so what was happening was the front brake was snatching and the forks shuddering making me think that the fork sliders were worn. I was in the process of pulling off the lower fork legs when I found that the sliders were not worn. So, if it weren't that broke I wasn't going to fix it. Tim (NZ) also sold me lower fork legs with sliders etc so now I am free to run into at least two brick walls before I run out of fork parts.I can't say I am excited about the way the front wheel and brakes on the Meteor all hang together, and when the bike settles down and runs properly then I will consider going "Indian". However, with an A10 still to fix and a Panther to make oil tight, and another Panther bucket of rust from around 1930 to think of sorting out, I can find the old style 1930s Enfield hubs and brakes to make wheels from (the rear brake is on the right and the drive sprocket on the left) the Indian front end may well gather dust for a while.

I am impressed by the Meteor 700. It is a very tractable motor with plenty of torque, is a pleasure to handle and will happily keep up with stuff like Bonnevilles on club runs, assuming I want to. The suspension seems a bit hard though. I have ordered a new coil and condenser from Mr H.

As for BMWs. There are enough of them in the Tasmanian so-called-British Motorcycle Club and the Vintage Motorcycle Club of Tas to make we want another, but not a cow of a thing like the last one. That tooth is still a little tender but I stopped limping some time back. And I am now leery about hydraulic brakes!

As for cast-iron barrels. There is nothing wrong with them. I had one on the genuine Indian-built little grey Bullet 500 that I ran in PNG and it never gave me problems even when trying to keep up with high-speed Ducattis and Suzukis and Harleys. Ambitious, I know; they were kind enough to wait.

Cheers,
Bob