[ebonho]

Originally Posted by SgtGAWD

First Foretio's '68 G2 on the homepage yesterday and now this gem. Boy, TBHP is repeatedly igniting the urge in me to get my hands on another CI someday!
Wishing you fair winds for this restoration, Sir! The CI 500 is a rare beast in this era and I'm sure this thread will turn even more delightful as you embark on the journey of bringing Doppie back to life! It's great to see veteran Bulleteers get back into the community astride their CI Bulls in this 2024 crowd of J-series machines. Plus, the anecdotes over the years are a joy to read.
Can you shed some light on how the spare parts and maintenance scenario of a 500 differs from a 350? Are OEM CI500 parts still available from RE? Also, the twinspark head sounds interesting indeed. Can you perhaps shed some light on the mod and the resultant improvements?

Regards

Thanks Sgt sir! I will definitely get back into the Bullet network now and reactivate old contacts. The scene at the local level as well as direct line to Chennai. Uts taken my 6 months for my 390 to start moving like her old self (the ride back home from work, where ironically this happened ...)





Thankfully right outside a Honda showroom. The good folk of which got me going again in no time. Surging and floating and shooting and kadak like a dream.

So there is really no shortcut to getting a bike back on the road and moving like before. You have to ride her, and get the parts moving, the oil flowing. Old/degenerated parts will give out. Get replaced. You will discover things that need attention, fettling. Get those done. And hopefully soon she will be moving like before.

Which is the journey I've started a new thread for. A bit of guilt too for neglecting her since the KTMs came. Zero guilt for what I have to say about the other RE related stuff. For old Bulleteers, loyalty lies only to their bikes. Not the company or the brand or this so called "brotherhood" ...

The twin spark was for racing. The second plug from the decompress hole. With twin coils. Condensers. High lift cams. High compression head gasket (which is weeping now). Performance valve springs. Performance clutch springs. Perforated high flow clutch bell. Flat slide Keihin carb (tried the Amal monbloc. Doppie and me did not like it much). UNI bi foam oiled pod filter (from a dune buggy). High output oil pump (from the export Egli Bullets). One of the earliest Goldie prototypes by Shakeel. Nothing after that came close to the same firing.

I can go on and on.

She's been clocked at 141 kmph on a radar speed gun from a standing start, in under 800 metres.

Cheers, Doc

[aravind.anand]

Originally Posted by ebonho

Thanks Dhruv. Another Bhpian Aravind today was similarly joking ... Doc, just think long and hard.. are there any more motorcycles that are in your garage sleeping, forgotten, hidden somewhere?

Cheers, Doc

Yes, that was me

Great to see the old motorcycles being revived and a second chance to roam the streets. Seems like this was much easier than the Duke's revival. Looks great and unique Doc! Keep her running now

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by aravind.anand

Yes, that was me

Great to see the old motorcycles being revived and a second chance to roam the streets. Seems like this was much easier than the Duke's revival. Looks great and unique Doc! Keep her running now

Dont know yet bro. Fingers crossed. Nothing electrical on this bike. But rust is rust. And petrol is petrol. And the Bullet has a metal tank.

Cheers, Doc

[b16h22]

Originally Posted by ebonho

Thanks Sgt sir! I will definitely get back into the Bullet network now and reactivate old contacts. The scene at the local level as well as direct line to Chennai. Uts taken my 6 months for my 390 to start moving like her old self (the ride back home from work, where ironically this happened ...)
Cheers, Doc

Common occurrence on our old 390s. Suffered this while riding fairly spirited on a twisty road following a couple of friends. It was right before a corner entry and scary to say the least Used a rock to push the ball joint back and rode to the nearest service center.

Edit: I see your entire shift assembly came off from shaft itself.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by b16h22

Common occurrence on our old 390s. Suffered this while riding fairly spirited on a twisty road following a couple of friends. It was right before a corner entry and scary to say the least Used a rock to push the ball joint back and rode to the nearest service center.

Edit: I see your entire shift assembly came off from shaft itself.

Yup, this was not the ball joint, but the from the gear shaft itself. The pinch bolt must not have been tightened properly when he refitted things after the chain replacement. I was getting a few earlier warning of mis shifts, where I was shifting up but the gear was not shifting. I put it down to sloppy technique.

Yesterday I had just gotten out on the highway from work, and after getting past a congestion I was beginning to power up on to the open flyover ahead, when I found myself stuck in Neutral with nothing happening in spite of 2-3 deliberate tries. That's when I knew something was wrong and looked down and found the gear lever flopped all the way down, and then say the detached linkage rod.

By that time my momentum had already taken me on to the flyover, and I had to gingerly give hand signals, and take a manual U turn and go back down the flyover pushing with my legs to the other side. Saw the big Honda showroom, no other mechanic roadside shops, and decided to try my luck and trust biker inter-brand cooperation in distress. That trust paid off and the staff, including the technicians in the basement, the reception lady, the works supervisor, and the manager (who came later) were all extremely courteous and helpful.

The first bolt was too short. They then found a correct threading Allen head screw of adequate length and refitted the gear lever. And asked me to take a trial in the society adjoining. Discovered the lever was set too high. Got it readjusted, and found everything ok. Thank yous all around, I returned home on a really smooth and glidy bike. Which kind of made me forget the anger.

However, I sent the above photos to Sachin, with a message "Please call the moment you see this. This happened on Solapur Road in peak evening traffic on the way back from work just now." ... which he has not yet seen 24 hours later.

First the wrong cush rubbers. Now this. I am not happy ... to put it mildly. But my over a decade relationship with them means that I will have a word in his ear and tell him in no uncertain terms that this is the last time such things happen.

Cheers, Doc

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by SgtGAWD

Can you shed some light on how the spare parts and maintenance scenario of a 500 differs from a 350? Are OEM CI500 parts still available from RE? Also, the twinspark head sounds interesting indeed. Can you perhaps shed some light on the mod and the resultant improvements?

Regards

A thread from 2012 just resurfaced. Had forgotten about it. Tech details.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motor...tion-coil.html (Looking for a 12v Twin output ignition coil)

As you can see by then I had been running the twin spark twin coil setup for 6 years. And by then had gotten into KTMs and lost interest. So she was converted back to stock. The decompress hole continues to be blanked out by a spark plug. Unconnected.

Cheers, Doc

[SgtGAWD]

Originally Posted by ebonho

A thread from 2012 just resurfaced. Had forgotten about it. Tech details.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motor...tion-coil.html (Looking for a 12v Twin output ignition coil)

As you can see by then I had been running the twin spark twin coil setup for 6 years. And by then had gotten into KTMs and lost interest. So she was converted back to stock. The decompress hole continues to be blanked out by a spark plug. Unconnected.

Cheers, Doc

Thanks Doc

You said that you used the replaced the decompressor with a second plug. How did you manage to decompress the RE after that? I've seen people either drill another hole in the head to install the decompressor or use the AVL setup on the tappet door and I have little knowledge about either. Just curious

Regards

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by SgtGAWD

Thanks Doc

You said that you used the replaced the decompressor with a second plug. How did you manage to decompress the RE after that? I've seen people either drill another hole in the head to install the decompressor or use the AVL setup on the tappet door and I have little knowledge about either. Just curious

Regards

Ive forgotten.

Will check and get back.

Cheers, Doc

P.S. Ok I checked. Its a decompress valve milled in the center of the head. I think both my 500 heads (performance and full race) were similarly modified.



P.S. Just used it and turned the kick over. Of course there is no fuel. Of course the battery is dead. But the kick is free. And hence so is the piston and so are the rings.

[Williams_f1]

Hi Doc, great to see your Bullet 500 coming out hibernation, hope to see it back on the road soon.

when you say "But the kick is free. And hence so is the piston and so are the rings."
does it mean that it is lacking compression or just that the piston is free and not siezed?

It great to hear that spares support for the older bullets is going strong, RE stockists do tend to have parts for the older bikes and are willing to order them as well but on the otherhand I visited a RE service center in 2022 and they told me anything older than 2010 cant be ordered through them as their system has stopped showing parts older than 2010.

You sure have awesome performance parts on yours, must have cost a pretty penny back in the day, the game has moved on but hopefully the people doing such mods are still around and can still do them, Anthony did provide me with a high lift cam for my Machismo 500. The load on the bottom end (crank-bearings), valves (valve float), lubrication at 141 kmph on your bike must be something! Was it smooth at those speeds? My bike felt like it would break into pieces at around 100 Kmph!

My Machismo 500 project failed spectacularly, I had gotten intouch with you asking for mechs in Pune and ended up visiting Anthony in Bombay, he was helpful and did improve things considerably but still in the performance was no where near where it should be (barely reached 100 kmph that is with the performance cam) despite my best efforts and throwing tons of money at it, I gave up and sold it, now own a Duke 200 and love the bike. Me being me, the duke is new and perfect and I dont want to mess with it hence I am again looking for a old bike and mostly at AVL bullets as they can sustain high rpms with better lubrication etc. Hope to find a bike soon. This time i want to be more hands on, take my time and be smart about the choices I make.

Best of luck Doc,

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by Williams_f1

Hi Doc, great to see your Bullet 500 coming out hibernation, hope to see it back on the road soon.

when you say "But the kick is free. And hence so is the piston and so are the rings."
does it mean that it is lacking compression or just that the piston is free and not siezed?

Best of luck Doc,

No, there is definitely compression. And the decompress hiss. Sometimes on long standing the rings tend ro seize or stick to the barrel wall. Making the kick immovable. That's what I meant.

Both my cast iron 500 as well as my LB 500 were butter smooth at speed. And surprisingly, even though the LB was the newer more advanced engine, and I never raced her as much as Doppie, nor did I have too many mods on her, save for a VM28 carb (right from the beginning, that kadak feel and throttle response anf firing of a slide carb was priceless), a UNI filter, and a reverse cone megaphone (designed by me off some numbers managed to pry out of Hitchcock and fabricated by Shakeel). But still, the LB was the one whose big end blew. I got her rebuilt by Anton, and then sold her to a close friend. Who then sold her to the 60 kph guy in Gujarat. Dont know where she is now.







And stock bazooka, in touring trim ...













The KTMs are dreams for us Bulleteers. Fast right out of the showroom. Best kept stock. Just maintain her regularly.

Cheers, Doc

[Williams_f1]

Hi Doc,

Thanks for sharing pictures of your bike and rides, its a well travelled bike!

Your Machismo looks lovely (man that chrome!), I like the Green more than the Black of the two colors available, I see more blacks than greens on the road though.

What I have heard from many people is - unlike the Cast Irons, the AVL was a High RPM engine(relatively speaking) and most people used to lug them like CI engines which would put load the bottom end and lead to failures but at the same time I have heard that the AVL bottom ends just fail! Hence best to go for upgraded bearings. Engine parts machining wasn't good at that time either. I assume mine was from the bad machined lot going by the poor performance on offer or badly rebuilt.

The chrome Bazooka is impossible to find, once derided and mostly thrown away at purchase for the lack of thump, is a prized item now. I visited an RE ASS once and asked if I could order one new, in their system it showed only one was available in the whole country, it was in Kerala with a dealership, I was asked to directly get in touch with Kerala dealership, price quoted was less than 2000 rupees, I thought wow! (considering used ones going for 4-5k) So I called the dealership, the person on the other end was helpful, he told me we do have one in stock but it has been in storage for over 10 years and now has rotted away and cant be sold and will be returned back to RE as it is unsaleable! What a downer!

Is Shakeel still in business? It would be nice to visit him sometime, always interested in meeting specialists. I think the heat from the Cops on non OEM exhausts has reduced and one can get away with it unless it too loud plus we don't have any other options as the stock one isn't available anymore. Though I worry that it might be a problem while getting the fitness redone of the vehicle.

I was also thinking of going for flat slide Carb but was advised by Anthony not to go for it as it wasn't good for the street and more suited for racing, I ended up with a UCD33 from the UCE 500 range which dramatically reduced my fuel economy and was quite expensive to buy/install as well and it still wasn't going fast as it should have afterwards.



Thanks Doc.

[//M]

What a lovely thread, Doc.

Anybody who has seen you ride Doppie would know about the intense cosmic connection present between you two. There is a maddening amount of energy and symphony that lies in this bonding that only an enthusiast can possibly understand. Glad to see the older pictures too. The motorcycle looks so pristine !

Attaching a few clicks of our Enfields together, clicked 10 years ago.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by Williams_f1

Hi Doc,

Thanks for sharing pictures of your bike and rides, its a well travelled bike!

Your Machismo looks lovely (man that chrome!), I like the Green more than the Black of the two colors available, I see more blacks than greens on the road though.

What I have heard from many people is - unlike the Cast Irons, the AVL was a High RPM engine(relatively speaking) and most people used to lug them like CI engines which would put load the bottom end and lead to failures but at the same time I have heard that the AVL bottom ends just fail!

The chrome Bazooka is impossible to find, once derided and mostly thrown away at purchase for the lack of thump, is a prized item now.

Is Shakeel still in business? It would be nice to visit him sometime, always interested in meeting specialists.

I was also thinking of going for flat slide Carb but was advised by Anthony not to go for it as it wasn't good for the street and more suited for racing, I ended up with a UCD33 from the UCE 500 range which dramatically reduced my fuel economy and was quite expensive to buy/install as well and it still wasn't going fast as it should have afterwards.

Hi bro. Thanks for your kind words. I do miss Figgy (my Machismo). She and Doppie were stablemates for the longest time. She had become my primary bike, reliable tourer, while Doppie was my hooligan bike, racer. Ironically, it was Figgy's big end that grenaded (and no, I never lugged her or any Bullet ... much the opposite). I lost confidence in her after that, sadly but truthfully, and immediately after rebuilding her at Anton's, sold her to a buddy who had been wanting her for the longest time. Along with sacks full of spares and hoarded performance bits. Yes, I am a packrat deluxe. Speaking of which, I remember seeing some silencers in a barrel in my shed a few months ago. I don't know if the bazooka is there. Will check. The chrome would be destroyed obviously, if its there. The shed leaks (tin sheet and tarp), and it would have seen over 15 monsoons by now. Shakeel is very much still in business and from what I hear he has gone big time and has a brand and logo and special packing now for his fabricated silencers. He (2 strokes and Bullets) and his brother (cars and superbikes). Cops have never troubled me man. And I never ride gently. And you should hear Doppie's Goldie at full chat. Maybe I have a sweet trusty face that they like. The best carb for a Machismo is the round slide VM of the cast iron Bullet 500. It totally transformed the bike and its firing. It was pure love from the first start. Proper Bullet beat, compared to the earlier CV carb overgrown Karizma-ish nonsense.

Originally Posted by //M

What a lovely thread, Doc.

Anybody who has seen you ride Doppie would know about the intense cosmic connection present between you two. There is a maddening amount of energy and symphony that lies in this bonding that only an enthusiast can possibly understand. Glad to see the older pictures too. The motorcycle looks so pristine !

Attaching a few clicks of our Enfields together, clicked 10 years ago.

Hey man! What a blast from the past!!!! Thank you so so much for sharing these photos. And your lovely words and sentiments. This was right after the inaugural IBW, to which I was invited and put up by the organisers (my younger brother's school friends). I'm feeling really guilty after hearing all the sweet words on the thread. I keep cleaning her, every time I clean my Duke, but am no closer yet to getting her started. The biggest thing I've achieved till now is gotten her tank cap unstuck and opened (a big black ant/beetle looking thin calmly walked out and disappeared over the side of the tank so I'm guessing the insides would be a cozy wildlife farm by now!). Chalo, soon. Very soon.

Cheers, Doc

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by //M

Attaching a few clicks of our Enfields together, clicked 10 years ago.

By the way, for guys who are interested, Doppie in these photos is running her track racing 18 inch wheels and modified 7 inch TLS front brake drum, and CEAT Secura Sports. Needless to mention, I still have this wheelset stored away. Complete with the tyres mounted. And bearings. Ready to fit.

Cheers, Doc

[Crazy_cars_guy]

Originally Posted by ebonho

….
And surprisingly, even though the LB was the newer more advanced engine, and I never raced her as much as Doppie, nor did I have too many mods on her, save for a VM28 carb (right from the beginning, that kadak feel and throttle response anf firing of a slide carb was priceless), a UNI filter, …

Hello Doc,

I will soon be buying a complete stock Bullet 500 (2016 model). Do you recommend getting the carb changed to Mikuni VM28? Is it any good?
Thanks Doc.

- Narayan