[surjaonwheelz]

Originally Posted by meetarin

Two new mechanics came, checked and said it happened due to Air Lock and recommended I should not top up the fuel upto full tank.They also advised that I ride on reserve (again, a bummer) and top up fuel when the reserve finishes. I was told, if such problem occurs again, I need to put the bike on side stand, open the tank lid for a minute or so and then start on choke.

The first part is true, leave some air in the tank for the BS4 evap canister to work. It collects fuel fumes from the tank in BS4 models. For more details refer this thread (Evap Canister Clean - DIY for the Royal Enfield Himalayan BS4).
Fortunately for ThunderbirdX the canister is not placed below as in the Himalayan BS4.

The second part, I'm not sure what he/you meant. When reserve finishes, means you're out of fuel! You should know your reserve range approximately and fill up within that range after you hit reserve.

What @ashwinprakas shared is generic, for any bike. You can find his comments in the above thread also to remove that evap canister! Many experts would do that but I would live with it. If you entirely understand the process you can go for that solution also.

Just don't fill up to the brim and you should be fine. Fuel tanks have a mechanism to let air in as the tank gets empty, as you know vacuum can't exist. Your problem might be the evap canister picking up fuel instead of the fuel vapours (fumes) and flooding!

Ride safe,
/surjaonwheelz

[neil.jericho]

Originally Posted by meetarin

Hello RE owners! Need some advice here. I just finished a ride yesterday from Bangalore to Kolkata on my Thunderbird 350x (Aug 2019 purchase). The bike was serviced at 4200 kms two weeks ago before I started the trip. At 5200+ kms, I was stuck at a place amidst very heavy rain. When I resumed, the bike stalled after moving 500 meters. I had filled up my tank just about 30 kms before. I contacted the RSA guys who came after 2 hours and surprisingly the bike started fine. They checked everything and said it was all fine and it happened because the engine overheated. They recommended that I ride for 1 hour and take a break of 30 mins which sounded very weird to me!

Anyway, I started my ride again, was stuck in the heavy rain again and the same thing repeated after about an hour or so. I somehow managed to reach my hotel by choke starting the bike and contacted the RSA guys. Two new mechanics came, checked and said it happened due to Air Lock and recommended I should not top up the fuel upto full tank. (On long rides, I generally fill up the tank full and never faced this issue.) They also advised that I ride on reserve (again, a bummer) and top up fuel when the reserve finishes. I was told, if such problem occurs again, I need to put the bike on side stand, open the tank lid for a minute or so and then start on choke.

Fortunately, for the rest of the journey, I didn't face any issue and rode home safely. Could anyone guide me what went wrong?

meetarin, Im just trying to understand if there could be any other problems that could have caused the issues you faced. If I understood the sequence correctly
- Incident 1
- You filled petrol while on a ride.
- You encounter heavy rain. You pull over.
- After the rain, you start riding again and the bike stalls.
- 2 hours later, everything is fine.

- Incident 2
- Did you fill petrol again?
- You encounter heavy rain. You pull over.
- After the rain, you start riding again and the bike stalls.

I wonder if the heavy rains are causing some issue with your spark plugs and if the 2 hour wait in the first instance led to it getting dry by then? Did the RSA team check the spark plugs? I remember after one of my Continental GT 535 services, the bike was sputtering and dying out when I left the company SVC. I called them and the technicians came and checked it. The pressure wash that the dealership did as part of the service, was the culprit in that case.

[meetarin]

Originally Posted by surjaonwheelz

The second part, I'm not sure what he/you meant. When reserve finishes, means you're out of fuel! You should know you're reserve range approximately and fill up within that rang after you hit reserve.

Hi surjaonwheelz! What they meant is I will have to ride on Reserve fuel without touching the main tank. When the reserve finishes, turn it on to Main and fill up again. This would increase my filling frequency I believe. For now, I am being careful not to fill the tank too much.

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

- Incident 1
- You filled petrol while on a ride.
- You encounter heavy rain. You pull over.
- After the rain, you start riding again and the bike stalls.
- 2 hours later, everything is fine.

Hi neil.jericho! Correct.

- Incident 2
- Did you fill petrol again?
- You encounter heavy rain. You pull over.
- After the rain, you start riding again and the bike stalls.

No I didn't fill up before the second incident. I just rode around 40 kms before encountering the first incident, so I had good amount of fuel.

I remember after one of my Continental GT 535 services, the bike was sputtering and dying out when I left the company SVC. I called them and the technicians came and checked it. The pressure wash that the dealership did as part of the service, was the culprit in that case.

I can resonate with you. When I got my bike serviced before the trip, the bike was stuttering as soon as I left the service center. The pressure wash acted as the culprit and water went into the spark plug. They cleaned it and it was fine. When I encountered the second incident, the RSA guys did check the spark plug and said it was okay. They sucked the air out of the fuel pipe and mentioned it was air-locked.

[surjaonwheelz]

Originally Posted by meetarin

Hi surjaonwheelz! What they meant is I will have to ride on Reserve fuel without touching the main tank. When the reserve finishes, turn it on to Main and fill up again. This would increase my filling frequency I believe.

Ok. So there's no physical separation between reserve and main fuel levels. It's just a logical level indication based on the amount of fuel in your tank.
You can peep into the tank when fuel level is low in your tank, it's just one big tank!

If you get a chance, look into an old geared scooter tank where the inlet is just at the center, your reserve/main views will be clear.

[escape velocity]

Hi all,

I'm facing a battery issue. Six and a half year old battery on my Classic 350 (2013 model) has finally died. In fact, the self starter stopped working few months back but the kick starter and other electricals were working fine.
I was using the motorcycle for daily office commute of 12 kms. back and forth so the battery was getting charged. However, for some reason I could not ride for about 10 days and the battery has discharged to such a level that the bike can't be started anymore in any way.

Moreover, post lockdown 14 AH battery is not available in my area. Even a 9 Ah is not available. So I'm thinking of installing a 5AH battery as I rarely use self start.

That's why I would like to know that if it's sensible to install a 5AH battery.What problems will I face in the long run.? I use kick start and don't ride at night.

Thanks.

[ashwinprakas]

Originally Posted by escape velocity

That's why I would like to know that if it's sensible to install a 5AH battery.What problems will I face in the long run.? I use kick start and don't ride at night.

The math says it's a bad idea.

5Ah battery puts out 60W, your headlight alone takes up 60W on high beam, how will the other components even function without any buffer left?

You can say that the RE comes with a powerful stator, but then again it's a big ask especially at low revs.

[setuniket]

Six and half year is quite long for the battery. In case the right battery rating is not available in your area, check if you can order online from one of the websites.

Originally Posted by escape velocity

Hi all,

I'm facing a battery issue. Six and a half year old battery on my Classic 350 (2013 model) has finally died. In fact, the self starter stopped working few months back but the kick starter and other electricals were working fine.
I was using the motorcycle for daily office commute of 12 kms. back and forth so the battery was getting charged. However, for some reason I could not ride for about 10 days and the battery has discharged to such a level that the bike can't be started anymore in any way.

Moreover, post lockdown 14 AH battery is not available in my area. Even a 9 Ah is not available. So I'm thinking of installing a 5AH battery as I rarely use self start.

That's why I would like to know that if it's sensible to install a 5AH battery.What problems will I face in the long run.? I use kick start and don't ride at night.

Thanks.

[SS80]

Originally Posted by escape velocity

Hi all,

I'm facing a battery issue. Six and a half year old battery on my Classic 350 (2013 model) has finally use kick start and don't ride at night.

Thanks.

To start with most classic 350 bikes come with TCI ignition and needs a proper battery to get the bike started. Lowest rated battery that works with RE bikes is 8ah, the amaron z9r.

This is available on amazon, check if delivery is available to your pincode.

Note: Royal Enfield bikes are famous for electrical issues of all kinds. Please avoid modifying electrical stuff in your bike.

[escape velocity]

Originally Posted by ashwinprakas

The math says it's a bad idea.

5Ah battery puts out 60W, your headlight alone takes up 60W on high beam, how will the other components even function without any buffer left?

Thanks.

Will replacing all the bulbs with LED yield any spare wattage to allow the other components to function? If not, what is the minimum amperage do you recommend if I fail to get a 14 AH battery on time?

Also, mechanics here say that 5AH is sufficient to enable kickstarting and for horn to function. Are they trying to fool me?

Originally Posted by ashwinprakas

You can say that the RE comes with a powerful stator, but then again it's a big ask especially at low revs.

Please elaborate on this point. There are two-wheelers which run on 5 AH battery. How do they manage to run?

Thanks.

[ashwinprakas]

Originally Posted by escape velocity

Please elaborate on this point. There are two-wheelers which run on 5 AH battery. How do they manage to run?

Thanks.

Very long answer that would be and I'm sure you won't be interested in the finer details, so I'll mention the essentials.

Basically 2 types of electrical setups, Full DC in which everything is powered from the battery and then AC/DC in which only some electricals are powered from the battery like horn, blinkers and brake light, in those machines the HL is powered by lighting coil and ignition by primary coil, these are the bikes that run without a battery.

So yours is a Full DC motorcycle, hence why you can't run it without a battery.

You can run your motorcycle with a 5Ah battery or even a Rs.50/- capacitor as the latter helps bypass the battery, provided your your alternator has enough juice at low revs which I presume it has.

But it is not the ideal fix cause going by commonsense we need to ensure that the battery is adequately sized to power all components on a Full DC motorcycle in the interest of component life.

Hope that helps.

[ArizonaJim]

While I basically agree with ashwinprakas, the amp/hour rating of a battery gives the number of hours that a fully charged battery can deliver it's full wattage for an hour.
In the case of a 5 amp hour battery it can deliver 60 watts of power for one hour before it is run down.

The same battery can deliver considerably more than 60 watts for short periods of time, such as the time period between turning on the key and starting the engine, but because the battery was made to deliver less power than may be needed, it is working harder than it should so, not only will the battery seem to run down faster, the life of the battery will also be shorter. In theory, a 60 watt/hour battery can deliver 120 watts of power for 1/2 hour or even 240 watts of power for 15 minutes. (Theory and reality in this case are close but not an exact match.)

This is why the mechanics are saying a 5 A/H battery will work in a motorcycle that normally uses a 14 A/H battery.

If the motorcycle is only kick started, preferably with the headlight turned off if you have that option, the 5 A/H battery will work. Just not as well as the correct battery.
If the 5 A/H battery is installed, plan on replacing it every year or more often.

[srini1785]

Originally Posted by ashwinprakas

The math says it's a bad idea.

5Ah battery puts out 60W, your headlight alone takes up 60W on high beam, how will the other components even function without any buffer left?

Originally Posted by ArizonaJim

While I basically agree with ashwinprakas, the amp/hour rating of a battery gives the number of hours that a fully charged battery can deliver it's full wattage for an hour.
In the case of a 5 amp hour battery it can deliver 60 watts of power for one hour before it is run down.

The same battery can deliver considerably more than 60 watts for short periods of time, such as the time period between turning on the key and starting the engine, but because the battery was made to deliver less power than may be needed, it is working harder than it should so, not only will the battery seem to run down faster, the life of the battery will also be shorter. In theory, a 60 watt/hour battery can deliver 120 watts of power for 1/2 hour or even 240 watts of power for 15 minutes. (Theory and reality in this case are close but not an exact match.)

This is why the mechanics are saying a 5 A/H battery will work in a motorcycle that normally uses a 14 A/H battery.

While i agree with both the comments, my addition is as follows.

AH , as i pointed out, is current rating at rated terminal voltage. i.e 12V , as you draw more and more current , higher than the rated current, the terminal voltage drops. So when you are drawing 240W of power , your batteries voltage is going to anywhere between 8-9 V. Not a good sign.

Another factor , which characterizes a battery is the CCA rating ( Cold cranking amps rating). So for a self start vehicle , your CCA rating holds considerable importance. Theoretically CCA rating of the battery is the current drawn for short periods of start while the terminal voltage is held at 8V Min. So a battery rated at 5AH but with 100A CCA would still be able to start a bike while a battery rated at 10AH but with only 50A CCA would fail to start the bike with self starter.

[JoeTheWanderer]

I had a weird issue with my bike (BS3 Standard 500) and I just stumbled upon the solution.

Posting here in case it helps someone - I also have a question so I hope someone can help me as well.

A few months back I noticed a really loud squeaking noise coming from the front of the bike. Took it to the service center to figure out what the issue was.

A mechanic had a look at the bike and said that the speedo unit had to be replaced. Now, I don't claim to know a lot about bikes but it felt really weird that the speedo would need to be replaced at ~23000 km especially when there were no obvious signs of any problems (apart from the noise). I took the bike home without getting anything changed.

Today morning, I removed the head light, opened the speedo cable and sprayed a liberal dose of WD-40 inside the speedo cable. Also sprayed a little bit inside the speedo where the cable is attached.

Assembled everything together and took the bike for a short spin. The noise is gone - like 100% gone.

It turns all it needed was some lubrication and to think the RE guys wanted to replace the entire speedo.

I have a question however. Is WD-40 OK or should I use a different lube if this happens again?

[ArizonaJim]

Originally Posted by JoeTheWanderer

I had a weird issue with my bike (BS3 Standard 500) and I just stumbled upon the solution.

Posting here in case it helps someone - I also have a question so I hope someone can help me as well.

A few months back I noticed a really loud squeaking noise coming from the front of the bike. Took it to the service center to figure out what the issue was.

A mechanic had a look at the bike and said that the speedo unit had to be replaced. Now, I don't claim to know a lot about bikes but it felt really weird that the speedo would need to be replaced at ~23000 km especially when there were no obvious signs of any problems (apart from the noise). I took the bike home without getting anything changed.

Today morning, I removed the head light, opened the speedo cable and sprayed a liberal dose of WD-40 inside the speedo cable. Also sprayed a little bit inside the speedo where the cable is attached.

Assembled everything together and took the bike for a short spin. The noise is gone - like 100% gone.

It turns all it needed was some lubrication and to think the RE guys wanted to replace the entire speedo.

I have a question however. Is WD-40 OK or should I use a different lube if this happens again?

I probably shouldn't touch a WE-40 questiion with a long pole but starting about a year ago, I did a test.
The test was to see if WD-40 over time, becomes so thick that it causes problems with things like semi-auto pistols and tumbler locks.

I filled a small container with WD-40 to a depth of about 1/8" (3.2 mm) and let it set, exposed to the air for about 6 months.
During that time, it turned from a watery fluid into something resembling 40w motor oil. Now, over a year later, it has turned into an oil that resembles w90 gear oil.

Based on this, I feel that lubricating your speedometer cable with WD-40 should be fine and cause no problems. (Key lock tumblers? Not so good. It can cause them to fail to work by gumming up the little spring loaded pins.)

I lubricate the speedometer cable on my Bullet about once a year.
To do this, I loosen the knurled nut that holds the cable on the speedometer drive unit at the wheel. I then pull the inner cable out and wipe it with a clean rag.
Once this is done, I liberally coat it with layer of petroleum jelly (the kind that is in my medicine cabinet), and push it back in place while rotating it.
The only difficult part of this is, when the end of the cable reaches the speedometer its square shape must slip into the speedometer drive. This takes some rotating and pushing and pulling on the cable but after a bit of time and a healthy use of some not so nice words, it will finely slip into place. Then I can lightly tighten the knurled nut and it's good to go for another year.

[warrioraks]

Need some advice on tyre upgrades for Electra.
For rear, I have been using Michelin Sirac Street for the last few years and am a very happy customer. Is there a reason to consider Ralco over these tyres?

Also for the front, I am currently on the stock Ceat ribbed tyre. Pretty average experience till now. Does anyone have experience with Michelin or Ralco? I have heard that using Michelin on the front might create a problem as the distance between the mudguard and tyre comes down considerably. Also the workshop guy suggested Ceat SecuraSport, not sure how good they are.

Thinking of upgrading in a week or two.