[ebonho]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Thanks for the insights. I assume this comment is based on the stock exhuast note of your CL500?

I too felt the same after buying mine and there was no thrill or THUMP that was associated with the bullet. But, after getting a custom exhuast job done, Iam thrilled to say the least.

Now my bike feels at home even amidst a large herd of carb-based BULLS

No its not the sound. Its the cadence of the firing. The "feel" in your hands and pants.

I'll give you another example.

My LB500 on the stock BS CV carb. Ho hum.

Then I shifted over to the VM28 of my Std 500 (she having a variety of flat slide and bigger venturi round slide VMs by then).

Man that was the MOST bang for buck mod I ever did on my LB. What a transformation.

Suffice to say that I feel the LB was the best 500 that RE ever built. Killed way before its time thanks to a variety of reasons, emission norms being one of them.

I cannot understand how RE has gone 10 years, 3 engines, and a jump of one lac rupees in asking price, and we still have a 500 struggling to top a true 130.

If that is misconstrued by the new entrants into the Bullet fraternity as "Bullet bashing" and "stereotyping", then it is what it is.

[nasirkaka]

Why is that so ? I found the EFI to be absolutely maintenance free.

Lucky you!!

at 7.5 K kms, my entire wiring harness was charred melted, thanks to a minor short circuit. They do have 3 blade fuse to prevent this, but it did happen somehow. Was returning from a ride, and had to tow the bike 100kms to Bangalore. Thankfully, the warranty saved me of around 12k. I have heard to two more similar case and one of them on ladakh ride. I have heard of two cases of fuel pump malfunction. My bikes fuel injector was found to be faulty and replaced. My throttle body was replaced twice because of erractic idling. i have spent a lot of time at service stations and local RE workshops and the EFI's do come there with issues.

+1. EFI engines are almost like any other contemprary engines which just wont cause any issues

Iam yet to understand this fascination of carb engines. I rode bullets with carb engines for short periods and found them way rougher than EFI engines.

EFI tech may be contemporary and hassle free but RE as a company is still living in past, me thinks. May take a while for their mindset to come to the present. Strict norms forced them to sacrifice the CI and AVL, develop the new UCE engine. they compromised on the trademark thump, used all the available tech like ECU, EFI, still came up with a pushrod design extracting a sad 27.2 bhp from a 500cc engine, which reduced to 22bhp at the wheel. So much for the integrated gearbox and reduction of transmission losses. In 2009, with all the available tech like CAD/CAM/CAE etc, they come up with the new UCE engine which is neither close to old world feel of CI engine, nor a full fledged modern engine. Its noisy, rough, underpowered, and high on vibes. mate that on a 50 years old frame and the result is very confusing. they themselves identified 57 issues with the new breed, not sure how many they have actually fixed.

And to top all this, they remove important parts like o2 sensor from the EFI loop, and fool customers with "new and improved" maps. I got my bikes map upgraded some 4-5 times, yet it did not solve issues of hiccups and mis-fires.

So one is forced to go backwards tech wise, to carbs. All mechanical, simple, gives scope to tweak and personalize the engine to an extent. i am running on 17.5 pilot, and 130 mains, UNI pod filter, custom made exhaust, along with the BS 32 and the bike feels closer to the character of older models. with the carb, i may not have to again toe the bike from 100 kms, and yes, the mileage is improved as well

[mobike008]

Nasir, thats an awfully lot of things that went wrong with your CL500. Sorry to know that

Btw, seems like iam also struck with some unlucky whiff of air last evening.

Went for a short ride (~ 15kms) and while returning I stopped at a store near home to buy something. When i tried starting, bike just wont start. Thumbed the starter, engine made a grating noise and wouldn't come to life.

Tried with choke on and off. Ignition on and off..

Even tried a bit of kick-starting. No response

Pushed the bike home and did'nt check in morning if it was a temporary issue

First time since my ownership ( 16 months), bike refused to start.

What could be the issue and how do i resolve?

Originally Posted by mobike008

What could be the issue and how do i resolve?

Once it had happened in my son's Classic 500. I removed, cleaned and refitted the spark plug. The bike started in the very first cranking by ES.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by mobike008

What could be the issue

Sprag clutch failure.

how do i resolve?

Replace sprag clutch.

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by J.Ravi

Once it had happened in my son's Classic 500. I removed, cleaned and refitted the spark plug. The bike started in the very first cranking by ES.

Thanks. I will try this when i go home

Originally Posted by ebonho

Sprag clutch failure

Wow. How were you able to pin point the problem? What exactly is a sprag clutch and how much does it tentatively cost for replacement

Also, is it a simple replacement costing a few minutes or needs some time to be spent with the mechanics?

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Wow. How were you able to pin point the problem? What exactly is a sprag clutch and how much does it tentatively cost for replacement

Also, is it a simple replacement costing a few minutes or needs some time to be spent with the mechanics?

You're kidding right? You own a Bullet with an ES, ride with a Bullet club (Wanderers), and you have not heard of sprag clutch failure?

Just in case you're not kidding .....



Last I checked, its approximately 4K or thereabouts. Of course this info is dated by 2-3 years since I have not owned an ES Bullet since then.

Then again, it may simply be a relay or battery issue.

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by ebonho

You're kidding right? You own a Bullet with an ES, ride with a Bullet club (Wanderers), and you have not heard of sprag clutch failure?

Well, Iam not ashamed to say I never heard of its failure before because my rides were usually short ( 250kms maximum) with the group and as mentioned before, havent faced a single issue with my bullet since i bought it, neither i have seen anybody else's bike fail during the ride

Originally Posted by ebonho

Last I checked, its approximately 4K or thereabouts. Of course this info is dated by 2-3 years since I have not owned an ES Bullet since then.

Boy! that's a steep cost for a bike. Is that covered as part of warranty? Any idea?

Originally Posted by ebonho

Then again, it may simply be a relay or battery issue.

Hope your right. Let me check the actual issue out. Will report back

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Well, Iam not ashamed to say I never heard of its failure before because my rides were usually short ( 250kms maximum) with the group and as mentioned before, havent faced a single issue with my bullet since i bought it, neither i have seen anybody else's bike fail during the ride

No need to be ashamed or anything bro. Simply means RE has upped its game with regard to quality or has solved the sprag clutch blow out issue once and for all. Because if it were an LB and you reported the same symptoms, any newbie clubbie would have nodded sagely and said "sprag clutch" as a terminal diagnosis.

Boy! that's a steep cost for a bike. Is that covered as part of warranty? Any idea?

As I said, its 2-3 years dated cost data. The way RE revises spare prices, I would not be surprised if its a lot more now.

so are you guys riding for the BOB MC anniversary tomorrow?

[Sutripta]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Even tried a bit of kick-starting. No response

Why?
Your own post http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motorb...ml#post3093725

Originally Posted by mobike008

What exactly is a sprag clutch and how much does it tentatively cost for replacement

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motorb...ml#post3096735

Last paragraph of
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motorb...ml#post3096847

Regards
Sutripta

[iron.head]

Originally Posted by Randhawa

Older Sprag
Attachment 829665



New Sprag
Attachment 829666

On the new upgraded sprag what other thing has been upgraded is the strengthened race on the ES gear. Earlier due to race getting damaged, the sprag used to fail because of it.

Attachment 829667

AFAIK the new design sprag has not been reported to have failed even once. Grating noise from engine might be bad news and could be due to the after-market ECU you have put on your bike? Please update us about the developments.

[nasirkaka]

What could be the issue and how do i resolve?

Majority of the initial lots of classic 500 were reported with Sprag failures. A lot of them have been reported on the initial pages of this thread aswell. It failed on my bike also at around 3k kms, thankfully under warranty. Typical sprang failure symptom was LOUD metal to metal typer clanking sound, on pressing of ES and of-course, bike not starting.
RE acknowledged the design problem with the sprag on C5 and came up with a new and improved design. That seems to have solved the issue. On my bike, the new sprag was installed without any charges. Typically they cost about 4.5K. Think the newer models was working just fine without any common sprag issue. On my bike, i have even removed the AUTO-DECOMPRESSOR sub-assembly, and been running fine. I was a bit anxious that it could affect the sprag, but running without issues for about 5k kms now.

Coming back to your bike not starting, could be cos of various reasons. battery charge, loose terminals, bad plugs, too rich/lean mixture, sprag, starter motor, fuel pump, clogged injectors, fuse, and many more. Do get it checked and rectified from a good service place.

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by Sutripta

Last paragraph of
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motorb...ml#post3096847

Thanks for the reminder. In the heat of the moment, i had completely forgotten that kick-start wont work with the RD ECU

Btw, I did not understand the last paragraph of that post. Could you please explain in simpler terms?

Originally Posted by iron.head

AFAIK the new design sprag has not been reported to have failed even once. Grating noise from engine might be bad news and could be due to the after-market ECU you have put on your bike? Please update us about the developments.

Thanks man, hope what you say of the new designed sprag is true. Will report back as soon as I get some time to get the bike looked at.


EDIT : Thanks Nasir for the feedback. Hope its not a sprag failure.

[GreaseMonk]

It may not be a sprag failure. I reported a similar sound when attempting to start my bike quite a few pages back. It was suggested there was an issue with my sprag. At the end, it was just a weak battery.

[Sutripta]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Btw, I did not understand the last paragraph of that post. Could you please explain in simpler terms?

Karthik confirms that the RD ECU does retard the timing at startup. Makes starting easier, reduces load on the starting system.

Regards
Sutripta