Milk's 03 Bullet dual sport build

[1 Thump]

Here is the Radon Installation guide from an old post:

http://www.enfieldmotorcycles.com/forum/index.php/topic,8551.0/all.html

[Ice]

Milk

[mattsz]

Oh! And Brother Mattsz, hurdy gurdy's are cool. One of the most amazing things I ever saw was a hurdy gurdy solo on the Page/Plant No Quarter tour back in the 90's. Blew my mind the tones that guy could get out of that instrument.

Quick detour…

Milk- that was Nigel Eaton.  Just before he played on that tour, my wife and I were bouncing around the UK playing folk music.  I was interested in hurdy-gurdies, and she hosted a Maine Public Radio weekly folk music show.  We tracked Nigel down and he agreed to meet us for an interview.  He is a really nice guy; we had a fine chat, and got a great hurdy-gurdy radio show out of it.  Before we drove off, he said, "what I really want to do is play rock'n'roll hurdy-gurdy!"  As you witnessed, he pulled it off in fine fashion.  He still plays, but now he makes built-in furniture for a living.

Now back to our regularly scheduled broadcast...

[AgentX]

Hey, how do the tank panniers fit on the Bullet?  Been wanting a set of the Wolfmans myself...

[noisymilk]

Hello there Br AgentX!
Um....here's how they look.






(its a little close under here, but not touching anything)


I like them a lot. My knees just touch them while sitting on the seat. I'm a little concerned about the front webbing, and hard corners wearing through. Obviously I need to clean up the straps a bit. But they sit VERY securely right there. I'll be interested to see how they do. I'm planning on them being my tools and quick access things while traveling (hat, camera, wallet, water, that sort of thing).

Also picked up one of these:


Gotta figure out where to hang it. I'm thinking most likely here:


But of course, this leads me to wanting to rewire the bike sooner than later. Sigh. 

Breaking in is going nicely. Still the slight hesitation off idle, which I still think is the very rich needle clip setting. I'm gonna do a few more 20-30 ish mile rides, change the oil, then start looking at some longer rides. Never been in 4th gear yet, all just around town easy accelerating engine braking type stuff. Feels REAL strong.

Hey Br Ice! I'm gonna be up Seattle way the last weekend of April. I'm gonna carry up the hard panniers and the carb I've been so remiss is getting to you, if you are gonna be around. Let me know, man.

Br 1Thump: yup...thats the speedo I'm going to put on the bike.

Been thinking about changing my headlight and nacelle situation. Either the trials, or the one that can retain all stock stuff. And some sort of brighter aftermarket option. It's pricy though. I mostly want to find a way to route the cables NOT through the nacelle. Because the rubber that protects them passing through fails, and then the cables fail. Anyone thought of this with the stock setup? Anyone successfully done it?

Ok, be safe all. Talk to you soon.

[AgentX]

Thanks for the pics!  Not sure if I like the way that webbing fore and aft runs, though...

If you're looking for a brighter bulb option, the HID kit from DDM tuning was cheap (like $25 IIRC) and easy to install.  However, I went with the single-intensity bulb, and the dual Hi/Lo bulb is supposedly too long to fit in the stock nacelle.  The single intensity bulb is much brighter and better than the 35/35 H4 halogen I had, even when it was set on high beam, so it's no big deal for me. 

However, when back in the lands of vehicle codes and road courtesy, I think a hi/lo option is in order, since having an HID set at a median hi/lo position probably isn't the best thing for getting a vehicle approved to drive on the road.  Since I'm using a separate headlight bucket, I'm sure I can rig up an HID setup to fit, but might just stick with a 65/35 H4 bulb for simplicity's sake and to avoid further scrutiny from Department of Transport types who frown on "modifications"  (however beneficial the mods may be...)

It's pretty obvious an HID lamp is not stock on my 1977 bike.

[noisymilk]

AgentX

Yeah, I'm gonna run it with the straps for a bit and see. If it sucks, I might try and put some Magnets in there instead. The rubber backing on the bags makes them sit real firmly in place. I might try and see if there are other places to strap it to as well....this was just a throw it on kind of placement to see how they looked. Basic placement is really nice.

And yeah, I've looked long and hard at HID. The thing is, I am fine with the casquette, Radon speedo, and adding some sort of external LED lights on a switch. I'm running a 35/55 Halogen (I believe) and have no issues with it. Am intending on going straight DC with a Sparxx rotor/stator upgrade in the future as well. The part I am not liking right now is the control cables passing through the casquette. I'm wondering if there is something to be done about that, short of buying this:


or this:


The first is the less expensive of the 2, but it's like 350 bucks. I'm not THAT upset with the cable routing. That kind of money is my new rear shocks.

Anyways. I'm not planning on spending any serious money for a few months. Gotta work a bit first. Feels like I'm down to the Sparxx/rewire, doing something about turn signals and brake/running lites, additional forward LED floods of some sort. Mostly electrical stuff. I'm patiently waiting to see about Ace's and Chumma's floating bush option on the crank. And final sorting of the luggage situation. Nice Mefo Explorers just before the trip, and then ride. If I don't do the crank, we're talking less than 1k to go.

Alrighty. Be safe all.

[AgentX]

You could order either the Thunderbird top and bottom crowns, or the single-gauge top crown (shown in your second linked pic) from India, fairly cheaply.  (ebay or direct from royalenfieldzone or bulletwalas or something).  Emgo and other headlight ears are cheap from dime city cycles and the like.

You're not getting any support or backing from Hitchcock with these, of course.

[noisymilk]

Br AgentX

Not a bad idea at all. I might look into that later on. For now, I'm gonna ride for a while after getting my horn mounted (kluge style, not the full re-wire).

But before the big trip north, I think the one that maintains all the original parts (key and ammeter) but lets me do an aftermarket headlight is the way I want to go. All subject to change as I waffle about down here.

Thanks for the heads up.

[noisymilk]

Hey! My Enfield finally has a horn!!!!

So since I purchased this bike, it has never had a horn. I suspect it fell off like everyone elses did because of bad brackets or whatever. I went and got myself one of the Screaming Banshee horns, and it took about 30 minutes to install it today.


I ended up turning it sideways to the way I had been thinking a few posts back, because it seemed a very solid mounting position:


And a look at the inside:


Drilled a hole, and voila, mounted. Wiring was relatively easy:


The relay that came with the horn is mounted where the old starter relay used to be. I even reused the same bolt on top.

I took the main positive power line (post circuit breaker) and Y'd it into the line that goes to the the key switch, and into the backside of the relay. Other side of relay exits the box and goes to positive of the horn assembly. I took the old starter wires (blue/white and black I believe) and repurposed them for the relay release. Then took the old horn wires (purple and red/white) that had been hanging down my front tube to where the old horn used to be, and pulled them up into the nacelle. Hooked purple to blue/white, and red/white to black. Worked like a charm first time. Didn't have to run new wires. Now, I hate the klugey-ness of it, but my connections are solid at least. It will get sexy when time allows.

Tests in the driveway gave a pretty solid low note, but not so solid high note. I'm hoping it was voltage sag, and that when I go out for a test run here, both notes will sound solidly.

I'm pretty please.

Be safe all.

[noisymilk]

I can verify now, it was merely some voltage sag from the bike not being run for about a week while I was working. Once out on the road, 2 solid tones from the horn. It is very loud, although not as loud as I would like. It's a good piercing tone, and certainly much better than the stock buzzer. It's approaching good small car horn levels while moving. I was hoping for something like a foghorn, though.

Maybe a second one is in order?? 

For the price, $50 plus shipping, its a great deal. There is an upgraded system thats designed to let you leave the old horn on for friendly toots, then 1/4 of a second later engages a pulsing banshee thing. I didn't do that. So, I press the button and the loud constant horn goes. They are also marketing one that is smaller, for cars. I wonder if it is louder or what....would be curious to do a side by side. Probably save my money for other things though. Like a new crank bearing. And a radon speedo. And bar risers. And a nice proper rewire.

 

Be safe all. Go ride more.

[Ice]

Hey Br Ice! I'm gonna be up Seattle way the last weekend of April. I'm gonna carry up the hard panniers and the carb I've been so remiss is getting to you, if you are gonna be around. Let me know, man.

Brother just name the time and place and I will be there with ammo boxes in hand.

[Arizoni]

IMO, horns are overrated.
With all the people here in Arizona driving around with their windows rolled up, their radios blaring and their texting fingers busily tapping out War & Peace on their hand held communicators the beep of a horn doesn't stand a chance of being heard.

Now, in India where the horn replaces the turn signal and the chance of anyone listening to a individual motorcycle's horn is slim to none maybe a louder horn makes sense but here it's just another electrical thing to cause problems.

[GreenMachine]

+1 ..didn't hear alot of air horns in the streets  of Delhi...Everybody did used their horns to communicate their intent..I love my air horn on my yamaha...GM

[barenekd]

When I was working in the old BSA shop, I used to install quite a few of those air horns. They will get the drivers attention as they're trying to find the semi that's about to run them down. FUN! They're effective!
Bare