The FSSNOC HISTORY PAGE
FSSNOC - since 1986! (Scroll down for comments on photo)
05 - 25 - 23 We welcome members comments at: FSSNOCthumpers@yahoo.com
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THE CASE OF THE LYING SPEEDOMETER (photo above)
TRUE STORY, JUDGE ... REALLY! LOOK AT MY FACE, WOULD THAT FACE TELL A LIE? (joke, of course...)
From Ben, #5462
Dear jack,
I did indeed have the same problem with my Royal Enfield Classic 350 speedo. Dealer gave my a new one. Headlight rim comes off by removing 2 screws, then rotate rim slightly counterclockwise to disengage the small tab at 12 o’clock. One nut holds the speedo in and one plug. My new one never gave problems. Easy fix, and they did not want the old one back.
That’s it for now. I’ll send the ride report later today, as I am going out when it warms up a touch.
You are a Prince, Ben! My confidence level just sky-rocketed! Thank YOU! - #000
Ben 5462
Dear Jack,
I think that any suspension adjustments on a bike depend on the weight of the rider. Since I’m the only rider, it’s set for me at 205 pounds undressed, about 220 ready to ride, and I’m 6 feet tall.
(Dear Reader ... review Ben's posts below from last week as this missive is a follow-up ... and as always, please remember that this isn't advice, it is simply Ben's personal experiences with his Royal Enfield Hunter. Thank You for sharing, Ben! #000)
I chose Hagon shocks for the rear of my Hunter, purchased from Hitchcock’s. They are 340 mm, that’s a little longer than stock, but seem to make the bike easier for me to put on the centerstand. Which, for me, it is not easy to do with stock shocks, which are, again - for me, too firm as well! I like a soft ride...
I have the damping screw turned all the way to full soft and the preload is up one click to account for the rack and back box full of the usual necessities.
To me, the rear ride is very nice now and I used 87% of its travel on today’s ride.
The Front suspension ... I chose stock fork oil, race tech springs # frsp s3534080. Stock preload tubes cut to 5.5” and two machines shims on top. This gives me 1 and 3/8 inches of laden sag which is 30% and exactly what I want. In my opinion, the ride was even better than with the stock MT-07 springs and way better than the stock springs.
If I weighed less than 180 pounds, I suspect I might still use the race tech springs, still cut the preload tubes to 5.5”, but possibly only use one shim or maybe no shim on top. I'd just have to get on and see, I find it easy to adjust.
Oh, I’m forgetting to say that I cut the fork gaiters off as I feel they add stiction and I prefer to measure my fork travel with a tie wrap around the fork tube. I’m not riding thru the Sahara dessert so I feel that I don’t really need the gaiters for my riding style.
That’s it for my Royal Enfield Hunter, but I see that Hitchcock’s has released their camshaft for it. I’m trying to get my dealer to do one with the cam to see if I want it.
I’m still sorting the Royal Enfield Scram 411, so more to come on that.
Ben, 5462
AND, Jack, if you like riding your Royal Enfield 535 GT , you would REALLY LOVE riding the Hunter. It’s so agile and light. I rode my 535 8400 miles and I’ll tell you that this Hunter is twice the bike!!! The 535 was such a beautiful little cafe-racer, but spoiled by the vibrating gutless engine. I hope they build another cafe bike. I would like to see a 650 single to answer the BSA. I think RE could actually make a better looking one since they would not be constrained by having to “ duplicate “ a previous model. While I wait, I’ll ride the wheels off the Hunter!!!!!
(REPLY) Yup, I loved the GT535 Continental! It was/is a vibrator, it told me what speed we were going to ride! I say "was" as I traded it for the new Classic 350. I will say that I agree with your "gutless" call, at least I did until somewhere around 15,000 miles or so, by the time I traded my 2015 model in Italian Red at 26,700 miles, it felt like it had HALF-AGAIN the power/torque (it still shook at speed!) ... I think Royal Enfields need to be ridden the long miles to give the big smiles, perhaps much like Moto Guzzis of yesteryear (and maybe the new ones as well) ... when I bought my 2009 Moto Guzzi Griso 1100 two-valve, the dealer waved "bye" from the door and shouted just what you said above, Ben ... "Now go ride the wheels off that thing!!" ... and I did, 34,000 miles in 9 years ... tires and service, that was it ... awesome bike! - THANK YOU, BEN! - #000
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(From last week...)
IT'S NEW FROM OUR FRIENDS AT ROYAL ENFIELD!
(A Hunter with luggage)
Dear jack, got my Hunter on the 5th. Could not be happier with it. A few refinements though. Halon shocks (340 mm). These are slightly longer than the OEM shocks, but make the bike easy to put on the centerstand. It’s pretty hard to do on the stock shocks, which are way too firm.
The front: with stock springs, the bike was sagging in way too much. I changed to a set of MT-07 (yamaha) springs I had laying around. They are slightly longer so I cut 3/8 inch off the stock preload tubes. Bike rides a lot better with these and the sag is correct.
I also have a set of the softest springs that race tech makes for the MT-07 Yamaha, which I will try when they get here. My guess is that these will be even nicer. We shall see. I’ll let you know ASAP.
Love the bike! 80 mpg is my worst so far and I’m at 378 miles now.
Ben, 5462
MORE FROM BEN ON THE HUNTER...
More springs for Hunter...
Rode the stock MT-07 springs 110 miles. Much better than stock, but I think it could be a touch softer. So today I installed a set of Race Tech FRSP S3534080 springs. These are 0.80kg/mm. The stock ones are 0.88kg/mm. While the stock MT-07 ones were very nice, I do like a very plush ride so I am looking forward to riding the Hunter with the softer Race Tech ones.
I cut the preload tubes to 5.5”, and used 2 machinery shims on top to end up with the top of the preload tubes 1/4 “ below the top of fork tubes. This gives me a laden sag of one and three eights inches, which is 30% of the travel, which is 4.625” by my actual measure.
Hope this isn’t TMI
Ride report coming soon. (Now you're talkin' ... lets put it in Thumper News, okay? - #000)
Ben. 5462
(REPLY) YO Ben, Can't believe you posted today! HOW COOL! I was just thinking of you, my Classic 350 speedometer went "south" on my most recent outing on it ... darn! I knew that you had had a problem with your 350 speedometer, what did your dealer do to fix it and did it stay fixed? Any tips?
What it does, when I shut it off, the speedometer needle doesn't return all the way to zero. Sometimes it stops at 10mph, sometimes 20mph, even 30mph one time. When this happens, that point becomes ground "ZERO" and when I'm riding 40 mph it is showing 70 mph ... as a result, I don't have a clue what speed I am riding, which isn't good!
Thought you might be able to guide me (grin), and as you know, it is covered with a 3-year warranty so I'm sure my dealer, which is BAXTER CYCLE in MARNE, IOWA (see back cover of TN#151 for their ad) will get me rockin' and thumpin' as soon as possible.
Gosh, I wonder how hard it would be to get that headlight shell off, you got a clue on that? I might have to ride it to Iowa some nice day (365 miles one way), take my tent so I can spend the night on the grass beside the shop, then motor back the next day ... I just hope I can NOT get a speeding ticket during the ride up, eh?
Best Wishes, Ben! Thanks much for touching base, that is one COOL Hunter you have there, my friend! - #000
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THE KISS THAT ROCKED THE WORLD ... after WWII!
(Original photo was on this page last week)
Jack,
Here's a better picture, I was surprised you posted the other one. I had really just sent it to you in fun.
Steve Oakman #5266
Something Old (video sent by Steve on a "Harley Davidson" Sprint 250 An Italian AER MACCHII ... or AERMACCHII ... or ???
(REPLY) I had a 1967 model black and creme Sprint, the one with the big tank that looked like it was mounted backwards, not cool here in the USA then, but now, in hindsight, it is considered VERY COOL!
That was my second real motorcycle, my first was an M50 two-stroke, a tiny bright red bumble-bee of a bike with the gearshift on the handlebar. It was oil mix, one just unceremoniously dumped in a sorta vague amount of oil into the gas tank on top of the fuel or before one gassed the bike ... and off you smoked!
My most prevalent memory is riding it all through the night one summer night and about dusk we, me and a identically mounted friend, arrived at the scene of a reservoir being built by bulldozers and huge yellow scrappers. This happened to be on a Sunday morning. We were about 35 miles out of ThumperVille, which then was referred to as "Puckerbrush, USA".
We messed around, riding here and there, somehow we got those tiny little street bikes up on top of the dike, and for you local ThumperVille viewers, this was the site of the soon to be Cheney Reservoir. We soon tired of playing on the dike and decided to head for town for some breakfast. So, now ... how do we get down off this huge mound of disheveled mud and dirt? Hmmm, well ... we just ride down so I did.
About two-thirds of the way down, my friend watching my plight from the top of the dike ... my screaming little two-stroke motor, revving to the moon despite the totally closed throttle, began to pull down then without warning, it locked-up, sliding the rear wheel, then the bike and me the remainder of the way down to the bottom. What??? Well, I guess at least now, I'm off the dike. I gave it a casual kick to fire it up and head for town ... silence.
Odd how one's mind works, I do not recall how my friend got his bike off the dike, but I do recall that he didn't follow my less than perfect example.
What to do now, as the early morning sunshine begin to brighten up the day. I resolutely gave it another kick ... and it started! But it went tick - tick - tick - tick, not a bad sound to a rookie rider but not the same as before my downhill adventure. We headed for town, I didn't have the road speed of earlier ... something was amiss.
I won't say what my dealer said to me when he heard the same tick - tick - tick that I did, but it wasn't nice. He was a big strong Swede twice my age and weight with arms bigger than my thighs so I didn't take offense, no sirree! He unpatiently explained that if one expects the motor to have oil to survive, the throttle has to be turned on, not off as mine was for the extended time and distance of that tall massive earthen dike. The bike is "seized", he related to me with obvious disgust ... an awkward silence ensued as I had no idea of what he spoke.
A short story even shorter, I traded it for a new Sprint 250cc, my first Thumper ... well, my second if one counts my earlier day Cushman scooter.
Probably not much more than 50 yards down the street on that 250cc Sprint, a lifetime of passion for Four-Stroke Single cylinder motorcycles budded within me, then bloomed, and is still in full flower to this day ... #000.
youtu.be/Pu-Zi7VT910
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Jack,
I'm not quite surprised to learn about your speedometer problem, as I saw on YOUtube that some other guy who just bought a Classic 350 has already had the issue. What does surprise me is that RE hasn't figured this out yet.
I had sent Steve a text alerting him of my speedometer dilemma ... #000.
I got my 350 a year ago, and the speedometer stopped working correctly at about 150 miles on the odometer. Baxter Cycle ordered a new sensor for it, but that didn't fix the problem. Then they ordered a whole new speed-ometer, which was put on at about 1,400 miles on the odometer. I've now got about 3,400 miles on the bike and the new speedometer has worked fine.
Glad to hear that ... hope same result for my 350 ... I haven't talked to Baxter's yet. - #000.
I thought originally that RE had just gotten a bad batch of speedometers, but it seems something else might be going on. I hope they get it figured out as it gives a bad impression of the quality of their product.
That said, I thoroughly enjoy my 350 R.E. Signal, and have a great deal of fun riding it. I'm even thinking of taking it on some of the minimum maintenance roads around here that I used to take my Himalayan on. I think I might have sent you some videos I recorded of those rides. Just to see how well the 350 can handle it. I've seen some videos on YOUtube of a guy in Australia who does those kinds of roads and his 350 seems to handle them just fine.
I can envision a set of TKC80 tires on it, I think it'd go about anywhere, maybe even down the side of a "under contruction earthen dam" eh? (grin) - #000
Anyway, good luck on getting your issue figured out.
Steve
THANK YOU, GOOD SIR ... #000
(PHOTO was ABOVE two weeks ago) From World War II ...
Shared with us by Steve, #5266 - NE.
Thank You, Steve! I googled this and it took me to USNI.org where I read a recreation of what went down that day in story form ... very interesting.
This statue is generally on display in New York where it all happened, but now it can be seen in Omaha, Nebraska. Steve said it is on a tour of sorts ... wonder if it will come to ThumperVille, USA??
There is always "more than meets the eye" ... right? Well, this time it does meet the eye, know what I'm referring to?
World War II, right?
Check out the motif of Steve's 350cc Royal Enfield in commemorative WWII trim ... makes this whole shot take on another layer, eh?
Very cool, yes Indeed ... Do you have a "cool" shot? Care to Share it? I'm gonna give you, dear FSSNOC member, our email one more time:
FSSNOCthumpers@yahoo.com Attach the photo to your email... -#000.
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A LITTLE OF OUR OWN HISTORY ... CHECK IT OUT, RUNS AN HOUR AND MAYBE A BIT MORE, MIGHT TAKE THE PLACE OF SOME BAD TV, EH? - #000
A THUMPER RIDER'S PODCAST ...
To view the podcast ... CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZb4CgjfmEk
The podcast above was generated by Janus Motorcycles in Goshen, Indiana. EP.#1 ... In this podcast, FSSNOC #000 (Jack) is the guest being interviewed by Richard and Grant from JANUS MOTORCYCLES.
Play/View time is a tick over an hour so some popcorn might be nice, I like the chocolate drizzle kind, btw. Formal wear (FSSNOC club t-shirts, cap, etc...) adds to the mood, but not mandatory. Contact your friends, invite them in, share as you like. No cheat sheets, no prompt boards, no prior discussion and no Thumpers hurt in the making of this podcast.
574-538-1350 JANUSMOTORCYCLES.COM
And, this podcast is for entertainment only...