GT535: what if we replace the engine with a pneumatic drill?

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Doesn't this look nice!

https://i.imgur.com/eWkrABY.jpeg

But really it's "looks good at a distance... after 8 pints... in a darkened room at 20 yards" Bearing in mind I've just done a full service and MoT on the Husky, I have the key areas to look for fresh in memory. So, time for an audit

Not pictured, the brake pads have ~3mm of meat left on them so I'll be sticking in Mr. Stinkwheel's recommendations before the next MoT. I also jammed a strategic cable tie in various places as a pointing stick to check run-out on the rims and rotors and they all look sound. Tyre tread is good, rubber is ~18 months old according to the included paperwork. On the subject of wheels, the front:

https://i.imgur.com/rX65fyN.jpeghttps://i.imgur.com/3bKuCoY.jpeg

I spotted these... disagreements with security devices (according the previous owner) and used them as a cudgel to beat the price down. I shall probably buy some spokes and replace them but the rest all seemed tensioned correctly. The back wheel? Most of the spokes are loose I'll be hunting through my tools to find the spoke spanners before I next go out on the bike.

AFAIK the front mudguard is meant to be 50/50 but my one's been cut down, not a fantastic job:

https://i.imgur.com/BMOxZJ7.jpeg

Replacements are easy to get hold of though. While we're in the area, nothing hiding under those shock boots, no leaking oil on the rears either.

Some rusty bits:

https://i.imgur.com/k1SrDdA.jpeg
https://i.imgur.com/llnCUbT.jpeg
https://i.imgur.com/XK03yWC.jpeg

Nothing too dramatic but the horn directly behind the exhaust pipe hasn't done well in the heat:

https://i.imgur.com/EH13y95.jpeg

And the exhaust studs are begging for replacement along with some brass nuts. The exhaust is also bolted to the frame half way along and at the back by the pillion peg. I'm wondering if these back two mounting points should involve some rubber? BTW the latter half of the exhaust is apparently a Motad, according to the receipts.

Under the covers we have:

https://i.imgur.com/YscYNNC.jpeg

and

https://i.imgur.com/UhUz37V.jpeg

That's a DNA filter and Venturi cover, fancy! Along with what is purported to be a more free-flowing exhaust I wondering if the ECU can cope. It is only Euro 3 so maybe it doesn't care as much. There's certainly no FuelX or PowerCommander doing any compensations

Lastly there's the mirrors and levers:

https://i.imgur.com/AUbhvyJ.jpeg

Billet aluminium doesn't suit the character of this bike. I'll probably just get some OEM levers and rifle through the shed for better mirrors.

Overall, nothing shocking. Apart from the paperwork.

At the back I have a picture "speedo replaced." Oh really And In my haste I read it as 9742 miles in 2016 that the initial MoT would know nothing about.

https://i.makeagif.com/media/9-06-2023/WhvOD5.gif

And then I noticed the decimal point So yes, scammed but for 974.2 miles

Gone are my plans to make a political statement with a carb conversion. I'll be getting the wheel spokes looked at first.
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Royal Enfield Continental GT 535, Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[virus]

looks tidy, Id consider replacing the tyres at the same time as looking at the spokes mind, those avons are shocking compared to more modern rubber, even if its not a 200hp track bike.
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own: 81 xs1100g...
owned: 85 rat CG (sold), 91 GS500e (stolen), 84 gsx400f (scrapped), 81 z250 (siezed, siezed, scrapped), 83 cb250rs (sold), 84 gpz750r ratfighter (killed) 84gpz400 (sold), '80 cb650 ratfighter (wrote off) 95gsx6/12f ratfighter (killed) 91 xj900 (sold)
stinkwheel Well I just had my hands up a pigs fanny. Which makes your concerns pale into insignificance.

[stinkwheel]

I can't keep a horn working on an enfield for more than about 6 months. Be they cheap or premium brands. Can't take the vibes.

I presume you've found Hitchcocks motorcycles site? Among other things, they have complete parts diagrams so you can check how things are supposed to be.

I'd guess the exhaust is probably ridgidly fixed to the frame. Mine attaches to the frame in three places.

https://www.hitchcocksmotorcycles.com/partsbook/302/2016-535cc-continental-gt
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

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Oh yeah, I've already rubbed one out flicking through their catalogue

I'm wondering whether the strategic use of these sort of things is a good idea:

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/Mf8AAOSwZW1mFclP/s-l400.jpg

Thinking of my Husky, the front half of the system is rigid but the back half is held together with springs. If the overall system is too bouncy I'm guessing it'd introduce stress at the engine end It was something I saw mentioned on an old RE forum though.

The purists on Facebook reckon it's sacrilege to even talk about toning down the engine vibrations but I at least want to track down a strange buzzing somewhere in the front end that appears at particular speeds. Might be as simple as an electrical connector rattling around in the headlamp cask.

With regards to the Avons, are they really that bad? Seems a shame to bin tyres barely used. The old fella just got a set for his KZ1000 and he seems quite happy with them and he goes at brown trousers speeds* on it.

*Note to self: check if his will is up to date.
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Royal Enfield Continental GT 535, Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[stinkwheel]

I have no issues with roadrider tyres, they are pretty much the only modern-ish road tyre I can fit to my bullet which has 19" wheels. Run out of ground clearance before I run out of grip.

Try disconnecting the speedo cable and see if the buzzing goes away.
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[Easy-X]

[blurredman]

I think the Avon Roadrider 2 tyres are fine. I like them. I think they're decent and the front lasts pretty long on my Honda CX (over 20k miles!), so unless you do the mileage then they'll get relatively old before they wear down I suppose.

Not sure if that's a concern for you? So- great if I was doing courier work still, but I'm not so i'd prefer to wear down tyres at 7-10k miles as opposed to being tempted to run old tyres (and I am, and often tempted, I have one from 1997 on my car, and another from 2000 on the other car. And yeah- a 1995 Cheng Shin on the front of my Suzuki.
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CBT: 12/06/10, Theory: 22/09/10, Module 1: 09/11/10, Module 2: 19/01/11
Past: 1991 Honda CG125BR-J, 1992 (1980) Honda XL125S, 1996 Kawasaki GPZ500S, 1979 MZ TS150.
Current: 1973 MZ ES250/2 - 18k, 1979 Suzuki TS185ER - 10k, 1981 Honda CX500B - 91k, 1987 MZ ETZ250 (295cc) - 40k, 1989 MZ ETZ251 - 50k.

[Easy-X]

Probably drank 2 litres of water but I got the rear wheel spokes reasonably tensioned this afternoon

I used a chalk marker on all the loose ones and it wasn't as bad as I thought: all the outer spokes were fine, it was just a handful of the inner ones you could rattle. I'll ride out a few times, let 'em settle in, and check again.
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Royal Enfield Continental GT 535, Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[Easy-X]

What's this? Throttle body, fuel injection... <yawn> boring!

https://i.imgur.com/5Uid96I.jpeg

You know what they say: if there's a hard way why do it the easy way?

https://i.imgur.com/dFpa0K4.jpeg

Fixed! Much better.

But wait! Why would anyone fit a carb to an EFI bike?!

https://media.tenor.com/UVp4zkd1BPcAAAAM/kahn-star-trek.gif

It's a 2015 Euro 3 bike so can go into the ULEZ 80% perverse idiocy and 20% because these bikes can be leaned out at the factory to get past emissions as it is and the previous owner fitted a DNA-style air filter and free-flowing exhaust to make things worse. Throwing more petrol into an air-cooled engine is worth doing just for the cooling effect. Moar powa baby is incidental.

Along the way I discovered it wasn't worth lubing the throttle cables:

https://i.imgur.com/zta7HfI.jpeg

The throttle body's mounting plate was crumbing, probably fatigue:

https://i.imgur.com/YSgLNn3.jpeg

And the tank drain was both blocked and missing a drainage pipe.

The Amal carb is interesting. It looks very Old Skool on the outside but has an elaborate slide/choke combo thing. I've seen the diagrams a hundred times but it's not until you take one apart to realise the elegance. And it has a "tickler" - what's not to like

So now the bike is sans fuel pump, throttle body and injector. How does it run? I only had time tonight to start it but start it did on the first attempt Keeping it going might be a little trickier but then I haven't even started on fiddling with the air screw and throttle slide adjust. I'll tackle that tomorrow hopefully.
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Royal Enfield Continental GT 535, Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[stinkwheel]

The chokes are ok on those because they are an actual choke but they do have a tendancy to rattle themselves into the on position if the bolt on the lever works loose.

I actually found I never used it except in outrageously cold (well sub-zero) weather, a brief tickle and it fired up so I just tightened the choke lever down hard so you could barely move it and never used it.

I've never got on particularly well with amals but one thing they're quite bad for is the needle valve sticking closed if they are parked up full for a long time. I got into the habit of turning the fuel off as I turned into my road so the needle valve was sitting off its seat when the bike was parked.

Also the slow runing circuit is an utter bastard to get at and clean and most of them have a press-fit slow running jet so make sure you have an effective fuel filter.

With a carb fitted, it would fly through emissions tests anyway. Nitrogen oxides form in a hot, oxidising environment and if you've set your carb up in the usual way to be running slightly richer than strictly necessary, that's not what you have. 2-strokes produce almost zero NOx.
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[Easy-X]

I was wondering whether I could use the "choke control" on the handlebars (actually just a fast idle) but having dismantled said control structure I can see it only has a very weak friction system to hold onto things. As you say, the thing really needs to be held open semi-permanently.

I've read some ppl take the choke slide out entirely. I'm 5 mins into this so I'm still investigating how the carb works. A more convenient control would be nice but handlebar real estate is at a premium on this bike.

Talking of convenience, I've ordered some more petrol tap copper/rubber washers. As they're the crush type you're meant to have more scope to clock the tap to a good position. There are no good positions At the moment the tap location counts as a security feature and I can't turn to reserve as there's a engine mount bolt in the way.
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Royal Enfield Continental GT 535, Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[Easy-X]

Only a small amount of time on the bike today but I've at least got the air and idle screws set. I did a lap of the town to warm up the engine a bit before final adjustments.

I deliberately attempted to start the bike with no choke and no tickling just to see what it does. Probably with the right jiggling of the throttle it'd go but it certainly wasn't happy. Good. That'll fuck with the minds of the scrotes I gave it a little tickle and dropped the choke - started straight up. After that it seems to like pulling the choke almost immediately. Might need longer in winter.

I haven't filled the tank back up as I'm waiting on a longer bolt from Hitchcock's for one of the engine mounting plates. They were a bit "oh really?" but sent out a replacement anyway. Anyhoo, even the short warm-up excursion immediately revealed a difference: the engine is a lot more zippy now It's not a screamer like the Husky of course but at least now the engine doesn't feel like it's filled with treacle. (Hmm, 15W50... not far off!)
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Royal Enfield Continental GT 535, Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[Easy-X]

You may have noticed the dirt on the frame in one of the previous photos. As far as I can tell this has been from the front wheel and the inadequate mudguard. Royal Enfield sell a proper bolt-on extension "mudflap" which is strangely expensive to buy from India but cheap as chips from Hitchcocks I ordered both the front and back ones at the same time which gave me the opportunity to order some replacement front spokes...

These are the problem items:

https://i.imgur.com/RdOlKBG.jpeg
https://i.imgur.com/yKDbaFG.jpeg
https://i.imgur.com/pgG6ZM0.jpeg

And in a classic case of overthinking it I considered whether to take the wheel to a garage to get the tyre off or do it myself. Erm... these are straight spokes, why the fuck to I need the tyre off? Just unscrew them...

Except they're no longer straight spokes:

https://i.imgur.com/8YKvKlU.jpeg

Oh dear. BFI* to the rescue!

https://i.imgur.com/FvuPWaY.jpeg

The first two new ones were easy enough to slide in but the third has to pass by the brake disk. Luckily it almost cleared so I just unbolted things and didn't bother removing the wheel:

https://i.imgur.com/klwRao4.jpeg

https://i.imgur.com/5omLl26.jpeg

May as well take a better look at the pads while I'm about it:

https://i.imgur.com/ux8BSFL.jpeg

Right on the edge of an MoT advisory IMO but I resolved to change them fairly soon anyway.

*Brute Force & Ignorance
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Royal Enfield Continental GT 535, Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[blurredman]

There's loads left on those pads. 1mm minimum for MOT for bikes.
____________________
CBT: 12/06/10, Theory: 22/09/10, Module 1: 09/11/10, Module 2: 19/01/11
Past: 1991 Honda CG125BR-J, 1992 (1980) Honda XL125S, 1996 Kawasaki GPZ500S, 1979 MZ TS150.
Current: 1973 MZ ES250/2 - 18k, 1979 Suzuki TS185ER - 10k, 1981 Honda CX500B - 91k, 1987 MZ ETZ250 (295cc) - 40k, 1989 MZ ETZ251 - 50k.