Royal Enfield India lacking customer care. :-(

[andrewaust]

Hi Guy's


A few of us on this forum have got R.E 's that use the Taurus shafts etc etc, looking back through a few post Ian commented that he was finding it hard to obtain the extended transmission shaft.

Because part supplies has been a bit of a hurdle for me too, I went searching the net finding only one really reliable source could supply a shaft but at a ridiculous price considering the R.E factory was charging around 22USD.

So next line of thought I tried a few of the online India R.E suppliers - no reply.

My last point of call was the R.E factory itself, and once again no email replies. So hopefully I won't need a shaft or any other Taurus part in the future as I'm sure to be buggered.

I was very polite when writing to the R.E factory, even said I was in a group of Diesel Bike enthusiasts, some having R.E M/C's. I asked them if they could tell me where I could find a supplier, also if they are out of stock would they be manufacturing more Taurus parts to keep the Diesel bikes circulating - to which I have received zip! nothing

So if anyone reads this post who has ties with R.E in India, could you kindly give them a nudge, as there are people relying on parts to keep there wheels motoring.

Like many things in the World today - customer care has gone out the window - well so it seems anyway!




Cheers


Andrew

[Anorak_ian]

I finally got a reply from Royal in India, they have the shaft I need at £11, with postage at £25. It took them a while to locate one. Lets hope I don't need one in the future if there getting scarce.
Thanks to Riggo for letting me know that Priceparts do them for £36+vat+del, I contacted them and they quoted me £29.38 inc vat + £3.50 del.

At that price I will use Priceparts although I was ripped off last time I used them I still don't know if I'm doing the right thing using a gearbox, but I've gone this far.......

I'll post some pics later on how it’s going.

[balboa_71]

Maybe you should buy a dozen of these shafts from India, make them up a tad and sell them at a profit to those posting to the group in need of one???
this might save you a bit on postage in the long run.

Cris

[andrewaust]

Great to hear you finally got a shaft Ian. Yeah I'm a little worried myself regarding the scarcity of the parts in question.

Boy there not pulling punches when they say India runs a lot slower than most economies.

By looking into things, I think the shaft is more likely to wear than break "hope I don't put some Karma on myself saying this".

I was thinking of going to a 19 front tooth sprocket but left the 17 on the bike as I knew I'd be giving 3rd gear a real hiding leading to a probable extensive wear problem.

Due to the box being 1:1 in forth, the only wear I'll get is shifting up, which will be very minimal as the bike is run on open roads, mostly flat chat!

Hopefully the Enfield factory may eventually get my email and machine a few up - wishful thinking I know, but maybe done.




Cheers


Andrew

[Ih8Suvs]

I am in the final stages of building a Yanmar clone RE. I too was concerned about how much unsupported input shaft there was between the clutch and the mainshaft sleeve, so I fabricated a bearing carrier such that the input shaft is supported by an additional ball bearing directly inside of the clutch hub to provide additional radial support. As I havn't finished the bike yet I don't know it it will make a terrible lot of difference, but it sure feels more rigid.

[andrewaust]

Hay! nice idea - be sure to post up how it goes.

It should take some radial thrust from the inner shaft and help that dreaded seal in the chain-case to be a little more sealing

I didn't know if there was enough room for a bearing in there, now I know there is

Might have a play myself one day




Cheers


Andrew

[Ih8Suvs]

I'll be sure to let you know how it all works out, and when I take this bike back apart to paint and pretty things up I will take some pictures of the bearing carrier.
As for the dreaded chain case seal, only long term testing will tell how this is going to work out, but the ball bearing I am using is double sealed and that is now what will seal the transmission input shaft to the chain case.

Andrew I like the looks of the exhaust you have. What kind of muffler did you use? The reason I am asking is that I have the Enfield shorty muffler but it still looks like if I put it on the left side like you did, if it is mounted low enough to clear the rear brake arm at the rear hub it will foul on the center stand. Did you have to modify anything there?

[andrewaust]

Hi Ih8Suvs


The muffler came with the bike when I purchased it as a Bullet 500 with the petti engine.

I think the muffler is the sports job that is manufactured by Enfield - it's a straight through type, but surprisingly not all that load with the diesel.

The only mod I done to the pipe was to grind the supporting bracket off and tig it back on square so it could be used on both the Left and Right sides.

Other than that it was straight forward, but if you don't have access to a tig or mig welder, you might have to get a bit of a hand with it.

The center stand is a bit of a pain hay! I didn't have to modify anything though, but the center stand sits rather neatly "mm's" near the muffler. I could have modified the foot pedal on the stand to give more clearance, but decided to leave it when there was a little clearance.

That will be interesting to see how you’re bearing mod goes, really good thinking there. With the sealed bearing I can't see it leaking oil either. I found with my bike - the seal works fine until it gets really hot and expansion must upset the seal, leaking some chain case oil. Would be interesting to see what part/parts are expanding.

It's all fun




Cheers


Andrew