A frustrating start to life with the new Classic 350

 Well, what a frustrating start it has been to having this bike! When I collected it from Rob's it had been sat for a couple of weeks under a cover in the cold and rain. When I started it, it was very sluggish but did eventually start - Rob and I looked at each other and said "new battery".

We made it home ok and then she took up residence in the shed. Each time I tried to start it, things were the same and I actually had to pull the clutch in to take a bit of load off before she would even turn over. I gave the battery a good charge and it was no different. 

So I bought a new battery - no difference.

So I bought a new starter solenoid - no difference.

So I swapped the new battery for a "better brand" as recommended by the forums - no difference.

So I tried using my boost pack - no difference.

So I cleaned all of the relay connections - no difference.

So I gave every earth point a really good clean back to bare metal - no difference.

So I removed the starter motor, connected it directly to a battery and it span freely. Replaced it - no difference.

So (clutching at straws now!) I checked the valve clearances (they were very tight) - no difference.

So I checked that the engine was turning freely and there was no undue resistance  - there wasn't.

So I've concluded that the starter motor is stuffed and can spin up when off the bike but not when there's any load on it. I've ordered a new one from Hitchcock's. If that doesn't sort it I can't think of anything else to do.

Panniers and Frames

With the new tank on, I fitted the Hitchcock's Panniers and Frames. 

All fairly straightforward stuff, although a bit of a fiddle to get one of the brackets bent around the mudguard stay. I think the original RE ones used a more straightforward bracket than these Hitchcock remanufactured ones but it was OK once done.

The panniers are copies of the ones that RE used to supply. No idea why they stopped as they seemed very popular. But they seem just as good as the original ones and almost indistinguishable other than the "Enfield Cycle Co" branding on the side (which I rather like actually.)

 

The Chrome Halcyon Green Meanie

I was recommended to use Aberffraw Garage for the repainting of my tank, about a 30 minute drive away to the other side of the island.

Wow, did they do a good job! A brilliant colour match; deep, lustrous finish; barely noticeable masking line against the pinstripe and a very reasonable price.

These are the before photos showing the more modern tank design and badges. Not horrible, but it doesn’t quite capture the “retro” essence for me. (The bike's design is apparently heavily influenced by '50s Bullets.)

I siphoned out about half the fuel to make the tank easier to remove. You have to take off the seat (just 2 bolts) and then one bolt from the back of the tank. It's a bit awkward, with 2 breather / drain hoses; the electrical connector and the fuel line to remove; mostly by feel. The original owner documented on YouTube having broken a connector when trying to remove the fuel line. Anyway, it was fiddly but manageable and will be a lot easier next time now that I know what I'm doing. With the tank off, I removed the fuel cap and drained the rest of the fuel into a bucket temporarily.

I fitted the fuel cap to the new tank, then turned to the underside to swap over the fuel pump/fuel level sender assembly. 

It was very obvious that my painters had painted the bottom of the tank properly, whereas the original RE finish barely covered the primer!

I was a bit perturbed to find that one of the mounting holes for the fuel pump assembly appears to have the remains of a snapped bolt in it. I tried to get it out but couldn't and it's a blind hole and I don't have the right sort of tap to cut a new thread. I wonder if this is the reason the tank was replaced under warranty? The pump assembly has a thick rubber gasket, so I decided to chance it with the one bolt missing but also applied a fairly generous dollop of hylomar blue on the surface. If it leaks, I'll remove the tank and sort it out. (It's not showing any sign of leaking after reassembly, but I'll keep an eye on it.)

With everything swapped over, it was a faily straightforward exercise to put it all back together again. I think it looks great - just enough chrome but not overwhelming. It looks black in these photos, but when the sun comes out the Halcyon Green really pops and sparkles!

I love the new view from the saddle.

Starting to make the Classic 350 mine

I am trying to adopt a more straightforward life and get rid of "stuff" that I've accumulated but has no place in my life any longer; and/or is unlikely to feature in it in the future.

So I decided that I wasn't going to start getting anything for the new Classic 350 until I'd got rid of an equal value of stuff on EBay. I've been slowly selling stuff over the last few weeks and surprisingly have raised over £450, with more to go. This has mostly been surplus guitar and motorcycle bits and pieces.

So I definitely have enough to order the canvas panniers and RE racks from Hitchcocks now and was ready to order them when I had a bit of a change of mind. I definitely will get those, but I know I'll be able to order them anytime I want.

In a previous post I mentioned that I really liked the chrome tank with the original style of Royal Enfield tank badge on my old bronze Classic 350 and that it might be quite cool to get hold of a s/h chrome tank and get it sprayed in the halcyon green colour.

Well, I'd been keeping an eye on EBay and not a lot of suitable tanks were coming up second hand - one in quite poor condition and then one that was off a nearly new bike that had been replaced as a warranty job due to a minor paint defect.  I decided that I REALLY did want to do the chrome tank thing, so took the plunge. I got it for £150, which is pretty good compared to £500 for a new one.

It's turned up and is in really good condition - I can't see the paint defect. So now I'm on the look out for a paint shop to respray it in the Halcyon Green colour. I think it will look amazing once this is done.

I've also been trying to make it easier to get the bike down the entry to the house. I repositioned the handlebar controls inboard by about 25mm each side and hacksawed off the ends, to gain 2" of clearance, which should make quite a difference. I thought the heated grips might be a bit of an issue as they should be glued on, but they just slid along nicely. I may get some short adjustable bar levers as well which will help a lot.

A gorgeous ride out on the Crusader 250

I had spent a couple of days catching up on the winter maintenance tasks on the old Crusader, getting her ready to sell in the Spring. I needed to road test her and thought it would be a good idea to borrow a GoPro and record the cold start and test ride so I could include it in an advert in future.

A delightful ride in the sun ensued...

Old and New

 I thought it would be interesting to compare my previous and current Classic 350s so fired up ChatGPT and this was the result 😁

I do like the chrome tank on the old bronze one, I think a lot of the attraction is that it has the original style of Royal Enfield tank badge. That’s started a thought in my head that it might be quite cool to get hold of a s/h chrome tank and get it sprayed in the halcyon green colour. I reckon that’s a £300 project that would look pretty cool. Maybe when I’ve sold both of the other bikes?

New Bike Adventure

Finally, weeks after “doing the deal”, the time has come to go and collect the new Classic 350 from her temporary storage at Rob’s in Tamworth. The weather this month has been appalling but there’s finally a window of a couple of days when it should be reasonable for a ride home. (i.e. not torrential rain all the way 🤣)

So my bag is loaded up with bike gear and the first step is a bus from Amlwch to Bangor Station. Using my bus pass for the first time, which is just adding to the excitement!

I saw my first spring lambs on the way!

And on to Bangor Station for the big train to Crewe and then a little train to Tamworth 🙂

Almost inevitably, the train to Crewe was delayed by 25 minutes, which meant my 23 minute transfer time was somewhat compromised 🙂. The good news with that was that I got onto the next train that only got me in 10 minutes later than planned. The even gooder news was that I can claim a refund on part of the ticket 🙂

So, at Rob's I could finally see my new bike after a month of waiting! First impressions were that she is in pretty much mint condition apart from the damage to the mudguard and clutch lever that I was already aware of. The damage isn't actually particularly noticeable. I even decided that I like the brown seats - they are darker than I thought they'd be.

After some pub grub, we had an early night and the following morning I set off for Dee's, via Beeline's "fun" route. 

I wasn't expecting there to be so much flooding of the country lanes or to see so much rain. I stopped for a coffee and warm up at Stone after 1.5 hours and then a wee and coffee stop at Liz and Phil's in Whitchurch.

After I set off again, the weather improved considerably and I even had some sunshine!

After a lovely stopover at Dee's, I left on Sunday afternoon for the journey along the North Wales coast to Anglesey. It wasn't half windy along the coast road and for the second part I was really fighting a big headwind. That's when it becomes obvious it's a low power bike, but she managed perfectly well, just not fast.

As we crossed the Menai Bridge onto Anglesey the wind improved, or maybe it was just more sheltered, and it stopped raining. We had a lovely last 30 minutes across the winding roads home. I welcomed her to the island and chatted to her about all the adventures we're going to have!!

The big test when I arrived home was to see if I could get her around the back of the house. I popped the bar end mirrors off for extra clearance and used my castor wheels contraption and we got her in (just!) I think with a bit of finessing, we can get that as a reasonably smooth operation, maybe using the centre stand trolley instead?