Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 Modifications and Customisation

Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 Modifications and Customisation

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Modifications and Customisation

By Craig Katen

Performance Enhancements

Without making internal changes to the engine a slight performance improvement can be gained using aftermarket accessories fairly easily. The old trilogy of Air, Fuel and Exhaust is a good starting point and a prerequisite for any substantial changes in the future.

Air Filter

DNA make a washable oiled filter that seems to be the market choice for performance filters with claims of 95% improvement in flow rates. I also installed the stage 2 airbox cover that replaces the stock cover plate which has a 90 degree inlet and is very restrictive.

Fuel

Without going to the expense of a fuel computer and dyno tune the easiest way to get some fuel enhancement is to install a Booster Plug which replaces the stock Air Intake Temperature sensor and uses a resistor to trick the system into believing the air temperature is cooler and therefore denser and hence requires more fuel.

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Exhaust

The stock mufflers are ginormous and weigh 4.5kgs each. The stainless steel S&S mufflers weigh about 1.5kg and are much slimmer and less restrictive. They can be a bit loud and on a long trip I would recommend installing the DB killers (baffles) that come with them or you may need some earplugs.

To match the stainless mufflers I installed some TEC Bike Parts big bore stainless headers. The stock headers are chrome and looked out of place with the S&S mufflers and also fairly restrictive being double walled and small diameter. Mufflers alone are said to only provide a couple of percent performance improvement, however when combined with headers it can be much more.

Spark Plugs and Caps

I wanted to upgrade to NGK iridium spark plugs and in the process of researching the correct model for the bike I came across some red NGK Spark Plug Caps. Combined with the Iridium plugs they provide better noise suppression, performance and reliability.

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Suspension Upgrades

The suspension components on a relatively cheap motorcycle are usually the cheapest no-name parts available. Considering the vast array of options and the ease of upgrading, there are many choices for aftermarket suspension enhancements.

Some owners will only ride on city streets and some will only ride on smooth highways and others like us in Australia have to put up with Third-World road conditions as soon as you venture away from residential areas, even on our major highways.

For me, doing lots of country miles, the suspension was inadequate. The forks became very choppy at high speed on rough roads and over bumps the shocks seem to bottom out on the spring with no feel of damping before that.

I had already upgraded my Himalayan’s suspension using YSS components so I followed suit with the Interceptor.

Forks

The YSS fork upgrade kit consists of a pair of new springs ( the stock ones seem to have very tight coils at one end that seem to bind up as do the shock springs) a set of PD (progressive damping) Valves and a set of preload adjustable fork caps. Specifications are also supplied for fork oil weight and volume which vary from the stock settings.

Installation is fairly complex but achievable for the average backyard mechanic. It does require removal of the forks from the bike in order to replace the oil which can be daunting for some people as it requires the brake calliper to be removed.

Another procedure that is recommended is to drill out the damper rods. This is required for the PD Valves to work properly. The stock damper rods have 2 small holes drilled in them for the fluid to be forced through and regulate the compression damping of the fork. This is a static system that works well under certain conditions but not all. The damper rods need to be drilled in two locations to 8mm, one where the current holes are and then at 90 degrees about 2 centimetres higher. This allows the fork oil to travel up the damper rods (which are now defunct) to the PD valve where a series of holes and a spring provide progressive relief of the pressure depending on the amount of force subjected to the forks.

Removal of the damper rods requires a tool (or if you are lucky you can use a rattle gun / impact driver) however sometimes the rod will spin in the fork slider when you turn the locking screw. Hence the need for a locking tool which I made with some 3mm x 30mm steel strap or you can buy the tool online for $100.

Many people online say they have just installed the kit without drilling the holes but I have been assured that it will severely reduce the effectiveness of the PD valves as the fork oil cant get thru the damper rod and into the valve unless the rod is cross drilled. In other words you are still using the stock damper rod not the PD valve to control the fork damping.

Another thing I did was slide the forks through the triple clamps for maximum ground clearance. This is not really recommended on its own as it will change the steering geometry but I countered that by also adjusting the rear shock length.

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Shocks

The standard shocks are the cheapest available with only preload adjustability which is used to set the ride height depending on the weight being carried. Not having any ability to tune the shock means they will work properly in only certain conditions. Not being able to change the compression or rebound damping means you cant change the shocks set up for use on say bumpy country roads as compared to smooth highways or high speed riding compared to slow riding in traffic.

Most decent shocks will have rebound and compression damping adjustability as well as preload and length adjustment. Since I do lots of long trips on rough roads I chose the top of the line RG 362 Hi lo shocks that have both high speed and low speed compression damping. This means you can have 2 settings for compression damping. One for low speed wheel travel like dips in the road where the bike moves slowly up and down and then another high speed setting for when you hit a sharp bump and the wheel moves quickly.

Out of the box the baseline settings seem to be pretty good. I did increase preload slightly to accommodate for the luggage I was carrying. However every now and again I did get a harsh bump but nothing like the kidney jarring stock shocks that seem to bind up on the spring on sharp bumps and wallow on soft ones.

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In conclusion, and after doing a 4000 KM trip in 12 days the fork upgrade made a big difference to the comfort especially on your wrists and made the bike steer better through corners. One of the guys on the ride, Don, had tried out 2 other stock Interceptors on the trip and wasn’t impressed with the front end, when he rode my bike he asked what I had done to the forks and congratulated me on the improvement and said it was a noticeable difference.

The shocks made travelling on country roads way more comfortable with less harsh jolts and less wallowing over undulations and jarring over bumps except for the occasional pothole. I still need to do a proper rider sag measurement and set the preload again without luggage and test it to see if it was lack of preload, extra weight or the high speed compression damping settings that were slightly off.

Tyres

I needed new tyres for the trip and wanted to make some changes in appearance and handling. The OEM tyres are Pirelli Phantom Sports Comp which are pretty good in the dry but many people seemed to replace them with other brands  for performance reasons or to be able to change sizes. Some go for the Shinko knobbies for the scrambler look others just go up a size front and rear. Another popular choice is the Michelin Road Classic but only seem to be available in standard sizes.

One popular option seems to be the new Bridgestone BT46 Sport Touring tyre which has a revise pattern and improved wet weather handling due to a silica compound. They also have larger sizes available.

The standard front tyre is a 100/90 profile and this time I went up to a 110/90 which increased the sidewall slightly as well as the width. I was hoping to achieve a slightly softer ride by increasing the sidewall and more grip due to the extra width.

The rear tyre is normally a 130/70 and I chose a 130/80 so that there was a small increase in sidewall height for comfort and rolling circumference which would be better for highway cruising.

After a week riding in the rain on Tasmanian roads I was impressed with the performance of the tyres.

Brakes

An opportunity came up to get my hands on an adapter to upgrade the front brake to a Brembo 4 piston calliper so I decided to go ahead and do the upgrade and as it turns out it was quite beneficial after braking my right hand dirt bike riding. I found the standard front brake more like an on/off switch with very little modulation, when riding hard it is easy to get to the point of losing feel in the lever which is not confidence inspiring and on one or two occasions I have pushed the front brake to the point of the ABS cutting in. The result, apart from increased stopping power is better lever feel and modulation and less grip strength required when applying the brakes.

The kit I purchased was created by one of the members of a Royal Enfield Facebook group and consisted of a calliper adaptor, a disc spacer/adapter, an ABS ring and an ABS sensor spacer. The rest of the parts, calliper, disc, and master cylinder were purchased online.

The Brembo P4 34 65mm triple bridge 4 piston 4 pad calliper has larger pad area than standard and much more braking pressure.

The Brembo Groove 330mm floating brake disc is from a Ducati Scrambler and is 10mm larger in diameter than the OEM disc

The Brembo 15RCS Radial brake master cylinder has an adjustable lever ratio and lever reach and also has a remote brake fluid reservoir.

To compliment the Brembo brake master cylinder and lever I installed a Kawasaki Ninja clutch perch and fitted a Brembo Clutch lever to match the brake lever.

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Seat

The standard seat is ok for around town or a short ride in the country but for long trips the Premium Touring seat is slightly more comfortable as it is has approximately 1-2 cm more padding all round. On the recent trip I did, which was about. 4000 KM over 12 days, the Premium seat was a slight improvement but still gave “numb bum” every now and again. It was ok for most of the rides except the last day where I was riding for 10 hours and had to stop more frequently. A black computer mouse Description automatically generated with medium confidence

 

At the 2022 Royal Enfield Club of Australia AGM Rally I won the award for the Best 650 Twin

Wisemans Ferry Himalayan Ride May 8th 2022

Wisemans Ferry Himalayan Ride  May 8th 2022

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Paul Selwood and I organised a short afternoon Himalayan ride on Sunday 8th May 2022. Being Mothers Day we could not leave till 11am and, since It couldn’t be too far away, we decided just to head up to Wisemans Ferry and have a poke around in the dirt on our old familiar trails as there was no time to be adventurous and try to find new places to ride like we usually do.

We posted our plans on the Royal Enfield Club forum but got no takers. We also posted an event on the Facebook Himalayan Group as an short easy ride that suited beginners and a few people said they were interested and a few committed to going so we arranged to meet them at Wisemans Ferry at 12pm.

We also said we would meet Deen, one of the guys from the Group at 11am at Dural Shell since he was coming from Cherrybrook, but he was running late due to Mothers day commitments and messaged to say he would just see us at Wisemans. We stopped at the Shell anyway just in case and also so Paul could top up with fuel and we heard what we thought was a Himalayan ride past and wondered if it was someone from the FB Group.

Since we were early we thought we would make a detour off Old Northern Road down to the Old Leetsvale Road to check out River Rd as I had heard it had been closed due to floods. As we approached Cliftonville Rd turn off we came across the same bike, a KLR650 that we initially thought was a Himalayan and he followed us along the road for a while but when we pulled off down the Old Leetsvale Trail he continued on towards River rd.

The steep track was pretty eroded, rocky, sandy and muddy in places from all the storms and we took our time getting through the ruts and washouts. When we stopped at the bottom at River Rd the guy on the KLR was there. We had a quick chat and introduced ourselves and told him our ride plans and since he was riding solo we invited Doug along to join us.

The three of us made our way to Wisemans Ferry where Deen and Al were waiting, and John, who we had ridden with a few times before arrived from Terrigal soon after.

We had a quick coffee and a bite to eat and a chat about where we could ride. The plan was to show them the tracks on the western side of the river between Wisemans and Colo. We held a quick ride briefing before heading off as some of the guys, being new owners of Himalayans, had not done any dirt riding at all before. We told them that the fire roads were pretty easy and there would possibly be car traffic so it was important to keep left on corners.

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We went over Webb’s Creek Ferry and up Bicentenary Rd to get to the Wheel Barrow Ridge Trail / Greens Road intersection. We stopped there and re grouped and the new guys seemed to be doing ok so I upped the pace a bit and continued to the next rest stop where Webbs Creek Trail branches off.

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Paul went ahead from there and set his drone up to get a video of the group. We waited a few minutes for him to get sorted and a short way along the road he was standing on the side of the road and the drone was hovering above us as we road past.

Wheel Barrow Ridge Trail joins Wheel Barrow Ridge Road about half along on its way from Lower Portland to Colo Heights . We stopped there and had a discussion about where the group wanted to go. South would lead back to Greens Road which is technically closed to through traffic due to flood damage so we went north to the Putty Rd at Colo Heights.

Al decided to leave us there as he had a long way back to the south side of Sydney and the rest of us turned the other way onto the Putty Rd then went down Colo Heights Road to Upper Colo to check out the old wooden bridge which was taken out by floods.

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The bridge is scheduled to be replaced later in 2022

Paul got the drone out again and flew it over to look at the bridge and also took a few stills of the group.

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From there it was back to the Putty Rd and down to Colo and onto the Lower Colo Rd which winds it way along to where the Colo River joins the Hawkesbury Rive at Lower Portland.

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Here we crossed the ferry and asked the group if they were all ok attempting the Old Leetsvale Road then headed north on River Rd back towards Leetsvale where we met Doug earlier in the day. He was keen to give it a go since he missed it this morning and everyone else wanted to check it out as well.

We stopped and gave the guys some pointers and told them what to expect on the trail. Paul led the way and I rode as sweep and helped Deen through a few challenging bits. He was coming to terms with off road riding and after a few minor spills he was able to master speed control with the clutch and this made it easier to get through some of the tricky sections where there were ruts and rocks and other obstacles that he had not come across before.

After a quick stop at the top of the trail to re-live some incidents we planned our ways home and took off back towards the Old Northern Road.

It was great riding with new people and showing them some of the tracks in our area.

We look forward to organising another ride with them and others in the future where we can travel a bit further to find some more interesting places to ride.

Thanks to Paul for the drone photography and putting together a Relive video of the ride

https://www.relive.cc/view/vr63BWMEk8O

Royal Enfield Premium Touring Seats

Royal Enfield Premium Touring Seats

I watched a video recently made by Stuart Fillingham where he did a review of the  Continental GT Premium Touring seat (see below) and I thought it looked pretty good so I started to investigate the Royal Enfield India website to see what else was available.

 

I found there were also Premium Touring seats available for the Himalayan and the Interceptor. So a quick look onine and I eventually bought one of each from Ebay

Seat Comparison

The Himalayan Premium Touring  seat is fairly ordinary with the only thing setting it apart from the standard one beingthe RE embossed logo. It doesn’t look or feel any different until you use a pair of vernier calipers as I did – see below

 

The Interceptor seat is far more fancy and they have put a bit of effort into it like they did with the one for the GT. It has some white piping where the standard one had white stitching and a nice tag with the RE logo and the word Touring .

It also has a stitched logo at the rear rather than embossed

The seat itself is visibly larger and looks quite well padded and more comfortable compared with the standard version

Here are the 4 seats lined up together

 

Measurements

The Himalayan Premium Touring seat turned out to be slightly thicker once I measured it. As mentioned initially I thought ‘What a ripoff – there is no difference!” I could be wrong and the variance might just be that it is new but my original seat has only done 1000km and I do stand up alot.

Here are some side on photos where you can see the obvious difference in shape of the Interceptor seat and really no difference with the Himalayan in seat profile.

 Below are the rough measurements in millimeters taken at various points on the seats for comparison.

 

 

 

 

2021 Himalayan Upgrades, Modifications and Accessories

2021 Himalayan Upgrades, Modifications and Accessories

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2021 EFI SWITCHABLE ABS MODEL THREAD – Scroll down for latest updates

I recently purchased a 2017 model Himalayan from Paul, a fellow member of the Royal Enfield Club of Australia, who had already placed an order for the new EFI Switchable ABS model. Not having ridden one before, I wanted to test the Himalayan out in the bush, which you really can’t do on a dealer demo. I wanted to see if I liked how it went off-road and on the highway, not just around the block. I had seen another member Peter, ride his on twisty tarmac on country roads and it seemed to go pretty good. So since there was quite a wait for the new models I bought the bike off Paul without so much as a test ride. I then had some time to try it out and make a decision.

After some test rides on the Hume and Pacific motorways, I knew it was going to be similar to other Royal Enfield singles, more of an 80-100 kph “B-Road” bike. At 110kph indicated it sits at about 5500 revs and the red-line is 6250rpm. At 100 on the speedo, you are doing 92-94kph on the GPS.

I went on 3 off-road rides for which I did trip reports ( see below )

Watagan’s ride in the mud with Peter http://www.k10stuff.com.au/motorcycles/watagans-forest-ride/

Wombeyan Caves Road with DSMRA http://www.k10stuff.com.au/uncategorized/dsmra-taralga-adv-ride/

And a ride around the Hawkesbury with Paul http://www.k10stuff.com.au/motorcycles/wisemans-ferry-and-colo-dirt-ride/

Earlier this year there was an extensive delay in getting new bikes out of India to Australia so the wait time was 6 weeks or more.

For a period of time I had been enquiring as to availability, lead-time and colour options and hadn’t actually committed to putting a deposit on one as yet when I received a call from Santina of Revelry Cycles saying that there was one available, due to land in the country very soon and it was Lake Blue. I bit the bullet and placed a deposit.

As soon as I knew I had one “in the bag” I went about planning what accessories and modifications I would do.

It’s taken a while to compile this info but here it is.

Suspension

On my 2017 bike the rear shock had sagged a bit and the front forks felt very soft.

Having dealt with the guys from SuspensionsRUs in the past with my Triumph Tiger suspension fix, I decided to go with their recommendation of YSS and purchased a shock and fork kit.

I actually ordered the kit for the old bike but never fitted it as a 2021 model became available quicker than expected.

YSS MZ456 Mono Shock

As you can see, in a feeble attempt to create progressive suspension the OEM spring has tightly wound coils at the top, which just bind up quickly and you end up with half a spring. The OEM fork springs are the same.

The YSS shock has rebound adjustment and a threaded-ring preload adjustment. This gives you more tunability but it requires you to remove the rear internal guard to perform preload adjustment as the OEM shock is run upside down and the preload is at the bottom allowing easier access.

Installation required the removal of the battery and airbox in order to fit the shock

Since I do some rides with luggage and others without, I decided to trim the bottom off the guard to expose the preload adjuster. This means I don’t have to remove anything to make adjustments to preload settings.

YSS Fork Upgrade Kit

The YSS fork kit comprises new fork springs (without the tightly wound coils at the top), PD (Progressive Damping) valves which act as cartridge fork emulators, new preload spacers to suit the spring length change (due to insertion of the PD valves), and preload-adjustable fork caps.

The upgrade was not as hard as I imagined and gave me the opportunity to remove some items that I deemed unsightly.

I started out by removing the wheel and then the brake calliper and ABS sensor. Then it was time for the fork brace and mudguard, which I had plans for.

I got one fork off and then followed the instructions which advised me to remove the oil and replace it with 20W.

To get the oil out you need to turn upside down and purge all the oil by pumping it until the oil stops coming out. I bought 1 litre of Bel-Ray 20w as the fork kit only came with a 250ml top-up bottle of YSS fork oil. You need about 410ml in each leg and an air gap of 220mm which I checked using a tape measure set to about 222mm and used it like a dipstick. You can buy a fancy contraption from MX Store if you want to be 100% precise. Then I installed the preload-adjustable fork caps.

Once I had done both I reinstalled the forks. I chose to leave the gaiters off. This will spark some debate but I want to be able to achieve two things. Firstly, improve the look. The chrome fork stanchion breaks up the all-black appearance of the standard forks and secondly allows me to monitor fork travel by being able to see the tell-tale rings of oil/dust left on the fork legs and then adjust preload accordingly. Another thing is preventing trapped moisture from coming in contact with cheap Indian chrome and damaging the forks.

Where’s the mudguard you ask ?. Not quite in the bin but it really does look terrible. I did put it back on recently for a road trip where we expected lots of rain but for off-road riding, I think I will leave it off for the interim and see how it goes.

UPDATE – the mudguard would be in fact useful in heavy mud to prevent the oil cooler clogging up but on a recent 300km trip on wet dirt roads the spray pattern seemed similar to another bike with the mudguard fitted.

Dirt bikes don’t have a guard that runs within a centimetre of the front tyre, so I came up with a solution to raise the fork brace, to which the mudguard attaches, by 20mm.

This was an easy $10 fix from Bunnings Hardware. PS these are the 2 left-overs – you need 4 of each.

Bark Busters, LED indicators and Tail-Tidy

One thing I have found with dirt bikes is that blinkers are sacrificial, they will either be knocked off the bike or fall off eventually due to the rubber mount perishing or succumbing to vibrations. I needed to get Bark Busters so I went for the optional LED indicators as well.

I went out to see the nice people at Motorradgarage and picked up a set of Barkbusters and LED indicators and a SW Motech EVO High Beam Switch for the LED lights

This gave me an idea for a “Tail-Tidy” that would lead me to another modification.

On the 2017 bike, the taillight was just about to fall to pieces. I took it apart and had to buy some new screws to hold it together. Knowing this would probably also happen on the new bike I wanted to replace it. The pannier racks include a blinker relocation kit mounted on the cross brace and this had a flat section perfect for a flush-mount LED tail/brake light.

I ordered this one from Third Gear for about $25.

The Bark Busters LED indicators are curved to suit the shape of the handguards. For me to be able to use them on the rear I needed them to be flat. So I had to cut off the plastic contour with a hacksaw and then encapsulate them with epoxy. I could then mount them with double-sided tape to the 125mm x 50mm Aluminium angle that I cut 40mm wide to fit the tail light mount. I sprayed the angle satin black to match.

Wiring was a pain. I didn’t want to chop the existing connectors so I could put it all back to factory spec. A trick I used on the tail-tidy I did on my 650 Interceptor was to make up a new rear wiring loom for the new indicators and lights. The LED indicators require some resistors to control the flash rate and these had bullet connectors which I removed and added spade connectors to match the original indicator connectors. Job done, nothing chopped or hacked. The tail/brake light also had a separate loom which had a plug under the pillion seat, so I disconnected that with the OEM taillight and used spade connectors to fit into the plug. Again no cutting off plugs from the original wiring.

AMMO Box

Once the bulky-breaky tail light was removed there was all this space between the rack and the pannier cross brace and the panniers themselves. I started hunting for toolboxes and then had an idea. A flat-mounted ammo box from Repco would fit and allow easy access and would also have a sealed lid. I decided to utilise the taillight mount, as being pressed metal, it was fairly rigid and already had some rubber grommets perfect for providing a good vibration-free mounting point for the ammo box. The Bark Busters kit was designed to suit both the Himalayan and the KTM 390 and, for the latter, it came with 2 aluminium spacers for the bar ends which were surplus.

I used these, coupled with rubber washers, to act as stand-offs from the cross brace and they lined up the ammo box perfectly with the taillight mount.

Drill a few holes and fit some rubber and nylon washers and fixings and it was done.

I then found a suitable first aid kit from Office Works that fit the internal dimensions and added a bit of bling with a Sandleford First Aid sticker.

SRC Accessories

Speaking of bling, SRC Adventure Moto make some pretty good looking and practical accessories for your Himalayan and are very helpful with full instructions in PDF and follow-up emails from Tony the importer.

I think the only thing I haven’t got is the side stand foot enlarger and the rear cargo rack.

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REAR BRAKE MASTER CYLINDER GUARD

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REAR BRAKE FLUID RESERVOIR GUARD

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CRASH BARS

EXHAUST HEAD PIPE GUARD

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GPS BAR

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HEADLIGHT GUARD

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OIL COOLER GUARD

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FUEL TANK + BRACKETS (3 LITRE CAPACITY EACH SIDE)

So I use one of the 3 litre tanks for fuel and the other for spare water, not drinking water as the tanks are not food grade plastic. When camping after a day riding dusty roads it is handy to have some spare water to have a wash and for washing up cooking gear without using your drinking water.

There are 1 Gallon (3.8L) ROTOPAX water tanks available from Motorradgarage if you need extra drinking water.

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 FUEL TANK AND BRACKETS

 

SIDE STAND FOOT ENLARGER

 

 

 

Seat Improvement

A lot of people in the Royal Enfield Club swear by Air Hawk seat cushions so I thought I’d try one, so I picked up a Dual Sport model from Motorradgarage whilst I was there .

There was an article on the internet talking about the curvature of the seat causing problems and making you lean forward onto the tongue of the seat etc. As it turned out I had the same problem. The fix is to cut a section of foam mattress and place it under the Air Hawk. It stops the seat from collapsing into a curve and allows the air valve to sit behind it, which was sticking into my butt cheek.

EEZEE RACK

Glen from the Royal Enfield Himalayan Australian Group on Facebook makes some useful accessories for the Himalayan.

Ezzee Rack Pillion Seat Rack with legs (makes camping stand)

I had some throw over panniers that I tried to use on the old bike and found that they hung too low and I was also concerned they would damage the pillion seat. Once I saw Glen’s rack on Facebook I ordered one and it fixed both of the problems.

This is the standard model above

The main supports fit into two mounts that attach to the frame and is secured with R clips. At the rear it has a mount that clips over the first bar of the standard Himalayan rear rack.

When I got the new bike I ordered another one but this time the camping version which has legs at the rear that fold down to make a stand for pots or other utensils.

The addition of a MX bar pad makes a great back rest

I used it on the last camping trip to keep the soft esky off the mud and wet ground.

Ezzee Stand (for changing front tyre)

When you put the bike on the centre stand it raises the rear end which is great for oiling the chain. However, the front tyre is still in contact with the ground as the balance point of the centre stand is forward. Removing the front wheel can sometimes allow the bike to rest back on the rear wheel. There usually is weight on the front tyre which makes it hard to change and then can result in the forks ending up on the ground once you do remove the front wheel. At home in the workshop I use a piece of wood or a hydraulic stand however this is not available in the bush.

The Ezzee Stand mounts to the A frame section of the bike’s down tube, between the steering head and the bash plate. It uses a hook welded to it to slot in one of the holes in the frame brace and its own natural tension holds it there. I had some interference with the SRC crash bars so I bent it slightly to fit and added some Velcro to secure it.

 

When in use it is removed from the bike and the large hook at the top is inserted into the centre slot of the bash plate and when you push it back it raises the front tyre allowing you to remove it.

STEDI LED Headlight Upgrade and Driving Lights

I decided to install a LED headlight as a bit of an experiment and also so it would match the light colour the two driving lights I was intending on installing as daytime running lights where the indicators were.

LED H4 Headlight upgrade

This was a bit of a gamble as I didn’t take into consideration that the Himalayan headlight body is recessed to account for the instrument panel. Once I got the kit I thought how is this all going to fit inside.

The H4 LED Headlight Upgrade kit comes with a H4 LED globe with a massive heatsink and a control module the size of a match box.

I was right it didn’t fit.

The power cable comes out of the back of the heat sink and was being bent at 90 degrees pressing hard against the housing and the headlight still would not close properly.

So I made the decision to forge ahead and drill a hole for the wire in the back of the housing directly behind the globe heatsink and mount the controller under the instrument panel with double sided tape.

Problem solved.

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STEDI LED Driving Lights

I installed the small MC5 5w DRLs (Daytime Running lights) next to the headlight where the indicators were mounted on the side bars. I used the 2 left-over 6mm couplers as stand offs and some various washers and bushes to fix them to the blinker mounts.

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I fitted the slightly larger and more powerful MCX10 10w LED driving lights to the SRC crash bars using STEDI Bull Bar Mounts

 

FUSE BOX 

I needed to install a fuse box which was an idea I got from a fellow member of the Himalayan page on Facebook, Ossie, who mounted a Jaycar 6 way Fuse Box with bus bar under the seat in the small compartment built in to the rear guard.  This is used to managed connections for the Driving Lights, GPS, Heated Grips and Switch illumination

 

 

I pulled the seat and tank off and the inner guard so I could mount the fuse box and relay to it. I had to trim the tool compartment to fit it in and also to get  better clearance I heated up the seat base with a hot air gun and moulded the plastic to fit by installing it and sitting on it to shape it to the fuse box , once it cooled the seat base cleared the fuse box .

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Once the lights and relay were wired up I connected the GPS and USB power cables, which were originally directly connected to the battery,  to the fuse box and then  connected the power cable for the heated grips. I also installed a jumper cable and some connectors for the ABS bypass switch so it can be turned off on the fly. I chose not to cut the wire, instead I pulled the connector out of the fuse box and made a jumper cable and then ran it and the original wire to the two connectors you see in the foreground and then up to a switch on the bars.

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See here for some info on how to wire up the ABS switch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTWdykKZLY0&t=323s

I connected the 5W LED Lights to the headlight circuit and installed connectors and some wires to run to a  SW Motech EVO Fog Light Switch so I could turn them off.

I  ran another cable and connected it to the relay and the SW Motech EVO High Beam Switch for the 10W LEDs

I installed both the Switches on the bars near the clamps as with the heated grips controller on left and ABS switch on right there was not much room left

Since they are illuminated, I ran some wires up from the fuse box to power the switch lighting.(they need a positive feed)

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Oxford Heated Grips

I had to plie the original throttle grip off by using a long thin phillips screwdriver between the throttle and the grip to break the glue bond and then I peeled the grip off the throttle tube. Then I needed to remove the flanges and ridges on the plastic throttle tube with a stanley knife in order to get the Oxford Throttle Grip on.

Don’t take the ridges  off completely as this will make the throttle too small in diameter, however don’t make it too tight or you won’t get the grip over the throttle and the fast acting super glue will dry and bond the grip in the wrong position. Test fit them a few times as a practise go (I.E. measure twice cut once) before applying the super glue or you will stuff it up like some pommy bloke on youtube did.  ( Also don’t use an angle grinder to remove the ridges and take the time to open the throttle housing and remove the throttle tube which takes a few seconds, or you will bugger up your throttle housing like he did )  SEE VIDEO

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I needed to trim just a bit off the end of the grip so it cleared the bar weights on both sides and also so it did not jam the throttle. Oxford manual shows two points that are marked on the grips themselves where you can trim, One at the end of the grips texture and one just before the end-flange of the grip, I cut in between these two points  as this seemed to be the perfect length.

OXFORD CONTROLLER

The mount for the controller is designed for a bike with two horizontal bolts on the clutch perch, but Enfileds only have one vertical bolt. to get around this after discussing on Facebook Groups, I turned it upside down and drilled a hole slightly offset from the original hole for clearance  SEE PHOTO. Then I bent the face of the mount forward to angle the controller for a better view. I also replaced the pinch bolt with one from Bunnings a M6 35 MM Black round head allen bolt. I screwed it in then put one of the supplied black nuts on the end as a spacer, which stopped the bracket rubbing on the clutch perch and then fixed the bracket with a M6 Nyloc Nut.

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This lined up the controller perfectly with the bars

Mitas E07 Enduro Tyres

In another post where I went on a ride with a mate from the Royal Enfield Club on our Himalayans to the Watagans Forest , I had just put some new tyres on my 2017 HImalayan as it came with almost road tyres. Lucky I did as we were axle deep in mud and these new tyres saved the day (for me anyway Peter got bogged)

When I sold the bike I did a deal with the guy to transfer the CEAT tyres that came on the 2021 model onto the old bike and I kept the Mitas tyres and had them fitted on the new bike.

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Fuel Pump Relay

There have been a few cases where people have experienced their Himalayans cutting out. This has been attributed to the fuel pump relay intermittently failing or completely dying, As a precaution I replaced the relay with a Narva Micro Relay – 68070BL .Just incase I also replaced the other relay next to it on the right hand side which is the Side Stand Relay. ( Friday beer o’clock I was too lazy to take a photo)

NARVA RELAY

You can get them from Repco for $18ea  or Spares Box for $9.95 plus freight, which works out better if buying 2 or more if you have a mate with a EFI himalayan.

I will probably carry the OEM relay as a spare just in case the problem is the relay failing due to some electrical inconsistency rather than the relay itself.

Tank Paint Protection

When I went for a ride on my Triumph Tiger wearing knee guards i was shocked to find that they had scratched the plastic tank to the point that I couldn’t buff it out and had to hide the scratches with Armorall. The same thing happened on my KTM Enduro bike when I started wearing knee braces after an injury and it not only rubbed the decals off the bike but wore through the leather pads on my MX pants. So since a lot of off road riding requires one to stand and considering I will be wearing knee guards, I thought about putting rubber knee pads on the Himalayan.  I had recently purchased some Motone Union Jack rubber knee pads for the Interceptor but apart from being expensive I gathered that the rubber ones I had seen for the Himalayan would be too grippy for off-road stand-up riding as you want to be able to move around  and change your body position on the bike a bit.

I have used 3M clear adhesive in the past for automotive paint protection and also on surf craft for ding protection. As is happens, I found some  coloured heavy vinyl graphics backgrounds for MX bikes at MX Store. and came up with the idea to do some color changes for a bit of bling

I got some red, white and blue 0.5mm vinyl  by Blackbird Racing from MXSTORE and started with the tank but will cover some other parts of the bike as well.

I made a template from a google image and cut out the shape on paper first and test fit it to the tank before cutting the red vinyl and applying it.

I also cut some white vinyl and placed it under the seat horn where it meets the tank as dirt and dust can get in between the tank and the seat and rub the paint off

 

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UPDATE

Best Himalayan Trophy

At the Royal Enfield Club of Australia 2020 Capital Country AGM held at Sutton in March 2021 (due to Covid)

I was fortunate enough to be awarded the Best Himalayan trophy

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5 BEST HIMALAYAN Craig Katen 2021 Himalayan Lake Blue

 

Wisemans Ferry and Colo Dirt Ride

Wisemans Ferry and Colo Dirt Ride

Wisemans Himalayan Ride

The guys from the pub arranged a ride to Wisemans, being on Harleys and being from the pub I guessed that they wouldn’t go much further than the pub at Wisemans Ferry so I thought I’d leave the Harley at home and take the Himalayan out for a play in the dirt. I messaged Paul and he was keen and we left here about 9am arriving at Wisemans at about 10am. The pub guys were at the pub as I suspected so we quickly said gday and goodbye and took off for the ferry.

We crossed the Wisemans Ferry and turned left for a change and went along dirt on the Settlers Rd to St Albans. We stopped at the old cemetery on the way and Paul realised his yellow tinted head light cover had fallen off his Husqvarna Svartpillen 401 on one of the larger pot holes he bottomed out on. Whilst he doubled back to find it I had a look around the cemetery.

We then continued on to the Settlers Arms at St Albans for a coffee and Paul let me ride the Husky the 20km back to Webbs Creek Ferry. Wow that thing really goes well for a 373CC single with 42 HP and only about $7000 ride away.

Makes you think “What the hell are Royal Enfield doing ?” The Himalayan is so slow in comparison

So from Webbs Creek Ferry we went up over the ridge on Chaseling and Bicentenary Roads and then back down to the river following Greens Rd. Along the way Greens Rd cuts through the middle of the South Sydney Juniors on Hawkesbury holiday retreat. While I was looking around at the resort  I ran over a dog turd which sprayed up onto the bash guard and then smeared itself under the mudguard

 

Luckily I had my SRC Jerry Cans and had 3 litres of water. A quick wash down and top up of the fuel from the other tank, put the tanks  back on and  we were away

At the end of Greens Rd we turn right up Wheelbarrow Ridge Rd which brought us out on the Putty Rd,

From there we went down Colo Heights Rd to Upper Colo and crossed the river

This took us to Upper Colo rod where we road down to Colo and had a rest under the Putty Rd Bridge.

There was a War Memorial near the parks toilets which had been set into the cliff

The Lower Colo Rd took us to Lower Portland Ferry

We crossed the ferry and then followed River Rd to the Sackville Ferry Rd and then up to Wisemans Ferry Rd where we stopped for a steak Sandwich at the Stone House.

A pretty fun day and again the Himalayan performed well on the dirt and the bitumen, The first two rides involved using Freeways, the M1 Pacific Hwy and M7 / M31 Hume Hwy. The transport section on this ride was the Old Northern Rd which varies from 60-90 zones and has undulating hills with fairly high speed corners. The Himalayan performed much better on these roads and was right in the sweet spot for the power and gearing to basically stay in top gear most of the way except for a few hills that required 4th.

 

 

DSMRA Taralga ADV ride OLD

DSMRA Taralga ADV ride

The Dual Sport Motorcycle Riders Association posted a ride calendar on Facebook and listed a ride that I had been meaning to do since buying the Himalayan from Paul. A ride that the bike had done before when Paul took the bike to Taralga and beyond. They were intending to ride from Mittagong to Taralga via the Wombeyan Caves road and back via Swallow Tail Pass and through to the Highway via the Canyonleigh Road.

I recently purchased some 3 litre auxiliary jerry cans that attach to the tank frame on the Himalayan and wanted to see how they stood up to a rough road. The SRC mounts are very well made and easy to fit https://srcadventuremoto.com.au/products/royal-enfield-himalayan-fuel-tank-mounting-brackets?variant=31633602936931

The idea is to carry one full of water for washing up when camping and the other with spare fuel.

These attach using Rotopax style holders that fit through the jerry can and have a t-bar bolt to secure them.

I also fitted the leather panniers I bought with my Classic 500 years ago from Motociclo to use as tool/spares bags.

I have a compressor and a jump starter on one side and a tube, a tyre repair kit and spare clutch and brake levers in the other.

The pillion seat rack I bought from Glen off the Himalayan Facebook group holds the tool roll and tyre levers etc.

DSMRA is a national club with branches in most states and sub branches in major cities. They run graded Enduro and Adventure/Dual Sport rides and hold an annual premier event in Canberra called the Kowen Forest Ride which attracts around 850 riders. Now that I have done my complimentary ride with them I think I will join up and try to fit in a few ADV rides in between all the other stuff I do.

So I spoke to the ride organiser Tim Clarke who happened to live in Baulkham Hills. We decided to meet at Norwest Maccas at 630am and jump onto the M7 from there. I initially intended to trailer the bike to Mittagong and save the boring 100 kilometres each way of the Hume Hwy. Riding @ 5000 rpm just sitting on 100ks on the clock (93 on the GPS) and getting passed by trucks and learners isn’t my cup of tea, but since Tim was riding a Dual Sport bike as well, a KTM 640 Adventure, he wasn’t in a hurry we decided to ride down together.

We arrived at Mittagong at about 745am and topped up fuel at the first servo in town and then headed to Maccas to meet the other riders at about 8am. There were about 9 in the group, from memory a BMW F800, BMW F650, KTM790, KTM640, KTM390, AFRICA, WRF250, HUSABERG, and the Himalayan.

After a coffee we started out and headed to Wombeyan Caves road and regrouped at the Bullio tunnel.

The road was dirt from just before the tunnel which lies at approx. 764m ASL and descends via a rough fire trail with switch back corners down a ridgeline into the valley to the Wollondilly River Ford at about 200m elevation where we stopped again to stretch the legs and get out of the heat.

We climbed up away from the river towards the caves with some more interesting and challenging terrain which was tackled standing up for most of the sections and then detoured onto Langs Rd and then back onto the Wombeyan Caves road which by then was a fast gravel road almost all the way to the Taralga Rd.

We got to Taralga at about 11am and we had lunch at the café as it was too early for the Pub Bistro.

The trip home was via Swallow Tail Pass which winds down to the Terlo River and back up through farmland along the Canyonleigh Rd to the Highway and then home.

The off road riding was a mix of low speed 2nd gear 20kmph on climbs and descents and up to 60kmph on the open fire trials and about 80kmph on gravel roads.

The Himalayan went really well in the dirt considering the extra weight I was carrying, approx. 10kg on the front and similar again on the rear. I didn’t bottom out the rear shock too badly despite some big potholes and a very soft spring. The front took some hard bumps too which didn’t seem to faze it. It was the first time riding the new Mitas E-07s on dry dirt and not mud like last time. They performed quite well and I only had a few issues mainly some lock ups due to over enthusiastic rear braking and a bit of a sketchy front on what seemed like fine power on hard pack, from time to time the dirt would build up into mounds on the road, due to cars tyres, where changing lines around corners was a little un-nerving. On the gravel they were great. I was pretty impressed that the bike kept up with the group only getting passed by a few of the bigger bikes on the straights and by some of the smaller more off-road oriented bikes on some of the uphills. It did not miss a beat.

It was a long day but worth it, If I did it again I would probably take the slow way down via the old Hume Hwy (which makes it an even longer day) or trailer the bike to Mittagong and enjoy the ride home in the truck in air conditioned comfort as the bike is just not suited to hours of freeway riding.

A great ride with a new club and a nice bunch of people.

Link to video of the ride made by Peter from DSMRA  https://youtu.be/8qTscdAergU

DSMRA Taralga ADV ride

DSMRA Taralga ADV ride

DSMRA Taralga ADV ride

The Dual Sport Motorcycle Riders Association posted a ride calendar on Facebook and listed a ride that I had been meaning to do for some time. A ride that I had not done but the bike had done before when Paul, the previous owner took the bike to Taralga and beyond. The group were intending to ride from Mittagong to Taralga via the Wombeyan Caves road and back via Swallow Tail Pass and through to the Highway via the Canyonleigh Road.

I recently purchased some 3 litre auxiliary jerry cans that attach to the tank frame on the Himalayan and wanted to see how they stood up to a rough road. The SRC mounts are very well made and easy to fit https://srcadventuremoto.com.au/products/royal-enfield-himalayan-fuel-tank-mounting-brackets?variant=31633602936931

The idea is to carry one full of water for washing up when camping and the other with spare fuel.

These attach using Rotopax style holders that fit through the jerry can and have a t-bar bolt to secure them.

I also fitted the leather panniers I bought with my Classic 500 years ago from Motociclo to use as tool/spares bags.

I have a compressor and a jump starter on one side and a tube, a tyre repair kit and spare clutch and brake levers in the other.

The pillion seat rack I bought from Glen off the Himalayan Facebook group holds the tool roll and tyre levers etc.

DSMRA is a national club with branches in most states and sub branches in major cities. They run graded Enduro and Adventure/Dual Sport rides and hold an annual premier event in Canberra called the Kowen Forest Ride which attracts around 850 riders. Now that I have done my complimentary ride with them I think I will join up and try to fit in a few ADV rides in between all the other stuff I do.

So I spoke to the ride organiser Tim Clarke who happened to live in Baulkham Hills. We decided to meet at Norwest Maccas at 630am and jump onto the M7 from there. I initially intended to trailer the bike to Mittagong and save the boring 100 kilometres each way of the Hume Hwy. Riding @ 5000 rpm sitting just on 100ks on the clock (93 on the GPS) and getting passed by trucks and learners isn’t my cup of tea, but since Tim was riding a Dual Sport bike as well, a KTM 640 Adventure, he wasn’t in a hurry we decided to ride down together.

We arrived at Mittagong at about 745am and topped up fuel at the first servo in town and then headed to Maccas to meet the other riders at about 8am. There were about 9 in the group, from memory a BMW F800, BMW F650, KTM790, KTM640, KTM390, AFRICA, WRF250, HUSABERG, and the Himalayan.

After a coffee we started out and headed to Wombeyan Caves road and regrouped at the Bullio tunnel.

The road was dirt from just before the tunnel which lies at approx. 764m ASL and descends via a rough fire trail with switch back corners down a ridgeline into the valley to the Wollondilly River Ford at about 200m elevation where we stopped again to stretch the legs and get out of the heat.

We climbed up away from the river towards the caves with some more interesting and challenging terrain which was tackled standing up for most of the sections and then detoured onto Langs Rd and then back onto the Wombeyan Caves road which by then was a fast gravel road almost all the way to the Taralga Rd.

We got to Taralga at about 11am and we had lunch at the café as it was too early for the Pub Bistro.

The trip home was via Swallow Tail Pass which winds down to the Terlo River and back up through farmland along the Canyonleigh Rd to the Highway and then home.

The off road riding was a mix of low speed 2nd gear 20kmph on climbs and descents and up to 60kmph on the open fire trials and about 80kmph on gravel roads.

The Himalayan went really well in the dirt considering the extra weight I was carrying, approx. 10kg on the front and similar again on the rear. I didn’t bottom out the rear shock too badly despite some big potholes and a very soft spring. The front took some hard bumps too which didn’t seem to faze it. It was the first time riding the new Mitas E-07s on dry dirt and not mud like last time. They performed quite well and I only had a few issues mainly some lock ups due to overenthusiastic rear braking and a bit of a sketchy front on what seemed like fine power on hard pack, from time to time the dirt would build up into mounds on the road, due to cars tyres, where changing lines around corners was a little un-nerving. On the gravel they were great. I was pretty impressed that the bike kept up with the group only getting passed by a few of the bigger bikes on the straights and by some of the smaller more off-road oriented bikes on some of the uphills. It did not miss a beat.

It was a long day but worth it, If I did it again I would probably take the slow way down via the old Hume Hwy (which makes it an even longer day) or trailer the bike to Mittagong and enjoy the ride home in the truck in airconditioned comfort as the bike is just not suited to hours of freeway riding.

A great ride with a new club and a nice bunch of people.

Here’s a link to a video made by Peter from DSMRA    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qTscdAergU&t=5s

Watagans Forest Ride

Watagans Forest Ride

Watagans Forest Ride

I had just purchased some new off road tyres for the Royal Enfield Himalayan as I intended to use the bike mainly on dirt roads. There are a vast number of options for off road tyres ranging from 80/20 (80 % road and 20% off road) to 50/50 and even 30/70 which are basically rounded knobby tyres approved for use on the road.

I went with some cheap but effective Mitas tyres that were recommended by Paul who I bought the bike off who also bought some for his new bike and based on a review I watched on YouTube they seem to come in OK for value for money and performance.

I went with the E-07 50/50 Dual Sport and was keen to try them out in the bush as soon as I could

I had the week off after working over Xmas and New Year and the weather forecast seemed to be OK for the Wednesday after the rain we had earlier. So I called Peter and asked him to come along on a ride across the Watagan Forest.

We met at Wyong after an hour’s ride up the freeway and then took some back roads to the start of the forest road.

We climbed up onto a ridgeline and the tyres went great on the dirt / gravel etc

As we ventured deeper into the forest the road got worse with some thick heavy mud.

There were deep tyre ruts from four wheel drives that made it hard to change lines . The Mitas E-07 tyres  went exceptionally well

Peter trying to get out of a rut

Eventually it got worse

Peter got stuck

Peters bike had half worn Pirelli Scorpion MT60 ( i think) and they did not do as well  as the Mitas due to the tighter tread blocks not clearing mud

Eventually we got him out

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Stopped for a break at the Picnic area

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We were a bit worn out with all the mud and slow going and were getting hungry so we headed down to Cooranbong for some lunch at a café and then hit the road back to Sydney

I was very impressed with the Mitas tyres and would get them again if I dont go for something more aggressive next time

Royal Enfield Club of Australia Inc Winter Rally 2020 – Boorowa

Royal Enfield Club of Australia Inc Winter Rally 2020 – Boorowa

Boorowa once called “Burrowa” ,  said to be named after the aboriginal word for the Australia Bustard or “ plains turkey”, is a farming town in the Hilltops Region on the South West Slopes of New South Wales approximately 340kms from Sydney.The town has a strong Irish farming background and produces wine, wool and canola.

 

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The Winter Rally was held at the Boorowa Hotel, where the publican Mike was very hospitable and excited that we had chosen to have the rally at his establishment. He went to great lengths to make our stay enjoyable and nothing was too much trouble for him or his staff. A quaint pub that has many posters and quotes adorning the walls, has a restaurant serving great food and has its own café offering a hearty breakfast menu.

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Attendees

Mark and Jane  – Bullet 500 EFI

Ken and Helen  – Honda CL250

Roger and Narelle – Harley Road King Outfit

Peter and Johanne – BMW 1200 GS

John and Viv – Morris Major Elite

Bruce and Cynthia – Continental GT 535

Ian and Bev – Interceptor 650

Craig and Jenny – Interceptor 650

Kevin and Mel- Continental GT 535

Bruce Butler  – Bullet Trials Works Replica 500

Wes and Julie – 2 x Classic 500 EFI

Boris and Jody – Harley Softail Springer

Paul Selwood  – Himalayan

Richard Shannon – Mk3 Norton Commando 850

Jim Pennington – Himalayan

Geoff Richards – Bullet 500

 

27 people and 16 Bikes, 11 Enfields and 5 Non-Enfields

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During the judging at the Chinese Tribute Gardens, Roger took both Jody and Boris for a spin in the “Monster” Road King Outfit as they had never been in a side-car before.

The meet and greet was followed by dinner on Friday Night where the Pub put on a guitarist to create some ambiance.

The food was fantastic with an extensive menu providing many choices for you to explore further the following night.

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The Rally’s Saturday ride took us along country lanes and through lush green pastures with patchwork yellow canola fields and sheep paddocks on our way to Young via Binalong and Harden.

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We stopped just out of Young where the bikes were lined up for judging.at the Lambing Flat Chinese Tribute Gardens located in the Chinaman’s Dam Reserve.

The development of the gardens began in 1992 and was established to recognise the contribution of the Chinese community to the settlement of Young in the 1860s, and to the ongoing contributions of the Chinese community to Australia as a Nation.

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Leaving Young we headed north towards Cowra and then turned off the Olympic Hwy and followed a country road along a valley to Murringo and then on to Boorowa.

After a bit of a relax people assembled for pre-dinner drinks and once everyone arrived we commenced the presentation.

The trophies were complemented with a bottle of red wine courtesy of Mike the Publican.

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Best Enfield – Mark Reynolds – Bullet 500 EFI

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Worst Enfield – Paul Selwood – Himalayan (Just because it was dirty)

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Best Non Enfield – Richard Shannon  – Mk3 Norton Commando 850

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Longest Distance Travelled – Paul Selwood – 438.8 KMS via Wombeyan Caves Road

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Ian Lyons received a Life Membership Nomination for longstanding membership and unswerving dedication to the Club and the Marque which the publican graciously complimented with a gift wrapped six-pack of Reschs Pilsener Silver Bullets

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Sir Bruce Walker recalled the first Royal Enfield Club trip that he and Ian went on.

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The Winter Rally was an terrific success this year, having a great location, nice weather and good company it was only marred by the fact that members from other states could not attend.

Thanks to Mark and Jayne for organising it.

Thanks to Narelle and Jenny for the photo contributions.

Thanks to Mike and Young Ward and the Boorowa Hotel Staff for their hospitality

Craig Katen – Vice President – Royal Enfield Club of Australia Inc.

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On Sunday morning before we left for home  we spent some time looking around the Town

There is a courthouse and  a few churches  near by the pub and one had its own pet sheep which when you approach the fence comes running for a pat.

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Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 Tail-Tidy, Mufflers and Indicators

Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 Tail-Tidy, Mufflers and Indicators

When I first saw the new Royal Enfield Mk3 Interceptor 650 I noticed the massive wide spread  upswept mufflers , huge brake/tail light and wide indicators and thought,

“There must be something you could do with that ! ” .

FIN ex1 (Large)

When the bike first came out I initially intended to purchase one to use as a tourer, I thought it was going to be a larger more comfortable  version of  the Classic 500 but alas it was almost the same size and seemed cramped for the pillion and did not accommodate luggage very well. I test rode it and thought it goes great lets see how it goes 2-up. We came back and did a quick test ride around the streets and it felt too small and less accommodating compared to our Triumph Tiger touring setup that we had just jumped off of.

That was a few years back and I recently made the decision to replace the Classic 500 ( i.e. give it to my son who just got his L’s ) and bought the Interceptor as a solo bike but I still wanted to be able to carry a pillion with some light luggage like wet weather gear etc so we could attend Royal Enfield Club of Australia events 2-up on an actual Royal Enfield instead of a Triumph.

Luggage

I have a pair of small leather “Royal Enfield” pannier bags that I used on the Classic 500 to attach to the mudguard stays and thought that they might attach to the rear subframe on the Interceptor. I got excited and got them out of the shed and pulled the seat off the bike to attempt to fit them only to find they 1) blocked the pillion pegs, 2) touched the mufflers and 3) rubbed on the indicators. Not one to shy from an engineering challenge I attempted to work around the problem and find a solution.

Wanting to go riding on my new toy I quickly masking-tapped up the shock reservoir, spring and the chromed-plastic back of the blinkers to avoid any wear and simply pushed the bags back high on the rear grab bar until they cleared both the pillion pegs and the massive stock mufflers. This worked for the moment but they moved around and sagged onto the pipes and I also didn’t want to have the bike tapped up like a footballer to prevent injury.

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The indicators needed to go, I wished I had replaced the ones on my 2012 Classic 500 as the chromed plastic is now quite pitted. I will put them away and if I ever want to sell the bike it can be restored to original spec and the indicators will look like new. In order to move the blinkers out of the way the huge heavy tail light assembly needed to go along with them.

OEM-rear (Large)

I set about removing the rear assembly and found, just like the KTM Freeride rear-end  I recently repaired, for weight savings the rear mudguard, tail lights, rear mudflap etc all bolt to each other and form a composite unit were you cant just remove the tail-light for instance as the mudguard bolts to it and then the number plate  attaches to it as well. It was all or nothing. With the cast aluminium mounting block and the other oversized components the rear light assembly weighs over 1 kilo.

Having removed the whole assembly I found that there was a diamond-shaped, four-holed, bracket attached to the rear sub-frame. I didn’t even have to get in the bath to have a Eureka moment and quickly the design came to me in my head. I quickly re-assembled the rear lights and mudguards and It was off to Ebay to buy bits and wait for them to come.

The thing next was the exhausts

There are a more than a few problems with the stock pipes, diameter , weight (4.5 kilos each) width (splay) and upsweep  and there are a few options on the market ranging from cheap chinese EMGO knock-offs to AEW Pune Indian stainless steel slip ons, to the Stars and Stripes S&S version or the hand-built-in -Tassie Verex customs .

Eventually I want to make some performance changes as well as replacing the muffler’s size and location but since the pipes are double-walled and also needed to be changed to achieve the desired muffler position I would need to make changes to the engine management system to accomodate for the better breathing. This would invalidate the factory warranty so I decided to leave those changes till the bike is out of warranty. I also didn’t want to spend thousands of dollars to get a few horse power more when i have more powerful bikes to ride if i want to go faster …….performance modifications are another story that I will cover in due course.

In order to achieve the clearance I realised that the pipes maybe didn’t need to be relocated requiring new headers and that all they need to do was be reduced in diameter. This became apparent when watching The Enfield Guy  Jimi Swan’s video on installing a sump guard (click for video) and noticed that he had put some black EMGO styled reverse cones with a pipe wrap on his Ravishing Red (and black) 650 which looked great so I messaged him and asked him about them.

I ordered some chrome ones  from Ebay and for 100 bucks I had solved both the width issue and the pannier clearance problem and had some better looking and sweet sounding reverse cones that are not too loud but make a deep HSV Commodore V8 burble when downshifting.

Another benefit is the weight – the stock mufflers are 4.5 KG each these ones save over 6 kilos in weight

Exhaust

 

The rear end….and a pain in the arse

The bits started to arrive, but I was getting impatient.  I am careful when buying stuff especially at the moment with corona delays, of where stuff on Ebay comes from. I chose a few parts from Melbourne thinking it would take only a few days. The sneaky buggers can lodge the Consignment Note with Aust Post and you get sent a notification and an estimate of the delivery which was about 3-4 days. I kept checking each day but there was no movement at all. This went on and on and when I complained they advised a new CON-NOTE number and ETA and when it turned up 2 weeks later it was evident that this had come from China to Melbourne as all slack arses did was turn the mail satchel (covered with chinese post labels) inside out and mail it on to me. Oh well it’s a bit of a chuck of the dice, The pipes had come from Revesby in 2 days as had the other bits from Melbourne.

Anyway, I started to rip the back end apart and think about the design and how to  do it without destroying the original setup so I could return it to stock if needed.  I realised I needed to fabricate a bracket but also be able to tie everything in as mentioned above like the old song.

The foot bones connected to the heel bone
The heel bones connected to the ankle bone
The ankle bones connected to the leg bone

Once apart I did some measuring the Idea came to me to use the stock number plate holder and to modify the cheap Ebay tail-light not the $10,000 bike.

The rear sub-frame has a diamond shaped bracket with four rubber bushed holes, two horizontal across the middle held the number plate holder and miraculously the tail-light hole spacing was also 4cm and this would bolt on to those holes. I chopped the number plate holders off the Ebay tail light and  I also needed to fabricate an indicator mount which would also use the two horizontal holes.

taillight2

The Indicators needed to clear the number plate width wise due to the location of the holes otherwise they would be behind the number plate. For uniformity and aesthetic correctness and a bit of OCD, I made the bracket the same width and used 30mm steel strap which was the same height as the number plate bracket mount as well.

A couple of bends and some holes and it was ready for paint,

indicator bracket

The bottom of the four holes was used to mount the plastic mudguard to the rear sub-frame by drilling a 6mm hole through it (the only irreversible mod by the way) and the top hole will be used to mount a black metal cover plate to hide the wiring.

Speaking of wiring

Like the indicator and tail light mounts, i did not want to modify the bike in any way so I could reverse it if need be. I looked under the seat and found the rear wiring loom connects to a plug. Rather than chop up the rear loom to suit the new indicators I decided to make my own rear wiring loom out of 7 -core trailer wire and went off to Jaycar to buy some small spade connectors to suit the plug and some bullet connectors for the indicators.

PLUGUNDERSEATloom

PLUGUNDERSEAT

PLUGUNDERSEAT (Large)

loomwiring

The spade connectors are not insulated so the needed to be heat-shrinked so they dont short out

Front end

The front indicators were a simple swap and go procedure. Unbolt the stock ones, take the lens of the headlight, unplug the OEM indicators and remove. Then change the connectors on the EBay indicators from bullet connectors to  spade connectors to suit the stock plugs located inside the headlight and bolt them on to the original mounts.

front headlight (Large) front wires (Large)front insulated (Large)

 

 

Finished Product

I am happy with the look but it was more about the practical side of being able to have a pillion and panniers without the two interfering with each other or the bike. I now can fit the panniers without them touching the mufflers, rubbing the indicators or getting in the way of the pillion foot pegs.

FINfrontview (Large)FIN front side (Large)

FIN front top (Large)

FIN rear rear (Large)

Did you notice the mud-flap ? – this is work-in-progress as on the last ride it got sucked into the back wheel by air pressure and got zinged by the tyre

Back to the drawing board

 

FIN rear top (Large)

FIN ex1 (Large) FIN ex2 (Large) FIN ex3 (Large)

Parts List

$95.95 2pcs Universal Motorcycle Tapered Exhaust Muffler Pipe Silencer For Cafe Racer  

$18.95 Universal Motorcycle Tail Brake Light Number License Bulb Retro Rear Stop lamp

$46.95 4x Bullet Motorcycle Chrome Turn Signal Light Indicator Harley Chopper bobber XL

$159  Pannier bag, BLACK. Royal Enfield embossed  NB Black are currently out of stock but Brown are available