Easy fix for new Royal Enfield fuel system

The latest edition of the emailed Royal Enfield Community Newsletter contains startlingly simple advice on troubleshooting the coming Electronic Fuel Injection (EFI) system for Royal Enfield motorcycles.

In the newsletter, Kevin Mahoney of Classic Motorworks, the U.S. importer for Royal Enfield, takes all of the mystery out of the computerized system that threatens to haul our vintage motorcycles out of the 20th Century. If you haven't already signed up for this outstanding newsletter, with its news and tips, do so here.

Mahoney's article on EFI is so reassuring to those of us accustomed to carburetors that I have to quote it here, in abridged form. It's almost hard to believe it's so simple:

"EFI can be very intimidating to the uninitiated but I think I can tell you everything you need to know to take care of the system on your new EFI Royal Enfield in one short article.The EFI system replaces the carburetor and is actually a much simpler device. It consists of an injector unit, a throttle body, a computer, and several sensors. These sensors feed data to the computer and it, in turn, controls the precise air-fuel mixture.

"EFI has been a turned into a big mystery by the industry when in fact it is much easier to diagnose and repair than a carburetor because it has so few moving parts it is so much more reliable.

"Royal Enfield is also aware that many customers have long preferred to do their own repairs. For this reason, they insisted that a mere mortal with no special tools should be able to diagnose and repair this system.

"The 'Check Engine' light will go on if something is not right. If that happens remove the seat. Find the wire that is attached to nothing. This wire comes from the EFI 'brain.' Touch that wire to the frame or any other ground. The check engine light will start to blink in a sequence of long and short blinks. For example, six short and six long. The sequence indicates which component is malfunctioning. Look in the shop manual to decode the sequence.

"In the example of six short and six long blinks, the sequence indicates that the crank sensor is not working correctly. Check the wiring connection to that device. If this clears the blinking, you're done. If not, replace the sensor and then you're done. If more than one unit is bad, when you clear the first sequence another will start but that is very unusual.

"This will take care of 98 per cent of all repairs on the EFI unit of the Royal Enfield. Now how simple was that?!"

Royal Enfield marries past to the future

I think the bridal tradition has it about right. New brides are supposed to go to the altar wearing something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue. That's the kind of balance Royal Enfield motorcycles offer riders.

They are street legal, dealer supported, for sale brand new and yet visibly rooted in a glorious past. Even the new Bullet 500 Classic on the horizon is mechanically "classic" in important ways (size, a single cylinder, pushrods, chain drive).

The United States is about to dive into a period of Change We Can Believe In. But I believe some things, like affection for the good things of the past, will never change.

We'll communicate faster and shop at home more. My friend, screenwriter and wit Douglas Kalajian, recently tried to show me a movie he shot and edited. He tried to show me the movie on his iPhone. Mercifully, he was foiled by a missing password. That's OK. I prefer my movies with darkness and popcorn anyway.

We still tell people to "dial that phone number," but when was the last time any one of us used a real dial telephone? Can anyone tell me what was wrong with dial telephones? I mean besides the fact that they didn't play movies.

Artist rides his Royal Enfield into the past

Chris Bartlett says he rides "a 1955 Royal Enfield made in 2003." That may help explain his obvious interest in using it as a prop in pictures that look old-fashioned. Except for the tiny date printed on the picture above (just as photo labs used to do in the 1960s) it would be very hard to identify it as an image from 2008.

"I can't get enough of this bike. It's so much fun to ride. The sound, the rumble, the smell of vintage iron," Chris comments. The "look" naturally must appeal to him as well. Check out his album of pictures of the bike here.

Bartlett is an artist who in 2005 landed a job with a video game company by dressing as a Star Wars Imperial Storm Trooper to deliver his resume. To do so he had to walk into an office building that also housed the FBI, carrying a realistic looking Lewis gun prop. That story is on his web site here.

In his photo albums you'll also come across pictures of the C-3PO costume he created and wears for events for LucasFilm.

Biker left legacy of love for vintage cycles

James Johnson, killed in the crash of one of his vintage motorcycles on a California highway, is the subject of a concise but moving obituary on the excellent The Vintagent blog. The blog invites motorcyclists to consider whether a few concessions to "period incorrect" safety measures might have saved his life.

Johnson's own gentlemanly posts about his 1947 Model G Royal Enfield were seen on the Bullet-Mania Yahoo discussion board, where I found the picture Johnson posted of himself and his Model G.

Perhaps his final sacrifice to authenticity was too great. But there is no question that his love of old motorcycles left us all a gift. Here is a 2007 posting of his on Bullet-Mania, in which he discusses the "sickness" of falling in love with vintage machines:

"First we tell ourself that this one more bike is all we need to make us content. Ah the oldies, next thing you know you will be making the step into '30s bikes because your '40s designs are not strange enough. But you soon realize that the '30s bikes and '40s bikes are nearly the same, only having a war between them. So now it's the '20s bikes. You start off late in the '20s and think 'this is just a little more primitive than my '30s bikes.' So now it is early '20s bikes, which share more with cycles than motorcycles. This will satisfy you for a bit as putting these together is hard work due to no parts support but once you get them running you want to go out with the pre-'16 boys. The sickness just gets worse and worse. I have seen it and am afflicted as well. One day you will find yourself waking up and going out to the shed to start up your own little piece of useless transport lacking the refinement of the '60s designs. But it feels good anyways."

He signed himself: "James -- a very very very sick man"