ROYAL ENFIELD BULLET
Lifelong British bike enthusiast John Lines needed an inexpensive old bike to see the sights of Blackpool, and a 1950s Enfield single fit the bill. Then he discovered that he also needed some sparks...
Lifelong British bike enthusiast John Lines needed an inexpensive old bike to see the sights of Blackpool, and a 1950s Enfield single fit the bill. Then he discovered that he also needed some sparks…
My lady friend of many years resides in Blackpool and I in Durham. Consequently I spend about 40% of my time on the west coast. A few years ago the VMCC formed a Blackpool branch and recently I got chatting with a few members at a bike show. I decided, after suitable consultation with my lady, to possibly go on occasional rides with them. Having ridden all of the roads around Durham, North Yorkshire and Northumberland these last 50 years, I really fancied enjoying the novelty of riding in a new and unknown area. This led to a useful dodge (some might call a bodge, even) which was needed to get my 1957 Royal Enfield Bullet useable.
I’ve been motorcycling since I was 17, so for more than half a century. My first bike was a Sunbeam 250 scooter. Riding it led to the first and last time I have ever done a wheelie, unintentional or intentional. I hadn’t reckoned on the low-down grunt of a mere scooter! I only bought it to get to my weekend and student holiday job on the opposite side of Newcastle from where I lived at the time. I had to be at work precisely at 7am or be sent home (the Good Old Days, eh?). The bike cost me £5 and I regularly snapped the rear wheel half-shaft, at a cost of £6 each time for repair. After a few more equally disastrous purchases, I settled down with a Velo MAC that served me very well for a number of years. Being a student, and never having any money, and owning old bikes I learned to become quite resourceful.
Currently I own and use a 1953 BSA B34 Gold Star, 1956 Triumph Tiger 100 and a Norton Dominator Deluxe. I didn’t fancy trailering any of my current bikes to and fro between Durham and Blackpool, so I started looking for a modestly-priced classic bike. It had to be 350cc or over, four-stroke and British. After a few false starts and scanning eBay for a few months, I finally saw a 1957 Royal Enfield Bullet near Preston, only half an hour from Blackpool. After making arrangements with the seller I popped around to view it.
The Enfield was a ‘garage find’. It hadn’t been run since 1990 and suffered from a bad case of ‘garage rash’. The vendor said he’d managed to get it running and, after many kicks which produced a very red complexion, he got it started. It sounded good, not at all mechanically noisy and with a clean exhaust. After the usual required attempt at haggling, I bought it.
A couple of weeks later I brought my trailer to Blackpool and, because all my tools were in Durham, I took the bike home to recommission it. On inspection I was surprised to find that the chrome was generally good apart from a couple of minor items. The paintwork was a bit scratched and chipped with some small dents and chips in the tank. Taking the toolbox lid to Halfords, I found that the colour is almost exactly Ford Mercury Grey. I think it must have had a respray in this colour some 30-odd years ago. I didn’t intend to restore the Bullet but instead to maintain its old bike character. So I just sprayed from the shaky tin into a cap and used a small artist brush to touch in the many patches.
I drained the oil from the engine and sump – another surprise, as the oil looked new. It was refilled with straight 50, and the gearbox likewise drained and filled. I changed the oil filter with a new one bought off eBay. I did the usual checks: greased the nipples, oiled the cables, checked the condition of the drive chain and rear sprocket. I replaced the fork oil, then cleaned and de-rusted the brake drums of the non-working but OKlooking twin front brake. From not working at all when I started, I was once again pleasantly surprised to discover the front brake really worked well after a clean and minor adjustment.
I found the odd loose wire inside the headlamp nacelle, and a dry light switch. With the help of a wiring diagram and WD40 I got all the lights working again. One of the loose wires I believed went from the light switch to the rectifier. So I needed to run the bike before I could tell if it was charging. I stripped the carb, assuming that 20-odd years of old fuel / varnish would need cleaning off. Remarkably (again) it was in reasonably clean condition, although it has the wrong choke size and jet settings for a Bullet. It’s 1 and 1/16” instead of 1”. However after cleaning it I figured that as it ran OK when the vendor started it, I could probably leave as-is for now.
Some two weeks after purchase, I decided it was time to exercise my arthritic knee. After about eight kicks and the occasional ‘plop’, there was nothing doing. I decided to check the spark on the plug. It was very weak and thin, not always sparking.
The Enfield’s magneto is a Lucas SR1, as fitted to late 1950s models with alternator charging. I bought a new condenser and a new set of points. After fitting, I again checked the spark. It was a little stronger and less intermittent. After another false start, which involved unblocking the petrol tap, I tried again. On the second kick the engine burst into life. Hurrah! It’s all mended now! It was charging fine. Another success. I tried again when the engine was hot. Yes, it started again first kick. Life is good!
Next day I decided to give it another run. Kick. Plop. Kick, kick… nothing. I pulled out the plug and there was no spark at all. I carefully removed and refitted the condenser and points, including the low tension lead that connects to magneto coil. Still no spark. Ah well!
The idea of a Blackpool bike was perhaps a little impulsive. I can be like that, a bit impulsive. My lady tolerates my interest in old bikes with a mixture of humour and irritation. Five years ago I made the mistake of frightening her when she tried the pillion of my Harley Sportster – her first and last time on any motorcycle. She preferred to walk home rather than go through that again. The Blackpool bike still seemed a good idea in theory, but the reality was proving to be a little fragile in practice. I didn’t fancy the idea of a costly magneto rebuild. Time to think…
Those points, the condenser; they look exactly the same as on the distributer of a coil ignition set up. What if I remove the low tension lead from the points to the magneto coil, and replace it with a long lead from the points to a 6 Volt coil? Surely it couldn’t be that easy?
Next morning I made a phone call and a short trip to visit Bill, a fellow VMCC member. I returned to the garage with a borrowed 6 Volt coil and a switch I picked up at Maplins. I believed there was no reason to retime the magneto; the points being exactly the same with the spark in the same position. One hour later there was a black wire running from the points to the borrowed coil, mounted in the right hand toolbox where the air filter used to live on a convenient mounting bracket. A red wire ran from the positive connection on the coil to the switch mounted under the seat, which was then connected straight to the battery. It all looked set up.
I turned the engine over with the spark plug connected to the coil with a new HT lead, and with the body of the plug resting on the timing cover. I was rewarded with a fat spark every time! Surely it can’t be that easy? But yes, it was. Tickle the carb, one slow turn over compression to prime the cylinder, and one proper kick: the engine burst into life. And it still does, hot or cold, every time. Externally it looks like I’m still using the magneto. The dead HT lead disappears under the petrol tank with the live HT lead reappearing from the same place and running to the spark plug.
I have completed a few hundred miles since and I have thoroughly enjoyed riding the Bullet. Having never owned one before, I was surprised at how well it rode and by its solid build quality. I much prefer it to the BSA B31 and Matchless G3L which I owned many years ago. So if you have a Lucas SR1 magneto fitted to your bike and it’s a bit iffy, don’t despair: try converting to coil. All you need is a 6 Volt coil, three feet of wire, about 18 inches of HT lead, a switch and a spare hour. It works!