Motorcycle Maintenance Log

Now let's talk low-tech. The motorcycle I'll be riding is one of those lovely classic bikes like the Ural and the Chang Jiang. The Royal Enfield Bullet is the macho machine of India, courtesy of the colonizers. Designed in Great Britain, the Indians commissioned thousands of them for use in the 1950's war against Pakistan (yep, they were at it even then). A factory was set up and though the war ended (for a while) they remained and have become an Indian institution. It's a lovely two-wheeler, a thumper, a trooper, and simple enough to fix with bailing wire and duct tape. "But you won't even have to do it yourself," says Kevin Mahoney, the USA importer of these dream machines. "There's an Enfield repairman on every corner in India." Kevin will be handling any technical questions you have about the bike, and will be very happy to give you pricing and delivery pricing information should you decide that you just have to have one, too.

Check here often for a log of miles, maintenance, and performance.

1/29 Maduri 1835 km Got the bike back from the Enfield Dealer. They just tinkered with it, nothing was much wrong, the most serious injury was the left aluminum pannier which they pounded back into shape. Of course that was the one with my PowerBook in it, which, by the way, works like nothing at all happened. So does the bike!

On my way to the doctor's today I saw a blond man on a big Honda crotch rocket and I asked the rickshaw driver to stop while I jumped out to find out who he was and what the heck he was doing in India on such a machine! His name is Liam, he's Irish, and he has indeed driven the thing from Ireland, through Iran and Pakistan and is on the opposite route in India than I am. We agreed to meet for dinner later that night to compare notes and recommend routes and stopovers, which didn't yield much useful information for me, at least, except that the Ruby Lodge is about the only restaurant that serves beer. Liam is on the first leg of a round-the-world tour, has just discovered e-mail, and will "settle down" and open a cafe in Belfast when he gets home a couple of years from now.

1/26 Melur, Tamil Nadu 1780 km Accident - hit a dog at 40km/hr. Went down. Bent the crash bar, the shift lever and the back left pannier. No mechanical problems. After my knee was sewn up (3 stitches) I rode pillion to Maduri to a hotel and a better doctor (12 stitches), and the bike went to the Enfield dealer for a check and fix.

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1/24 The way back to the coast, to Chidambaram via Cuddalore, was even more beautiful than the drive up from Pondicherry, with the watery green of rice fields being planted by women in colorful saris. The person who claimed that India was full of colorful people and nondescript landscape was mistaken. The landscape here is not dramatic, but it is anything but nondescript and a pleasure to ride through. Rivers force turns in the road, and deeper in there are outcroppings of boulders and in Tiruvamali a few mountains. The roads are generally well maintained, and I've been told that one doesn't come upon the unexpected dangers here that one does in the north, where I've heard stories of less than single-lane blind curves and invisible pits.

Patience passed the official breaking-in period of 1000km and I was able to take her up to 100km/hr for a couple of stretches. It felt great and she is obviously capable of much more than the roads here will allow. She is quite comfortable, the Enfield people told me I wouldn't get tired touring on her, and they were right. She is very well balanced and takes curves nicely. The reversed brake and shift (1 up 4 down) at the feet is now second nature to me. The brakes are much better than reputed, but not the best of any bike I've ridden. I would say that's the only suggestion for improvement I'd have right now.

1/22 I chose the back way between Pondicherry and Tiruvamali, despite the risk of bad roads, but my risk was rewarded. Besides a few rough patches the only danger was the wheat lain out on the streets to be threshed by passing traffic. It is difficult to run a motorcycle over these stretches of hay. Who knows what state the pavement is in below? But the villagers are meticulous in their placement, and do not hide potholes or pulled-up stretches, and I trust them now. At least the cows are harnessed and working, instead of lolling about in the highway as they were during Pongol. They are still picturesque, with their long horns painted brightly, and out here in the deep country the horns are capped with sharp metal tips hung with bells and sometimes, small colorful pom-poms. Besides the cows, pigs, goats, and chickens that run freely on the streets, a new animal has arrived: monkeys! They are, however, more inclined to hang from the trees than to hover at the roadside being a danger to traffic, though I did see a dead one on the way back to the coast this morning, being quickly devoured by a dog.

1/19 Patience picked up a bit of a knock. It's hot here, very hot, and I've been riding her in the heat of the day. I thought it gap probably needed adjustment. I dropped her off at the Pondicherry Enfield Dealers yesterday. The gap was fine, the knock turned out to be the rocker arm that was settling in a bit misaligned. Other than that she's fine, everything is rechecked, lubed, tightened, and spit shined. Unfortunately I left the shop manual in one of the panniers, and it got a bit wet. But hey, there's no oily fingerprints on it yet! To my surprise, she's only used a little bit of oil, and doesn't seem to have any leaks to speak of. Enfield's have been nortorious for leaks. At the factory there was a big "customer priorities" board in the engine assembly area, with leaks being the number one thing they were working on eliminating. Looks like they've succeeded. But I suppose it's up to me, too, to break it in properly, which means varying the speeds and not going too fast for now. On Indian roads, that's not a problem.

Jan 16 By now I have ridden a couple of hundred miles through city and country, rice fields, towns, hills, and coast. She had 420 km on her in Chennai, and we're still in the breaking-in period. It's no problem varying the speed, as traffic varies from moment to moment, and roads vary from kilometer to kilometer. I figure we'll be broken in at about the same time.

She has so far behaved very well, unless I give her any throttle at all at startup time, and then she sputters and quits. It's as if she's telling me to be patient. She will quietly and reliably start if I smoothly kick her over, and she will quietly thump thump along at low revs, stoplights, and in neutral when I stop to ask directions. If it was any other bike, the sound would signal readiness to quit, but she just keeps going.

Yesterday, on my way to Kanchipuram, I was hanging on to the handlebars and letting her take me down the highway, thinking about what her name might be. I considered Athena, for her color, Athena Grey, and all the Indian goddesses and their manifistations: Diva, Shakti, Kali... Then best idea came in an e-mail from my mother (of course), who said I'd need something to remind me to be patient while in India. And so yesterday, January 15th, I named her Patience. It was the day of my first real excursion into India and the day of my first darshan at a temple ("earth" in the scheme of the five elements temples) in Kanchipuram..

During the ride I found myself occasionally grinning from ear to ear as we sped over roads smooth and rough, through tiny towns where people looked up and waved. I became finally comfortable with the switched foot controls, and even then she is forgiving. She is a dream machine here in India for many reasons, not the least of which is that people -- especially drivers - admire and respect the Bullet. They hear it and they give me a little space.

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Jan 13 Picked up the bike at the Chennai Enfield dealership (full tank of gas nand 480 km on the odometer) and rode to Mamallapuram, half an hour of the 1 1/2 hour drive was in total and frightening darkness.

Dec 19 Agreement with Enfield to provide me with a 500cc Royal Enfield Bullet in Chennai January 12, 2000.

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