1950 Royal Enfield 500 Twin guidance...

[Light bulb]

I inherited a 1950 Royal Enfield 500 twin from my late father and I’m hoping to find someone in the Wellington region who can get it up and running for me and who can introduce me to how to care for a 70 year old bike. I suspect it’s quite different to my CB900.

It looks to be complete, other than that it is missing a battery and the rear light and cover has come off at some point. The side stand is a bit dicky too. But it turns over ok, although I don’t think I’ve ever seen it run.

My father was very passionate about classic bikes and had a garage full of them before he passed away from cancer a few years ago. He allegedly got the RE when he was 12, and whilst it wasn’t as rare as some of the other bikes he had (several Velocettes and a Rudge he never got to finish), I am hoping to get this up and running and try and keep the memory going.

Cheers

[Bonez]

Welcome to KB. Look forward to the replies on this topic.:niceone:

[caseye]

Ditto to Bonez above, those are noice old bikes, reasonably simply to maintain and honest about what ails them, take your time, as you are doing, ask around there will be a rider out there who knows em backwards and will be more than happy to share :msn-wink:that knowledge, this is KB you know, read on!

[jellywrestler]

I inherited a 1950 Royal Enfield 500 twin from my late father and I’m hoping to find someone in the Wellington region who can get it up and running for me and who can introduce me to how to care for a 70 year old bike. I suspect it’s quite different to my CB900.

It looks to be complete, other than that it is missing a battery and the rear light and cover has come off at some point. The side stand is a bit dicky too. But it turns over ok, although I don’t think I’ve ever seen it run.

My father was very passionate about classic bikes and had a garage full of them before he passed away from cancer a few years ago. He allegedly got the RE when he was 12, and whilst it wasn’t as rare as some of the other bikes he had (several Velocettes and a Rudge he never got to finish), I am hoping to get this up and running and try and keep the memory going.

Cheers

what part of town are you in?

[Light bulb]

what part of town are you in?

I'm in Whitby

[pete376403]

Ignition will be via magneto, so no worries about the missing battery. I had a Matchless G9 of similar vintage and i got very familiar with the mag so could possibly help if needed. I'm in the Hutt valley

[jellywrestler]

I'm in Whitby

post piccies, it would be interesting to see the overall condition, that would help with an idea on how much work is there

[Light bulb]

https://imgur.com/a/9gTFvF2

Here’s a few photos.

[Light bulb]

I've uploaded some photos here: https://imgur.com/a/9gTFvF2

[pete376403]

It would appear I was wrong about the magneto , so the battery will be required - "The original charging and ignition unit fitted to early 1950's 500 Twins was a 65 watt Lucas dynamo with points and a car-type distributor mounted on top. Sparks were provided by a coil. This was an unusual set-up in the day, with only the 1000cc Ariel Square Fours sharing the technology. The 6 Volts lighting it ran was never very strong, especially at low revs. Bennet Longman of Iron Horse Spares has developed an upgrade for Square Fours using a Japanese motorcycle alternator putting out up to 300 Watts. He was able to modify one for the Royal Enfield engine, so I now have great 12 Volt lighting, LED spotlights and even heated grips for when I'm north of the Arctic Circle!" http://www.nordkapptocapetown.com/technology-1.html

Having said that, battery and coil ignition, even without the charging system working, is pretty straight forward.

[Bonez]

That is a nice looking motorcycle.:clap:

[Light bulb]

Sweet. If there's a service manual around then I might be able to get it running myself, but otherwise I don't really know enough personally to be confident in what I'm doing - I'd much rather find someone with the skills to assist.

[jellywrestler]

contact the local classic club, that's there game, they may have even known ya old man. either way it doesn't look deteriorated so will likely be a simple job but one done by someone with a few clues. i'd look at new tyres and tubes, those things aren't a lot of coin and make things safer too

[Bonez]

I'd image online there will be a ton of info about these as well.

[pete376403]

Because my first bike was an old RE250 this thread got my attention. I've been looking around and there isn't much published about this model. I did contact a RE specialist in UK who came back with useful stuff like points gap, ignition timing, cam timing, valve clearance specs.

Things were a lot less stressed in those days so virtually nothing is critical. If it can get a spark at the plugs at more or less the right time, and there is fuel in the carb and the jets are not blocked, it should run.

The 500 Meteor became a 600, then 700 Constellation, and finally the 750 Interceptor. The last Interceptor Mk II was a nice looking bike. Rickman also got a supply of 750 engines when another deal fell through and produced the Rickman Interceptor. I could live with one of those, too

[jellywrestler]

Because my first bike was an old RE250 this thread got my attention. I've been looking around and there isn't much published about this model. I did contact a RE specialist in UK who came back with useful stuff like points gap, ignition timing, cam timing, valve clearance specs.

Things were a lot less stressed in those days so virtually nothing is critical. If it can get a spark at the plugs at more or less the right time, and there is fuel in the carb and the jets are not blocked, it should run.

The 500 Meteor became a 600, then 700 Constellation, and finally the 750 Interceptor. The last Interceptor Mk II was a nice looking bike. Rickman also got a supply of 750 engines when another deal fell through and produced the Rickman Interceptor. I could live with one of those, too

i rode a 700 meteor decades ago, the guy still has it in wanganui, had a few 500 twin bits too

[Ginge09]

The Britbike forum site has a dedicated RE board. Worth a trawl through.

It’s probably wet sumped after sitting for so long so empty the sump before you add any more oil to the tank.

It could have stuck rings or a stuck valve, so a compression check would be sensible.

The carb could be full of fuel residue/varnish if it has sat with fuel in it. Worth cleaning out.

The dynamo will need depolarising or “flashing” if it hasn’t run for a while. That won’t stop it starting though, only charging.

A 12 volt conversion is an option, 6 volt will work fine. Bulbs, coil, regulator and battery mostly.