Electronic Ignition for Royal Enfield Bullet

There are a few electronic ignitions in the market for single cylinder bikes like the Bullet. They are:
Boyer Bransden(UK)
Pazon(NZ)
Trispark(Australia)
Power Arc(USA)
Eureka(India)

Out of that list, I have tried out Pazon, Trispark, and Power Arc.  There might be others and if you know about them then let me know.  I didn't try Boyer because at the time they seemed to have a reputation for sucking up the electric. So I went for Pazon. The Pazon unit that I tried at the time, 2008/09, was similar to the Boyer in that there was a unit inside the distributor cap with a separate black box which I placed in the LHS toolbox (as far as I know, the people who setup Pazon also used to work in Boyer but am not 100% sure about this).  I used the Pazon for my trip across Russia but unfortunately it failed exactly halfway across (I completed the journey on good ol' points and condenser) but at quite a severe inconvenience at that moment. To be fair, I think the coil was playing up from all the vibration and road conditions so that may have had an effect. However, something definitely went Fizzt and left a burnt smell. The Pazon setup uses a small magnet in a wheel in the distributor which whizzes around.

Upon my return I went for the Trispark.  This also went Fizzt and to their credit Trispark replaced it with a new one with no quibbles.  The attractive thing about the Trispark is that it is a single unit without a remote black box. It too uses small magnets whizzing around in the distributor cap to sense for setting off the coil. The unit is actually a setup for a twin cylinder engine and has two magnets. For the Bullet this means there is a wasted spark in the ignition cycle. However, after the Trispark failed I thought I'd try something else.

The Power Arc unit utilises an optical sensing setup instead of magnets.  There is a wheel with lots of little slots cut into it.  I tried this unit but discarded it and went back to the Trispark which I think is the best unit out of the whole lot....so far!  So why did I change back to the Trispark? Well, basically the Power Arc is much more difficult to adjust whilst in-situ and not possible with the engine running. If you want to advance the ignition timing you have to stop the engine, remove the sensor plate (the thing that has all the electronic bits inside it) loosen the wheel, advance it, tighten up the wheel again, replace the sensor place and then re-start the engine.

With the Boyer, the Pazon, and the Trispark you can loosen the sensor plate and adjust it on the pillar bolts whilst the engine is running to find the sweet spot.  So why the Trispark?  I like the fact there is just the single unit without a remote black box. It is an absolute doddle to install. The only downside is the company's own literature and installation guides on their website doesn't adequately show how to install it for the RE Bullet. That is why I have taken it upon myself to show how I installed mine.  Please the see the separate posting to see how I have done it.

PS For all of the above I had the higher output alternator (ordered from Hitchcocks) running in the bike.

Bullet to Scotland and recent events

OK,
I have gone down the Facebook route for posting up the pictures of the journey. The album is open for anyone to see at the following address:


http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=254425&id=633858566&l=77e4da9c87

I find that you have to input the photos etc in reverse order if you want it to show in chronological order using Blogspot/Blogger.  I probably have missed an obvioius and simple setting but can't be bothered as it is now all up on Facebook along with the most recent mechanical episode.

LHS to RHS gearchange continued

OK, so the conversion was done but I never got the thing to work properly.  Eventually I sweated it out and took the whole of the guts of the tranny out. Apparently to an experienced eye there was enough wear to cause third gear to not engage properly.  I did spend a fair bit of time on the trans-Russia journey in 3rd or 2nd due to road conditions so that may not have helped. Anyway, new set will arrive soon.

Bullet to Scotland in pictures

 have had it put to me that I should really write a book on the journey I took (2008). Maybe I should, but so far I haven't. All that is on offer are a few pictures for the time being.

  Looking 'Ard for the camera

  Crated and ready to go

 Warehouse monkeys in Zarubino do their thing

Backyard banya, my first ever.

 Vladivostock city limits

Enfielder in Hong Kong moved back to Blogspot

The site www.enfield.hk is going to close down at the end of April or so and I am going to move much of the contents to here in Blogspot-land.

The most recent thing was conversion of LHS gear change to RHS which is now complete but there is still some fine adjustment to be done on the the selector. However, all that pales into comparison with the most recent item of uncertainty....the horror of electrics. Up to now for me, electricity was something that happened to you when you stuck your tongue on battery terminals or poked a finger into places where you shouldn't (at least some rubber personal protection should be used!). I view wiring diagrams as a cry for help from engineers to be allowed to re-integrate back into society without security tags on their ankles. I also have had the same approach and view as Mary Shelley when she wrote The Modern Prometheus (aka Frankenstein).

Mind you, having mentioned Frankenstein I wonder whether the bolts holding his neck in place were Whitworth or BSI?