The chain broke. I'm in the process of doing a full write up as I think people need to know. The rivet forms on the chain pins are massively variable including some undersize. I found one I could push out with a punch, no hammer required. RE are pointless, they do the concerned PR stuff on twitter but thats as far as it goes.
When it broke it jammed between the sprocket and engine case. No serious damage but meant draining the oil to get the alternator cover off. 60 quid and 3 evenings later I'm up and running again (one huge advantage over the MASH and Jawa:Hitchcocks have 80% of the parts and European made alternatives), but it confirms my belief you need to find the Indian **** before it finds you. Targets over the winter will be the tubes and wheel bearings. The nylon bush in the swingarm is on the watch list.
Its all part of ownership. You get a cheap bike thats lovely to ride but need to allow for extras. I'm rather leading the way on the UCE as they are different to the iron engined bikes, not many get enough miles and half the owners think its 1958 (One old fool in Scarborough spent ten minutes telling me I needed to adjust the points then almost had a heart attack when I said I was keeping the FI and Electronic Ignition. He had 2500 miles on his 1997 bike!). I was hoping the to-do list was shorter (replace the bolts, waterproof the loom etc.) but it is what it is. I was bored of the NC because it was like owning a dishwasher, you can't say that about the Enfield.
That Jawa was tempting but someone needs to get one and find out what parts availability is like and build up the knowledge of what they need doing to them. I like David Angel and know he won't let anyone get stuck, but he's also running a business. The MASH at Haywards was rotting in front of your eyes and their salesman couldn't tell me things like the availability of oil filters (if he had any sense he'd know the Japanese part that could fit). Any volunteers to do a project on the Jawa so we know how to live with it?
Andy
