So there I was, driving along to work this morning. This is something I usually do and thus cannot be considered unusual. My bike started fine as I got onto it at home, rode beautifully all the way down the M1, and handled the humdrum commute down the A1 into Holloway Road.
So you can imagine my surprise when as I attempted to accelerate away from the lights, the engine decided it didn’t want to do anything other than idle. Applying the slightest touch of throttle would completely stall the engine. The tappets sounded quite loud and clattery, but they normally do on an Enfield, so meh.
I couldn’t find the problem anywhere, the fuel was fine, electrics were fine, everything seemed to work. Thinking that it might be a ‘loose tappets’ problem, I whipped off the tappet cover to check them. Immediately I noticed that the exhaust clearance was way off – there was about half an inch of vertical movement! I then took off the exhaust rocker cover and saw this:
...showing the worrying state of the rocker
I find it absolutely extraordinary that an engine can continue to run when the rocker is held down by one medium-tight nut, two loose ones, and one completely absent one! The pushrod was lifting the *whole assembly* every time the cam pushed it up, and the slight amount of remaining lever action opened the exhaust valve just enough to allow an ‘idling’ amount of exhaust to escape. Thankfully by this point I’d managed to solicit the services of a very fine wandering mechanic with an affinity for bullets. Some of you may recognise him. He even wore his “Royal Enfield” t-shirt, but I didn’t quite get it in frame in this picture.
Hire This Man