Comments on: 2009 Royal Enfield Bullet Recall http://thekneeslider.com/archives/2009/06/27/2009-royal-enfield-bullet-recall/ Motorcycle News for Positive People Sun, 12 Feb 2012 09:09:53 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Mark Chanen http://thekneeslider.com/archives/2009/06/27/2009-royal-enfield-bullet-recall/#comment-250222 Mark Chanen Mon, 06 Jul 2009 04:39:32 +0000 http://thekneeslider.com/?p=6671#comment-250222 I am the owner of a Bullet affected by the recall. I am inconvenienced but more than satisfied with the company's response. Alot of discussion on owner forums has been highly critical and even harsh ("keeping up the British tradition" and such). The most common manufacturer's response to such a problem is to quietly fix the problem, then, with such a small number of units affected and no accidents, deny there ever was a problem. When my Suzuki Bandit was burning a quart of oil every four hundred miles, new, it was like pulling teeth to get Suzuki to fix the problem. And in that 2002 model year there were thousands of bikes affected. Royal Enfield would not even let me ride the bike to the dealer. That tells me they are concerned about me as a person, not just as a customer. Find another manufacturer/ importer like that. I am the owner of a Bullet affected by the recall. I am inconvenienced but more than satisfied with the company’s response. Alot of discussion on owner forums has been highly critical and even harsh (“keeping up the British tradition” and such). The most common manufacturer’s response to such a problem is to quietly fix the problem, then, with such a small number of units affected and no accidents, deny there ever was a problem. When my Suzuki Bandit was burning a quart of oil every four hundred miles, new, it was like pulling teeth to get Suzuki to fix the problem. And in that 2002 model year there were thousands of bikes affected. Royal Enfield would not even let me ride the bike to the dealer. That tells me they are concerned about me as a person, not just as a customer. Find another manufacturer/ importer like that.

]]> By: kneeslider http://thekneeslider.com/archives/2009/06/27/2009-royal-enfield-bullet-recall/#comment-248677 kneeslider Mon, 29 Jun 2009 23:45:05 +0000 http://thekneeslider.com/?p=6671#comment-248677 Kevin, thanks for the background on the recall. Sounds like a very positive and proactive process and that builds confidence all around. Hope the new Bullets do very well. Kevin, thanks for the background on the recall. Sounds like a very positive and proactive process and that builds confidence all around. Hope the new Bullets do very well.

]]> By: kevin mahoney http://thekneeslider.com/archives/2009/06/27/2009-royal-enfield-bullet-recall/#comment-248555 kevin mahoney Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:20:28 +0000 http://thekneeslider.com/?p=6671#comment-248555 In the interest of transparency here is an explanation about our recall. A bike was found in post production testing that had a noisy transmission (All bikes get a dyno workout before being released). As it was analyzed, it was discovered that there was galling between third gear and the clutch main shaft. In further testing it was determined that the clearance between the shaft and gear was less than the specification called for in the design specs. This was an error on the part of the supplier that we didn't catch. We then started to determine if this was a one off or something larger. At the same time just to be sure, the engineers changed the shape of the oil groove in the shaft to be U shaped instead of V shaped to move more oil. The clearance spec was also changed to insure that the optimum lubrication occurred. While trying to determine when the out of spec. parts had entered the system, there were a couple failures in Europe from the same thing. At that point it was decided to recall the entire production lot up to the point the changes were put into effect just to be safe. Fortunately no one was hurt. As the importer, I have been very proud of Royal Enfield's response. Because it is a fairly small company (50,000 units a year), everyone from the CEO to the engineering staff was right on top of this. They have a very intense pride in these new bikes. They are staking their future on these new models and have a system to track every paint pimple of each bike to make improvements as issues arise. After we sold our first 50 units in the US they shut down the entire factory for an all employee meeting with me to go over each and every little thing that our dealers had come across. Although you can expect me to say nice things about the factory and the product, it is really a great feeling to be involved with a company where I can pick up the phone and chat with the CEO at any time. Even better is the fact that they look to their importers and customers as the primary source of information about their products. I deal with a lot of companies around the world and Royal Enfield is by far the best to deal with. In the interest of transparency here is an explanation about our recall. A bike was found in post production testing that had a noisy transmission (All bikes get a dyno workout before being released). As it was analyzed, it was discovered that there was galling between third gear and the clutch main shaft. In further testing it was determined that the clearance between the shaft and gear was less than the specification called for in the design specs. This was an error on the part of the supplier that we didn’t catch. We then started to determine if this was a one off or something larger. At the same time just to be sure, the engineers changed the shape of the oil groove in the shaft to be U shaped instead of V shaped to move more oil. The clearance spec was also changed to insure that the optimum lubrication occurred. While trying to determine when the out of spec. parts had entered the system, there were a couple failures in Europe from the same thing. At that point it was decided to recall the entire production lot up to the point the changes were put into effect just to be safe. Fortunately no one was hurt. As the importer, I have been very proud of Royal Enfield’s response. Because it is a fairly small company (50,000 units a year), everyone from the CEO to the engineering staff was right on top of this. They have a very intense pride in these new bikes. They are staking their future on these new models and have a system to track every paint pimple of each bike to make improvements as issues arise. After we sold our first 50 units in the US they shut down the entire factory for an all employee meeting with me to go over each and every little thing that our dealers had come across.
Although you can expect me to say nice things about the factory and the product, it is really a great feeling to be involved with a company where I can pick up the phone and chat with the CEO at any time. Even better is the fact that they look to their importers and customers as the primary source of information about their products.
I deal with a lot of companies around the world and Royal Enfield is by far the best to deal with.

]]> By: Burphel http://thekneeslider.com/archives/2009/06/27/2009-royal-enfield-bullet-recall/#comment-248188 Burphel Sun, 28 Jun 2009 10:08:43 +0000 http://thekneeslider.com/?p=6671#comment-248188 There's been a fair amount of discussion of issues with 3-4 gear changes on the US Royal Enfield forums. As far as I know, nobody's let it go long enough to cause a rear wheel lock before they took the bike back to the dealer and had it checked out. I'd say it's only 196 units because RE's are a bit of a niche motorcycle and the UCE models are really just starting to hit the dealerships. All in all, I'd chalk it up to the folks at Enfield paying attention to feedback from their early adopters and taking quick action to investigate a common complaint and fix the problem when they figured it out. I've been seriously considering picking up one of the new Enfields as my next bike. If anything, this gives me another reason to consider it. There’s been a fair amount of discussion of issues with 3-4 gear changes on the US Royal Enfield forums. As far as I know, nobody’s let it go long enough to cause a rear wheel lock before they took the bike back to the dealer and had it checked out. I’d say it’s only 196 units because RE’s are a bit of a niche motorcycle and the UCE models are really just starting to hit the dealerships. All in all, I’d chalk it up to the folks at Enfield paying attention to feedback from their early adopters and taking quick action to investigate a common complaint and fix the problem when they figured it out.

I’ve been seriously considering picking up one of the new Enfields as my next bike. If anything, this gives me another reason to consider it.

]]> By: Eddie http://thekneeslider.com/archives/2009/06/27/2009-royal-enfield-bullet-recall/#comment-248086 Eddie Sat, 27 Jun 2009 22:57:58 +0000 http://thekneeslider.com/?p=6671#comment-248086 Increasing the clearance will increase lubrication. Increasing the clearance will increase lubrication.

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