• Don't overlook our Welcome Package, it contains many links to important and helpful information about functions at VHT like posting pictures and sending PMs (private messages), as well as finding the parts you need.

    AD

Scrambled? an Orange Crush Royal Enfield Interceptor

Interested to see this, did it work out OK ?

Reason I ask is that the Hornets air box is in a similar location. One of the guys* on the Hornets Nest website replaced the stock snorkel with a velocity stack arrangement. Looked great, but he reported fuelling problems at high speed, putting this down to turbulence in the air flow, velocity stack sticking out sideways into the air blast.

1718091647401.png

* experienced motorcycle tuner and modifier, real life job armourer in British Army
 
Richard Pitman said:
Interested to see this, did it work out OK ?

Reason I ask is that the Hornets air box is in a similar location. One of the guys* on the Hornets Nest website replaced the stock snorkel with a velocity stack arrangement. Looked great, but he reported fuelling problems at high speed, putting this down to turbulence in the air flow, velocity stack sticking out sideways into the air blast.

View attachment 33747

* experienced motorcycle tuner and modifier, real life job armourer in British Army
Click to expand...
It works well and gains a little seat-of-the-pants torque. Being a 270° engine high speed isn't its thing.
 
I took it out this afternoon for an inspection sticker and a 50 mile ride to scrub in these tires a little bit. They do produce a hum and a vibration, word is after ~100 miles they settle in and smooth out. They seemed quieter near the end of my ride and handling was good.
 
Yes these arrived stock with stainless spokes, 2.5x18 front and 3.5x18 rear.
Factory tubeless cast alloys are available too but these rims have bead ridges and it's popular to seal the spoked rims and go tubeless. That's not for me though.

20240602_135108.jpg20240602_133703.jpg
 
1370 miles on the clock last week, out to Tully, NY then south to Altoona, PA then east and north to Manchester, VT followed by a ride to North Hampton, NH for RE Demo ride day where I rode a Shotgun 650, Scram 411 and Hunter 350. Then hopped back onto my bike which felt so much bigger and more powerful and was home before 5pm last Friday. These tires worked flawlessly at 28psi front and rear, they're very good Street tires and I'd recommend them to any scrambler owner.
 
crazypj said:
When I saw Royal Enfield Interceptor I though 'real one' from 1968.
Click to expand...
Actually today I found what is listed as a '70 Isle of Mann replica 750 Interceptor, but from the photos I can't see the oil cooler at the front of the engine, and it has velocity stacks instead of air cleaners, so who knows.
For $500 with a bill of sale I don't know, especially with no place to put it.

I don't know enough to tell if that frame has been stretched, or just molded with filler. I'd get some correct length fork tubes and a more correct tank, before deciding on better handlebars. That front brake looks correct, carbs look correct, clocks and triples look correct... it looks like a good start for $500 and I'm becoming uncomfortable that I'm going to bring it home soon.

I wouldn't restore it, but I wouldn't butcher it any further either.

1000001616.jpg1000001615.jpg
 
The majority of my remaining brain cells are telling me to pass on this bike.

Wouldn't I need Whitworth tools to work on it?

Maybe if he lists it for less money I'll have to go get it. I think I'd bring it home for $250-300.

I think it'd make a good sporty restomod with shorter damper rod forks and a front disc brake. I think lacing up some wide 17" wheels could make it a fun ride too.
Restoration would be out of the question though.
 
The first thing I did was tighten the loose steering bearings. After the wheel swap I rode circles in the driveway for about 15 minutes. Handling seemed so much easier.

I'm hoping to get out riding tomorrow for a few hours.
 
Alan F. said:
The first thing I did was tighten the loose steering bearings. After the wheel swap I rode circles in the driveway for about 15 minutes. Handling seemed so much easier.

I'm hoping to get out riding tomorrow for a few hours.
Click to expand...
Let me know the difference in handling with a 21" front wheel on that 650.
 
Presumably that larger front wheel will alter your speedo readings, I'm assuming from your photo that it runs a Hall sensor / magnets set up on the front hub. Wonder if this is user programmable like the aftermarket units are ?
 
I haven't heard that they are programmable as yet.

My previous front 4.10x18 was also larger than the stock 100/90-18.

I can use Google maps to monitor speed.
 
AndrewJK said:
Hello Alan, Bear is coming...
Click to expand...
Thank you! Yes, I received that email earlier today as well. It's not just clickbait after all. I'll be sure to keep an eye out for a set of take-off rear shocks from one.

If I ever see one on a trail I'll be sure to wave goodbye as they fade out of sight in my mirrors. Between the out-the-door price (MSRP starts at $6800 USD) and that 19" front wheel, I think I've built a better bike. And I'm far from finished, fork mods, 2:1 pipe, 390Duke swingarm, and a few other mods are on the shelf waiting.
 
Alan F. said:
Thank you! Yes, I received that email earlier today as well. It's not just clickbait after all. I'll be sure to keep an eye out for a set of take-off rear shocks from one.

If I ever see one on a trail I'll be sure to wave goodbye as they fade out of sight in my mirrors. Between the out-the-door price (MSRP starts at $6800 USD) and that 19" front wheel, I think I've built a better bike. And I'm far from finished, fork mods, 2:1 pipe, 390Duke swingarm, and a few other mods are on the shelf waiting.
Click to expand...
I have no doubt about it.
 
Been a while since my last update here, I should probably catch you all up.
Last Halloween just days after my last update was an 80° day so I called in sick and rode up to Northern NH again and had the whole place entirely to myself.
North on Rt93 to make good use of time, through Franconia Notch State Park

Then east on Rt3 up to Colebrook, 26 to Errol and 16 south toward home

That was one good day of riding.
 
This bike uses 4 relays and the stock ones are a price-point item, they cheaped out. I found a great deal on ebay, 4 used Toyota relays from a wreck, I swapped those in before my first ride this season and the bike is transformed. Everything just seems to work better. I guess pitted relay contacts will take a toll on circuit performance. Japanese parts to the rescue!Screenshot_20250316_174636_Gallery.jpg
 
Alan F. said:
Been a while since my last update here, I should probably catch you all up.
Last Halloween just days after my last update was an 80° day so I called in sick and rode up to Northern NH again and had the whole place entirely to myself.
North on Rt93 to make good use of time, through Franconia Notch State Park

Then east on Rt3 up to Colebrook, 26 to Errol and 16 south toward home

That was one good day of riding.
Click to expand...
Nice! Great view in the first one, awesome scenery. Too bad we can't hear that glorious 270° exhaust note.
 
Thinking about fork mods, I dug out the bent Himalayan forks i bought a few years back. They were bent just enough to make the springs hard to remove. I had to saw through the tubes but finally got all of the parts separated, cleaned up and inspected, all look serviceable. These use all of the same bolts, copper washers, bushings and seals as my Interceptor so I was careful not to damage anything and kept them all as spares.

Plan was to build a hybrid set with my existing forks for double the stock wheel travel. I bought a set of Himalayan fork tubes just in case they were needed, but I suspect they'd be sticking up above the top triple 2" or so... but longer travel forks with cartridge emulators and adjustable preload caps would seem like a good beginning.
 
ancientdad said:
Nice! Great view in the first one, awesome scenery. Too bad we can't hear that glorious 270° exhaust note.
Click to expand...
I actually have longer videos of both sections on my YouTube channel @alan_2056 if anyone is interested.
I haven't watched them in a while though, not sure how good the sound is or how bad the wind noise is, but at least i don't dub terrible music tracks over everything like some do.

I should try a phone mount on those saddle bag stays or my rear rack, that might capture some good exhaust sounds with some ride video. Thanks AD for that good idea. I could also try removing my exhaust baffles, I've been thinking about trying that for a while now.
 
I swapped out my stock foot pegs for pegs from the Himalayan, they're more of a dirtbike peg, not a direct fit but with a little filing they popped right on and work great.
Screenshot_20250411_135451_Gallery.jpg
The big surprise is what a big upgrade they are over the street oriented pegs the bike came with. I took a ride out to Bennington, Vermont for a dealership open house a few Sundays ago, about 150 miles away. It was a damp, early morning ride but my boots didn't squirm around on the pegs like they usually would. I didn’t need to change foot position every few minutes like I would with the stock rubber pegs. It was so much more comfortable and less fatiguing. Vibration was slightly increased but that day I rode over 300 miles and it didn't become a problem.
 
A few weeks ago a member on the RE forum posted that he had successfully swapped his Interceptor over to a set of the tubeless alloy wheels that are available on the current models, he got a good deal from an ebay seller in India (they're mostly all good folks) and all had gone seamlessly. Now he was surplussing out his stock wheels and some other small parts. I sent him a PM and met him on my next work trip to Connecticut about a week later. Great guy, he gave me the full garage tour and sent me on my way with more free parts than I could have imagined. He said it just gets to the point that he'd rather give stuff away than answer stupid questions for days trying to sell it, and keeping more stuff around isn't the answer he's looking for either.

So now i have a spare set of spoked wheels with the stock tires with 6,000 miles on them, they're probably good for a 3 or 4 day road trip before they're toast.
 
Thinking about tubeless wheels I watched a few youtube videos from a couple years back, guys in India were bolting on the 17x3.50 tubeless alloy from the 350 Meteor models 2021 and up, this allowed them to run huge tubeless 160 width tires, which I suppose soaked up the road irregularities better than the stock 130/80-18 ever could.

* But the cool part was that the brake disc and sprocket carrier are a direct fit between the 2 models.

** 350 Meteor runs a 42 tooth 520 sprocket. Interceptor runs a 38 tooth 525 sprocket, so while not perfect, its a great cheap solution to add to my Scrambler conversion. I picked up a low mile sprocket, carrier and cush rubbers from ebay for about half the cost of an aftermarket 42t sprocket.

*** 350 Meteor also uses the same 270mm rear brake disc as the new Bear 650 Scrambler, people are raving about the better rear braking...
It turns out the brake caliper is the exact same part number between Interceptor (or Continental GT 650), Bear 650 and 350 Meteor (and 350 Classic) so there's no need to even crack a banjo bolt loose to convert. The rotor, caliper carrier and brake pads are the only parts required to convert from the 240mm rear brake to the 270mm rear brake.

I haven't bought the brake parts yet, looks like about $150 for used parts on ebay right now and I haven't spoken to my acquaintance in India (who is an engineer, tinkerer and an authorized RE parts reseller) about it yet, he might be able to offer better prices. It'd be nice to be able to swap dirt wheels to street wheels without transferring brake discs over, and the extra torque from the 42t sprocket will surely be more fun in the dirt and the 38t better for street riding.
 
And I picked up a 410 Himalayan kick stand to have a go at fitting it to this bike, if anyone has done this before they aren't talking about it.

*Interceptor doesn't use a bolt on the side stand pivot, it's a 10mm diameter clevis pin with a 3/8" flatwasher and cotter pin at the back.

**Himalayan, the original air cooled 410cc bikes used an 8mm shoulder bolt. Ok, so I dug out my little drill press and drilled out the Himmy stand pivot to 3/8" and grabbed a round file to help fit the 10mm clevis pin.

And then the weather turned rainy and i haven't been back to it in several days. The stock stand is too short, even with stock tire sizes these bikes lean over way too far on their side stands, as if they were supposed to come with 17" wheels.
With my current setup the rear axle is raised at least 3/4" and the front 1-1/2" plus the 1/2" I dropped the fork tubes. I can set it on the side stand but only long enough to dismount and put it up on the center stand.

I expect to be able to make the pivot work without much trouble. Its the side stand safety switch that might need some creativity. I think it's a hall effect sensor with 3 wires. Bypass plugs are available at >$60 but that's expensive and unsafe.

Here's a shot of the tab on the Interceptor stand, it's steel and i think i can make up a similar tab that i can secure to the Himmy stand with one or two drilled and tapped holes.
Screenshot_20250508_123713_Chrome.jpgScreenshot_20250508_123613_Chrome.jpg

And the Himalayan stand, thick wall tube steel with lots of meat to drill and tap at the pivot for the saftey switch tab:
Screenshot_20250215_155239_Chrome.jpg

Vs. My stock stand with that bend reducing its effective length, and it's a cast piece too by the way:
Screenshot_20250215_155202_Chrome.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom