Royal Enfield 535 Continental GT tuned by Performance Classics. 

Glad you enjoyed it!

Thank you!

Based on what I paid, it reduces the value..... Though the bike was cutting out due to fuel starvation. I fixed it with another tap sans reserve, so it shouldn't happen again.

Those fuel taps are not very good at all. I don't see how this can reduce the value.

@@paulhenshaw4514 Neither can I but I didn't pay a lot.

Thanks, I may be tuning a yellow 535 GT to the same spec in the near future - this machine is already featured in a couple of my videos. Glad you like the bike and the video!

real motorcycles are mono cylinder , girls love them too ''vale'' ;)

Thanks, William!

Thank you !! [note speedo needle pointing towards ignition key].

Thanks, I don't know about these, but I have our 500 RE racer giving over 46 BHP @ rear wheel.

Thank you !

Just shorten the cylinder barrel.

Paul Henshaw can i do this for my classic 350

Paul Henshaw what's the top speed 5

Hi, I think that was the fuel tank breather pipe just incorrectly routed at the time and it had dropped into that position.

Hi - no need to take the engine out to work on the top end, just take the tank, exhaust and a few other bits out of the way and it is all easy to get at and strip / rebuild.

Oh yes!

Hi Gerald, it is well worth checking the squish clearance and optimising it. I don't think I would gear up by 2 teethon the front, though, but you could try. No porting work was done on this one, I think the head is well up to handling a good boost in performance 'as is'.

Rebuilt my 1953 350 cc Bullet engine way back in 1966! I decided for some insane reason to use the 500cc drive sprocket which had one more tooth. One tooth makes a considerable difference to final drive ratio , which in my case reduced the bikes acceleration, and a couple of mph top speed. Two teeth would have been a disaster! Phil the spill.

Yes, lots of people still gear them up thinking they will go faster, but they don't, unless you increase the power to go with it !

I had also installed same cam kit this year, and the performance became much better, and the sound of exhaust as well. But only 2 weeks I decided to let the EFI system back because there were some problems emerge. The first is engine will stop suddenly when at idle speed, sometimes I can restart immediately but sometimes can't, it's terrible when in busy traffic road, I have to move the bike to the side, wait and try many times to start the engine. After that I bought Power commander and that also upgrade the performance very well. I think the problem is came from the poor adjustment for the carburettor , the carb needed to adjust continuously and by someone very experienced.

+Janice Watts - Interesting. As a Bullet owner with a diesel conversion, I am always incredulous & amused at other diesel Enfield conversions whose owner/builders think that a diesel's modest 3600 rpm working band can be overcome by uprating the drive sprocket by 2 or 3 teeth! A 350 petrol Bullet pulls a 16T sprocket, which with a 406cc diesel will give 52 mph @ 3600, requiring 8 bhp at the back wheel. Since the engine is rated at 8.44 bhp continuous at 3600, & 8.8 bhp maximum, - that's about right for flat terrain. But feeling frustrated at the meagre top speed, builders often fit this modest little engine with an 18, 19, or even a 21T sprocket!! At 3600, these "upgrades" would in theory give 58.3, 61.5, & 68 mph respectively, - which would in turn require 11, 13, & 17 bhp at the back wheel in an Enfield Bullet on the dead level in still air, & all at just 3600. Worse, is that the 52 mph that the engine could attain at its 3600 power peak, is now unattainable, as it would now have to be generated by 3200 in the 18T, 3040 with the 19T, & 2750 rpm with the 21T. The farcical point, is that the long stroke (90 mm) 350 petrol Bullet is producing 19 ft/lbs of torque at 3600 (13 bhp) while the short stroke 406 diesel (70 mm) is producing just 12.5 ft/lbs (8.44 bhp). Most don't seem to understand the relationship between torque, revs, & horsepower. A low torque engine must be allowed to rev out to produce its HP. A tuned engine doesn't necessarily produce more peak torque, but simply carries that torque level higher up the rev band. So even a tuned engine of the same capacity may prefer fewer teeth on the drive sprocket to elevate revs to access the extra power.

Thanks. Most of the bikes don't belong to me, I work on them for their owners and do video road tests, most of which I share on here. I have a couple of videos with a diesel Bullet, again not mine, but an occasional visitor, so you are probably right.

Paul Henshaw ah I see. Nice work mate. Keep it up.

Hi Mike, this is Asbo 24. Check it out from just after 8 mins to see just how well it goes!

@@paulhenshaw4514 I've bought it. I'm having to recalibrate to ride it as my other road bikes are a 1942 Norton 16H, a 1954 BSA M21 and a Guzzi Nuovo Falcone in ascending order of speed. On a good day my Guzzi will stagger over 70mph. I do own some japanese singles the most brutal of which is my DMS framed TT540 dirtbike. That's over 50k lighter but nevertheless seems more brutal off idle but then tails off early. It has various back in the day tuning mods favoured by Dick Mann. The 535 is remarkably linear, a very civilised if loud road engine.

Not British, but quite handy after the modifications! Regarding Matchless, the only one I have had to work on to date was a 'unit' G2 CSR, but I have worked on a few AJS machines of 250, 350, 500 singles and a 650 twin. They seem well made and perform quite well, so I presume the Matchless machines would be the same.

@@paulhenshaw4514 You're right Mate, I believe at one point Royal Enfield was British, but then India took it over. Am I right? In any case you do a super job restoring British Motorbikes. Stay safe! Cheers

I also heard somewhere that the Matchless gearbox was replicated with Norton and BSA. True?

Thanks! RE finished in Britain 1970, but kept going in India.

I have not heard of that one.

A set of decent cams could work wonders on their own, if you already have a carburettor.

Paul Henshaw its a stock carb....would u advice if i cud go for a piston and crankshaft mod from hitchcok?? how the cams be modded??

Just fit the Hitchcocks cams and if possible shorten the cylinder barrel [if the piston crown doesn't reach the top of the barrel at tdc] and that should make a big difference.

Paul Henshaw thank you, sir.

where should i connect you for a brief discussion on my bullet??

No problem, Ian. Not including purchase prices of any components, gaskets etc, around £150 to fit the carb kit alone, with the head off to swap the valves and refit, add another £250 or so. While the head is off, I can remove, shorten and refit the barrel for another £150. Swapping the cams would also be around £150.

@@paulhenshaw4514 very helpful, thank you, much appreciated - all sounds pretty reasonable to me.

@@iandouglas451 Thank you.

No, flywheel balance only affects vibration, not performance. Lightening a crank can boost performance, though.

@@paulhenshaw4514 Thanks for replying, Paul. Just one last doubt. Is there any scope for lightening the Flywheel on the GT 535? Or any additional performance mods for more HP gains?

I suppose the flywheels could be lightened a bit, although they are lighter than the 'Classic' types to begin with. I shortened the cylinder barrel a little on this machine, to boost compression and make the squish areas work properly, as well as fitting the performance cams and carb conversion.

You mentioned you didn't use the hitchcocks pushrods, so what did you to prevent pushrod overlash assuming the stock pushrods are inside her after shortening the cylinder barrel. Also, any comment on converting her to solid lifters instead of hydraulic?

The performance cams have a smaller base circle than the standard ones, which equated roughly to the height I reduced the barrel by, so restoring the balance with the standard pushrods. I have not tried replacing the hydraulic tappets.

The valves run pretty close to the piston, but it isn't a problem with this machine. Incidentally, I didn't need to fit the longer pushrods that come with the cams, because the shortened barrel meant they were not needed.

No, it will go past 6000 rpm in the lower gears.

I think the two I tuned - the yellow one may be a bit quicker than this one - should reach 100 mph, perhaps a little more.

@@paulhenshaw4514 thank you for answering.

I think I would retard the inlet cam, as per the yellow machine I also worked on and filmed a test ride on, but the performance of both is well up to the job now.

no

Yes, they are much easier to work with.

Not much vibration.

Yes.

It should be good for about 100 mph.

no worries then :) thanks for replying

The owner of the bike supplied the parts. The carb kit was about £430 and the cams, valves and other bits were about another £400 or so, I think. My work - top end strip, shorten barrel, rebuild and fit cams,valves and carb kit was £700.

That's a lot of money to spend for a couple of bhp! I would have put that toward a new bike! Phil the spoil sport

I can make these machines a good bit faster, a good bit cheaper than the offerings from some sources !

Can you offset the timing like the pre unit engines?

I would think so.

This is the important question here!

Thanks Craig, I would struggle to argue with that!

@@paulhenshaw4514 although to be honest I prefer the old iron barrel bullets myself. I wouldn't swap my sixty5 model for a uce one

And merry Christmas by the way.

@@craighoward8079 Thanks, and to you!

Probably about 100 MPH.

Should be good for 100 mph, I would think.