Royal Enfield

[3miler]

I don't see much on the forums about this company, but anyone have some knowledge of their reliability, comfort, performance?

I found the website today while browsing around and really love the look of their bikes. If I get the time I'll take a quick trip up to Fort Worth and see if the dealer there has any available that I could test ride. But I also want to see if it's worth my time before I do that.

[tri boy]

I guess your talking about the Enfields made in Madras, India.
Not bad little bikes. The 500 Bullet is a nice classic style bike, but don't expect it to be very powerful,(maybe 30hp).
They are perfect for rural India, and have a long history over there.
I spent 3mths cruising around various outposts over there on one, and after you get used to them, they grow on you. Bit like a scruffy dog that no body wants, until you notice its charms.:D
They're slow,but sometimes thats how life should be.

[Beatnig]

it's a company frozen in time... a british kind of thing...
for some, it's just the right thing...

also check these:
dnepr : www.clubmagneto.com/Historias/Amor%20Maquinal.htm
Ural: http://www.imz-ural.com/patrol/
Chang jiang: http://www.chang-jiang.com/jawa/jawa.html
Royal enfielf: http://www.royalenfield.com/app/IN/Products/Bullet350.asp

[BillTheCat]

I just bought one on ebay It will be a week or too before I get it but I am very excited!

[LowRiderGhost]

Evening Bill,

Dang?! That's cool! Gotta' admit the last three bikes or so (including my wife's SUV) were bought offa' eBay! ;-) Hope you will be following up on this and posting LOT's of Pix! ;-) As a youngster (seems like a MILLION years ago now...) I do recall spoting a (?) 750cc Royal Enfield (actually made IN Great Britain back then) in the Santa Barbara Newspress for well under a $1,000 bucks or so. Just one of those killer deals we ALL sem to miss out on at one time or another?! Go figure...... ;-)

LRG


I just bought one on ebay It will be a week or too before I get it but I am very excited!

[BillTheCat]

Here She is what a ride its like a tractor ! :D

http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/7779/picture008sf5.th.jpg (http://img134.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture008sf5.jpg)

[LowRiderGhost]

Okay, this IS cool! :D Now how bout' some bigger pix?! It's either that or I gotta' get better glasses! :rolleyes:

[BillTheCat]

Okay, this IS cool! :D Now how bout' some bigger pix?! It's either that or I gotta' get better glasses! :rolleyes:

Its a link to a hosted pic. if you click it it gets bigger.

[Lead Butt]

http://i457.photobucket.com/albums/qq293/Leadbutt_pics/Bullet038.jpgCONGRATS! is it the 5 speed? hers mine ...is a 4 speed with heavy clutch springs and the front sprocket bumped up a tooth to 18. pretty bike there Billthecat

[David 1]

That really is one beautiful classic bike. Large bags, large seat, windshield (necessary) and all true classic.
dc

[Lead Butt]

:Dhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-gxBFBp9g4 this guy on utube did a nice job on his vid. Hearing his bike go by a curve
towards the end did it. that began my search for mine. i looked at the ural and had in mind an old air head which are beautiful bikes. hunted around for an old victor/victim ect. the idea of not having to start with a frame-up and that sound in this utube vid did it. looked for weeks at ebay and craigs, found one 60 miles away and he was asking 3000. rode it then put it in my truck. still glad i did.

[Lead Butt]

;)That really is one beautiful classic bike. Large bags, large seat, windshield (necessary) and all true classic.
dc thank you David 1 :)

[BillTheCat]

I finely got a better pic of mine. The old girl cleaned up pretty good.:)

Before:(

http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/7779/picture008sf5.jpg





After:D:D:D

http://media6.dropshots.com/photos/414638/20080806/b_192813.jpg

[Steve Young]

No wonder they call you BillTheCat - you clean your bikes better'n a cat cleans itself! You sure are fussier than me! Happy New Year buddy, and safe riding.

[wawadave]

i,ve never riden a new one and had a used beater that ran well considering the abuse it had been through.

but like stated in other posts they are functional and reliable for the most part. would be a good first bike and very good urban to and from work. or long distance if you can put up with the vibration and rugged ride.

[Reb]

That cleaned up really nicely. I just had some performance mods done to mine. I'll get some pics up in the 'register your bike' thread.

[BillTheCat]

Reb what all did you have done? You should post a pic in here it will get lost in the shuffle out there.:)

[skooter Bum]

Aren't Royal Enfields made in India right now?

[BillTheCat]

Aren't Royal Enfields made in India right now?


:D Yea so Hondas are made in Kentucky. Harleys got showa forks and Japanese electrics Triumph has a factory in Thailand! :eek: But the Enfield is as British as any old Triumph I ever had.:cool: Go figure.:)

[David 1]

Check the history page on the Royal Enfield site. They give the details. They moved to India long ago, or the Indians took them over. 1960's? or so.
So the old ones before that may be known as Royal or British Enfields, and the newer ones, Indian Enfields. Then later the Indians got the right to use "Royal", somehow.
My Honda m c and car were made in Ohio. My Nissan in Tennessee, BMW in North ? or South ? Carolina.
Gold Wings for many years were made in Ohio.
So when they say foreign made or american made, it doesn't mean much. Also the company. GM, Toyota are all publicly traded corporations, and the stockholders are worldwide. Not just american.
There are some pure items:
MotoGuzzi and Ducati - Italy.
Victory, Indian (now moved) American Iron (Texas) - USA.
So just buy what you want.
dc

[BillTheCat]

I wasn't saying the Enfield was built in England just that it feels like a old British bike I have had a few old Triumphs and a BSA and no matter where it is made the new Enfield is a British bike To me.:cool:

[skooter Bum]

Let me rephrase my question,.....Is India the only place that Royal Enfields are being made?

It's my understanding that India has the license to build and sell
Royal Enfields in India. I didn't know that there were selling them outside of India.
It isn't a question of being a British bike or not. It's a question of who owns the right to manufacture them?

[BillTheCat]

(Is India the only place that Royal Enfields are being made? ).....yes.

There are dealers all over the U.S. Google ( enfieldmotorcycles ) Dot
Take a look at ebay I bought mine on there.
Than found out there was a dealer 50 mil. from me.:(

(It's a question of who owns the right to manufacture them?)
Royal Enfield Motors (India)

[skooter Bum]

I wasn't knocking Royal Enfiled!

[BH121869]

Fate Ended production.
Successor Royal Enfield Motors Ltd. (formerly Enfield of India)
Founded 1893, as Enfield Manufacturing Co. Ltd.
Defunct 1970
Headquarters Redditch, Worcestershire, England.
Key people Founders Albert Eadie and Robert Walker Smith.
Industry
Motorcycles.
Products
Royal Enfield Clipper, Royal Enfield Crusader, Royal Enfield Bullet, Royal Enfield Interceptor

A helpful site for Royal Enfields
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Enfield
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii69/BH121869/Bike%20week%2009/REbike.jpg

Royal Enfield was the brand of the Enfield Cycle Company, an English engineering company. Most famous for producing motorcycles, they also produced bicycles, lawnmowers, stationary engines, and even rifle parts for the Royal Small Arms Factory in Enfield Lock. This legacy of weapons manufacture is reflected in the logo, a cannon, and their motto "Made like a gun, goes like a bullet". It also enabled the use of the brand name Royal Enfield from 1890.
In 1955 Enfield of India started assembling Bullet motorcycles under licence from UK components, and by 1962 were manufacturing complete bikes. The original Redditch, Worcestershire-based company dissolved in 1970, but Enfield of India, based in Chennai, continued, and bought the rights to the Royal Enfield name in 1995. Royal Enfield production continues, and now Royal Enfield is considered the oldest motorcycle model in the world still in production and Bullet is the longest production run model.

[BillTheCat]

I wasn't knocking Royal Enfiled!
I have become quite fond of my little tractor and
I may be a little overly sensative.:o

BH Great research.

[roflol]

Bill, that is a fabulous-looking bike! I hadn't seen the pic before, had only seen Reb's (also beautiful). I hope we get to meet up soon, I'd like to see one IRL and hear what one sounds like. :]

[Reb]

Sorry, I forgot about this thread. Okay, I'll post some more here. Mine is a 2008 Classic with the iron engine (which is no longer available, 2008 was the last year). I ordered a bunch of options with it, so it has the premium solo seat, bullet turn signals, LED tombstone tail light (much brighter than the other ones, which I prefer for safety reasons, and I like the style), 7" tri-bar headlight, and some other stuff I can't recall off the top of my head. These are a bunch of pics I took right after I got the bike last September...

http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc22/russ5288/IMG_2786.jpg

http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc22/russ5288/IMG_2768.jpg

http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc22/russ5288/IMG_2788.jpg

http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc22/russ5288/IMG_2775.jpg

http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc22/russ5288/IMG_2776.jpg

http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc22/russ5288/IMG_2772.jpg

And here are a couple more I took two weeks ago when I got it back from the dealer, had some more mods done. First, all the emissions equipment was removed (it comes standard with that stuff because it's required in Europe and India, where they have a larger market than they do here, so they just leave it on there for U.S.-bound bikes; most U.S. owners remove it to increase power). It now has a K&N pancake filter (breathes more than the factory air box and is more period-correct for the 1950s, which is sort of the look I'm going for), larger flat slide carb, and British-made free-flowing exhaust. Sounds like a mean motorcycle now, like it should (although not obnoxiously loud). Has a lot more 'oomph' and really wants to get up an' go! I also had the points replaced with programmable Power Arc ignition; that made a big difference to more complete combustion of the fuel/air mixture (estimates are 30-35% of it escaping and burning up in the pipe in factory configuration vs. 100% burning in the cylinder with the PA ignition, which fires three times instead of once like the old points system does). If you look closely in the pic below, you can see a silver toggle switch just inboard of the left grip control unit. That's for the Power Arc ignition. Most of the time it's in the normal position, but a flip of the switch gives it a little more torque for climbing hills and such.

With these mods done and the engine/ignition/carb set up and re-tuned, it made a huge difference in power. I also replaced the black rubber fuel hoses the dealer had put on the carb with clear tubing for a bit of a cleaner look, and I added an inline fuel filter (there's already one in the petcock, but I added another one just for the heck of it). I put the license numbers on the pedestrian slicer (front number plate), and it now has bar-end mirrors instead of the tall bug-eyes mirrors on top. I like the resulting low-profile look the bike has now.

So here are couple of shots after the mods. In fact, I took these when it was warming up for a ride and the engine was idling, so you can see the back wheel turning. Can you feel the 'thump-thump-thump'? :D

http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc22/russ5288/IMG_3091.jpg

http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc22/russ5288/IMG_3093.jpg

I also have a 1951 tax disc and chrome holder that I ordered from England, but I haven't put it on yet (I moved recently and it's buried in a box). It's the equivalent of a registration in the U.S., but they were required to be displayed somewhere on the left side of the vehicle, so the police could see it easily from the sidewalk. They're exact replicas of the original discs, available for every year from 1921-1987, and you can get them with the issue date and issuing office stamps of your choice. Mine is dated April 5 (my dad's birthday), 1951 (the year he registered his first bike in England), and the issuing office stamp is from Biggleswade, Bedfordshire (where my dad registered his first bike). The information blocks on it are blank so you can fill in your own info, and it comes with a booklet explaining a brief history of tax discs and what info you need to fill yours out correctly.

My family is from England (although I was born in the U.S.) and my dad used to ride with his buddies in the 1950s (before he got married and added a sidecar for the wife and kids; that was the 'family car' for a long time). I got the motorcycle bug from him. So the date and location stamps I requested for the tax disc is sort of my way of honoring him; gives me kind of a 'connection' to his riding past. I just have to put it on the bike now, I'll try to get that done this week. Here's what the 1951 disc looks like...

http://www.poplargreg.com/taxdiscs/1951.jpg

[Reb]

I'll try to recall the history from what I've read in the past, but I'm not a historian, so forgive me if I don't get every detail correct.

Royal Enfield was founded in 1851 by George Townsend in the town of Hunt End, near Redditch, Worcestershire, England as an 'upstart' manufacturing company called George Townsend & Co. In the 1890s, they were manufacturing rifle parts for the Enfield armory (they changed their name to Royal Enfield during this period). They made their first motorized bicycle in 1901 (they also made motorcars for a while) and then they went full time into the motorcycle business. The Bullet (or the model it was based on) was first introduced in 1931 and underwent various changes as it evolved over the years.

In 1955, the Indian government wanted a motorcycle their military could use in the mountains around Pakistan. They chose the Bullet and ordered 800 of them. Then they placed a larger order the next year, but it was too much for the Redditch factory to handle. So they built a factory in Madras, India and trained the workers to do the final assembly of Bullets they would ship there. Still not enough for the Indian government, they expanded the factory there in 1956 to include all the tooling purchased from Redditch necessary to manufacture the bikes themselves. They then sent the whole factory team to Redditch to be trained at the British factory. They were taught how to manufacture everything from scratch exactly the way the parent factory did it. They returned to India and started manufacturing the bikes there, and they've been doing it ever since (later opening sales to civilians, and now their bikes are huge sellers in India and Europe).

The parent Royal Enfield company in Redditch went bust in 1970, but the Royal Enfield factory in India was independent of the parent company and simply kept going. They're still making the Bullet half a century later. The quality of materials and manufacture has improved as technology has improved, but they still manufacture the bikes today by hand as they were trained to do, rather than converting to automation like many other modern manufacturers. Here's a short video (no audio) of workers in the factory, showing how the pinstriping on every bike is still done by hand with a brush.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYJjadYLUwI

[BillTheCat]

Man that is one sweet ride Reb don't you just love riding something so Industrial so primitive I don't know how to describe it except that mine reminds me of this old antique ford tractor I used to have.;)
Great History right up to. I wish I could keep facts like that in my head :o People are always asking me bought mine I need to print that off and carry a couple of copies with me.:p
You have the same mods I hope to do to mine when my finances are in a little better shape.:eek: I'm jealous In a good way and happy for you.

[Reb]

This is a common theme with Enfield riders. I've actually had to memorize a very condensed version of it's history for people who ask about it. I can't go anywhere without people stopping to ask. "What year is it? Did you restore it? Is it a replica?" They want to know the details when you tell them it's new, but it's not a replica. It's just a bike that never ceased production.

I've come out of stores before to find three or four people standing around looking at it. Once I came out of the post office and found a lady taking pictures of it to show her husband. I heard one guy, who rides a 2003, say he was so tired of explaining it to people that now he just says "It's a 1949. Restored it myself."

But I have to admit, one of the best parts is the blank stares I get from the Harley riders when I go by. I can tell they're
thinking "What the hellizat?" :D

One guy, who had been riding and rebuilding Harleys for over fifty years, watched as I kick started it, then he said "Damn. I wish mine had a kick starter." :D He told me he'd like to have a bike with as much character and style as mine. I took that as a real compliment from a life-long Harley man.

And they almost **** a brick when they find out it cost about 1/4 what they paid for their bike. Riding one is a totally different experience than most other bikes. The bike attracts crowds wherever it goes. Even people who aren't into bikes stop and look at it. Be prepared to start answering lots of questions. Not bragging, that's just how it is. I'd heard these things from other people on the Enfield forum, but didn't take it seriously. I was shocked at how right they were when I got mine and started experiencing the same thing no matter where I went. I guess it's part of the package.

[BH121869]

I miss the British thumpers and this is a good example. I read an article about the Indian bike rally they have. Riders pay a fee and ride these bikes day after day like an enduro. I'll try to find the article.

[BH121869]

llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll lllllllllllllllll-+My keyboard is going out. The L just stuck down. Ha.
Anyway

The sound ,,,,,,,:D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLIImOUnW7I&feature=related


www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zD9q2oaa1s&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JSV_Ln2a4k&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zD9q2oaa1s&feature=related

http://news.motorbiker.org/blogs.nsf/dx/need-a-new-holiday-destination-try-enduro-india.htm

1000cc Bullet:cool:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kq9jqy8NPE&feature=related

[BillTheCat]

That first Vid :D Rattle Rattle Thunder Clatter Boom Boom Boom :D
Mine got better after I ditched the stock muffler and the air box.:)
But remember Kiddies Loud Valves Save Lives!:p

[slumlord]

I went to a bike shop in SW Ohio that sells off road stuff looking for parts.
The Enfield just froze me in my tracks.It is still a cast iron,and price reduced because of last year's model.

[Lahti35]

They are a fun bike if you like to work on them almost as much as ride 'em! Mine is a 2003 model that I rescued from an neglecting previous owner. Theres alot of great info out there on these bikes. The yahoo Enfield group is top notch.