Comments on: Royal Enfield Motorcycles Open House

By: Pravin Dave

Pravin Dave — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 17:19:59 +0000

The Royal Enfield Bullet Is a Classic Bike..Its The oldest selling Brand on Earth today and It will continue to sell…Both the 350cc And The 500cc have Good Power and Great Torque..The Torque Makes up for the Less power..And the great thing is The Bullet Has Great Power to weight and Power to torque ratios so at high speeds it can easily overtake an Suv or An Muv…It has Great Comfort and reliablity.My Uncle’s Bullet 350cc is more than25 years old and going great guns..Comparing this bike to todays modern Bikes Is not good Because this bike has got the technology of the 50s But still It stands out as one of the Best bikes even if you compare it with the bikes of today…That is why it is the oldest selling brand..IT is the best bike..I like both The 350cc And the 500cc Royal Enfields..and It also Gives A Very good Milage Compared to the bike in its Segments..Only A Strong And Brave Hearted Man Can Ride An Royal Enfield

By: Dan Luoma

Dan Luoma — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 03:15:48 +0000

I get a kick out of people commenting about Enfields not being comparable to their more modern competition. That’s exactly why they are selling. Why do you think Triumph is having such great success with their classic Bonneville line? I ride on roads with speed limits, and in normal traffic conditions, I get where I’m going just as quick as any other bike on the road. And, when I need a valve adjustement, I don’t go to the dealer. I take out two wrenches and do it myself in less time than an oil change. I DID put my bike up against newer Jap models. Not in a drag race, but while sitting in a parking lot. Guess what? The Jap riders were all gathered aroung the Enfield. When we rode together after that, two of the monster hondas had machanical problems, but not the Enfield. Not too bad for five grand.

By: aaron

aaron — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 18:06:17 +0000

oh – to clarify – yes, I know the kit is “aftermarket”. but to be featured parallel to factory bikes on the uk and usa distributers sites indicates awareness and involvement on their part. history lesson? the only production laverda model to become immortal was the jota. the first jota was an aftermarket special cooked up by a UK dealership. if laverda hadn’t picked up on it, today the triple would be regarded as a heavy torquey bike that was only produced for half a decade…and laverda motorcycles (in its first form) may not have survived as long as it did.

By: aaron

aaron — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 17:51:34 +0000

I think the history lesson I refer to is “sell the customer what he wants” – funny that as the british makes were dying (with huge funding behind them) small companies like dunstall and rickman were able to survive by essentially selling people nortons and triumphs…their designs weren’t groundbreaking, market research could be done by taking a drive to the track or the ace cafe.

are enfields reliable because of a concentrated effort to improve the product and keep pace with the leaders in the field? more likely that after 40years of production the wrinkles are ironed out, and modern materials have solved some problems. Care to put a showroom fresh enfield against a colorado norton works interstate or one of dreer’s bikes? a well sorted freshly rebuilt britbike is much better than an original, most likely due to being built by someone who cares – see AMF era harleys for details….I would think a large measure of their success is due to sitting around for 40 years before returning as “retro”.

not that I hate the bike. I want one, just not as delivered (well, maybe the classic 500 in black, as delivered by fritz egli… “swiss finish” indeed!) and I’m suprised that they recognise the appeal of the cafe style, and sell a cafe conversion, but don’t even offer a small run of cafe bikes (or the trials versions) without requiring the customer to buy 2 tanks, 2 seats, 2 bars, labour charges…

and the final response – regarding building “modern bikes” – the spirit is the same, the lean burn engine would have not looked too out of place in a 50′s privateer TT bike. and if you were given the choice of a lean burn bullet or no bullet, what would you choose? no way the old engines could continue to be sold in the U.K. or north america with its emissions…

By: kneeslider

kneeslider — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 11:30:06 +0000

Like Earl said, they already had a history lesson when the original British company died and the Indian production carried on.

Actually, I think going forward with a newer design may not be their best move. The Bullet is a continuing production of the 1955 Bullet, giving people a chance to have a reliable, new, vintage bike. If they want to expand, why not build an example of one of the old Royal Enfield twins? Fill out their line with more examples from the original Royal Enfield company.

Royal Enfield makes a mistake if they start building modern bikes, then they quite rightly get compared to every other company building modern bikes and they would be in a bad spot.