Royal Enfield

This blog is on my association with royal enfield bullets spanning over a period of around two and a half decades. As a kid I learnt the word Bullet even before knowing the word bikes, and my love for the bull is since then. Here I have tried to put my knowledge on Royal Enfield Bullets on soft paper through comparisons between bullets with same engine capacity to help you choose a bull for your needs and you will also find detailed reviews of every bull available in the market currently. To make it more interesting I will be adding interesting events, facts and experience on both old and new model bullets.

The Old & New Song Called The Royal Enfield Bullet

The other day, I was driving a Classic 350 - sort of immediately after being on a Old School Bullet of 1980's. I have not been lucky to get my hands on the real parent of Classic 350, so let me tell you how both the ends meet on my old school bullet and the latest Classic 350.

The Old School Bullet with its CI Engine, is always a charm to drive with its beats. The Royal Enfields have come a long way right from interchanging the gears and brakes from right to left and left to right respectively.  We in India follow left side driving system and on today's traffic I think its better to brake on the right foot and lean on the left foot .  Moreover cars or for that matter any regular vehicles in India have the brakes assigned to the right foot and so, a universal composition of braking by right foot is always a welcome thought.

The CI Engines and the UCE Engines, the former always has a nostalgia. Even today you can hear people buying a CI bull in seconds market and spending a fortune for a make over. If you ask me if it is worth it, I would tell you yes.  The first thing I bought in my life was a very loud music player, even though I could use only to a max of half its sound,  so to me, everything makes sense. There are people who are ready to ride at 80kmph for a few hours and then wait for the CI bull to start again and that gang includes me too, but only with a CI bullet. if my car or any other bike does the same, I cannot tolerate.

The UCE Engines are far quiet, and will give you more power because of its Unit Construction concept. There will be only a negligible power loss on transmission when compared to the CI Engines. These engines are very reliable and one can run on it for hours together on good speed and take rest to one's convenience and not the bull's. Its greener than the CI Engines with its better Fuel Efficiency it writes off an old saying "if you think of a Bullet you should not think of Mileage".... On the beats, say 20 years down the lane my kid would say, The beat of my papa's bullet.....

Old School Royal Enfield Bullet

Around for nearly Three Decades with different Avatars and still running strong is the bull I was driving for last four days, I enjoy this bull regularly when I visit my native, a hilly terrain in a rain forest. The silence of the village, the green of the rain forest and the hilly terrain where the sense of direction defy at times by choice I tend to loose my road and end up on a hill top showing me the river ornamenting the nature like a diamond necklace or a old blue metal mine with clear water fill ups and the bull stands proud for showing me there. On the famous Beat, I will update a video Shortly.

If at home I always have a competitor to ride the bull, The Royal Enfield Bullet

My Kid on my old Royal Enfield Bullet

Headlights for my Bullet Electra

Somehow, I started enjoying this waiting period of Royal Enfield, its giving me more time to study it better. Meanwhile I'm not happy with the 35W / 35W headlamp that comes in stock with Electra, the 12V, 14 Ah battery can support a better headlamp like 60W / 55W halogen, since the Classic 350 has this definition in their stock bulbs. 

If RE would have given me an option of 60W / 55W or a higher capacity headlamp, I would have been more than happy to pick it up, since this upgrade is not as simple as it appears to be. Even though the battery has enough energy, the wiring should support and if the wiring supports then we should find a bulb to fits into the stock holder and it should get accommodate in the stock dome. A positive happening of all these also will just get you a better headlight but the output might not be the level u had accepted. So a good upgrade starts in selecting Output Bulbs first and getting everything including the dome, reflector, holder, Wiring changed or altered as necessary to get the desired output and as well not to forget the parts played by relays to save the burn-outs.

Anyways since RE doesn't give me an option of upgrade on Headlights, I will have to work something on it, will be talking to a Service Engineer on this and will post on the same.

Let me put on a page on upgrades and customisation where I will share my knowledge on some technical upgrades and some specific convinence based customisation but don't expect a cosmetic makeover, since I'm a die-hard fan of  Royal Enfield's stock shape and syle.

Some of the bikes that captured my eyes in Swiss

Couple of bikes in Swiss

The Vespa I saw in Swiss

After Booking Experience

While Booking, I was just sure that I would buy a Bullet Electra Twinspark and did so on 14th April with Classic Motorcycles, Chennai, the delivery period was 4 months and I said that I don't mind that and thought that I would forget about it till I receive a call from the dealership, but the happening was just the opposite, I wake up thinking about My Bull and continue the day with a thought on the same, its more like a pregnant women waiting for the delivery date to see the baby. Any spare time I find, I start to improvise my knowledge on the Bull, plan for some accessories and decals or plan a Goa trip on my Bull. I have always been around a Bullet either my friends or some old ones but never really owned one so you know how's the waiting. Along with me my Mom is also excited since its been a her dream too to have a Bullet in the Family.

Now that the Decision part and action part is over, all I can do is waiting, I have heard that I can call the Dealership regularly to get an early delivery, but that doesn't match my attitude so will keep waiting until I receive a call from the showroom. Now I'm Learning on tyre upgrades and tyre brands and its impact on the bull, note that there are not too many choices for 19" tyres, a few brands I had come across were MRF, Dunlop & Avon. Let me see if I can source out a Avon Tyre of size 3.5 x 19 here in Chennai or Bangalore or else from its homeland. Will update the tyre models and some headlight upgrades in my next blog.

Electra Twinsprark & Thunderbird Twinspark

Booking My Bullet Electra Twinspark

If there was no question on affordability Classic 500 would have been booked on the first day of my visit, so take from me guys, if you want to buy a 350cc Bull never test drive a Classic 500....you will just start expecting more from the 350 cc...

I have to drive my bull regularly in city, so I shortlisted Classic 350 & Bullet Electra Twinspark now I had to make a deep comparision for the final chocie... and also had fixed myself to book a Royal Enfield on 14th April.

Classic 350 is a true Classic Design with all the goodies like 

Powerful Headlight 60/55 W halogen compared to Electra's 35/35 W Halogen

Excellent Maneuverability because of its 18" rear wheel compared to Electra which has 3.25x19" tyres at both wheels

On looks front Classic 350 with its design & single seat scores high

With all these in my mind, you will be surprised to learn that I booked a Bullet Electra Twinspark on April 14th at Classic Motorcycles, Chennai, let me tell you why. I visited the showroom again on the day by evening, saw both the models very carefully and I know me well, if I take a Classic 350, I would surely change its seating, for comfort is something which I wouldn't compromise on and I was not sure how it would fit the cosmetic appeal of Classic 350 moreover I always enjoyed the Machismo Type handlebars, so I might change the handle bars even..... so again the appeal comes to play

Whereas Electra Twinspark with its plain look is always better to accommodate modifications and I don't have any problem with its plain looks, yup I have a problem with its headlight power but have studied that the headlights can be upgraded to better ones. On tyres I would have preferred a bit more wider tyre at the rear say something at least like 3.50 x 19" but have decided that will learn a bit more on tyres and will upgrade, if necessary, anyways both the headlight and tyre upgrade will not give more than minor cosmetic change....Hence Booked a Enfield Electra Twinspark

Deciding on a Royal Enfield

When It came to buying a new bike it was Royal Enfield what my heart said, still my head made me check every other option available atlast my hear won and then....

I visited the nearest showroom "Classic Bikes" located at Ambattur Industrial Estate, Chennai. I was recieved by Mr. Sudar, a sales guy with pretty decent knowledge on Bullets I clearly told him that I'm here only for my passion and I want to consider a Royal Enfield for my Next Bike, then came which model of Royal Enfield, offlate I had nice association with Thunderbird TBTS, so I told him "might be thunderbird but I'm not sure"... He suggested me to testdrive all the models so that I get a better picture, So I started with Royal Enfield Electra, it had nice feel of Regular Bullets, then I drove the Thunderbird, as usual the majestic cruiser Feel and then I drove the Classic 500, oops what a bike, it gave a new perception to Royal Enfield, very minimal Vibrations, Slow Thump which I like and the way it pulled me just could never believe it.....

Now my expectations on a Royal Enfield Increased....I felt the Sound of Thunderbird and Electra were more, then he showed the up swept silencer and told me that the stock silencer will give a soft thump, and even arranged to show me that. Then on Vibrations, I felt Thunderbird Vibrated more than Electra & Classic... For this he replied "Sir, Any Royal Enfield Vibrates but we are there and would see to it that it vibrates a lot less" This started instilling confidence in me and I have also heard from Couple of Friends that their Service Centre is does a very good job.

Now I wanted to buy a Classic 500, but my affordability could reach a max to only Classic 350 or Thunderbird TBTS..... So I thought I will try Classic 350 but unfortunately he didn't have one for test drive but he told that Classic 350 will not be like Classic 500 for reasons of extra power and Fuel Injection System, and on personal front he offered me that given some time he would try let me know where I can find a Test Drive,  I later left the showroom stating to see If I could make-up the Financial gap between 350 & 500. Something more which I learnt was the Classic Series seemed more easy to handle in city than Thunderbird TBTS.

At this point my head & heart uninimously decided on a Royal Enfield... Now the question comes which Model.. Thunderbird Twinspark or Classic 350 or Electra Twinspark, all with the same 350cc UCE Engine, with variation in Drive feel and even the tech aspects were almost same but for few factors like Headlamp, Tyres, Handlebars.. which I will eloborate ASAP, on Cosmetic front all the models are totally different... again now Practicality says the brain and Styling says the Heart... Let me see what I do...