THIS IS AN ADVENTURE BIKE!
My 500cc Bullet is little changed from its original design of the 1950s. So adaptable was it for rugged terrain, heat, cold and straightforward repairs, that the entire factory was bought from Redditch, England and shipped to Chennai in India in the 1960s. They could see it would be the best machine for the country’s police and army at a time when the British motorcycle industry was being soundly beaten by Japanese imports. Enfields have been made in India ever since with new models popping up from time to time. Now the range has grown to include off-road motorcycles, adventure bikes, cruisers and I'm happy to report that a new Royal Enfield Bullet 350 is a new addition to the range. My 2000 model has drum brakes and a kick-start but new ones have disc brakes and electric starters and meet worldwide noise and emission requirements. In March 2007 when it was seven years old, mine just scraped into the UK in time, before new controls would have meant it not being allowed to come home with me. It would have been like abandoning my best friend.
From Chennai to Bristol, between 2000 and 2007, this wondrous motorbike took me about 40,000 miles (67.500km). That has to be an estimate as I wiped off the speedometer hub drive when I did a sideways pirouette on a muddy road in Nepal and was without one for a while.
My bike has dents and scratches and quirky alterations and odd replacement parts that have been fitted along the way. It would never win a ‘Best Bike’ prize at any show but each knock and idiosyncrasy recalls an event.
I’m not a brilliant mechanic but I can do some basic maintenance after all these years and miles. All I know is that when I’m riding it, I get a happy grin. People get ‘high’ from drugs or aerobic exercise. I just have to ride my Enfield and listen to the engine.
When I first returned to the UK it lived with me for 3 years on a Dutch barge moored in Bristol harbour. Then it resided in an inelegant but dry and secure bin-store, I kept it close to me in my city centre flat. It has now been my only means of transport for twenty-four years and we have enjoyed many, many other adventures together. In 2022, a disc ruptured in my back which meant I was in a wheelchair for a while and unable to ride. In 2023, when I was half-way back through France on my return from the Royal Enfield Owners' Club International Rally in Greece, the disc started to go again and so I organised a lorry to bring me and my bike home. Kick-starting was no longer an option. In April 2024, my bike began semi-retirement at the Moretonhampstead Motor Museum in Devon alongside many other noteworthy vehicles. Do go and visit it.
I know it’s just bits of metal, but the whole is much greater than the sum of its individual parts! Nothing else will ever replace my Bike. The feelings I have for it after all the places it has taken me to see cannot be replicated. I will be getting the new Royal Enfield Bullet 350 but, unless I live and keep riding until I am ninety eight years old, it cannot match the years I have had with my dear March 2000 Enfield Bullet.
From Chennai to Bristol, between 2000 and 2007, this wondrous motorbike took me about 40,000 miles (67.500km). That has to be an estimate as I wiped off the speedometer hub drive when I did a sideways pirouette on a muddy road in Nepal and was without one for a while.
My bike has dents and scratches and quirky alterations and odd replacement parts that have been fitted along the way. It would never win a ‘Best Bike’ prize at any show but each knock and idiosyncrasy recalls an event.
I’m not a brilliant mechanic but I can do some basic maintenance after all these years and miles. All I know is that when I’m riding it, I get a happy grin. People get ‘high’ from drugs or aerobic exercise. I just have to ride my Enfield and listen to the engine.
When I first returned to the UK it lived with me for 3 years on a Dutch barge moored in Bristol harbour. Then it resided in an inelegant but dry and secure bin-store, I kept it close to me in my city centre flat. It has now been my only means of transport for twenty-four years and we have enjoyed many, many other adventures together. In 2022, a disc ruptured in my back which meant I was in a wheelchair for a while and unable to ride. In 2023, when I was half-way back through France on my return from the Royal Enfield Owners' Club International Rally in Greece, the disc started to go again and so I organised a lorry to bring me and my bike home. Kick-starting was no longer an option. In April 2024, my bike began semi-retirement at the Moretonhampstead Motor Museum in Devon alongside many other noteworthy vehicles. Do go and visit it.
I know it’s just bits of metal, but the whole is much greater than the sum of its individual parts! Nothing else will ever replace my Bike. The feelings I have for it after all the places it has taken me to see cannot be replicated. I will be getting the new Royal Enfield Bullet 350 but, unless I live and keep riding until I am ninety eight years old, it cannot match the years I have had with my dear March 2000 Enfield Bullet.
Copyright Leigh Wilkins, Traverse Magazine