The motorcycle that lets you travel through time

These bikes have unusual beauty, balance and sound. Unfortunately, the reality of owning a vintage bike quickly rears its ugly head: they are expensive, particularly if you look for popular machines and are very unreliable by today's mechanical standards.

They also have trouble keeping up with modern stop and go traffic. You may encounter trouble finding parts. And you may need to restore the bike for it to be useful.

Enter Royal Enfield. This is the oldest motorcycle marque in the world, having produced their first bike in 1901 (and quadricycles since 1898!). Like all other British manufacturers, Royal Enfield could not compete with the onslaught of Japanese bikes in the 1960s and 70s and close down its Redditch, UK factory in 1967 and went out of business in 1970. But a subsidiary they had set up in India continued manufacturing what was essentially a 1959 bike, the Royal Enfield Bullet.

Now Royal Enfield in India is launching its first entirely new bike in more than 50 years. The new bike is built up to modern standards of quality and reliability: it has disc brakes, electronic fuel injection, electric start, hidraulic valve lifters and a five speed transmission. Better yet, it is even more retro, mirroring very closely the 1951 Bullet.

The Royal Enfield bikes are available through a network of dealers in the US and there is an extensive list of accessories for customization. The distributor in the US is Classic Motorworks. With 85 miles per gallon fuel economy and a MSRP of $6,395, the Royal Enfield Bullet C5 makes a taste of vintage motorcycling available to everyone. Enjoy it!

Written by Jorge Pullin
jorgepullin@gmail.com
http://myroyalenfields.blogspot.com