Learn me: Royal Enfield (newish ones)

I was watching TV last night and "How It's Made" was on. They were manufacturing sidecars for this old looking bike. Eventually, I saw they were Royal Enfields. I have seen exactly ONE in the wild ever. They seem pretty cool if you like nostalgic motorcycling. I want a Bullet C5 Military in Battle Green something fierce. I know the old "iron barrel" style engines had issues but the new ones are EFI. Sure its only a 500cc aircooled thumper and it weighs 412lbs but the seat height is only 28.1 inches.

Does anybody have any experiences with these?

ADV rider thread

Someone here had one lemon lawed IIRC

Paging Lugnut to the white courtesy phone.

For the same money, you'll get more bike from Moto Guzzi or Triumph if you're retro-bike shopping.

I like the Enfield a lot but with 28hp, it's a bit lacking.

Our homebrew moto-rag up here in Canada just reviewed the Royal Enfield Continental GT which is the ready-made cafe racer and the hottest engine in the fleet and they found it a bit lacking, even for a retro bike.

It's cool but underpowered for any sort of hooliganism that the look may imply.

Shawn

Yeah, I agree it is a bit underpowered. I did compare it to some other retro-bikes. The MG V7 Stone starts at $8500 and the Triumph Bonneville starts at $7900. The RE C5 Military is $5500.

I dunno. I have a soft spot for retro bikes. I have a major want for a Ural Patrol T but not for $13k. That is waaaaay to much money. $5500 is easier to swallow and guarantees an adventure whether you are riding 5 or 500 miles (it is a 50 year old British design made in India ).

They're cheaper in the USA!

Up here in Canuckistan, that's a $6500 bike.

Urals are junk from everything I've heard. Some folks seem to love them but unplated hardware that rusts after one trip in the rain is a huge deal breaker on a $13,000 bike.

Even worse when it's a Russian copy of a 50 year-old BMW.

Shawn

There seems to be a cult following for the Urals. They are pretty unique with 2wd. But they are poorly made, have almost zero dealership network, heavy, slow and poorly made. Some people have no issues while some have nothing but problems.

I liked them to a motorcycle equivalent to the Bi-Turbo

But damn if I don't want one

There is an American motorcycle company that has made a lot of money off of the same qualities.

I don't get it either.

stanger_missle wrote: There seems to be a cult following. Heavy, slow and poorly made. Some people have no issues while some have nothing but problems.

I was very close 15 years ago to becoming a Ural dealer. Every other dealer I talked close to the same thing... Great bikes BUT the hardware sucks, 98% of the warranty work is from faulty bolts. One dealer went as far as to say it's cheaper to disassemble and replace the hardware before giving it to the customer.

One the original post the Enfield is nice but the older 50-60 units built in the UK were far better units.

Trans_Maro wrote: There is an American motorcycle company that has made a lot of money off of the same qualities. I don't get it either.

stanger_missle wrote: There seems to be a cult following. Heavy, slow and poorly made. Some people have no issues while some have nothing but problems.

Don't you have one of those shakey, heavy 'Murican bikes?

I know it's irrational but I really, really love mine. I have a few other bikes, all of them are superior in nearly every way ('81 CM200T, '01 CBR600F4i, '94 K75, '83 XL600R) but I just can't stay off of the Bullet.

The joy and the pain of having a niche bike from a small manufacturer is that they aren't everywhere. Mine was gone under warranty for nearly 4 months last year because I had a head gasket issue from mile 1 that led to some sort of other oiling problem, maybe a ring problem too, and it ended up devoid of lubrication and seized up on the side of the road. Now those parts are available everywhere in the world and if I was just paying for the repair myself I would have gone with an Ace Firebolt bottom end and enjoyed the added reliability and performance. The thing is, it was a warranty repair so they will only warranty it through factory parts and there was a problem getting the new crankshaft, and then when it came the part had changed somewhere during the production run and required a couple of different supporting parts, which then took even longer to get... Four months.

Now, keeping in mind that it was gone for four months of the year I've had it, I have still clocked 3,000 miles on mine. I adore it. People love seeing it, they'll ask a billion questions about it. It's fun to ride. Definitely makes me feel cool like Steve McQueen when I ride it. :)

There's a bajillion accessories for it. You can cruiserize it, cafeize it, vintage raceize it, scramblerize it... anything you can imagine.

I love love love it. My local dealer has the new Continental GT and even after the bad experience I had with that warranty repair (and the distributor refused to extend my warranty for the time that it was waiting for parts) I would still absolutely buy it. I am smitten. I love the thing.

Mine is an '08, bought last year out of the crate, 3mi on it. It's a Classic Sixty-5 Deluxe, so it has the chrome tank and the long two-place seat.

Yamaha is importing the SR400 into the US - might be worth looking at if the OP is looking for a slightly more problem free bike with classic looks that doesn't carry the name "Royal Oilfield" for a reason.

Nope.

I've got three nice, boring Hondas.

They're so boring, I open the garage door, check the bike, push start, close the door and go for a ride.

I love boring motorcycles.

I ride with a guy who has an "exciting" Norton. Half the time he arrives on his wife's boring Honda when he was planning on bringing the Norton.

Shawn

singleslammer wrote:

Trans_Maro wrote: There is an American motorcycle company that has made a lot of money off of the same qualities. I don't get it either.

stanger_missle wrote: There seems to be a cult following. Heavy, slow and poorly made. Some people have no issues while some have nothing but problems.

Don't you have one of those shakey, heavy 'Murican bikes?

I read through the entire "What did you do to your Royal Enfield today?" thread at www.enfieldmotorcycles.com (all 284 pages).

Most of the posts followed this format: "The weather was nice so I hopped on the RE for a ride. I stopped for gas and found out that X part fell off then found 6 loose bolts. I was wondering what was making that rattling sound. Then on the way home, the bike died. I pulled the gas tank, seat and headlight off (with nothing more than a pair of pliers) and found 3 shorted wires. I fixed that some electrical tape and bailing wire. I stopped at the store for milk and answered 10,000 questions from the crowd that gathered around my bike. As I was leaving the store, a 300lb dude on a scooter wanted to race. I lost. All in all, it was a good day. I love my 2014 RE C5."

Sure, you can get a super-reliable Honda but what fun would that be? The newer REs are fuel injected. Yeah, there still are some problem areas but I just can't get over the vintage British look and the sound of a big thumper. I think there is something wrong with me haha.

Don't take that as me poo-poo-ing RE bikes, I've been looking at one for a bit as well.

It would just be a coffee-shop, around-town bike for me, I doubt I would feel good about going on a 300 mile day trip with one. Not to mention maintaining highway speed.

My boring bike will let me leave town for as long a trip as I would want to put on it without any fear of breaking.

The group I ride with is made up of folks on classic bikes, my '83 CX and GL 650's are some of the newest bikes, only one guy brings a Royal Enfield but it has a Hillman Imp 4-cylinder and Norton transmission installed. One guy is on a 1946 Indian Chief and he never seems to break down.

No-one shows up with bikes made in India or Russia for a long trip anywhere :)