Hitchcocks have a great range of spare parts and upgrades, if you get an Enfield, open an account with them. (including teh rigt/left shift conversion kit for £130 )

despite the very old information that keeps getting put out here Enfield has since 1992 been making steady progress.
First they installed an electric start.. They did the job properly and not just kludge one onto the existing engine casing. they made moulds for a new crankcase. At that same time they beefed up the crakcase and the entire bottom end. So an electric start Enfield has a stronger bottom end than a non electric.
They then got Cranfield university to design a new five speed gearbox. Note the bike has separate engine, gearbox and primary drive casings which make repairs simpler. This gearbox is extensively used by people making diesel bikes and I have never heard of a failure of this box. A big plus to me is it can easily be changed from Right to left hand shift ( as can the whole bike) and the gearbox is enjoyable to use.
Then upcoming EPA and euro regs meant that the old 1949 engine (despite the new crankcase assembly) would not be able to comply after 2006 so in 2002 they got AVL systems of Austria to design a new engine for them that would meet all epa requirements ( including India which are the toughest)
It had to look retro, and physically fit in the existing bikes.
The engine they built is much better than the old engine and is designed to run reliably and continuously at 44 hp. Considering they get delivered with 25-30 something hp (depending on model) it just has to be reliable. The only point to watch is it now takes 6000 miles or more before the nicasil barrel has really bedded down and before you start getting maximum performance. ( same as BMW, not surprising as the barrels and cranks are made in teh same factory in India) When ridden quietly ( running in) many have reported 100mpg or more. The factory cites 80mpg for normal usage. The 14.5 litre tank can be set aside and an 18 or 20 litre one installed for less than £200 giving a very useful range. The big thing with these bikes is they are very cheap to maintain, like their predecessors.
There are a number of UK companies now importing refurbished pre 1970 bikes for teh UK market, the attraction is No Road tax for old bikes. many of which have been fitted with a new diesel engine (whole package about £2500) giving 150-200 mpg, very cheap biking and should you run short of fuel a litre or so of fresh cooking oil will work quite happily. From this you can see many Enfields are still in service after 40 years working in India.

I had an 350 Enfield in the early 60's which I used for offroad riding. Their light weight and very tractable engine will allow you to go anywhere not just off tarmac, but completely off any kind of road. The lean burn bikes will cope with motorways but that is not their forte. They are happier on lesser roads..In effect they are completely opposite to my BMW, that is only happy on motorways and is a pig everywhere else. basically the Enfield is better on motorways then the BMW is off motorways. (if that makes sense)

Thanks for that very informative reply OldBMW. Food for thought there!

Could the RE be the definitive bike of this thread?

For anyone who is following this RE discussion, this is the Hitchcocks mentioned:-
Hitchcocks Motorcycles -- Royal Enfield and Amal Parts and Kits

I've looked at the UK Importers webpages as well; all very interesting about what they bring into the UK.

ps I had not realised that Beemer are getting parts from India (did I read that right??) - no reason why not, India is a rising world trade power according to the TV pundits.

Cheers,

India has one of the biggest and most modern foundries in the world. Specialising in high quality components for BMW, Mercedes, and many others.

India and China are both growing economies. But, they are growing differently.
China's growth is largely Communist centrally organised building huge modern factories equipped with modern tools to produce product that they can sell for foreign currency using cheap labour as their 'edge'. esssentially it is value adding to their sales of raw materials and not subject to normal rules of accountancy in trade. IE it is the Government looking for foreign currency.

India being the worlds largest democracy has growth by private entrepaneurs large and small looking to make money. They have grasped the fact that the lucrative western market will pay for quality product, and are rising to the challenge. It is a learning experience for some still. However India has a much more divergent range of product available wherever they can turn local skills into a marketable product they try to improve the product to meet western standards because of increased profits. This accounts for the domestic Indian Enfields developement being static from 1955 until Eicher bought them in about 1992.
From then the bike has steadily been improved to suit western markets, whilst retaining the old model for domestic sales although both are available in India, and some other markets (eg Nepal).

May I just add that although Enfields are charming bikes, they are unreliable , agricultural bags of shit.

We're going to start franchising them after selling a few used ones. They are cheap but after putting a few through our workshop, i wouldnt trust one for a trip to the pub, let alone around the world..

Sorry !! :(

No sense of adventure perhaps?

Anyway, thanks for that contribution to the discussion; as ever on the HUBB, there are a few others who would disagree and who have a higher opinion of the RE:-

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...=Royal+Enfield

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/tst...nfieldtravels/

Probably more, but I am still reading about such things.

ps The Kawasaki KLE is cheaper as far as I can see from research to date.

It must come as a tremendous relief then that you will be leaving and won't have to deal with selling them .

Why do people refer to older technology as agricultural ?
With GPS mapping of fields and computer controlled fertiliser application ,etc ,etc ,things have moved on a pace." Agricultural" is no longer a fitting description .

I loved my 1955 350 but it was made in Redditch and had British metallurgy , it was extremely reliable until I started experimenting with alternative fuels .
They don't run very well or for very long on paraffin !
But that was many years ago , would I have another ?
Yes ,but there aren't many in Canada [none since '95 ] .
Richard Meyer is taking one around the world now ,see his blog .I think it's doing very well for an old bike and carrying a pillion too!

????????????
 

Hey Dodger, is that ebon void ever going to become ebony in colour??!

Another positive comment from this thread a while back; except some folk say that 100mpg can be achieved - I guess you have to go easy on the throttle.

Hey ,I dunno really , it was Les Dawson that said it and he's been dead for a few years now [ sadly] .

Well , I checked and ebon is an adjective and describes the dark colour of ebony wood .
Les Dawson was very pedantic about the use of English .

Dave, if you've got spanners [and know how to use them] you will be fine on a well prepped Enfield .
However, if you want a characterless sewing machine that ,normally, needs little maintenance [ until some technologically non servicable part goes bang] then buy Japanese .
But there are exceptions [ read about bodged and mangled XTs in S America ].
And some Japanese thumpers are quite nice too [DRs] .

Part of the joy of biking is listening to the engine work ,feeling the bike react to the road,watching the scenery go by and being part of it all .
If Enfield made a twin I would "have" to have one !
[Of ebon pigmentation by necessity .]

Many thanks for that! I should have checked the dictionary before commenting and it is very pleasant to learn something new.

There was a TV programme a few weeks back, over here, whereby Les D produced his own obituary - very, very amusing of course.

:offtopic:

I would love to see it , maybe it will be on Youtube one day .
Good luck with the bike hunting .

Thanks.

Spanners: yes, I do own a few and I am always willing to learn new tricks.

Jap bikes: I have two at present. I have had up to 5 bikes in my garage, not counting the push bikes, but it is a little empty at present.

XTs: It was the constant litany of problems on that tech forum that got me wondering if
a. it was meant to be only for XTs, in perpetuity
b. if any other Yam was being ridden by those who read the HUBB

"If Enfield made a twin" surely equates to a Triumph Bonnie?

Overall, I may, one day, have a single, a twin (V or parallel), a triple (looking at the Benelli Tre K yesterday, just for interest sake) and an inline 4 cyl.
Of course, I can't explain why I should (and I might consider ditching the inline 4 - perhaps for a cbx 6 cyl?)
I'm not bidding on this one though. :rolleyes2:

Honda CBX1000Z CBX 1000 CBX1000 1978 Tokyo Z twin shock - eBay Honda, Motorcycles Scooters, Cars, Parts Vehicles (end time 24-Sep-07 15:58:01 BST)

" -----"If Enfield made a twin" surely equates to a Triumph Bonnie?" ----

I was never really keen on the Triumphs in my youth and the new Bonnies are ,well OK , but new tech and heavy .I went to Vancouver bike show last year just to sit on a Scrambler , I was very disappointed .

Other Yams ? Bill Ryder and myself have Yamaha twins .[XS and TX 650s] By no means perfect but they have bags of potential if you want to do some modifications .Low tech with strong engines .

If I had a CBX I would always be gritting my teeth and anticipating expensive grinding noises .I rode a Benelli 6 once , lovely machine ,nicely styled [ unlike the CBX ] and a real pleasure to ride .

I always had Triumphs as road bikes and loved them, the introduction of the new Bonnie is what brought me back to them, but they were a very disappointing product. More like the real thing was teh Kawasaki w 650.
Sadly they all have left hand gearshifts and after 15k on teh BMW I still hate that. So in order to get a right hand gearshift bike I have three choices.
1969 or 1970 Triumph Trophy tr6 or
1973 on Triumph Daytona or
new lean Burn enfield Electra.

I wonder what time and chance will eventually find me.

Incidentally if you want an Enfield twin, Hitcocks recently took delivery of a container load of them returned from Canada. They also have the parts to refurbish them. They are torque monsters as they are esssentially two 350cc singles with the same long stroke. When Triumph bit the dust in 1983, Enfield tried to buy teh motorcycle business, but Bloors offer for the whole lot was better. Just imagine if Enfield had kept on making real Triumphs :)

Well, what do you know!!
 

This weeks edition of the UKs Motorcycle News (newsprint version and maybe not in the online stuff) has a 3 page write up about the bullet. It is based on chugging around the south of England on the "byways", staying off the main roads and doing about 50-60 mph. All of this written by a guy who also, and more usually, reports on racing!

The bike comes out of it well, doing over a 1000 miles in a week carrying a pillion & luggage, with no oil used but there is no mention of mpg achieved - a significant omission.

Makes a change for that paper to write so much about;
1. Touring.
2. "Old-fashioned" slow bikes.
:thumbup1:

There's a link in the MCN; still does not say much about the bike, but you can hear it at least:-
Video: The back roads of Britain by Bullet - Motorcycle News - MCN

RE Bullet workshop manual
 

I've just found an online workshop manual for the bullet, should anyone need it! :rolleyes2:

Royal Enfield Bullet Workshop Manual

Regarding earlier discussions of oil supply systems for bikes, it seems that the 500cc has a dry sump arrangement with separate supplies for the gearbox, clutch and engine - how definitive is that?!!