5 Greatest Vintage Royal Enfields

[Praveen]

Royal Enfield has become synonymous with the idea of motorcycling. The first motorcycle rolled out from their factory in 1901. And the rest, as they say is history. Here are some of the greatest Royal Enfields built that have etched a place in our hearts.

1912 Royal Enfield Model 180:
The Model 180 was essentially a twin cylinder, 770cc V-twin JAP engine producing a measly 6 hp. That power was transmitted to the rear wheels via a two-speed transmission. The lack of power didn't make much of a difference in the battlefield because it also came with a side car attached and a Vickers machine gun! Talk about deadly firepower!

PC: yesterdays.nl

1932 Royal Enfield Bullet:
The first 'Bullet 350' was born in the year 1932. It featured a four-valve 350cc single cylinder engine paired with a 4 speed gearbox. The bike featured a hard-tail frame, that is, the rear suspension was absent. The seat was sprung to tackle road undulations. The reliability of the bike catapulted it to greatness and the legendary 'Bullet' is almost instantly identifiable to every other Indian! It was so well built that the British Army bought a number of Bullets for dispatch riders. These bikes helped the riders to quickly deliver important messages between headquarters across harsh terrains.

PC: autogallery.org.ru

1948 Royal Enfield 'Flying Flea'
Royal Enfield WD/RE, better known as the 'Flying Flea' was designed to be dropped by a parachute or a glider. Its light frame, coupled with a tiny two stroke 125cc engine with four speed transmission made the bike very flickable in tough battle situations. True to its name, the bike weighed just around 59 kg, two feet wide and only 6 feet long and also had a good top speed of around 72 kmph!

PC: yesterdays.nl

1965 Royal Enfield Continental GT

Christened as 'Britain's Fastest 250', the Royal Enfield Continental GT had every reason to deserve that title. It was the fastest, lightest and arguably the best looking Royal Enfield available in the UK at that time. This was the time where cafes became quite popular among young people and riders used to race from one cafe to another, thereby giving rise to the concept of cafe racing. The continental GT produced 21 bhp of power from its 250cc powerplant and lapped the Silverstone race track at an average speed of 113 kph! With clip-on bars, racy petrol tank, the bike indeed had the show to match with the go.
PC: vintagebike.co.uk

1968 Royal Enfield Interceptor
Long before Triumph's Bonneville series became cool in India, Royal Enfield used to make equally amazing bikes in the form of 'Interceptor' series. Powered by an air-cooled parallel twin 736cc engine, the Interceptor offered blistering performance which rivaled even the tech-laden Japanese bikes of late 60's and 70's. The Interceptor was capable of doing a sub-13 second quarter mile run and topped out at more than 175 kph! Apparently, the demand was so much that Royal Enfield was not able to meet them and its rivals caught up with changing technologies which ended up being the final nail in the coffin.

PC: motorcycleclassics.com

Citations: motorcycleclassics.com, yesterdays.nl, wikipedia, royalenfield.com, vintagebike.co.uk

[Roshun]

How I wish Royal Enfield would re-introduce the Interceptor. It seems like the ideal bike to take on the likes of Harley's entry-range - the Street 750, Iron 883, 48 etc. We know that Royal Enfield has been testing a 750 cc parallel twin and it would be awesome if that engine comes out in a bike like the Interceptor. It would be the ideal competitor to Triumph's Bonneville and at probably half the price!
Take a look at this parallel twin 750 spotted a year ago (Image: Bikeportal):

The LS410 engine aside, Royal Enfield has not had any breakthrough engine as such in recent times. The cast iron 350 and 500 cc engines continued way into the late 2000s, until these two were revamped with the UCE - unitary construction engine - which basically got rid of some of the niggles in the cast iron engines, especially oil leaks and of course better emissions compliance. And yes, the 500 UCE was also fuel injected, while the others continue to be carburetted. In between, in the late 90s, RE briefly introduced the AVL designed 350 and 535 engines on their bikes for a couple of years, but they had to stop them owing to emission norms.
So, if they do develop a 750 parallel twin, it will be their best effort yet, and one that will have long lines of bikers waiting at their showroom doors!

[Mr. Fox]

I wonder if any of you remember this video that came out a few years ago. A guy name Aniket in the US combined two 350 cc Royal Enfield engines together in a 90 degree V to get a 700cc twin. He called his invention "The Musket". Check out this video of him testing his bike:

I love the sound of that twin. I believe he also developed a 998 cc twin (putting two 500 cc engines together). Why doesn't RE work on something like that? Easy development I'm sure.

[Praveen]

There's a guy in Australia, Paul Carberry, who used to make custom V-twin Royal Enfields. He recently shut shop in Australia and is planning to move to India and set up his base here. A Bhilai- based businessman has also invested in his company. His bikes have two 500cc AVL engines mated in the form of a 55 degree V-Twin. Although it looks good, it pushes out only around 50 hp and is expected to cost around 7 lakh in India. At that price point, a bike with this paltry power cannot be expected to do well in the market. Or at least, that is what I feel. Here are some pics from Fuel Magazine: