[farhadtarapore]

Originally Posted by apachelongbow

All this 'soulful' business may well die out after the 400cc and 750cc engines are launched. As is we all have very little personal time left, and spending a portion of that time pandering to whims of the machine, or some mechanic in oily garages is not a productive way of achieving work life balance. My grouse with RE is they need to get their product quality together. Rusting screws, decaying rubbers, damaged chrome and paint chipping doesn't cut it in today's time especially when you like charging premium for your 'old world charm'
I am very happy with the way RE is moving towards modern biking. However they must also retain the largish customer base who love their thump so to speak, and must not get rid of their USP, their retro modern machines.
This is my personal opinion and I mean no harm to anyone who loves the old world bullet charm.

Totally agree. I bought the TB 500 due to the reliability and comfortable riding position. I have not "named" it anything. Not a fan of noise making bullets nor do I associate or understand the "character" or "soul" of a bike (??). And I don't like things going wrong with it either. I prefer to enjoy the ride than enjoy getting stranded in the middle of nowhere with a broken bike.
I mean, seriously, instead of spending so much time caring after a bike, would be far better to show that care to another human being. They'll thank you for it unlike the bike, which may probably come up with some other problem. No offence.

[ebonho]

Its a personal experience and observation of mine. That almost all (if not cent percent all) "noise making Bullets" are not Bullets at all. They are RE bikes their owners are trying desperately to make sound like Bullets.

They get the decibels. But the difference between noise and music is everything other than just the decibels.

Standard disclaimers apply here as well. No offense to anybody living or imaginary, past present or future implied.

[drdeepudev]

Originally Posted by ebonho

Its a personal experience and observation of mine. That almost all (if not cent percent all) "noise making Bullets" are not Bullets at all. They are RE bikes their owners are trying desperately to make sound like Bullets.

I believe I too belong to this school of thought. You should not call a classic or a thunderbird, the bullet.

Some times, I've seen people desperately trying to replicate that thumb of a CI bullet without much success.

My opinion is let classics be classics and thunderbirds be thunderbird. Old bullets have a character of its own, which the owners would know.

[MM440]

The soul of the ENFIELD is steeped in sadism born out of the craving need to punish people in the form of an sorry excuse of a bike. Trust me whether it is the Lightning 535, there old Oilfield 350s et all. None of the bikes had what was needed. RELIABILITY.
No sir, if you wanted reliability you bought a Jap machine, if you had lost your marbles or were on the verge of doing so, you simply bought an old badly made replica of a 30s designed derivative of the G model bullets. Having ridden the G model with it's rigid rear suspension, the meteor with it's 700cc twin cylinder thump, the numerous 350 oilfields, so called as they all leak oil no matter what you do. After all there is only so much a poorly engineered piece of cork or leather can do to make it oil tight.
The bike I did appreciate among these stuck up mules of an excuse to motorcycling was the Lightning 535, alas the love affair was short lived, the chaps at ENFIELD simply stopped supplying spares for the engine . Especially the bigger engine, piston and cylinder which were only the striking features of an otherwise dull motorbike.
And before you throw brick bats at me defending the indefensible mediocrity of this relic from the past. I would like to point out that I own a BULLET too, one I call SAAND(BULL). That name reminds me to be kind to dumb bikes which have managed to exist so long that they have gathered mind boggling support in spite of their mind numbing mediocrity.
Cheers

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by MM440

I would like to point out that I own a BULLET too, one I call SAAND(BULL).

I feel for you man.

Even thought of selling Saand to someone else and buying one of them new UCEs?

I hear tell they are really reliable and much improved over these old school sorry replicas.

Fill it, shut it, forget it type of bikes. I don't mean forgetting the bike itself here of course .....

[MM440]

Originally Posted by ebonho

I feel for you man.

Even thought of selling Saand to someone else and buying one of them new UCEs?

I hear tell they are really reliable and much improved over these old school sorry replicas.

Fill it, shut it, forget it type of bikes. I don't mean forgetting the bike itself here of course .....

The Saand will remain as a testimony to the mule headed approach to motorcycling and the successful way in which ROYAL ENFIELD exploited the gluttony for punishment that we Indian bikers had when it came to putting up with poorly engineered sad excuses of bikes. Surely the new crop are neither enticing nor putting out power which machines with far less capacity are doing.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by MM440

The Saand will remain as a testimony to the mule headed approach to motorcycling and the successful way in which ROYAL ENFIELD exploited the gluttony for punishment that we Indian bikers had when it came to putting up with poorly engineered sad excuses of bikes. Surely the new crop are neither enticing nor putting out power which machines with far less capacity are doing.

You know there are two types of old Bulleteers.

Those who sold their Bullets and picked up better non-RE bikes.

And those that kept their old Bullets.

The second category are further divided into two sub categories.

Those that kept their old Bullets but got better non-RE bikes.

And those that kept going back to RE for more.

P.S. I notice that you employed the past tense when speaking about exploitation and gluttony.

[drdeepudev]

Originally Posted by ebonho

You know there are two types of old Bulleteers.


And those that kept going back to RE for more.

I'm one among them. After 2 hondas and one Yamaha, I went back to Royal Enfield and got myself a thunderbird. 350.

Rightly pointed out that, even the new machines are not producing enough power for their capacity, the feeling of riding an Enfield is there. But, its hard to explain that feeling. The new UCE bikes like their predecessors are not trouble free, but somehow, we take that plunge due to that unexplainable feeling that I mentioned.

They still rattle, they still leak and sometimes it will make you frustrated, but i believe it happens with nearly, almost all the bikes out there.( I'm aware that there are better built bikes for the money you spent, but, you know, that feeling I was talking about).

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by drdeepudev

I'm one among them. After 2 hondas and one Yamaha, I went back to Royal Enfield and got myself a thunderbird. 350.

Rightly pointed out that, even the new machines are not producing enough power for their capacity, the feeling of riding an Enfield is there. But, its hard to explain that feeling. The new UCE bikes like their predecessors are not trouble free, but somehow, we take that plunge due to that unexplainable feeling that I mentioned.

They still rattle, they still leak and sometimes it will make you frustrated, but i believe it happens with nearly, almost all the bikes out there.( I'm aware that there are better built bikes for the money you spent, but, you know, that feeling I was talking about).

Actually technically you are a new Bulleteer, because the previous "senior Bullet" was already in the family, probably your dad's?

I say this because my son is now 18 and going to ride a bike. He may very well want a Bullet, and I'd prefer he have his own, so that Doppie remains a one-man Bullet.

[MM440]

Originally Posted by drdeepudev

I'm one among them. After 2 hondas and one Yamaha, I went back to Royal Enfield and got myself a thunderbird. 350.

Rightly pointed out that, even the new machines are not producing enough power for their capacity, the feeling of riding an Enfield is there. But, its hard to explain that feeling. The new UCE bikes like their predecessors are not trouble free, but somehow, we take that plunge due to that unexplainable feeling that I mentioned.

They still rattle, they still leak and sometimes it will make you frustrated, but i believe it happens with nearly, almost all the bikes out there.( I'm aware that there are better built bikes for the money you spent, but, you know, that feeling I was talking about).

You will get a lot more frustrated, let down and not from mention broken down in an oil field than any other bike. Even a 60 year old contemporary of the oil fields will be more reliable from an engineering point of view. I.E. Triumphs, BSA, NORTON, AJS, MATCHLESS, SUNBEAMS so on and so forth. A guy who likes to ride the bullet rides it for the hawa or poser attitude, for the motorcycle as a machine is nothing to ride or write home about.
The bullet's survival has more to do with boardroom decisions and marketing than with the product itself. The feeling you alluded to us the result, the acceptance of a bad product through marketing pushes over time. Bikes like the Norton's and triumphs were legends, the bullet was a poser then and is a poser now.
Cheers

[MM440]

Originally Posted by ebonho

Actually technically you are a new Bulleteer, because the previous "senior Bullet" was already in the family, probably your dad's?

I say this because my son is now 18 and going to ride a bike. He may very well want a Bullet, and I'd prefer he have his own, so that Doppie remains a one-man Bullet.

Let me assure you that i am not new bulleteer, having rebuilt Saand myself and a few BSAs and Triumphs prior. Nothing can mask the shortcoming of a bad product like good customer brainwashing.
Cheers

[gopalmg]

@drdeepudev in all enfields the vibes start only after crossing the 100kmph mark. For me, on a long distance ride 80-100 is the ideal speed but after a few hours in the saddle, when the mind wanders and I get a brain freeze, that's when I rev the bike to over 100 ad after spending some time with the vibes post 110 kmph I get back to being monk like and ride in my comfort zone again.

[dustom_99]

My father's 350 std 1983 was passed on to me in year 2000 or so after school, in 2003 she got new paint job and barrel /piston kit, clutch plates and other titbits. at that point it must have covered some 60k km , may be more .
It has some very old and fond memories attached to it of me as a kid riding on kuccha pukka roads of some of the finest north indian forests, so i never wanted any other bike at all when I was old enough to ride.
Since then i was on it almost everyday till 2009, when i bought myself a pulsar 200.
Thereafter riding time started getting shared between these two bikes and from 2012 onwards bullet was completely ignored and she stood there behind a wall open to elements.
Just last month I had good fortune of having some spare time on a sunday and decided to find out how has she been all this while.

Both wheels were found burried 4 inches inside ground , deflated , seat form eaten away , headlight hanging , almost whole bike had rusted , inside of fuel tank was so full of rust that I and my close friend decided to use it as a Target for a few revolver rounds.

After that mayhem we poured some petrol onto a totally stuck carb and tried to move the slide with fingers,hooked up an inverter battery .

That stupid thing Fired up on 4th damn kick. Without engine oil and without even cleaning the point or plug.

Poor engineering from world war 2 simply refuses to die .

(We had to do some quick fix to wiring harness)

[MM440]

Originally Posted by gopalmg

@drdeepudev in all enfields the vibes start only after crossing the 100kmph mark. For me, on a long distance ride 80-100 is the ideal speed but after a few hours in the saddle, when the mind wanders and I get a brain freeze, that's when I rev the bike to over 100 ad after spending some time with the vibes post 110 kmph I get back to being monk like and ride in my comfort zone again.

Most wonderfully described, that is soul of the ROYAL ENFIELD, in a nut shell: mind numbing mediocrity. A trance like acceptance of the inevitable.
Cheers

[MM440]

Originally Posted by dustom_99

My father's 350 std 1983 was passed on to me in year 2000 or so after school, in 2003 she got new paint job and barrel /piston kit, clutch plates and other titbits. at that point it must have covered some 60k km , may be more .
It has some very old and fond memories attached to it of me as a kid riding on kuccha pukka roads of some of the finest north indian forests, so i never wanted any other bike at all when I was old enough to ride.
Since then i was on it almost everyday till 2009, when i bought myself a pulsar 200.
Thereafter riding time started getting shared between these two bikes and from 2012 onwards bullet was completely ignored and she stood there behind a wall open to elements.
Just last month I had good fortune of having some spare time on a sunday and decided to find out how has she been all this while.

Both wheels were found burried 4 inches inside ground , deflated , seat form eaten away , headlight hanging , almost whole bike had rusted , inside of fuel tank was so full of rust that I and my close friend decided to use it as a Target for a few revolver rounds.

After that mayhem we poured some petrol onto a totally stuck carb and tried to move the slide with fingers,hooked up an inverter battery .

That stupid thing Fired up on 4th damn kick. Without engine oil and without even cleaning the point or plug.

Poor engineering from world war 2 simply refuses to die .

(We had to do some quick fix to wiring harness)

It is pre world war engineering, all British bikes had shared electrics i.e Lucas. So their magnetos were the same. Your bike being a 83 would have the delco from TVS. So you pumped bullets into your dead bullet hope it was a licensed one the revolver.