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-   -   Pride and Excitment of Battle field - Desert Storm (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motorbikes/112125-pride-excitment-battle-field-desert-storm.html)

Hi All,

This thread will be dedicated to RE desert Storm. I will be writing a short initial Impressions. PICS and others details to follow.

Little Background. Please pardon me for the post.

Grown up as army person's son, and dad riding a army bullet. this was my first ride on bike. My dad has lot of memories behind bullet which i'm not the right person to speak upon. Though i had little knowledge about Two wheelers, i have grown up with many of them.

Love for royal enfield started when my friend bought new RE electra. Since then was happy with 1999 RX135 bought from showroom. it served me good 10 yrs before i bid bye to it and bought TBTS.

Unfortunately TBTS dint stay long with me. After 11 months of ownership had to get away with it.

Then booked RE 500 classic and famous waiting period started. fast forward in the month of october then came the RE DS. without any second thoughts booked and famous waiting period started fresh.

November 9th 2011 got a call from RE dealer to make the payment. 11/11/11 made payment for the bike and was promised to get it by next week. as usual it took them 25th november for registration.

Initial Impressions

From the time it is on road, The attention it has got is worth the mention.

Everywhere people chase me and ask "sir from where did you get your bike repainted". :uncontrol

Believe me after answering 30 odd people that this is not repainted bike, this is a new bike. i was caught by traffic cop.

Pulled to the side:
"Sir when you can spend so much money for repainting the bike, why cant you spend another 100 rs for writing the number.". this cop dint believe that its a new bike till i showed the tax receipt". he said sorry and moved on.


About DS.

Apart from usual RE famous quality which i was aware after reading Randhawa's thread, all seem to be fine with bike.

Some joints are left out without painting. apart from that i didnot see any other issue with the bike.

Bike till Now:

bike has clocked 550 Kms and has been given for first service.
Had changed oil and oil filter at 140 kms. kept it under 60 kms till now which is hard to resist.

Issues faced till now are:
1. Difficulty in turing right or left. the handle seems to be very tight.
2. meter needle vibrates very badly between 40 and 60 kms.
3. at 400 kms near st johns signal my bike died. Neutral light and engine light blinking continuously. As soon as engine cutoff switch goes to off position, horns works fine. and when engine cutoff switch is in on position again these light blinks and bike is dead. Stranded on road, new bike bike embarrassment to peak, and passersby ask me where i have repainted my bike,.:Frustrati


Called RE helpline. He came to rescue after 2 hrs of wait. removed the battery, reconnected it. Opened the fuse box removed and placed the fuse again and voila bike started. Though i didnot face any problem thereafter, to be on the safer side gave it for first service today. waiting for delivery in evening. only time will tell whether the problem will crop up again. But confidence level has gone down after this issue whether i can go back from office at late hours which i usually do. Question still remains and only time will tell whether my thought was right or wrong.

Will post the PICs in the evening.

I love my bullet. It is beautiful for lazy cruising at 80kmph.
But I hate it. It leaves me stranded once every year.

I am moving to other bikes.

Congratulations on acquisition of DS

That really takes the cake!!

First of all, Congratulations of being the proud owner of DS. I have yet to see the DS in real, heard it looks better than the pictures.

Secondly, did the RE mechanic tell you what was the problem? Was it just a lose contact & you have not mentioned that he replaced anything to get the bike back to life.

Waiting to see the pics of DS:)

There is no better looking bike in stock form and paint, than the Royal Enfield Bullet Classic Desert Storm. Now I'm not much of a biker, but there is something about the Classic that makes me go weak in the knees. It really is a work of art, and the Desert Storm colour option just makes it all the more desirable.

This thread is nothing, without photos my friend, although I did enjoy your write-up! Please treat us with some good high-def photographs.

Are you interested in the RE clubs?

Oh, and I almost forgot! Congratulations on your latest acquisition my friend. You've got a very enviable and desirable bike there.

Congratulations and best wishes, Endofdayz.
This is excusable as any new bike will have some teething problem.
This is unpardonable for such a premium hand-crafted bike. RE should improve their quality control.

Is there a Helpline? I was not aware of this. Can you please publish the numbers? Would be useful.

See here for details. It's a paid 24x7 breakdown service, IIRC. However, Endofdayz may please confirm this.

Sri Manjunatha Bullet Garage
10th Main Road
80 Feet Road
HRBR Layout
Banaswadi
Bangalore - 560 043
Telephone: +91 - 80 - 25427066, 41614914
24 hours helpline: +91 - 94486 19761
Contact Person: Mr.A. Kandasamy

Even though I Like RE, its high time RE pulls up its socks and improves the quality. You cannot have issues where the chassis starts rusting in the 1st week itself due to areas which are not painted.

No wonder the Jap bikes are in a class of its own.

Hi Endofdays,
The Desert Storm is a VERY good looking bike, specially if you do not have the pillion seat and the saree guard. But, with that comes classic RE quality like you mentioned.
But, I'm sure just the feel of the bike and the way people look at you while riding would make you forget all the problems!

Anyways, I hope the bike's doing fine now and do post a lot of pictures. We're looking forward to them. :)

Yes people. its manjunatha bullet garage helpline numbers used by REs in bangalore. But in the phone itself they ask whether its in warranty. this feature is enabled only for 1 yr or 10000 kms. once it voids warranty they will not entertain that is what i heard.

Pics are coming later in the day.

Congratulations on your Desert Storm. Needless to say, dont let the stranding incident hamper your joy. Its a great bike to ride and you have more miles to go on it. Just take it as a one-off incident and move on.

And do post pics of the bike!

Thanks everyone for the wishes.

@Ravan .. Nope i'm used to bullet as i owned TBTS before. I know what it takes to get adjusted to Bullet.:)

Update After 570 Kms - First Service.

1. Handle very tight while turning. Problem No longer There.
2. Meter needle vibrating from 40 to 60 KMs. Whole meter assembly changed. When asked was told that meter was not barging after 70kms.


General service. total cost 820 Rs including the RE sticker on the tank. first i thought it may not look good on DS as the letters are in golden color. But i was wrong. It doesnt look bad either since its Matt Finish.

I would like to talk about handling part. My palms are put lot of pressure and it pains after 30 mins of ride. Initially i thought it is because of i'm not use to riding posture. However even after 580 kms no relief. I'm 6 and 96 KGs. I would wait for another month or so before commenting on it.


To summarize the runin till now.

1. no sudden acceleration. Maintained the speed till 60 KMs.
2. Stop for 5 to 10 mins after every 35 mins ride ( Followed till 500 KMs).
3. Change oil and oil filter at 150 KMs. ( Personally i felt the engine becoming more smooth, gear shifting very smooth, no false neutrals).
4. Now that it has crossed 500 KMs, i have taken her till 70 kms. occasionally planning to raise it till 90 but will maintain between 70 and 80 KMs till 2k.

There is a slight vibration from 40 to 60 KMs. but after that you say to yourself. say Cheese !!!


@ everyone. Is it OK to put upswept silencer now itself or wait till 5k KMs. Also the tip of bend pipe has turned golden color. is it normal ?


My other C500 friends have commented that thump on my bike is more bassy from stock silencer when compared to C500. I havent done anything special other than adding the rubber on the tip ( 30 RS). Can guru's comment on the technical part if any.

NOTE: i think i will make a Bar graph of how many people guess this is new bike at the first time and how many says this is repainted.

Rough estimate would be 37 out 40 people think its repainted bike.:D


I apologize for not posting any PICS as i need to charge my DIgicam. Will post some pics taken from Iphone. but for resolution pic i guess we need to wait for some more time.

Nope there was no replacement. He removed the battery out, tightened the nut. Then he removed the fuse bunch and pressed it inside. thats it . it started. I suspect its a loose contact. Even at first service they could not find anything unusual. And the problem has not cropped up again ever since.

Congratulations Endofdayz for the DS !!

I'm smitten with the Classic Desert Storm. It looks stunning and the matte finish appeals a lot. Do post some high-res pics. I had almost decided to go for a C500 Desert Storm but the KTM Duke 200 got me confused. I'll be surely following this thread. Congrats once again !!