[payeng]

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

As with everything related to Royal Enfield, they are dammed if they do and dammed if they dont.

Can't really tell at the moment.. since EV (Battery) Tech is very much in its infancy.

At the moment IC Engines still make more sense (economically and from practicality point ov view) for the common consumer.

[navin_v8]

Originally Posted by bigron

In my 24 years of riding I have made acquaintance with so many of these iron generators I dont even remember.

Plus, I stay at a place where buying a "bullt" is the end all be all high that a person can obtain. So I know a thing or two about these 2 wheel scraps and what they bring to the table.

Thanks for your response mate. Got my answer as to whether you OWN an RE or not.

A junk is a junk. Whether it sells a piece or a million of them. People will buy anything to inflate their hollow egos. And thats exactly what RE does, it gives a placebo boost to your manhood. We have a whole lot of those egomaniacs where I come from who ride it like they own the road.
This notion that a RE between your legs will turn you into the ruler of the road is far fetched and it is exactly that, a misplaced notion.
Until RE came out with the 650 twins, every single product in their portfolio is as good as scrap.

But I am not here to save the world. So I smile when I see someone picking up a 350 cc/500 cc RE in 2019 and move on.

In this world there are many kinds of people mate. Generalizing all RE owners into one category as per one's perception is very common. That's why I said, "One man's junk is another man's treasure" and vice versa.

Originally Posted by payeng

Search on Instagram for photos with Royal Enfields.. you'll get the drift

Mate if that was the case no one would buy them RE's by JUST looking at "Instagram", "Facebook", "Twitter", and what have you. RE motorcycles are still selling and there are people ready to wait to get their hands on one. These social media sites also have other car/motorcycle marques with similar posts. That doesn't prevent others from buying, does it.

You never answered my other question mate. Nevermind.

It'll sure do.. but most likely people won't prefer a Silent Royal Enfield.. especially when he would have option to can buy the THUMP.

So what's wrong in preferring a Thump over Electric and vice versa, it's a free market. Again you are generalizing this statement of "won't prefer a silent Royal Enfield". There are tons of people still riding on their stock RE exhaust which is as quiet as other big single cylinders in the market. It's a free market and everyone has their own choice.

I would like to reiterate like GTO and I said before petrol and electric can co-exist. People who want petrol RE's will buy them and people who want electric RE's will buy them. There's room for everyone.

[srini1785]

I am not going to get into the worshipers and rationalist debate as it takes too many unnecessary pages. RE/HD is doing what any manufacturer would do in a changing market scenario. My sincere hope is that they come up with a good overall design / performance balanced motorcycle developed from scratch rather than retrofitting a motor / battery on a classic 350 frame to make a crappy contraption like the one shown in the photo.

Btw, The rationalist never won against organised religion at any point in history.

[bigron]

Originally Posted by navin_v8

Thanks for your response mate. Got my answer as to whether you OWN an RE or not.

Weekend riders you visit service centers to have their chains cleaned and lubed need to own motorcycles to understand how good or bad a particular motorcycle is. Also, if riding one for about 10,000 kms over the years is not enough to tell me what I am riding I guess buying one wont make it any different.

One mans junk is indeed another mans treasure. But I have yet to come across 1 person who buys a RE for its tangible qualities.

[starter]

Originally Posted by navin_v8

Thanks for your response mate. Got my answer as to whether you OWN an RE or not.

Hi Navin,
If owning one is what it takes to comment on RE, here I am.
I have had a bullet (CI - 4speed) for 13 years and in all these years, it was never without issues.
The quality of wiring, rubber parts, hoses/pipes have been terrible.
I do agree that when it ran great, there is no better feeling. Unfortunately it did that only a handful of times.
It is rather disappointing that there is such bad quality standards on the bike even today.
I have to agree with what Srini has said. When i sold mine, i got back what i had paid (after 13 years).
Cheers,
Deepak

[navin_v8]

Originally Posted by bigron

Weekend riders you visit service centers to have their chains cleaned and lubed need to own motorcycles to understand how good or bad a particular motorcycle is. Also, if riding one for about 10,000 kms over the years is not enough to tell me what I am riding I guess buying one wont make it any different.

No need to make personal attacks and insulting mate where you say and I quote, "Weekend riders you visit service centers to have their chains cleaned and lubed need to own motorcycles to understand how good or bad a particular motorcycle is."

What makes you think I am a weekend rider mate who goes to lube and clean chain at service centre?

Owning and riding is different than borrowing and riding mate. Who knows how the said motorcycle in question was maintained.

One mans junk is indeed another mans treasure. But I have yet to come across 1 person who buys a RE for its tangible qualities.

Come to my part of the world and you will see tons of them.

Originally Posted by starter

Hi Navin,
If owning one is what it takes to comment on RE, here I am.
I have had a bullet (CI - 4speed) for 13 years and in all these years, it was never without issues.
The quality of wiring, rubber parts, hoses/pipes have been terrible.
I do agree that when it ran great, there is no better feeling. Unfortunately it did that only a handful of times.
It is rather disappointing that there is such bad quality standards on the bike even today.
I have to agree with what Srini has said. When i sold mine, i got back what i had paid (after 13 years).
Cheers,
Deepak

Deepak glad to know about your RE ownership. A perfect bike exists only in A perfect world. That said I am not denying about troubles with RE's lineup. I've had my fair share of troubles as well. In fact on other thread where people are discussing about Himalayan's chassis breaking I have been open and critical about the design flaw and how it could have been reinforced to prevent cracking.

Generalizing about people and brand on the basis of hearsay/looking is what I am unable to understand.

[bigron]

Originally Posted by navin_v8

No need to make personal attacks and insulting mate

I intended to type 'who' not 'you'. Nothing personal here.

I am in Chandigarh. The capital of two states from where blokes buy more RE's than any other state in India.

There maybe a few who buy it for the love of riding, but soon realize what they have gotten themselves into.

If I am stating that I have ridden over 10,000 kms on these RE's, I am only counting the kms covered on bikes owned by friends and acquaintances and not rentals or random borrows.

I really dont think you are understanding or want to understand where I am coming from.So I am going to opt out of this conversation and limit myself to the talk of electric RE.

[nitro.1000bhp]

My original post was intended as light humor and that's about it. I too own a cast iron bullet and it's safe to say, it has never been there when I needed it the most. But, I still would not part with it..don't know why. The human mind works in mysterious ways. And the no. of sales alone shouldn't determine the quality of a product. Our country works on ' word of mouth marketing' and that is evident by the tens of lakhs of activas and Marutis and REs that ply the roads. That doesn't mean they're superior products ,they may have other attributes like cheap maintenance or higher resale value.

Anyhow, EVs are here to stay and like Jay Leno once said wisely " the electric car will do to the IC engines what the IC engines did to the horse". Horses were once used as..err work horses and with the advent of IC engines they slowly became a leisure or hobby thing and that's exactly what will happen to the IC engines in the future. They will be treasured for their nostalgia while the electric vehicle takes over commuter duties. That being said I am not in favour of these million pound, million horse power electric supercars that doesn't serve any practical purposes. The big cos. should really put effort into eeking out more range than getting crazy HP which is what would ultimately make way for their general acceptance.

[navin_v8]

Originally Posted by bigron

I intended to type 'who' not 'you'. Nothing personal here.

I am in Chandigarh. The capital of two states from where blokes buy more RE's than any other state in India.

Visit Bombay, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, etc. mate where there are generations of RE owners and even more who don't visit service center to lube and clean chain.

There maybe a few who buy it for the love of riding, but soon realize what they have gotten themselves into.

I will reserve the judgement for your latter part of the sentence.

If I am stating that I have ridden over 10,000 kms on these RE's, I am only counting the kms covered on bikes owned by friends and acquaintances and not rentals or random borrows.

Oh I get it now(about the ownership). No need to be emphasize mate.

I really dont think you are understanding or want to understand where I am coming from.So I am going to opt out of this conversation and limit myself to the talk of electric RE.

Me too.

[ishan12]

To electric is a transition that every automotive brand has to make some day.
Will be interesting to see who brings to the table what.
Specially with brands like Harley and RE the transition would be even more difficult given their "legacy" and "heritage" and "character".

Looking at the posts on this thread, I believe people are at two ends of the spectrum of RE lovers and RE haters. I find myself somewhere in the middle.
(Having owned, Yamaha, Hero Honda, Bajaj and RE)

Given the number of bikes selling off each month, we get an idea which side the majority is.
All of those people buying (even repeat buying and buying multiple) this "junk" for lacks just as means of ego massage and establishing their manhood? I refuse to accept.
To each his own, but I certainly don't claim to be a know it all to pass "junk" judgement on a bike that sells like a commodity these days.

[timuseravan]

Originally Posted by bigron

One mans junk is indeed another mans treasure. But I have yet to come across 1 person who buys a RE for its tangible qualities.

This is your lucky day: I am such a person and I can assure you we exist
I bought my Classic 500 back in 2010 and the tangible qualities were as follows:
1. The torque
2. Easy of ride
3. Comfort
4. And mainly the price. At ₹1.5 lakhs on road nothing came close to providing the same power/torque.

I used it for around 3 years/35k km before moving to Duke 390.
And before Classic I had Karizma which I used for around 4 years and 40k km.

I am back in RE stable with Interceptor with almost the same tangible qualities! And I am perfectly aware of the issues with RE bikes. But it is generally the case that people will put up posts/give feedback only when there is problem. It ignores the vast majority who are doing ok with their purchase.

Even today only RE bikes do provide the feel of upgrade over your normal Hero/Bajaj bike at relatively affordable price. Its not always about ego or manhood.

Sorry for going off-topic but I have never understood the huge RE hate.

[bigron]

Originally Posted by timuseravan

Sorry for going off-topic but I have never understood the huge RE hate.

And it is beyond me why any serious rider would advocate any RE prior to their 650 twins.
Moral: To each his own my friend to each his own.

[navin_v8]

Originally Posted by timuseravan

Sorry for going off-topic but I have never understood the huge RE hate.

Beats me as well mate about this phenomenon. But a similar phenomenon is seen against Harley Davidson as well. Despite all this both RE and HD have survived for more than a 100 years.

I remember the dialogue from movie Guru where Abhishek Bachchan's character based on Dhirubhai Ambani says, "Hamare gaon mein ek kahawat hai, agar log tumhare baare mein bura bol rahe hain toh samjhlo tum tarraki kar rahe ho." Translation, "There is a saying in our village that if people are talking bad things about you, it means you are progressing in life."

Sorry for the post.

[neil.jericho]

Gentlemen, if we can put down out pitchforks for just a minute, heRE is what the Royal Enfield CEO actually said.

"Just because there was a downturn, we did not cut down on our capex. I don't think we will spend any more on any large (facility). Most of our capex will go into capability building, new products, electric and other stuff. And it will go into many small assembly plants around the world," Dasari told ET in an interview.

In another interview, the Royal Enfield CEO has said that the company's UK Technology Centre, one of the two R&D centres tasked with new product development, has rigged up an existing product with an electric powertrain and that he has "driven it" himself."

So we basically have no idea about anything regarding Royal Enfield's electric plans other than there is a prototype in the UK (which really doesnt say anything, when you think about it) and that electric bikes are one among many things that the company will spend money on.

The biggest take away for me is not related to the electric plans but the statement that Royal Enfield will be making small assembly plants outside of India. This is a first for Royal Enfield as far as I know and it certainly will take away some of their manufacturing cost advantage for global markets but if the research and development costs can be contained, the assembled in USA or UK tag (for example)could help further dispel some of the concerns that buyers have about bikes that are made in India. Now this is not limited to just Royal Enfield bikes but we see how global buyers rather unfortunately point the finger of blame on Indian manufacturing and assembly for problems with BMW 310s and so on.

[pranavtengshe]

If RE can build recharge stations with tie-ups with some motel chains then it will be a more touring friendly option.
As far as 'qualities' of RE, there are many who buy these awesome machines and tour this country solo. Me being one of them. Covered some 80000km in 4 years of my bullet 500 ownership. It took me through forests, ghats, highways and himalayan passes without breaking down. There were minor glitches which as a solo rider I was able to fix (like loose mirrors, horn connection getting loose) till the next service visit. So if someone hates owning the Royal Enfield my advice is to buy their stocks instead. I am not a RE fanboy but I don't understand the undue hate. Going electric is the trend and smartest of people will keep up with the trend.