THE TIMELESS MOTORCYCLE:

A heavy motorcycle pumping its piston in a very civilized manner while refusing to die.. That’s what a Royal Enfield Bullet actually is!!!

In the late 70’s in every household you either had a bicycle or a Bullet there was no in between, there were some other bikes too in that era but none of them came close to the swag of Bullet.

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This is mine 1978′ Royal Enfield Bullet which is living in our house for around 35 years and is still a roaring beast on the road while being “yours truly” for me. Considering how the time changes, how the world changes & even the people around you changes, except this very bike. Now why is it living in my heart, what made it so special? It hasn’t even got any fancy features like modern motorcycles which will save your life, so why is it so dear to me?

The beauty of old motorcycles lies in their character & the only person who can understand them is the owner itself and I’m not exaggerating but you can’t even pump the kick if you don’t know about the character, whereas I usually use my hand to kick start it. Now this makes the bike very personal to me & people quite hesitate to even ask for a ride ( that’s a good thing by the way).

ENGINE:

The Bullet is garnished with a beautiful British engine which is a 350cc single cylinder cast iron unit, which sips flammable liquid through a carburetor and makes a classy single beat known as DUG DUG DUG and so on…..

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It isn’t a type of engine which loves to rev till the red line. It is a smooth one which will take its time to pick up pace in a classy manner. But once it reaches its pace then it flies & goes exactly like a bullet!! 

DYNAMICS:

 It is perfectly balanced & has a certain amount of weight to it which makes it different from others.The bike is so heavy that it even stand by itself at slow speed. But don’t get too carried away, cuz it never forgives you. It will bite your arm off if you aren’t careful with it!!

UNIQUE FEATURES:

THE AMMETER: 

You simply just can’t push the kick & ride away.. First you gotta match the AMP needle in the center by pressing the decompression lever which particularly allows the air pass out of the compression chamber.. The ammeter shows the voltage of the battery (+) (-). If you are new to this mechanism you should probably stay away from it, cuz forgetting to do so will result in a highly pressurized back kick which ideally isn’t good for your leg.

GEAR POSITION:

The normal bike has gear lever on the left side & brake on the right side but here its totally opposite. It has gear lever on the right side and brake is on the left side & people criticize it so much by saying it is totally wrong, whereas in my opinion it is totally CORRECT,specially in INDIA. Here we drive on the left hand side of the road so imagine your are taking a U turn on your normal bike, you have to keep your right foot down to maintain the balance while making a U turn that means you don’t have your foot on brake pedal. Now imagine the same scenario with the bullet. You can easily take a U turn by putting your right foot on the ground for maintaining the balance while keeping your left foot on the brake. OBSERVE THE GENIUS!!

FINAL CONCLUSION:

Nowadays every third bike on Indian road is a royal enfield (the new one obviously) & it is good for the brand except for the fact that somehow it has lost its charm. I don’t know why but if you observe the owners of new Enfield, they have a certain type of smile on their face as if they know something we don’t know. And almost every person who owns a new Enfield will fit a cheap after market exhaust to it & rides like a maniac on the road abusing the motorcycle & its brand. I don’t know who to blame for this.

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Anyway the old Bullets used to have soul, they used to have character, simplicity & the sparkle which is some how faded in the new ones.Hence the original bullet totally wears the slogan

“MADE LIKE A GUN, GOES LIKE A BULLET”

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