Do You Have More Than One Bike?

[Quartermaster]

 

Hi mate. Well mine's quite old now in its own right as I bought it new in 2000, and I think quality wise it's a world away from what Enfield's are turning out now. The bike in the pic is as near a copy of a 1950s Reddich Bullet as you'll find, plus a few more up to date niceties such as 12 volt electrics and a twin leading shoe front brake.

 

However, in 2000, the quality control of bikes made in India was quite woeful, and over the years some things have failed which on most other bikes you wouldn't dream of. Most of the rubber fittings have rotted away and been replaced. The kick start paul snapped, and the paintwork originally was poor. But, then again, you've got to bare in mind that it only cost £2,800 brand new (in 2000).

 

On the plus side it's simple, there's no electronic gimmickry, and you can fix just about anything with only a very basic knowledge of motorcycles, and just a few simple tools. I've been lucky as in my case reliability has been good (apart from the kick starter problem above). I've even been to Scotland on her without any problems. And it doesn't burn any oil.

 

Watch out for one bogey man model they introduced - the Electra X with the 'lean burn engine'. The engineering was awful - a friend of mine bought one and found out that the crank was running out of alignment (!) as well as other basic faults. Luckily he's an an engineer and was able to fix it but for any Joe Bloggs it would have been a disaster.

 

Overall I think the new bikes they're making now seem ok, and before I bought the Bonneville pictured above I had a test ride on a 650 Interceptor and I quite liked it. I went for the Triumph in the end due to the quality. If it's a Bullet you're after just remember that they only put out about 22 bhp (even the new ones)  which in modern traffic is hardly enough. They are definitely country lane potter about machines not road burners.

 

Hope some of that helps mate - and whatever you buy happy biking! 

 

Good information, thanks. 22 bhp does sound a bit weak nowadays for modern road conditions.