Bullet Slow
Bullet Slow
The sun never sets on an Enfield India
LIKE THE QUEEN MOTHER HERSELF, the 1999 Enfield India Bullet is the product of another time. Given the opportunity to take a ride, though, you find yourself strangely enticed, even if you’re not so sure you want your friends to see you...
The parts certainly have not changed in a long time-Queen Mum or Enfield. We’ll stick to the latter, and start with a little history.
The Enfield India is called such because of its country of manufacture. In 1955, British company Enfield, makers of the Royal Enfield line of motorcycles, began manufacturing 350cc Singles in India for military and police use. A few years later, a consumer version was introduced, and was joined eventually by a 500.
By the time Royal Enfield was laid to rest in 1970, the now-locally owned marque was well-established
in India. And for good reason:
The Singles were simple, reasonably reliable, eminently fixable and featured low (6.5:1) compression ratios that allowed them to run on anything that resembled gasoline. The 500 Bullet probably would run on gin without pinging! It was a recipe for success in the Third World, and the roughly 10,000 units sold yearly since 1955 are testament to that fact.
As for the ’99 model shown here, not much has changed, though we’re told metallurgy has been improved over the years, the originals being made from melted-down Spitfires or some such. There’s a 28mm Mikarb (Indian-made Mikuni
copy) instead of an Amal, 12-volt points ignition instead of a magneto and the requisite 49-state EPA and DOT certification (there is no California model yet).
In any case, today’s Enfield Bullet, distributed by Classic Motorworks (800/201-7472), is essentially what you could have bought more than 40 years ago. Riding the bike reveals this fact, for this isn’t a motorcycle based on images of the past, it is a motorcycle of the past. As such, it takes some getting used to.
Although all the controls are in the normal position, and it shifts on the left in a one-down, three-up pattern, keeping pace with the modem world takes effort. Foremost lesson: Don’t lane-split. Forgetting myself momentarily, I rode up to the front of a line
of cars waiting at a red light. To my right was an elderly lady in a beater Nissan Sentra. Normally, I’d just blast off, leaving traffic behind. But considering that the 84 x 90mm, 499cc pushrod Single thumps out just 13 rear-wheel horses, even Mrs. Sentra got frustrated by my sedated-sloth pace, and shot by me in most unBullet-like fashion.
Once momentum has been established, and top gear achieved through a high-effort churning of gears, one motors down the lanes with the
pleasing putta-putta-chuff of a more honest, elemental form of combustion. One especially appreciates the engine’s efforts after having worked so hard for it from cold-start. A living lesson on why electric-starters were invented, the Bullet is reluctant
to rouse in the a.m. At least you can take solace in the fact that every time the blasted thing doesn’t fire, you get to kick it again! Admittedly, this reticence came only when cold, as the engine characteristically fired on the first kick when warm.
Braking falls into a 401Klike category of long-term planning, with a to-the-bar pull on the lever for the cableactuated, double-leading-shoe front drum giving only a vague suggestion of dissipating speed. Adding the rear drum helps, though it often groans in protest.
Speeds up to 50 mph are quite pleasant, the easy-steering if underdamped chassis
and natural, upright riding position setting you at ease. But the engine vibrates so much above 60 mph that it makes you itchy.
Sounds like the hair shirt of motorcycles, yes? Well, it isn’t. It’s a classic Britbike (it even leaks oil!) without the hassle of restoration, and for an incredibly cheap $3995 accompanied by a 12-month, 9000-mile warranty.
Okay, it’s no tricked-to-the-gills VR880 Alloy Clipper, but Vishnu save the Queen, the Enfield shall continue. Albeit slowly. Mark Hoyer
