How much is your Royal Enfield worth?

 If you want to sell your used Royal Enfield motorcycle, prepare for a surprise.

You probably considered your Royal Enfield a real bargain when you bought it. Back then you probably knew it wasn't the fastest motorcycle on the planet, or even the most reliable.

It was the style -- and that low price -- that you liked.

Well, it still has style going for it, but if you're ready to sell and move on, guess what?

It's going to be a bargain for the person who buys it from you, because the going prices for used Royal Enfields are surprisingly low.

Ask me! I paid $4,100 for my 1999 Royal Enfield Bullet in 2001. I thought that was pretty low, given that I needed a new way to get to work and a car would have been much more.

But today, a quarter century of inflation later, it's possible to buy a late model used Bullet for even less! And it will come with disc brakes, fuel injection, electronic ignition and -- glory be -- even ELECTRIC START.

In fact, if I look hard enough, I bet I could find on eBay or CraigsList a low mileage Royal Enfield 650 twin in good condition, for not much more.

According to an online inflation calculator, my $4,100 spent in 2001 equates to the buying power of $7,400 today.

For that I could easily pay the Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price for a brand new 2025 Canyon Red INT 650 twin: only $6,149.

Sure, as always in the U.S., destination and handling fees, tax, title, license and registration are extra, and dealer prices may be higher. But I am still in the ballpark.

So have I been tempted to upgrade?

What? Me? Give up my 1999, with its kick starter, drum brakes, balky four-speed gearbox (with its neutral finder lever) and vibrating rear-view mirrors? Me? Me enjoy a cruise speed of more than 42 mph? Me? Give up oil leaks, for heaven's sake?

Not yet. Ask me again tomorrow.

The Lady on the Lawn and Royal Enfield

We know the model of motorcycle, but not the name of the model.

 We don't know her name, but I think we have an appropriate nickname for her: "The Lady on the Lawn." 

Her nickname was coined by Bob Murdoch, archivist of the Royal Enfield Owners Club (UK), who sent the evidence to me in an email. 

"See attached, what I think is the artwork made from the photo session of the lady on the lawn, 1931," he wrote. 

The motorcycle is rendered exactly; the rider not so much.

I had speculated that a particular photo shoot for the 1931 Royal Enfields had resulted in some racy illustrations the company used in its advertisements. 

I first noticed the woman model, dressed in white and seated on a powerful Royal Enfield, in photographs in the Hitchcocks Motorcycles archive of factory photographs.

The photos themselves weren't used in the advertisements of that day: they were traced for line drawings that could be colorized as needed, and even improved by artists.

In the course of being turned into art the woman model could be made to look prettier, or, at least, more comfortable on the motorcycle.

Her perceived emotions could be carried to extremes. I say the illustrations were "racy" because some showed the woman riding at breakneck speed, her scarf flying in the wind.

From the same year, but possibly from a different photo shoot, "The Joy of the Road" artwork was labelled "Cover for Leaflet."

The Hitchcocks archive has no doubt what kind of Royal Enfield motorcycle the Lady on the Lawn is riding:

It is "a 346cc Royal Enfield Model CO. This RE model was for the 1931 season and features OHV and a total loss oil pump mounted externally on the timing cover."

But who was the girl? Could she really even ride a motorcycle?

Possibly she was someone already in the employ of Royal Enfield. Many women worked at the factory.

Barbara Seviour was a secretary there during the war years, and a bit afterwards.

She told historian Anne Bradford, author of "Royal Enfield, The Story of the Company and the People Who Made It Great," that she was sometimes asked to pose.

She went on to say:

"I would hasten to add that I was used as a model not so much for my looks but for the single fact that, as Tony Wilson-Jones' secretary, I was on hand."

That was probably the right attitude for an executive secretary to take, but the book includes an example of her posing, in the 1941 "It's a Lovely Day Tomorrow" ad.

(The title was taken from the Irving Berlin song famously recorded by Vera Lynn to lift British morale in the Blitz.)

There is no hiding the fact that she made a pretty passenger on the back of a Royal Enfield motorcycle.

Executive secretary Barbara Seviour posed for Royal Enfield and country in morale boosting 1941 advertisement.
(Rockers Bike Ads)

Why didn't they warn us about this?

Do motojournalists warn us about problems with motorcycles?

 Oh, sure, NOW they tell us. 

A year ago, or so, the critics praised the new Royal Enfield Hunter 350. Maybe it had a drawback or two, but you should BUY one now anyway, they seemed to conclude. 

And what do they say now? The recent YouTube review by AutoCar India welcomed improvements for 2025 models, improvements you might have wished you'd waited for. 

The video introduces itself this way: 

"The Hunter 350 has been a runaway success for Royal Enfield ever since it came out in 2022 but that's not to say it was a perfect machine. Recently, Royal Enfield updated the Hunter with changes that kept customer feedback in mind. So, are the Hunter’s drawbacks a thing of the past now? Dinshaw Magol has the answer." 

I could not find a 2022 review of the Hunter by Dinshaw Magol but, to be fair, his AutoCar colleague Rishaad Mody was honest about the Hunter in his 2023 comparison of it with the Triumph Speed 400.

"The rear dual shocks are too firm for this bike’s own good," he wrote. "The result is a stiff and jittery ride on anything but smooth and well-made roads."

Dinshaw Magol was happy to report the good news for 2025: Royal Enfield has replaced the linear rear shock absorbers with progressive units and "the effect they've had on ride quality is landmark," he announces.

You're no longer getting "tossed out of the seat" over road imperfections, he enthuses.

And -- this really is good news -- he states that it is possible to retrofit the progressive shocks to earlier Hunters. That's the kind of reporting readers appreciate.

Dinshaw goes on to report other improvements: lighter clutch action, handlebars closer to the rider, more foam in the seat, and slightly more ground clearance.

As for the new LED headlamp, it looks good, he allows, but, frankly the old halogen bulb was actually better.

Oh well.

What he really applauds is the fact that Royal Enfield was willing to listen to user feedback, and improve the Hunter as needed.

Motojournalists like Dinshaw and Rishaad deserve thanks for pointing out problems, where they exist. Watch the video.