The cheapest way to speed up your Royal Enfield motorcycle is to lean forward across the tank. Even my unmodified Bullet goes faster, without opening the throttle a bit.Of course, that's rather awkward, unless you have cafe-racer style "ace" handlebars. I've often wondered how they look close up. "Roger," who is selling a café style Royal Enfield Bullet in San Diego, has posted a marvelous set of pictures that answer that question.
"I'm 6-foot 4-inches, 185 pounds, and no issues with the size of the Bullet," he wrote me. "I prefer a lighter bike that's easier to handle. I've got long arms, so don't really feel that I'm stretching that much for the ace bars.
"I'm usually taking short trips around town, and not cruising on it, so I prefer the more aggressive position for cornering and lowering wind resistance on flats. I ride a road bicycle a lot for exercise, and so I may prefer that positioning from biking. If I started taking longer trips on it maybe I'd want to go for more comfort.
"Changing the bars wasn't a difficult change at all. I've gone back and forth a few times on that bike. No issues with the decomp lever."I'm only selling the Bullet you found on San Diego CraigsList because I found this gem a few months ago in Torrance:
"I've only done a few things to this one, painted the side covers black, changed out the air filter, and swapped out a few lower quality parts. I love this bike. Going to keep it for a long long time. Enfields are such great bikes to own and work on."I'll definitely check in on your blog from time to time to read about what others are doing.
"Cheers,
"Roger"
Check out that vented primary drive on Roger's new café racer. Note that it manages to retain the casquette, a distinctive Bullet feature often lost on café racers. This is facilitated by a neat new hole routing for the clutch cable.
Classic Motorworks sells ace style handlebars for $45.99.
Ace style handlebar looks great!!!
ReplyDelete...But can you mount it if you have a standard petrol tank?
Somebody told me that could touch the tank.
Thank you!
It's the decompressor lever that is the issue, although Roger, above, says it wasn't an issue for him. On early bikes (1995-'99) the decompressor lever sticks down. If you use the standard controls on your Ace bars there is a danger that the lever will dent the tank. Later models used a lever that does not stick down. The Ace bars sold by Royal Enfield USA are described as only for bikes built after 1999. It seems to me that you could use aftermarket controls, relocating the decompressor, if you chose.
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