If you're interested in Royal Enfield motorcycles, you already know that the company maintains a magnificent website. Royal Enfield executive Praveen P. Sathaye emailed me recently to point out one aspect of it, the online magazine, The Beat.It's the equivalent of a glossy magazine for Royal Enfield fans and owners. The photography it contains is stunning. You can download it here.
The latest edition is devoted to the rides Royal Enfield sponsors in India, which are truly spectacular events. Looking at the ice and snow, the vast sweep of deserts and the massed motorcyclists on the road engenders some wanderlust, I admit.
But — realistically — I am not going there anytime soon.
One article points out that these rides to the farthest stretches of the imagination prove that the Royal Enfield is "not just a commuter motorcycle."
Very true. But let's not ignore the daily triumph (sorry) of the commuter.
In India, commuting to work by motorcycle is no cause for comment. Millions do. In the United States, motorcycle commuters are a tiny minority. Those who commute by Royal Enfield, as I did, are still more rare.
Commuting by Royal Enfield was always a source of pride for me. I proved that the old Royal Enfield Bullet was reliable enough for daily use, would run in any rain or heat, and was fast enough for many U.S. roads (not all!).
I also learned to carry a spare clutch cable. But, for 40,000 miles, I had no other mechanical difficulty.
Commuting was a daily Odyssey of sorts, although probably not worth a magazine article, certainly not in India!
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