Royal Enfield C5 advertised for sale with a bit of humor

This seller adds a light touch to his ad for a Royal Enfield C5.

An ad for a Royal Enfield C5 on CraigsList in Richmond, Va. is clever enough to bear quoting at length. Seller Rick Higgins is not only funny, he neatly expresses what's nice and what you should consider when buying a Royal Enfield.

His asking price is $4,900. Check the ad for full information, but here are just the parts I most enjoyed:

OK boys and girls — here it is. Your next/first bike. A 2011 Royal Enfield Bullet Classic! And no, this isn't what you think you know. What you have here is classic styling with modern technology. Gone are the carbs. This one is fuel injected. And all of the old comments of "fun, but needs lots of maintenance" are also long gone. This is the redesigned UCE engine. Practically bulletproof. Still fun though.

OK, let's go to the question and answer period:

Q: Why are you selling it?

A: Because I don't need it anymore. I took this in on a trade (from a dirt bike), and while I like it, I just don't use it. My riding style is primarily touring, and of all the things this does well, touring isn't one of them.

Q: I'm short, will this fit me?

A: Yes, and this is your lucky day. The previous owner was also vertically challenged. So I have lowering shocks, a shaved/lowered seat, and lowered seat springs in the garage — which will put this thing down low enough for five footers.

Q: I'm not short.

A: That's a question? Well, in any case, neither am I. I'm 6-2 and 250 pounds and I fit just fine.

Q: What do they call that license plate thingy?

A: A pedestrian slicer. Not that it makes any difference in the sale, but I wanted to get that phrase in here.

Q: What's the best thing about this bike?

A: Wow, thanks for asking. I didn't expect such a softball question. The best thing, beside being a hoot to ride, are the comments. And you will get them. No one will believe the bike is a 2011. I've had people roll down their windows and shout out compliments at 50 mph. This bike WILL get noticed.

I won't go into the used car speech about how it's both a great starter bike and also a great bike for experienced riders (oops, guess I just did), but it is all that. If most of my riding was local, this would be the bike I keep. It's great in the city. But my riding isn't local, so off she needs to go.

And no, test rides aren't allowed. Unless I either know and trust you (two separate things, by the way), or you plunk down a deposit before you skedaddle off. Say, $4,900. So hurry on by; supplies are limited. And since today is currently 62 degrees, I assume this will be gone soon. It's RIDING TIME!

What's a Royal Enfield with a few scratches? Just right

This Royal Enfield for sale in San Francisco comes with an attitude.

Attitude is everything when it comes to motorcycles. There is one attitude in particular that strikes me as particularly appropriate for Royal Enfield motorcycles.

The seller of this pretty Royal Enfield C5 in San Francisco, Calif. captured it pretty well.

"Nice, stock bike," he wrote in the ad on CraigsList. Then he added:

"Couple of scratches on the tank (pics might show'em). What's an Enfield without scratches?!? Right?!? Right."

Right.

To me the new Royal Enfields are vintage style motorcycles, built close enough to the way they were "back in the day" to justify mentally rolling back the clock to 1955 while you ride. If nothing else, you will be travelling at speeds that were appropriate in 1955.

And, yet, you don't have to treat one like a museum piece out for a parade once a year. It's not rare. They're building them by the tens of thousands in India and show no signs of stopping anytime soon.

I'm happy to admire motorcycles restored and maintained to the heights of perfection. I'd be terrified to ride one.

This seller, Munroe Motors of San Francisco, isn't making excuses for the bike; they seem to have adjusted the asking price ($4,995) to reflect its condition. I've never seen the bike and can't vouch for it, but if I was in the market, a few battle scars wouldn't bother me (the lack of a kick starter might).

MG Midget vs. Royal Enfield motorcycle; two of a kind?

Here's a 1979 MG Midget that regained its good looks.

If you have a Royal Enfield C5 Military, the owner of a 1979 MG Midget in Buckeye, Ariz., is willing to trade.

The MG has a new carpet and top and has been stripped of its ugly black safety bumpers.

Even better, it has been restored to its European ride height. MGs imported to the U.S. in that era were jacked up to bring their bumpers into line with Department of Transportation regulations. They looked like shopping carts. The seller says it has 75,000 miles.

Stripped of safety gear, this MG looks a lot like the 1966 Midget my brother Phil loaned me while he was in the Army. I drove it back and forth across the United States.

In the process, I gained a lot of respect for the supposedly delicate British cars of the day. You got where you were going awash with pride at your accomplishment; never mind that you were just going to the grocery store. Every time the little motor sprung to life (assuming it did) you were in for an adventure.

My 1999 Royal Enfield Bullet provides something of the same experience.

If I had a C5 Military, I might not give it up for this pretty MG Midget. But I would think about it.

MotoGB is the new Royal Enfield distributor for the UK

MotoGB is the new UK distributor for Royal Enfield motorcycles.

In a press release charmingly datelined "Adlington, Chorley," Royal Enfield announced March 21 that Britain's MotoGB is the new Royal Enfield distributor for the United Kingdom.

MotoGB is the UK’s largest independent importer and distributor of motorcycles and scooters. This puts Royal Enfield alongside the two-wheeler importer's SYM, MV Agusta, Benelli, Daelim and Keeway brands. MotoGB is a family-owned company that also has some of its own retail outlets.

MotoGB is headquartered in Adlington, which turns out to be a small town in Lancashire, England, near the larger town of Chorley.

MotoGB takes over from sidecar builder Watsonian Squire as Royal Enfield importer and distributor for the UK. Watsonian Squire discontinued its connection with Royal Enfield recently to concentrate on other projects.

The separation from the old-time maker of sidecars (and builder of the Harry Potter Royal Enfield sidecar combinations) seemed a shame.

But, in its press release, Royal Enfield certainly sounded an appropriate note of nostalgia: "Royal Enfield is the oldest motorcycle company in continuous existence."

Commenting on the partnership with MotoGB, Shaji Koshy, senior vice president for sales and marketing, said, “The United Kingdom is a key market for Royal Enfield, apart from being the place of its origin. We are pleased to partner with MotoGB group for such a strategic market.”

Steve Oliver, general manager of MotoGB was quoted as saying: “This is a real coup for us as Royal Enfield is the epitome of British motorcycling, both past and present."

So: appreciation for the past and confidence in the future. One expects nothing less from a place called Adlington, Chorley.

Nearly scrapped, 1968 Interceptor is running strong

Nearly scrapped, this Royal Enfield Interceptor is now running

A 1968 Royal Enfield Interceptor rescued on its way to a recycling yard is roaring back to life.

Charles Giordano paid $150 for the classic and powerful twin-cylinder motorcycle and pulled it out from under scrap in the back of a pick-up truck Feb. 20. He didn't even know what he had, just that it was a Royal Enfield.

The Interceptor as found, on Feb. 20, 2013.

Giordano owns motorcycle exhaust companies, including Von Braun Exhaust in Massachusetts. They've just posted a delightful YouTube video of the rescued Interceptor coming to life.

It Lives!

It was a near miss for this Royal Enfield, but it seems to have fallen into good hands. The short, fun video, by Bella Giordano, is well worth watching.

Royal Enfields on display at Moscow motorcycle show

Excuse me, guys, we're over here.

What lots of leggy young women find of interest in Royal Enfield motorcycles is the obvious question raised in this YouTube video of the 2013 Moto Park show in Moscow March 1-3.

The well-done video gives us an exciting look at the current Royal Enfield models, with a side dish of attractive Russian models. They're all far better put together than the average Ural.

The video must have been made during the press preview because absolutely no one seems to pay any attention to anything besides the motorcycles. All in the course of business, of course.

But, jeez, fellows. The point of the Royal Enfield motorcycles on display is that they look exactly like they did in 1951.

The 20-something accessories on display deserve some attention, don't they? Here's the video. Leave a comment to let me know if you agree:

Royal Enfield stolen; video shows thieves at work

Thieves can easily break the motorcycle handlebar lock.

There's a remarkable surveillance camera video of a Royal Enfield C5 being stolen by two thieves from a parking space in South Delhi, India.

The video shows just how easy it is to break the handlebar lock — the only device I typically use to protect my Bullet when it is outside of my garage.

Snap! And it's gone.

Remarkably, one of the thieves then takes several minutes to leisurely hotwire the motorcycle. He seems to know what he's doing but doesn't want to make a production of it, pausing frequently to look innocent.

The same two, apparently, escaping with the Royal Enfield.

The video closes with a second scene from another camera of the same two (apparently) riding off, one of them on the Royal Enfield, the other on another motorcycle.

Hollywood could not have better staged managed this "Gone in Seven Minutes" move.

If you're in India, watch for a maroon Royal Enfield Classic 500CC with engine and chassis numbers 003316. Contact Vinod Solanki vinodsolankivps@yahoo.in

Regardless of where you are: beware. Here's the complete video:

250cc Royal Enfield Continental more rare than he knew

This handsome Royal Enfield has some uncommon features.

A sharp looking 250cc 1964 Royal Enfield for sale on eBay in Hatley, Wis. turns out to be more rare than the seller suspected.

You might have wondered about it, if you had seen the pictures with the ad, showing a peculiar muffler and a blanking plate where the tachometer might have been.

Tidy instrument panel has a blanking plate instead of tachometer.

Graham Scarth, chairman of the Royal Enfield Owners Club, UK, gave this identifying information, based on the engine number provided by the seller:

"That machine is not a Crusader, but a Continental in what was known as 'standard' trim at that time, finished in color known as Blaze.

"The factory offered the bikes as either deluxe (chrome plated tank and mudguards) or standard with painted items. In the case of the Continental deluxe, a rev counter was fitted alongside the speedometer. The standard (cheaper!) version had no rev counter drive and the blanking plate in the fork crown instead of the instrument.

In the UK and Europe a Continental would have had a bigger, boxier tank.

"Your machine also has the small petrol tank with 'loose' chrome panels usually found on U.S. market machines instead of the larger plated tank of UK market models. It also has 'Western' handlebars instead of the more usual low Ace bars for other markets.

"...Most of our members will have never seen a standard Continental, let alone an export version of it... Although not recorded in the factory ledgers, I am certain that it would have left Redditch in late 1964."

Muffler looks a bit anemic. There's a reason.

The motorcycle is a rare little beauty but there is just one thing that bothered me: what an ugly muffler! Then came this note from Mark Mumford, a keen observer and restorer of Royal Enfields in the UK:

"..It looks very original indeed. I notice it is also fitted with the original Villiers silencer (muffler).

"An ex-factory employee told me that Enfield had bought loads of these silencers, intended for use with Villiers' own two-stroke engine (and therefore detachable for cleaning, note the removable cap), presumably thinking that the Villiers-engined (Royal Enfield) Turbo Twin would be a big success.

"Finding themselves with piles of stock they used them on the whole 250 range, apparently with the result that the bikes simply wouldn't rev properly because the two-stroke required much more back pressure that the free breathing four-stroke Crusader!"

In his book "Royal Enfield, The Postwar Models," author Roy Bacon notes Royal Enfield's experiment with the two-stroke Villiers motor slotted into the company's own Crusader frame. The Villiers motor was a twin, with a muffler running down each side of the motorcycle, so Royal Enfield might have anticipated needing a lot of the Villiers mufflers.

In U.S. trim, Continental has a clean, open look.

Bacon specifically criticizes Royal Enfield for dropping the tachometer on the standard Continental for 1964, "a curious move for the machine sold as much on appearance as performance, and one that Enfield were to reverse inside a year."

Perhaps so, but the result is a fascinating example of Royal Enfield's "creativity."

Royal Enfield Sixty-5 takes on a new vintage look

Snow makes a gorgeous background for this Royal Enfield Sixty-5.

This 2004 Royal Enfield Sixty-5 looks more like a motorcycle from 1945.

That could be the influence of all the old British motorcycles the owner has been around. He also owns a 1966 BSA Royal Star and recently sold a 1951 BSA A-10 Golden Flash he restored himself. He was nice enough to tell me the story.

"I live in the Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. area so have extra time on my hands during the winter months to respond to e-mails!" John wrote.

"I had been crazy for bikes ever since I had my first motorcycle ride, about 1962, on a Indian-badged Royal Enfield. I still remember that ride as though it were yesterday. It seemed to me he said it was a 750cc, but from what I have been able to gather they (Indians) were 700cc. I remember the shape of the engine as well as it having a rear grab rail.

"He did a wheel stand and I was hanging on to that grab rail and looking below my rear end and seeing pavement. The funny thing was I never saw another Royal Enfield 'til I went to a British bike show in the '80s.

"I bought the '66 Royal Star the way you see it. I had a 1970 BSA Thunderbolt that looked as good, and was my 'pet' bike to ride around. I was into British bikes in the '80s and early '90s, and  British bikes came and went. One day someone offered me the right amount and that was that. Been sorry ever since.

John's 1966 BSA Royal Star.

"When I saw this one, I had to have it.

"I bought three bikes as a lot: 1966 BSA Lighting, 1967 Norton Atlas, and the 1951 BSA Golden Flash, all for $600. From the picture of the '51, (you can tell that) none of them were in too good of shape! I restored the '51 A-10. It took about 10 years to come up with all the missing pieces.

Before: 1951 BSA Golden Flash.

After: As restored.

"(The) '66 BSA Royal Star looks just great. All restored to about 95 per cent. The Enfield looks like the BSA but I can expect the Enfield to take me to where I want to go and back!

Before: 2004 Royal Enfield Sixty-5. 

After: With its new vintage look.

"I've changed mine (to look like a '50s machine) but have kept all the original pieces just in case someone would want to change it back. My Enfield is a work in progress, though just about done. I have to paint the front fender and pin stripe it yet, but at minus-10 your hand will stick to the spray gun.

"Also have an unrestored '76 Kawasaki KZ400 that is kind of fun to ride around on. Up here 60 is all you can do and my stable of bikes all do that well.

"Believe me, you can get used to snow living up here. It keeps our motorcycles looking good as we only have three months to ride 'em!"

Story of Royal Enfield journey offered as free download

Available from Amazon.

Ajit Harisinghani's book "One Life to Ride" is available for free download from Amazon until March 12. Hurry!

It is the story of one man's solo journey by Royal Enfield Bullet to the High Himalayas. I reviewed the book in 2012, writing:

"I had been thinking about how every time Harisinghani reaches a high point in his story he seems to pause and think. In part this practice is responsible for him having to travel alone instead of with the group he'd intended to join.

"Kind of neat, I thought; he is traveling at Royal Enfield speed. The author is accumulating something besides miles and altitude. Enlightenment? Well, yes, I think so. And I could use some of that."

Recommended.

(Here is the UK link for the free download.)

Royal Enfield WD/CO restoration takes it back to wartime

Here are before and after pictures of the restoration of a wartime motorcycle.

A World War II era Royal Enfield WD/CO motorcycle completes its round-trip journey from how it looked in 1943 to how it looked by 2013 and then back to 1943 in a delightful new video on Vimeo.

It's "Nick and Steve's project," and we watch as they work on the bike from May, 2012 to February 2013.

It is a remarkable transformation. It takes the WD/CO from the civilian appearance it was upgraded to as war surplus back to how it looked in uniform when built.

The two men show their pride in their progress as they go, step-by-step.

Nicely done. It's only a shame that they couldn't have the motorcycle both ways: in wartime dress and with the charming (but downbeat) patina it earned in civilian service.

Take a look at the video:

Black-out headlight goes a bit too far for military look

Faux black-out headlight, a tribute to World War II.

The owner of a Royal Enfield Military for sale on eBay has come up with an interesting way to add to the military appeal of his motorcycle.

Using a strip of tape and a can of spray paint, he created an inexpensive imitation of the black-out hoods of World War II.

The wartime black-out hood helped prevent vehicles traveling at night from being spotted by enemy aircraft. The hood permitted only a tiny ray of light to escape (too little to cast a trace on the road) and even this was hooded to block the view from above.

At best, the beam of light permitted would have allowed the rider to pick out the vehicle ahead.

Of course you wouldn't actually want to ride your motorcycle on the street like this in peacetime. It wouldn't cast much light and police in your jurisdiction might not like it.

In this case, police might also question the rifle scabbard on the motorcycle but, since there is no rifle in it, it might get a pass.

The painted-out headlight is an interesting idea but I don't think it quite works. Anyone familiar enough with the real thing to recognize the reference to a real black-out hood would also realize this isn't genuine.

Black-out hood on a Norton 16H during World War II.

Making Royal Enfield's left-shift four speeds shift 'right'

Royal Enfield part No. 113066 is the key to the left-shift four-speed linkage.

"I've got more slop than a pig feeder and searching for a solution quickly brought me back to your trusty and reliable blog. I'm going to go with the '113066' solution until I can switch to right shifting," wrote Chris Bartlett of North Carolina.

Four-speed Royal Enfields Bullets imported to the United States from India had a problem: they shifted on the right, traditional for British motorcycles. The U.S. required that they be made to shift on the left.

The resulting left-shift mechanism, commonly referred to as "The Bodge," met government standards, but no one else's.

"Have you ever seen a left-side shift?" Martin Scott asked me when I interviewed him in 2009. Scott was the first U.S. distributor for the made-in-India Bullets.

"Well, when we got them they wouldn't shift at all," he said. "We had to tear into them before they went to the dealers or they'd have freaked out."

I've written repeatedly about The Bodge on my 1999 Bullet. I've called the little plastic bushings of the left-shift mechanism "the worst part of the Royal Enfield."

Regularly replacing those bushings — part No. 113066 — is the key to a motorcycle that shifts gears. (Or, you could convert your four-speed back to shifting on the right; or just buy a newer Royal Enfield Bullet, with the five-speed designed from the beginning to shift on the left.)

Chris Bartlett is a man of many talents, among them producing T-shirts inspired by vintage motorcycles and motorcyclists. He sells them at Her Majestys Thunder.

Chris also has given his own four-speed Bullet a wicked vintage look.

He recently realized it was time to replace the bushings.

"I got the bushings and swapped out the part in about 10 minutes. It provided a nice little how-to session for my -7-year-old son before we went out for a ride together.

"I had been having a really sloppy time with my shifting and now it's like a new bike! I have no desire to move to right shifting at all.

"While I showed my son how easy it was to fix, he wanted to finish it up himself. Your article made me a happy rider, my son a happy kid and gave us some great father/son time under the Enfield. all of which ended with, 'Daddy, I just wanna ride!'

"And so we did."

The Bartlett boys pose for a picture. From left, Hudson, 5, Chris and Porter, 7.

Custom color looks vintage on Royal Enfield and sidecar

Here's a custom color on a Royal Enfield motorcycle and sidecar.

Royal Enfield of Fort Worth is at it again creating a custom Royal Enfield and sidecar combination for a customer.

This one was painted to match the customer's Jeep.

The Royal Enfield dealer placed an ad on CraigsList to show off its work.

"Not only did they custom paint the entire motorcycle and sidecar, they also put about every upgrade you can think of on the Enfield," the ad crows. "If you're interested in getting a one-off custom built Royal Enfield sidecar, contact Jeff at Royal Enfield of Fort Worth 214-629-4011."

Black trim gives a vintage look.

It is a striking motorcycle and sidecar combination. But the color caught my eye for another reason. As children, my brother Phil and I decided to repaint our toy pedal car precisely this color, using a leftover jar of paint Dad had in the basement.

Whatever kind of paint it was stuck well — to us and to the pedal car. The car remained that color for the rest of its days with us. I wish I had it today.

Dad had to repaint the basement floor.