10 things to like about the Royal Enfield Continental GT

The 2015 Royal Enfield Continental GT as seen in an eBay ad by Royal Enfield of Fort Worth.
(This dealer typically includes more than 40 photos in their ads; you really get a good look.)

No one asked me, so here are 10 things I like about the Royal Enfield Continental GT and 10 things I don't love. It will be interesting to revisit this list in a few years and see if my judgments still make sense or whether this Royal Enfield has joined the rest of the stable as an all-time "classic."

Ten things I like about the Royal Enfield Continental GT:

1. Tidy. Light. Lithe.

2. Pretty engine/gearbox. Don't paint it black!

Original 1965 Royal Enfield
Continental GT cafe racer.

3. Clever way the ample fenders are kept visually short by black extensions.

4. Tank is not too big, not too small.

5. Seat and its back hump look sleek yet comfy.

6. Kick start!

7. Center stand!

8. Obvious historical link to the 1964 original.

9. Great brakes.

10. Superb gas mileage.

Ten I don't love:

1. Everything else on the Interstate is SO much bigger.

Muffler looks too big.
Aftermarket items are popular.

2. The mammoth license plate holder offends. (But it doesn't look as large as it used to be in these photos of the 2015 model.)

3. The muffler looks too big, although I'm getting used to it. Aftermarket!

4. Yellow rear shocks, even on red GTs. Paint 'em?

5. Boxy swing arms a bit inelegant. Live with it.

6. Undistinguished side panels beg for personalization. Ideas?

7. Fully realized cafe racer design discourages personalization. Hmmm.

Is license plate holder
smaller for 2015?

8. Doesn't really need a tach. A barometer would be just as useful. A quibble.

9. I'm not fond of digital mileage readouts but they are better.

10. Plenty of scoot but needs more speed for U.S. roads.

Where in London? Wartime Wren dispatch riders

Royal Navy Wren dispatch riders somewhere in London, circa 1943.
But where?

I recently came across a photo emailed some time ago by a reader named Douglas in Dania Beach, Fla. It shows British Royal Navy Wrens serving as dispatch riders during World War II.

In the photo, the young women on motorcycles roar in formation under an archway in a posed publicity photo. (Note that none of the men in the photo is stealing a glance at the camera — obviously warned, to make it look realistic.)

Where is that archway?

The truck at left bears the initials "R.N." For Royal Navy, I presume; and the van facing us behind the riders has, again, "RN" at the bottom of its windshield.

Other photos of Wrens on motorcycles (probably these same women) were clearly taken in London. Where else in London would all these Wrens and Royal Navy vehicles be, I guessed, except at the Admiralty building?

Admiralty Arch, London today. Note side street to right with small archway.

The location is a side street called Spring Gardens that runs around the massive Admiralty Arch at the end of The Mall in London. The little archway is insignificant compared to the enormous Admiralty Arch, and so is apparently ignored and rarely photographed.

Admiralty Arch, finished in 1912, adjoins the old Admiralty building (thus the name). The Wrens' little archway links the offices inside the Admiralty Arch to the old Admiralty building.

Composite photo with color arch and background from Google Earth.
The setting has changed little since World War II.

Spring Gardens is a lovely name, but the gardens are gone. The street was named after the gardens previously on the site, which featured a trick fountain. The gardens had been named after Sir William Spring, 2nd Baronet, according to Wikipedia.

This group of Wrens and motorcycles served as photographer's models.
Only Triumph PMP 195, shown in other photos, is missing from this group.

The riders are probably the same women seen in other photos and a film clip from the era. This group of Wrens seems to have spent a day buzzing around the Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace and elsewhere in London for photos.

I found these photos on the blogs Riding Vintage and Vintage Everyday.

Rider of SHX 123 opens her pouch. Buckingham Palace in background.

SHX 123 is in naval paint with RN 6908 stenciled on the tank.
PMP 197 is in civvies.

Swinging a leg over SHX 123.

PMP 195 may have started.

PMP 197 needs a good kick.

PMP 195 and SHX 123 head for the Palace.
Another Wren, at right, waits for them.

Passing Buckingham Palace.

Around the Victoria Memorial.

...and around it again.

Rider of PMP 194 has donned an overcoat.
Perhaps this photo was taken a different day.

Royal Enfield's new limited edition Despatch motorcycles its line of clothing inspired by military dispatch riders highlight the brand's connection to the services — and, of course, Royal Enfield's birth in India as the choice of the Indian military.

The man who made motorcycles look modern

It's the distinctive front end that sets this motorcycle apart.
(All images from Brooks Stevens Collection, Milwaukee Art Museum)

I don't consider my 1999 Royal Enfield Bullet stylish. To me, it looks like the dictionary definition of a motorcycle.

The traditional Harley-Davidson motorcycle strikes me the same way. It so obviously looks like a motorcycle should look that it's hard to believe someone "styled" it. Someone did. His name was Brooks Stevens.

Studebaker Wagonaire.

I learned this from the response to my post recalling the futuristic styling of vehicles and household appliances when I was a kid in the 1950s.

One rhubarb came from my friend, author Doug Kalajian.

"Any reason you didn't mention the obvious connection, Brooks Stevens?" he chided me.

Brooks Stevens, who died in 1995, was an industrial designer who shaped automobiles and household products — and, yes, motorcycles — during a career from 1935 to at least 1978.

Stevens designed the Studebaker Wagonaire car I used as an example in my post. It had a innovative sliding roof to increase cargo space.

Doug remembers Brooks Stevens best for the outlandish Oscar Mayer Wienermobile.

Oscar Mayer Wienermobile.

As for motorcycles:

"He ... designed Harley-Davidson motorcycles including the 1949 Hydra-Glide Harley, one of his first, helping create the new suspension forks in the front, bucket headlight, and the streamline design. All Harleys since, including models in production now, are based on Stevens' body designs," according to Wikipedia.

Famed designer Craig Vetter wrote the story of Stevens' influence on the design of Harley-Davidsons in a Cycle World Magazine article in 2004.

Stevens worked in Wisconsin his whole career, so having the Milwaukee-based Harley-Davidson as a client is not a surprise.

The Milwaukee Art Musuem has a magnificent, searchable online archive of his products and designs. It is well worth browsing.

Harley-Davidson.

You'll be amazed at the breadth of goods he shaped. Children's tricycles and pedal cars! Steam irons! Lawn mowers!

My favorite example of Stevens' influence on life is his invention of the wide-mouthed peanut butter jar. He said he liked peanut butter (me too!) so much he was frustrated trying to get it out of the tall, narrow bottles it came in.

Stevens coined the term "planned obsolescence," which he thought was a good thing in a consumer-driven economy. If he were alive today he would be tearing up his own designs, making products look like tomorrow's tomorrow.

Personally, I'm satisfied to appreciate the wonderful vision of the future he gave us in the 1950s and '60s.

A Royal Enfield carries you back to a past "future"

Gleaming porcelain, push buttons and a phony grille
were all an appliance needed to look modern in 1955.

A Royal Enfield motorcycle is "a time machine that would move not just through space but through the decades."

I wrote that in 2008.

I meant that I wanted a motorcycle that would remind me of what it was like to be a boy who wanted a motorcycle — which, in my case, would mean turning the clock back to about 1955.

Although 49 years younger than me, my Royal Enfield Bullet does the trick.

Until recently, it wasn't the only thing in my life that made me feel young. When we moved into our house in Fort Lauderdale I prevailed upon my wife to put up with the original clothes dryer, left by the previous owner. It had been brand new when the house was built in 1955 but was already 40 years old when Bonnie "inherited" it.

Somehow I managed to prevent her from replacing the rumbling antique — after all, it still worked — until just the other day. It was now 60 years old!

I'm not usually nostalgic about laundry appliances. But the styling on this one reminded me vividly of what "modern" was supposed to look like when I was a kid.

General Electric was proud of this 1955 "automatic" dryer.

It had push buttons! Nothing was more "modern" in 1955 than "Push Button Convenience." The buttons for Start, High, Medium and Low heat are no more effective than a single multi-position switch would have been. But they seemed, somehow, better.

Another feature, standard on all appliances back then, was a phony "grille" designed to look as though it provided ventilation. I attribute this to the impact of air conditioning, which was just becoming widely available for U.S. homes and autos.

Nearly every kind of appliance had the suffix "aire" tacked onto its name in those days, to signal it was up to date and desirable — like air conditioning, even if it had nothing to do with refrigerated air.

Not a laundry appliance: this is a motor vehicle.

My friend, author Douglas Kalajian, recently pointed out an example of this: a 1964 Studebaker Daytona Wagonaire, for sale on Hemmings.com in Virginia.

This oddball Studebaker station wagon was exceptional because it provided a sliding roof over the load compartment, a feature that almost no one needed and few wanted. But its styling was distinctly "modern."

The Wagonaire's grille, at least, was functional.

In fact, the resemblance to Bonnie's old clothes dryer is obvious. They could be siblings.

By the way, you can have the old dryer for free, if you'll pick it up. That would be no problem if you had a Wagonaire.

It looked clean, practical and modern — in 1964.

Even sellers gain appreciation of Royal Enfield motorcycles

A Royal Enfield for sale gives its owner pause.

Often it's the guys selling Royal Enfield motorcycles who write the nicest stuff about them. The author of this ad is selling a 2010 Battle Green Royal Enfield in Tigard, Ore.

He says it best:

"Looking to find a new home for my Enfield. If you are not familiar with these bikes they have been described as being an updated antique motorcycle. It is like riding a piece of history... This is not a corner carving, go fast race bike. This is a simple, easy to ride commuter bike. The manufacturer recommends not going over 75 solo, with a passenger 55 mph. Again it is an aesthetic ride into the past on a retro bike that shakes, rattles and rolls.

"The person who buys this bike may be a person like me who enjoys getting out on the back roads and running errands on their scooter. Or it could be a collector who wants one for their existing collection. I could see this bike being used in a movie; it has as much personality as any actor ever did.

"This bike should not go to someone who wants to buy it for road racing and screaming down the freeway; that is not what this bike is. I did add the very sporty little short pipe. This pipe really lets you hear the rhythm of the big single 500cc thumper engine. The drum beat of this engine works as a feedback to the rider, telling you how many rpms the engine is turning.

"As you can tell I love this bike. I use it more as a chair in the shop than as transportation on the road. Don't really want to, or have to sell it, but figure someone might want to get it as a Christmas gift to themselves."

Key West not the only great motorcycle ride in Florida

Great motorcycle roads always (hopefully) lead to sunset at a fun restaurant.

A great motorcycle road in Florida? Hard to believe. Our roads tend to be flat, straight and boring. But there are some great rides — sometimes through small towns to a dead end at the ocean.

There is a whole website devoted to such towns in Florida: Florida Backroads Travel. It has a helpful list and map of the 17 end-of-the-road towns it considers worthwhile, NOT including the most obvious one: Key West.

Of course, everyone know about U.S. 1 through the Florida Keys all the way to Key West.

Key West "is the quintessential end-of-the-road town, not just in Florida but maybe in the entire United States," the website notes.

I thought I'd discovered another great dead-end ride when I came across a reference to the "Ozello Trail" the other day.

I asked my wife Bonnie to Google it. No need.

"We've been there," she replied.

"I don't think so," I said. "This is supposedly a twisty road through islands along the coast, with a great place to eat at the end, called Peck's."

"Yeah," she said. "We've driven it. We ate there."

We did?

The blog MotorcycleRoads.com gives the Ozello Trail a four-star rating.

"Probably the one road that the state of Florida got right," one rider commented. And everyone seems to like the food at Peck's Old Port Cove restaurant at the end of the road.

Surely I should remember it!

Moral of this story: when your wife suggests someplace for dinner, pay attention to the road to the restaurant.

Although the Ozello Trail is only nine miles long, it turns out there are many great, longer rides in my state. Check out MotorcycleRoads.com to find great rides in your state.

Royal Enfields and others at Barber motorcycle museum

1964 Royal Enfield Interceptor:
"Royal Enfield was very advanced with their technical designs."

Of course she photographed the Royal Enfield motorcycles for me first!

My daughter Anna recently visited the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum in Birmingham, Ala.

Looking at her photos, your first impression is: "Those motorcycles are gorgeous"

1965 Royal Enfield Continental GT:
"The final version and has every conceivable option."

The second impression has to be the sheer number of motorcycles.

Barber claims the world's largest motorcycle collection: 1,400 motorcycles (more than 650 on display on any given day) from 200 manufacturers in 20 countries.

The bikes Anna photographed each came with identifying commentary, often a bit sly. Here are just a few of Anna's photos, with captions quoting directly from the museum placards.

1926 Royal Enfield 250 (Britain):
"Typical 1920s commuter machine, probably giving over 100 mpg."

1970 Clymer Indian Enfield (U.S., Britain, Italy):
"It is thought that only 10 of these 750s were built."

1946 Indian Chief (U.S.):
"Indian riders were divided over the fenders, either loving or hating them."

1913 Flying Merkle (U.S.):
"Flying Merkle has to be one of the greatest names for a motorcycle."

1913 Yale (U.S.):
"The wide track allowed for the machine to run in wagon ruts for a smoother ride."

1894 Hildebrand & Wolfmuller (Germany):
"Long connecting rods are attached to the rear wheel, which is actually the crankshaft."

Honda Cub clip-on motor (Japan):
"One of the first motorized products from the Honda Motor Co."

1957 Douglas Dragonfly (Britain):
"Bold new styling on a very old design was their last fling."

1929 Majestic (France):
"The chassis is two side panels joined by bulk heads."

1958 Ariel Square Four (Britain):
"A lot of myths regarding performance."

1938 Triumph Speed Twin (Britain):
"Built to look like a single cylinder from the side view."

1923 Scott Sprint Special (Britain):
"Scott, the innovator, was responsible for nearly 60 separate motorcycle patents."
My comment: "None of them was for beauty."

And on and on and on...
All photos by Anna Blasco.

Following Elvis Presley to the end of the road in Florida

Follow That Dream Parkway leads to a boat ramp and beach on the Gulf of Mexico.

How many times have you wondered where a little side road went? Or spotted an arrow pointing the way to a small town with an intriguing name, and you thought you'd like to visit it someday?

It happens to me every time I take a road trip.

Recently my wife Bonnie and I drove to the tiny Florida Gulf-coast town of Matlacha so she could do an item for her blog FloridaRambler.com

Matlacha (pronounced mat-la-SHAY) has a fascinating history; supposedly it was "founded" by squatters who exploited a little-known aspect of the law to create a hard-scrabble fishing village in the 1920s. Today it's still a precious time-piece, preserved from the rampant development that has transformed much of the rest of the state.

Later we discovered, to our surprise, that the 1962 Elvis Presley movie "Follow That Dream" is based on the story of Matlacha.

Elvis followed his dream to a Florida side road in 1961.

Except, of course, that the movie had to be filmed in a place that was even less developed than Matlacha had become by 1962. The film makers chose a tiny community up the coast with the intriguing name "Yankeetown."

Thanksgiving week, finding ourselves once again on the Gulf Coast of Florida, I casually proposed taking a side trip to Yankeetown.

"There's nothing there," Bonnie replied. Subject closed. Almost.

Driving past on the highway I noticed that the road to Yankeetown is named "Follow That Dream Parkway." I couldn't resist.

I couldn't resist seeing where Follow That Dream Parkway led.

The next day, Bonnie squeezed a trip to Yankeetown into our schedule. I was glad she did.

We quickly found the bridge where Elvis and the rest of the cast set up their squatter's village in the movie. There IS only one bridge! The site is a bit more overgrown than the movie makers found it, but it's still vacant land.

You'll see this site — less overgrown — in the movie.

Not far beyond is, literally, the end of the road, where Follow That Dream Parkway plunges down a boat ramp into the Gulf of Mexico.

Mission accomplished.

If you can stand watching Elvis pout for 90 minutes, the movie treats you to Florida scenery that is still there.