Royal Enfield racer collects Brit bikes in big warehouse

Beno Rodi and Royal Enfield in Kaplan America video.

Longtime Royal Enfield racer Beno Rodi speaks in a recent YouTube video about his fondness for Royal Enfields and the vast collection of British motorcycles and parts he has stored in a warehouse in Georgia.

In the Kaplan America video interview with Rodi he shows off the Royal Enfield 350 motorcycle he has campaigned for 60 seasons. (The YouTube video is no longer viewable.)

"This is the one I rode the '61 Alligator and Stone Mountain enduro on... My dad went along with me because I was just 14. Well, to begin with, it was something I had built, so I think the front fender fell off first, and then the exhaust pipe fell off and then the back fender fell off.

"It was pretty much wore out by the time I got through." As battered and rebuilt as it is, he said he planned to take it racing in the brakeless dinosaur class that weekend.

His father Al Rodi ran Al Rodi'sMotorcycles, the dealer for greater Atlanta in the 1940s, according to Royal-Enfield.net

"Over the next 20 years Al Rodi operated various shops around Atlanta devoted to everything from AJS to Zundapp, but focused on the English marques including Royal Enfield and re-badged 'Indian-Enfields,'" Royal-Enfield.net says.

British bikes and parts went into storage as Japanese motorcycles replaced them on showroom floors.

Royal Enfield and other British makes on dealership sign in Rodi warehouse.

"Today, Al Rodi's son Beno has taken all of the former inventory from British bike shops collected over the course of many years where they now reside in a warehouse near Winder, Ga. outside Atlanta," the website says.

"He is involved in a variety of restoration projects as well as historical racers. Beno has himself been involved in motorcycle racing since the 1960s and currently campaigns a selection of Royal Enfield Bullets in flat track, road racing and trials events."

No racing Royal Enfield this; it's a ladies model of the 1920s.

Beno Rodi was one of the founders of the American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association (AHRMA) and ran a motorcycle dealership that handled BSA, Triumph, Norton, Moto Guzzi, Ducati and BMW. That became a parts and salvage business, while he raced under the banner of what he called "Team Salvage, because I was riding my old junk (and winning races)."

Rodi bears the scars of racing, the video interviewer notes, in a body battered by injuries. He uses a starting rig to avoid having to kick start his motorcycles.

Backing Royal Enfield 350 onto starting rollers.

Even watching him maneuver his Royal Enfield 350 onto the rig looks painful. It's easy to respect someone who goes to such lengths to stay in his game.

The lengthy (and slow paced) video concentrates on the size and variety of Rodi's collection of parts and motorcycles. His interests extend far beyond Royal Enfields to BSAs, Nortons, AJS, Matchless and on.

But it's easy to spot Royal Enfields on the video tour around the warehouse.

Royal Enfield washing day packed with pride

Considering its age and mileage, my 1999 Bullet cleans up pretty well.

RoyalEnfields.com is really a sort of log book for what I do to my personal 1999 Royal Enfield Bullet. Checking the blog, it looks to me as though I last washed my motorcycle in January, 2019!

I like to say my Royal Enfield "lives in the real world." Back when I commuted to work we'd get caught in the rain often enough that drying the motorcycle off with a rag when I got home to the garage was usually enough to keep it respectable.

Now that I don't commute, fewer miles translates into less dirt. After almost a year, though, it was past time to get out the bucket, rags and Zip Wax wash-and-wax soap.

Like most motorcyclists, I like to see my motorcycle clean. But washing a motorcycle is aggravating because it has umpteen crevices human fingers can't get at with a rag.

I'm water adverse: I won't use a hose or, Lord forbid, a pressure washer. Many years of trying to operate British motor vehicles have convinced me that water intrusion into electrical devices is to be avoided.

Oh no! Rust spots on rim of front wheel.

Most motor vehicles I've owned, British or not, rusted. Some were rusted before I bought them, but nothing I did tended to improve that. So I use the minimum amount of water I think I can get away with, hoping it will not find secret places in which to encourage corrosion.

This is one of the reasons I used to clean the Bullet only after a run in the rain: hell, it was already wet.

I'll agree that frequent washing is a good idea. It's the ideal time to check the tightness of nuts and bolts and to make adjustments.

This time, before I washed the bike I cleaned the spark plug and tightened up its gap just a bit to .020, still a fairly wide setting.

(Subsequent Note: It has started on the second kick ever since I did that.)

I also removed the kick start lever and put it back just a notch or two towards the back of the motorcycle. I'd been noticing it blocking my heel just a bit as I operated the Neutral Finder while riding. Hopefully this will fix that.

I found that the right-side rear turn signal wobbled just a bit and made a mental note to tighten it up.

I never throw away tube socks without saving the elastic tops.

Washing day was the perfect time to replace the "gasket" on my gas cap. I use the top elastic band cut from an old tube sock.  Can't remember who recommended this, but it has helped keep my tank relatively unscarred by gas over the years.

Of course one of the things that happens when you get up next to your motorcycle is you see the wounds it has collected over the years. Perfectly natural but obviously unwelcome news.

But some of these wear points pack the pride of how far we've travelled together. More than 44,000 miles, I reckon.

Rust seems to attack the leading edges first, even on a screw head.

One surprising thing I noticed this time is how rust has typically formed on the surfaces that face forward. The screw heads on the front fender, for instance, show rust damage only on the leading edges. Anyone have any ideas on how to fight that? Leave a comment below.

It's almost as if the wind is eroding the motorcycle.

I ran out of light before I could finish my job. The final step, tomorrow, will be doing a wipe with an oily rag across the shiny parts.

Royal Enfield workshop manuals free at Hitchcock's

Hitchcock's Motorcycles puts workshop manuals on line.

Owners of vintage Royal Enfield motorcycles have a new source of workshop knowledge: Hitchcock's Motorcycles has added to its website workshop manuals you can download and print.

"Due to the increasing demand for technical information, we have taken the plunge and uploaded all our workshop manuals to the website for you to download, view and print at your own convenience," Hitchcock's announced in an email this month.

"We hope this will prove to be a great help with your Royal Enfield restorations."

The newly uploaded workshop manuals are at this link. They run up through models as recent as 2016.

Meanwhile, Hitchcock's already popular Parts Books online now include the Royal Enfield Himalayan, Continental GT 650, Interceptor 650 and some later B5 and C5 models.

These parts books are marvels and even I (no serious mechanic or restorer of motorcycles) have found them very helpful. You find the part that interests you and click on it to get the part number, a description, price and often a helpful photograph.

But even better than this is that the parts books are based on exploded drawings. This is what I need on the rare occasions I have to take something apart and get it back together again.

Hitchcock's parts books identify every part, and its price.

The online parts books are at this link.

Keep in mind that what you are seeing here are parts books produced by Royal Enfield in the relevant era. These weren't always updated when production changes were made, but they are certainly better than working blind.

The same applies to the workshop manuals. For instance, my 1999 U.S.-spec Bullet falls into the book labelled "1989-2007 350cc + 500cc Bullet + Sixty-5." That's a pretty broad stretch of time and models even for Royal Enfield, which changed the motorcycle only gradually over the decades.

Naturally, this workshop manual has to have a "supplement" for the five-speed gearbox, introduced in about 2004.

But everyone with any period Royal Enfield will welcome the helpful "Troubleshooting" chapter. I was amused to learn its technique of checking for too-rich a mixture by putting a thumb over the sparkplug hole while kicking the kickstart lever.

Gas stain on your thumb? Fine. Wet thumb: too rich.

The workshop manuals are meant for you to print them out and consult them as needed. (Or take your laptop out to the garage with you.) The workshop manuals do not have the clever links to parts descriptions and Hitchcock's prices, but that is where you can turn to the online parts books.

"It is a credit to Allan (Hitchcock) and his team to share so much," Royal Enfield enthusiast Chris Overton commented in the classic Interceptor forum."

All in all: Well Done, Hitchcock's.

I'm screwed when Royal Enfield fender nut vibrates off

Random bolt and split washer on fender, compared to original.

Part No. 141306, NUT, NYLOC, M6 fell off my Royal Enfield Bullet motorcycle.

It left behind, hanging by a thread, Part No. 142894, SCREW M6, FRONT MUDGUARD ROLLED.

Those descriptions are thanks to the very useful Royal Enfield parts books from the past, available on the Hitchcocks Motorcycles website.

What happened, in non-technical terms, is that the nut holding the screw that holds the front fender to the stay that attaches to the front fork vibrated off and is gone forever.

The knee bone is connected to the thigh bone... except when it falls off.

What happened is, I discovered the screw barely holding its grip on the fender when I noticed the whole fender vibrating far more than usual to the beat of the motor.

Amazing that the loss of one fastener could allow so much motion. Amazing, too, that this bolt and nut had withstood that vibration for 20 years and 45,000 miles.

I was in a hurry to ride, so I replaced the screw and missing nut with random (and less attractive) ones found in my garage work bench.

Appearance is perhaps secondary to function on a 1999 motorcycle that has seen many a mile. But I like the look of the shiny, round-headed original bolts with their classic single slots against the dark green fender of my Bullet. Trouble is, I couldn't find a nut to fit my original bolt.

The Internet seems to offer every other variety of M6 bolt, none of them in the least attractive.

Pretty M6 bolts may be hard to find, but the one nut I need to hold this one on should turn up someplace in my workbench. The nut goes on behind the fender, so it needn't be pretty. It just has to fit.

The search begins.

Enjoying a stretch of old State Road A1A in Florida

State Road A1A is the Atlantic Coast road the length of Florida.

My wife and I recently stayed in a vacation rental cottage in Florida that was a historic building.

Historical as it was, it is younger than I am.

That's Florida for you. We have the oldest European founded city in the United States (St. Augustine), but everything else is from yesterday.

Believe it or not, this cottage is related to my reverence for my 1999 Royal Enfield Bullet motorcycle. My Bullet is, essentially, a circa 1955 motorcycle design. As such, it fits neatly into my nostalgia for my childhood. It is the sort of motorcycle I would have wanted then. And now I have it.

The cottage dates from 1951, the year after my birth. It had been built as a "fish camp." (Fish camp is American-speak for a place where a group of guys can get together with beer, but without dames, and without having to shave, or bathe.)

It went on to be a hamburger joint, a Sheriff's office, a hardware store and a trailer park. Today it is a completely renovated and comfortable vacation rental.

"I can't believe the floor is original!" my wife marveled about the varnished boards, as if they had been carved by prehistoric man. That put me in my place: I'm older than the woodwork!

Keeping A1A scenic is important to local residents.

The real appeal of the cottage for me was its position in Flagler County, along the old coastal road, A1A. It is on a stretch of the beach-side highway that extends 23 miles without a traffic light.

In Florida, that is saying something.

This location is far enough from the bright lights of civilization that dead trees from the hurricane of 2016 still dominate the beachside. People ride horses on the beach.

"Old A1A," now bypassed with pavement, shows what the original was like.

A stretch of "Old A1A" (now by-passed) is still just hard-packed sand on top of the dune line. It probably wonders what ever happened to all those Model T Fords it remembers.

One of the last coastal watch towers left over from World War II still looms over the beach, alert for enemy bombers that never came, and now never will. (U-boats did land Nazi saboteurs on Florida beaches in World War II, but not in view of this particular tower.)

One of the last of 15,200 such towers that monitored U.S. coastlines.

The old road suits me and it suits my motorcycle. I had a feeling of being at home on it, even though I'd never been there before. 

That's what nostalgia is, I guess.

Drivers and motorcyclists are drawn to the Ormond Scenic Loop and Trail.

P.S. State Road A1A in Flagler County, Fla., is a gateway to the Ormond Scenic Loop and Trail. It's a scenic joy to ride or drive it if you're in the region to see Daytona Beach or St. Augustine. We loved it.

Ormond Scenic Loop and Trail.