SuzukiSavage.com - Print Page

SuzukiSavage.com
/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl
General Category >> The Cafe >> Royal Enfield
/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1506972287

Message started by MShipley on 10/02/17 at 12:24:47

Title: Royal Enfield
Post by MShipley on 10/02/17 at 12:24:47

Has anyone here owned one? if so what did you think of it?

Title: Re: Royal Enfield
Post by JLC on 10/02/17 at 13:35:39

I am interested in seeing what responses you get. Do you mean the originals made in England, or the more modern Indian version?

I never owned a Royal Enfield, but rode a Bullet 350 a fellow motorcyclist let me try. That was in the mid 60s. I liked my own 1956 Ariel Red Hunter better, but that was a 500cc, with about the same power than our Savage motorcycles. The 350 Royal Enfield had less. Never rode a 500 version of the Bullet.

Title: Re: Royal Enfield
Post by gizzo on 10/02/17 at 13:49:40

I've owned a 2014 Continental GT since new. have 27000km km on it now. hasn't left me stranded anywhere yet. component quality is ok. engines are hand assembled by Indians so build quality is very hit and miss. dealer support is terrible in Australia and it sounds like RE North America are no better. on the up side, it's great fun to ride as longas you don't want to go over 75mph. its amazingly good in the bends. handles like an old twin shock Ducati. and the bike is very simple to work on. if you don't like fuel injection, there are Amal and Mikuni carb conversions available.
go in with your eyes open and you might have a good time. I never recommend anyone to buy a RE because I don't want to be the bad guy if it goes wrong. But I love my CGT to bits.

Title: Re: Royal Enfield
Post by DieselBob on 10/02/17 at 16:31:54

We've got 2 in the stable. One is a 2001 iron barrel 4 speed. The other is a 2009 lean-burn AVL European designed head and 5 speed. Admittedly, the AVL is a more "modern" bike. But, I clearly prefer the iron barrel mount. You'll need a full complement of tools, plenty of spare time to tinker and it helps to have a welder. But, easy to work on. There's certain truth in the Enfield poster that proudly states "Untainted by Technology". I've got 2 of those posters. One for each bike.
If your question is comparative regarding the Savage, they're from different centuries - literally.

Title: Re: Royal Enfield
Post by Ruttly on 10/02/17 at 22:29:45

One of my buddies has a 1956 Indian 500 single,built by Royal Enfield. You can feel every time it fires the plug at any speed/rpm. As primitive as it gets even with the mag/dyno ignition. Has a lever on the bars that changes timing for easy starting. What a ball to ride , a step back in time !

Title: Re: Royal Enfield
Post by engineer on 10/03/17 at 08:26:12

The best bike I ever owned was a Royal Enfield GT 750cc Interceptor but that was in the mid sixties when the company still existed in England. The crankshaft was made of a nodular cast iron and was dynamically balanced which made it the smoothest British twin ever made. Vibration was not an annoyance with that bike. Published specs today understate its' power and performance because they use the earlier British specs. Many of the Interceptors shipped to the States had an aggressive "factory race cam" as they called it then and a somewhat higher compression ratio. It was a hot bike in the sixties and the ergonomics and handling were wonderful. It also had the signature long stroke that gave it great torque and a unique and pleasing sound. I think the Indian models still retain that long stroke.

I've been thinking about getting one of the new models but I've heard various opinions on build quality and performance of Indian built bikes. I've read that the newer ones with the unit construction engine/trans are built in a new European designed plant with better quality control.

Title: Re: Royal Enfield
Post by jcstokes on 10/03/17 at 12:52:00

Try, and Google "so you want to buy a Royal Enfield".