Tag: Royal Enfield

The Plucky Bullet

Berk was feeling pretty frisky about the Bullet. We had cleaned up a corroded spark plug cap and the big 500cc single was running well.

“You stay on the 650, I like this Bullet and want to try it now that it’s running right.” It took no arm twisting to get me back in the Royal Enfield 650 twin’s seat. I feel supremely comfortable on that bike and you will too if your spine has also recently collapsed from lifting 36,000 pounds of concrete last month. The thing suits my wee, 5-foot 6-inch frame perfectly. Bigger guys may fit the 650 also but I have no way of knowing that sort of shin surgery.

Meanwhile, Berk was was like Lawrence of Suburbia burbling along Baja’s Highway 1 with his Eton tie fluttering in the Bullet’s considerable draft. The guy was having way too much fun racing rag-winged biplanes and organizing Gurkhas. The big 500 single was in top form, pulling steadily and hitting every beat right on time. It got to the point that I thought I was missing out on something good. Like Tom Sawyer painting that picket fence.

And then the battery died. Flat dead, like nowheresville, man.

I recently bought a bunch of those lithium engine starter batteries, the ones about the size of a pack of cigarettes that will jump start an aircraft carrier. I whipped the thing out and Berk was impressed at how the Bullet jumped. Wait…that doesn’t sound right…

Anyway, once running the Bullet stayed running and we made it to Guerrero Negro where we located a slightly-used-but-still-holding-a-charge battery. The poles on the used battery were reversed and the case was a little bigger than the stock battery so we had to do a bit of ham-fisted metal rearranging to get the battery to fit inside the Bullet’s box. It’s not pretty but the bike starts fine now. The stock battery side cover won’t fit over the larger battery and we debated tossing it into the weeds but decided Royal Enfield wouldn’t find it so funny. We buried that part in our luggage.

With wires dangling and the larger battery hanging out the left side of the frame our Bullet is looking more like a BMW adventure bike everyday. If we wrapped 75 feet of 3/4 inch electrical conduit around the Bullet you’d swear it was a GS1200. Despite the troubles the thing is growing on us. Really, none of the faults are due to Royal Enfield assemblies.

In fact, each time we get the Bullet back on the road I like the thing better. It’s plucky, it’s a never-say-die-motorcycle in a British stiff upper lip, we keep our side of Gibraltar’s door knob polished, way. You know what I mean?

That’s it for now. Tomorrow we are going to see the whales, which in Spanish translates to “I’m going to ruin another expensive camera on a rickety boat out in the ocean.”

Royal Enfield 650cc Twin: First Real Ride

I finally spent some quality time on the Royal Enfield 650 today. We rode from Tecate to San Quintin, Mexico through the Ruta del Vin0 and Ensenada. My initial impressions have been reinforced. Royal Enfield nailed it with the 650 twin.

The bike scoots along feeling fresh and light all day. In top gear 4000-ish RPM moved the bike along at 60 miles per hour, 4600-ish was 70 miles per hour and 80 miles per hour saw the steady tach needle planted at 5000 RPM give or take a few.

I don’t know what RE claims for horse power but sitting bolt upright and letting the thing rip led to a 7500 rev-limited RPM @ 115 miles per hour (indicated) in 5th gear while 6th gear topped out around 110 MPH at lower revs (7000? I was too busy to get the exact number).

Unlike an old, torsion-bar Honda 450 twin that would rev high but never seemed to enjoy it, the Royal Enfield 650 twin loves to rev and it feels like the 7500 RPM rev limit could easily be exceeded by another 1500-2000 rpm before any self induced porting restrictions came into play. There must be a wire that needs cutting somewhere.

All in, this bike is plenty fast for me as I don’t plan to do street racing anymore. I’m too mature for that crap.

The Meteor (I’m trying to get RE to rename the bike) ) 650’s transmission shifted crisply all day long and in heavy stop and go traffic it didn’t get crotchety. 5th and 6th gear are close enough that I found myself sometimes running a gear down at cruising speed. The engine is so smooth and quiet it’s best to give the lever an additional tug, you may have another gear to go.

Pulling in the clutch started to feel a little sticky, kind of segmented, so I gave the pivot to cable connection a squirt of lube and the lever was smooth again.

The bike has ABS brakes and the front lever needs a strong pull to get maximum stoppage. There’s only one disc but for me it stopped well enough. If you’re the kind of rider that enjoys standing a bike in its nose you may want a bit more front brake. The rear brake must be ok because I never noticed it.

After a full day of riding the Royal Enfield 650 twin has done nothing to diminish my initial enthusiasm. It looks so good and really runs great. It’s shocking that the same company that builds the retro Bullet made such a sweet machine. This is a cool bike, make no mistake.

Tecate!

We had an easy run down the 15 freeway today, then it was the 805, then California’s magnificent SR 94 to a quick turn on the 188, and wow, Mexico!

Rolling up to the Mexican border in Tecate on a Royal Enfield 650. Wow!
…and, we’re there!

Joe and I processed through Mexican Immigration (we were the only ones there), and then it was a quick right to that fabulous restaurant I told you about a couple of weeks ago…the Malinalli Sabores Autóctonos.  It was an early dinner for us (we hadn’t had lunch) and it was fabulous.  We both ordered flautas and Joe grabbed a photo of my good friend Alicia with me…

Joe G, astounded by my flautas. We each had the same thing. The total bill was about $12. Incredible. I couldn’t finish mine.
Alicia, the proprietor. We’re having breakfast there tomorrow before we continue our trip south.

After that, it was a quick putt around town and we switched bikes.   I rode the 650 INT today and Joe was on the 500 Bullet.  Joe said he thought the Bullet was running rough.  I hadn’t picked up on that when I rode it yesterday, so I wanted to see if it felt funky to me.   I didn’t have any issues with the bike, but I wasn’t riding it at high speed all day like Joe was.  I’ll get my chance tomorrow for some extended high speed miles as we continue to roll south.   Sometimes these old big single cylinder bikes are easy to stall (I stalled it once or twice in town), especially thumping around in traffic when you’re trying to see the stop signs.    I think it’s fine.   There’s no question that the 650 is a much more refined bike than the Bullet, but I’m a happy camper with either one.

We stopped near a photo of the Tecate cerveza brewery and hung out downtown for a bit.  It’s cold here, but not nearly as cold as it was a few weeks ago when I did the Janus Baja run.

Tecate, Mexico. On Royal Enfields. Good times.
Near the Tecate town square. I wasn’t sure we could park there, so I asked a Mexican police officer and he told me we were good.
Uncle Joe, delighted to grab some seat time on the 650.

As walked around town, I saw a hot dog delivery dude (hey, I can’t make this up) on an Italika 150 and we had a good conversation.  He didn’t speak English, but Joe G speaks a little Spanish.  Joe’s Spanish wasn’t cutting the mustard, though (pardon the Oscar Meyer analogy), because our new friend called his girlfriend (who speaks English) and we had an interesting four-way conversation.   It was fun.

Riding, the universal language.

I was impressed as hell with the 650, but truth be told, I was even more impressed with the Bullet’s performance.  Joe took the lead on the 15 because he knew the roads to the 94.   That little Bullet is fast…he was cruising at 70 pretty consistently all the way down and there were a few times when he was touching an indicated 80.   And the 650…wow!  It’s smooth, fast, comfortable, and it handles very well.   I’ll tell you more about the performance of both bikes as the trip progresses.  I’ll be on the Bullet tomorrow and Joe’s riding the 650.   More to follow, folks.

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Long Beach Vintage Motos

I grabbed just a few vintage motorcycle shots at the Long Beach show last weekend.  There were quite a few vintage bikes there, but there were also many other interesting things to photograph.  Here are just a few.

A Husky dirt bike. Very cool. Love the colors.
A Vincent in the MotoDoffo exhibit. The Doffo Winery has an impressive collection.
There were several Kawasaki two-stroke triples, all in pristine condition. Joe Gresh, eat your heart out!
A very classy BMW boxer, which the larger-capacity fuel tank. These are stunningly beautiful motorcycles.
I had to include this shot, even though it’s not vintage. It’s the new 650cc Royal Enfield twins. Royal Enfield has out-Triumphed Triumph. I can see one of these in my garage.

Like I said, there were many more vintage machines at Long Beach this year, and what I included here is just a small sample.  It was a grand show.

Okay, one more…of little old me reflected in one of the Royal Enfield fuel tanks.

A signature selfie in a 650cc RE tank.

The 2018 Long Beach International Motorcycle Show

Say what you want about the man in the White House, or the former man in the White House, or who gets the credit: The economy is roaring. Nowhere was that more apparent than at the Long Beach International Motorcycle Show this weekend. It was packed, and we saw a lot of companies that hadn’t been there before. Triumph, MV Augusta, and more. Things were hopping, and if the attendance and the enthusiasm extend into the marketplace (and I think it will), we’re going to see significant growth in the US motorcycle market this year.

Shoulder to shoulder, the crowds were huge at this year’s Long Beach International Motorcycle Show.

Susie I and went on Saturday (thanks for the tickets, CSC Motorcycles), and it was shoulder-to-shoulder throughout much of the event. It was good to see. We’ll cover this event from six perspectives over several blogs: Friends, new motorcycles, custom motorcycles, vintage bikes, my favorites, and the female models that in the past always seemed to populate the big bucks exhibits (Harley, Ducati, Indian, and maybe a few others). Let’s do the easy part first, the drop dead gorgeous, young, mini-skirted female models who populated prior shows. The bottom line? I didn’t see any. Admittedly, I didn’t visit the Ducati booth (so maybe they had a few and I missed them), but in other booths where female models were usually present there were none. It’s probably a good thing, except for the models whom I’m guessing made good money in years past. Our society is growing up.

Two new bikes talked to me. One was the Royal Enfield 650 twin (a stunning machine); the other was the green Kawasaki 900cc Four with a café racer fairing. I sat on the Kawasaki. It fit me and it felt surprisingly light. Sue chased me off, I think, because she could sense the wheels turning. It’s a nice motorcycle (one I think I would like to own). Maybe it’s just Gresh’s enthusiasm in the Zed’s Not Dead Series, but I formed a bond with that Kawasaki. They say green motorcycles are bad luck, but I’d be willing to take the chance on this bike.

The gorgeous RE 650 twin. The suggested list price is $5799. That’s a hell of a deal.

We saw the new Kawasaki 800cc twin, the other café racer that’s styled like a real motorcycle (i.e., the original Triumph Bonneville). The colors ain’t great in the photos (Gresh commented on that in his Wild Conjecture piece), but in the flesh the colors work (they look way better than they do in the pictures). Instead of looking disjointed, the color mismatch makes for what appears to be a custom bike. Thankfully, the industry-wide craze for flat black bikes seems to be subsiding. This bike looked good.

The Kawi US guy told me the KLR 650 was not available this year and Kawi’s position is that this is a “skip” year, which he thinks might mean they are coming out with a new model for 2019, or maybe 2020. He said no one outside of Japan knows for sure. The Kawi dude said if the KLR does come back it most definitely will not be $6799 (the KLR’s price last year). He thought the price for a new version (if it comes to fruition) will be substantially higher. Their 300cc Versys looked good, but at $5799 it was pricey for a 300 (and that’s before what I’m guessing will be over a grand in dealer setup and freight).

The show was hopping. The economy is back, and the motorcycle business is along for the ride. Stay tuned, folks…there’s more Long Beach IMS coming on the ExhaustNotes blog.