Bikes of Royal Enfield, especially Bullet, needs no introduction. Everyone from a small child to senior citizen knows it. The thump itself is enough for people to identify it. I have test ridden almost all bikes of royal Enfield either at dealers or of friends/ relatives and the list includes Bullet 350 standard (old), Bullet Electra (old), Classic 350, Classic 500, Chrome 500, Thunderbird 350, Thunderbird 500, Continental GT, Himalayan, Himalayan FI, Standard 500 (carb), etc. Out of these, have ridden Thunderbird 350 and Chrome 500 (fairly modern with conventional 5-speed gears and self-starter) for more than 200 kms. Every ride gives a new high. Being a regular reader of Auto mags since 1995, have gone through numerous reports of various publications about how pathetic the gearbox of Bullet is. There is a constant "False neutral" between every two gears. This term of "False neutrals" has been bombarded on my mind. I have myself experienced them on old as well as new bikes of RE but never to the extent of irritation/ frustration. On the contrary to these journalists who has defamed the REs; is the class of people who own these machines and love them more than their wives/ GFs. They know how to do most of the maintenance on themselves, they like to polish the chrome to keep it shining, they lubricate the chain regularly and they treat their bikes like extensions of themselves. I somehow never understood the contrasting outlooks of these 2 different set of people.
My cousin maternal uncle who stays in Ahmednagar district, owns a 2003 model Bullet Electra 4 speed with old pattern gears on opposite side. He expressed his willingness to sell it off. He offered me to take the bike with me to Mumbai and sell it off to some genuine buyer in Mumbai who respects that machine. Having sold our Duke 200, I jumped on this opportunity so that I get a bike for local use till we get a new one. I went to my native place at earliest available opportunity and kick started my new (temporary) possession towards a new experience. The take off itself was very poor. This particular machine is having one typical issue in first gear which slips off within first 10 meters or so and the gear shifts to neutral. I started in 1st, gear slipped, I shifted to 2nd, false neutral, I again shifted, again false neutral, again attempted and I was in top gear at speed of 10kmph. I must be looking like a fool in front of all relatives waiting to fare goodbye to me. The first ride itself was of appx 100 kms to my another maternal uncle. The ride was mixed experience for me with initial excitement+pain of missed gearshifts. I stayed there in Nashik district for a day and left from there the next day at 10am. I again kick started my new ride of pride in front of all relatives waiting to wave me a goodbye. First kick and it thumped, I shifted to first, freed my right hand to wave goodbye and it stalled. I kicked it, failed, again kicked it, again fail, kicked it appx 10-12 times and it failed. I was embarrassed in front of my nana-nani, mama-maami, cousins, labours, and what not. Finally it started and I took off without waving a final bye fearing another engine stall. I wanted to leave early morning to avoid heat of a summer but due to some job or other, got delayed. Ahead of me was a journey of appx 250 kms on a hot day riding bike which I hardly know how reliable it is and how well-maintained it is (Looks wise it is well-maintained).Already done with a filling breakfast, my target was to ride non-stop as long as possible to avoid extreme heat of afternoon. Gear pattern is one up and three down on the right side. I thought that I had mastered the act of gear shift. Almost every upshift was a breeze, but come speed breaker or some traffic and downshift was a pain. I always had to pull up the tacky gear lever to downshift and almost every shift was a "miss". Hell, after sometime, I cursed every speed breaker or traffic and never wanted to downshift. On some instances, I also tried to ride without slowing down on speed breakers or burn the clutch to avoid downshifting but a machine lover in me cursed my conscience and warned me to not to abuse any machine whether it belongs to me or someone else. So, I continued my ride trying to respect the machine. Post 12 noon, it was very hot, I was wearing my helmet but no other riding kit and to top it, I was wearing a T-shirt of half sleeves. I had crossed Shahpur but the ride was becoming unbearable. Hot weather, half sleeves and endless “false neutrals”. The lines of Auto journalists and the term “false neutrals” kept on bombarding my mind which was also frustrated with heat and sun burn. Having ridden for 20 years (2 years before adulthood) never in my life, a ride become so painful for me. The clutch was feeling heavy, accelerator too seemed slightly hard and both my hands was numb. I started cursing myself for choosing this new painful possession. Every passing kilometer tested my patience. At around 1pm, I reached Thane. At this point, weather was very hot, I was very stressed, traffic was very slow, engine was hot and it was becoming hotter because of reduced flow of air and very slow traffic. To top it, the engine stalled atleast 5 times within the Thane-Kalva stretch. A thought kept running on back of my mind, “Who will buy this pain after paying 85-90k that my maternal uncle is expecting”? I reached home at 1.45, burnt up, stressed up, tired and frustrated. Mithilesh was glad that he too will get to experience a antique machine and was keenly waiting for my review when I reached home. I gave my negative review and he was OK with it as it was just a temporary possession. After couple of days, Mithilesh went for a local ride and he too came back cursing the machine “Tell me, who will buy this one?”.
While the bike is in Mumbai, I have to ride it atleast once a day locally for some work or other. After couple of days while riding the Bullet in a relaxed manner I sometimes managed to downshift successfully. I also managed to kick start it in a single kick sometimes. After another 4-5 days, I mastered the act of downshifting too and started the bike in single kick. With this new found perfection, I started enjoying. After each passing day, I started enjoying more and more and started getting attached to it. I also mastered the act of taking off in first gear and quickly shifting to second before the first gear slips off. And I never thought a day will arise when I will ride just for the heck of it. The current situation is such that if I don't ride it with some reason through out the day, I ride just for the heck of it at 10-11pm. Same with Mithilesh who also started enjoying the ride. I spend my sunday mornings washing it and polishing the chrome. I marvel at its looks, I appreciate its classic thump, I enjoy its endless curve of torque and keep on admiring its sheer beauty.
This old school machine is not just a means of transport from A to B. This is an experience, an adjustment in initial phase but an addiction later, its really an extension of owner as most claim it to be..! It has that pure unadulterated mechanical connect missing in modern machines. There is a "connect" in every thump, every gear shift and every kick start.
To sum it up, its like a wife; she throws tantrums, nags, does not co-operate sometimes, heats up, stalls but slowly you start adjusting with her. You learn how to bypass the trouble, strike the right chord and continue living with her. The only difference is once you adjust with a classic bullet and get into comfort zone, there are only pleasures thereafter which is not the case with wives.. ;-)
:)
