Royal Enfield Bullet Sixty-5

Roger, those are a couple of good sites. Reading the first makes me remember my time in Sri Lanka, and how a motorbike would have been great for traveling the countryside. And thanks to everyone else for the comments.

PF
 
Very nice pictures, thank you for showing them.

That is a seriously beautiful motorcycle. Just stunning.

Am I looking at ONE cylinder ? . . . the ultimate "thumper" ?

Wish I was of biking age again (I had a BSA back when . . . make that way back when).
 
It is a way cool Thumper.

But dont forget that Buell made a hell of a "modern Thumper" as well
 
You know, I completely missed the Buell single, even though it was made for nearly a decade. I thought they only made V-twins. From Google I see that it was an overpriced commercial disaster. In what way, too, is ANYTHING based on a H-D modern? The Bullet may be a 60-year-old design but that's newer than H-D's 'knife and fork' V-twins. If you want half a V-twin, the Vincent Comet was of course the ultimate.

For a REAL thumper, the 600cc P&M Panther ('Big Pussy') is wonderful. See (for example) http://www.ozebook.com/1202.htm

And of course for fast singles, the DBD 34 Goldie and the Velocette were hard to beat.

For a story of old, fast motorcycles, some may enjoy http://www.mctie.com/fiction/fiction.html

Cheers,

R.
 
killer story, roger. i could see every bob and weave, hear every exhaust note and metallic screech, and smell exhaust, gasoline and burned rubber. bravo.
 
not to deflect this thread, but, Roger I read you writings of India and the Enfield and enjoyed them enormously.
 
350 thumper dwarfed by memories of the thumpier AJS 500 single.

I take it this is a recent Indian one, far too sophisticated for the original!

I had an Enfield Bullet when living in London in the late '60s. By comparison with this it was junk. I remember two things, an absence of brakes and the need to wear a polythene bag on one of my legs to keep the oil away from my flares...can't remember which leg.

After it came the Ural Mars whose mixture screws pointed downwards and unscrewed as one went along...mind you, it made little difference.

Michael
 
Weren't the original Brit bikes all right side shift? I remember ...Way back... racing a BSA Gold Star Clubman and also had an early Triumph. I'm sure they shifted on the right side, so that you could hot shoe & shift with your left foot. So long ago, maybe I have brain fade.
 
Gerry M said:
Weren't the original Brit bikes all right side shift? I remember ...Way back... racing a BSA Gold Star Clubman and also had an early Triumph. I'm sure they shifted on the right side, so that you could hot shoe & shift with your left foot. So long ago, maybe I have brain fade.
Click to expand...

If not all, then certainly all the ones I remember.

The Bullet was originally right-shift (with the wonderful 'neutral finder') but was then made available with left-shift (maybe only 5-speed) AND right-shift (maybe only 4-speed). I think, though I'm not sure, that both are still made today. Re-learning right shift in Madras rush-hour, after 20 years of left-shift, was fun.

Incidentally, I apologize for not saying more about the pictures, but they just brought back so many memories. Nice shots!

Cheers,

R.
 
I think there was legislation in the US around '75 which required left foot gear change.. my '78 Bonnie is left foot.
 
all this talk of british bikes. someone in our area has for sale an early 1970s triumph 750. oh, for the money and mad mechanical skills. but a 500-650cc thumper remains my dream bike ...
 
That's fine, Roger. Never would have known they were also made in India if you hadn't chimed in. I learn a lot of things here, besides photography related stuff.

PF
 
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