A word in the dictionary

According to the Concise New Partridge dictionary, a certain Royal Enfield machine has become a dictionary word. Beware, however, of confusion with entry number 4 in the listing.

The heights of Bulletism

I reproduce here with permission of The BT Biker his "Heights of Bulletism", Heights of The Legendary Royal Enfield BULLET !

1. If any motorbike has 5 litres petrol and a BULLET has 5 litres petrol,the BULLET has more Petrol than the other bike.

2. There is no theory of motorbike revolution. Just a list of jap-crap that the BULLET has allowed to live.

3. BULLET is the reason, Tata's after buying Jaguar are still afraid to enter the motorbike segment.

4. When a BULLET moves forward, it is not moving.It is pushing the Earth backwards.

5. If you Google search "BULLET bad bike" you will generate zero results. It just doesn't happen.

6. Contrary to popular belief, the Titanic didn't hit an iceberg. The ship was off course and accidentally ran into a BULLET which was thumping some sea waves!

7. The First Law of Thermodynamics states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed... unless it meets the BULLET

8. There are only two things that can cut diamonds: other diamonds, and BULLET.

9. The BULLET can go around the earth so fast, that it's headlights can read its rear numberplate in one throttle.

10. Riding Bullets on Beachsides has been banned. The tsunamis were killing people.

11. The 11th commandment is “Thou shalt not piss off the Royal Enfield BULLET” This commandment is rarely enforced, as it is impossible to accomplish.

12. The RE BULLET is "The best a man can get"

Thump PROUD folks! Cheers, BT

1916

This post is part of the Royal Enfield Virtual museum. If you don't know what that is, visit the museum, you will be able to return here easily. ============================

With the continuation and worsening of World War I, Royal Enfield keeps producing the same motorcycles as in 1915. Sales slump as the economy in general suffers. There is little to report on this year, however, a lot of 1916 machines seem to have survived, The following article from the motorcycle trade place paints a picture of tranquility rather at odds with the carnage taking place in the fields of France at the time, In September 1916 a gentleman walked into the Redditch office and told management that he had driven HRH Princess Victoria in a Royal Enfield. The Princess expressed herself as being charmed with the ease and comfort of sidecar travelling. The sidecar combos appeared unusually popular with female riders. To popularize motorcycle riding among females, Royal Enfield had commissioned a whole brochure in 1915 called "The lady drives", which saw wide distribution in 1916 even being reviewed in the high society magazine "The Queen" (currently Harper's Bazaar).

The "Summit of excellence" poster was 120 inches wide and graced many train stations in 1916,

Source: "Royal Enfield, the history of the company" by Anne Bradford.

Bike of the year!

We wouldn't have had it any other way!

Season's greetings!

To all Enfielders out there! And what a better present than a video of a 1915 sidecar rig in action today.

C5 commercial

Commercial made by Atomic Brown Scooters of Oklahoma City.

In Brescia, Italy

If you are near Brescia, Italy, you may want to consider attending the photographic exhibition at the Palazzo Martinengo based on the expedition settemilamiglialontanto. We wrote about them in the summer.

Where in Laussanne?

The Royal Enfield distributor in Lausanne, Switzerland, was Jan Autos S. A. The company still exists today, having become a BMW dealer, and is headquartered in the same building as in the 1950's in the Rue de Petit Rocher 6 (it is the building with the brown roof), here is a picture of the 1950's, I guess those little trees have by now grown a lot! And here is Barry Smith, of the Royal Enfield factory astride a RE Twin in front of the same building. He tested the motorcycle by riding it from Redditch to Lausanne in 1948, Barry Smith was the grandson of the founder of Royal Enfield and was the last member of the Smith family to work for the company. He passed away in 2009.

1915

This post is part of the Royal Enfield Virtual museum. If you don't know what that is, visit the museum, you will be able to return here easily. ============================

At the beginning of 1915 World War I becomes a total war when Zeppelins start bombing England. A Zeppelin is sighted over Redditch but apparently is out of bombs, returning from a raid on Birmingham so the city is unharmed.

With the uncertainties created by the war, Royal Enfield maintains the same line of motorcyces as in 1914. Remarkably, experimental designs continue in the Redditch works. First, a patented two-stroke 250cc 2.25hp engine was developed, an engine that in one form or another would remain in the bike lineup until things started to go really wrong for the company in 1965. More exotic development also took place. Essentially by placing three of the two-stroke motors together, an inline triple 657cc two stroke prototype is built. It was developed further during the war but never saw production. It then disappeared mysteriously and reappeared later. It is now in the National Motorcycle Museum in Solihull. Here is a picture of a 1915 sidecar combo that appears to have survived till today. And here is a video of a 1915 sidecar combo in action today! Robert Walker Smith transferred from the Royal Artillery to the Army Air Corps, with which he will retire at the end of the war with the rank of Major, everyone calling him from there on Major Smith.

In previous years, Royal Enfield had fitted a Maxim machinegun to one of its sidecar combos for publicity purposes. In a memorable snafu, the machinegun (which was not operational) was seized by customs on its way to a show in Ireland early in 1914, where there were restrictions on the importations of guns due to the political unrests there. At the outbreak of the war the machinegun-enabled combo was rushed to the Ministry of Munitions and an order for 6hp's with strengthened chassis was received. Vickers guns were mounted on the sidecar chassis and they could be swivelled in any direction, forward, backward, sideways, even used as anti-aircraft gun. A padded seat and backrest were provided for the machinegun operator. Another model was fitted with a stretcher to carry wounded, There was plenty of work for the factory due to the war. Wages also increased nationally, in some cases by large amounts. The profits for 1915 reached 53,200 pounts, up from 32,700 in 1914.

While Northern Europe was fighting, Joaquin Barnola won the King of Spain's motorcycle cup on a Royal Enfield, An amazing feat considering that the Enfield had the smallest displacement engine in the race! Source: "Royal Enfield, the story of the company" by Anne Bradford

Envoyés Très Spéciaux

Envoyés Très Spéciaux (very special envoys) is a French movie about the capture of a prominent journalist and his technician in Iraq. They are captured while riding a Royal Enfield (with disc brake!) as can be seen in the movie trailer (about 57 seconds into it).

The favorite of Juan Valdez

Royal Enfield starts selling in Colombia in January. You can joint them in Facebook. Check their cool video. Good luck!

Motorcycle soccer

Apparently motorcycle soccer was popular in the Soviet Union. Of course, if you wanted to excel in such a sport, nothing better than this Royal Enfield sidecar rig.

Royal Mail

Hey, a Brough Superior, Vincent Black Shadow, Triumph Speed Twin, BSA Rocket 3, Norton F1, not bad company for a 1914 Royal Enfield. This is in a Royal Mail celebration of British motorcycling stamp issue. Perhaps it is fitting, given Royal Enfield's cute mail carriers of the past, Look at the weather protection offered, an early precursor of the Airflow design of the 1950's.

Cheating the wind

Towards the end of the 1950's the British motorcycling press was getting restless. Tired of dealing with Britain's notorious weather while riding, they demanded protection from the elements. The British motorcycling industry, attentive and responsive to the riders needs as usual, ignored them completely. So the journalists did something unheard of in the history of their profession. They got down and dirty and collaborating with the Enfield cycle company built a totally enclosed motorcycle, the Enfield Dreamliner. The results were quite impressive, the machine was very stable, offered improved mileage per gallon and top speed. The Enfield engineers, however, were less impressed. The Dreamliner was very bulky and difficult to maneuver at slow speeds, in parking lots and in tight inner-city conditions. So they had their own take on the concept and came up with the Airflow encasing that protected the front of the bike. It achieved many of the results of the Dreamliner but was much more nimble. Response in the press was very positive. In subsequent years, the Airflow fairing was available on all Enfield models and proved popular with police forces. It was even tested in the wind tunnels of the Bristol aircraft company. Alas, the public was not as enthusiastic as the moto-journalists and sales of the Airflow models were ok, but did not provide the economic boost that the Enfield Motorcycle Company was soon going to be desperately needing.

1914

This post is part of the Royal Enfield Virtual museum. If you don't know what that is, visit the museum, you will be able to return here easily. ============================

The 1914 line of bikes presented at the Olympia show was essentially the same as those of 1913, with some small changes. The 731cc big twin sidecar had proved immensely popular, so it received some upgrades like a casing enclosing its chains and the clutch. The hand operated oil pump was equipped with a two way tap that could route oil to the engine or the gearbox. Handlebars, wheel hubs and frame were painted a cool black. The handlebar and footboards were sprung to improve the smoothness of the ride. Several types of sidecars were offered, including one with extra ground clearance for overseas markets. The 424cc machine was available in roadster or TT design. The TT model had no kickstarter and handlebars slightly dropped. The 2.75 sidevalve machine remained unchanged with respect to the previous year. The factory was turning out 60 sidecar combinations every week in 1914. There were many variations in the sidecar, including tradesman's box used by bakers, plumbers, newspaper vendors, laundry men, fire brigades, milkmen,even furniture movers. With the passage of the Cat and Mouse Act the year before, sufragette activity was galvanized and Royal Enfields were even used for political purposes, On the racing front, Enfield lost Bert Colver, who rejoined H. Collins and Sons at Plumstead. However, several new riders joined the factory team. At the BMCRC second monthly race in April, E. Keyte, H. Greaves and F.E. Wastling entered the 26 lap race for machines up to 350cc. Wastling rode an experimental 347cc with auxiliary exhaust ports. For a while Greaves was in the lead but ended up second at 54.17mph. Wasling was third. In the may event Keyte won the event at 57.89mph and Greaves came in second.

The Isle of Man TT now required riders to wear helmets. There were nine Royal Enfield entries ridden by F. H. Walker, E. Keyte, H. Greaves, Doug Prentice, B. Alan Hill, D. Iron, Bill Sheard, Douggie Alexander and F. E. Wasling. F. J. Walker moved early into the lead, followed by Douggie Alexander whose bike's seat fell off and forced him to ride the rest of the race sitting on the tank. Walker eventually lost his lead due to a puncture. He repaired the puncture and resumed the race, trying to make up for lost time, but fell from his bike. Amazingly, he managed to finish third at 43.72mph, but then tragedy stroke: apparently he had received a concussion in the crash and crossed the finish line disoriented, confused by spectators that blocked the view of the finish line, so he did not slow down. He continued at race speed and took a wrong turn, crashing into a road barrier. He would die in a hospital a few days later. Keyte finished 8th, Greaves 15th, Alexander 18th, Prentice 20th, Hill 21st, Iron 23rd, Sheard 26th. This is Alexander with his bike, and this is F. J. Walker's bike, now preserved in the National Motorcycle Museum in Solihull, At the 56 lap Junior Brooklands TT race in June Keyte was second, Prentice fifth, Wasling sixth and Iron seventh. Greaves and Keyte reappeared in Brooklands in July and finished second and third respectively in the ten mile scratch. In the last event of the day, a three lap passenger handicap Greaves won easily. At 47.58mph, his machine also broke the speed record for a sidecar, but this was not officially accepted due to an obscure rule that forbade setting records in handicap events.

Something we have not emphasized enough is that Royal Enfield was a global company with strong export markets from the very beginning, starting with its bicycles in the late 1800's. For instance, the left picture shows an announcement for the Royal Enfield cup, a bicycle race, published in the Wanganui Chronicle, 30 January 1899 in New Zealand. Another example is this picture from 1914 of a Royal Enfield motorcycle in China, having a bit of trouble with the poor conditions of the roads. Frank Walker Smith, who had been promoted to the joint manager director with John Davis in 1912, was offered this year a vacant seat on the board (he was 25 at the time). He was very energetic and full of innovative ideas, like the organization of a factory outing (one of the first in the industrialized world). Over 100 Enfield workers went to Matlock Bath and explored the caves, visited Haddon Hall and had lunch at the New Bath Hotel. This was intended to become an annual event. These were happy days for Enfield and its workers, the company was doing quite well. Unfortunately dark clouds of a very different kind were building in the horizon.

A month after the Brooklands race, the assassination in Sarajevo of the Achduke Franz Ferdinand took place and a few days later the German army started mobilizing in the Western Front. With the outbreak of the war, Frank Walker Smith, joined the Royal Artillery. Guillon, the Swiss-born Royal Enfield designer left for his home country.

(Sources: "The history of Royal Enfield motorcycles" by Peter Hartley and "Royal Enfield, the story of the company" by Anne Bradford).