The June issue of Motorcyclist features a "First ride" review of the Royal Enfield Bullet Classic. The article starts "The Royal Enfield Bullet Classic takes you back a few decades. At least until a fully faired sportbike streaks by and returns you to 2010. Still, the Enfield feels right at home in the here and now". They give it three out of five stars. They compare the new engine to when Harley introduced the Evo V-Twin. Tthe EFI unit is described as "untidy". They complain about a sputter in low end power delivery (I haven't noticed such a thing). The 85 mpg fuel economy is called "optimistic" (it feels right to me). The article concludes "While it remains out its depth compared with modern bikes, this Classic brings Royal Enfield into the 21st century at last".
The MC mail has a flurry of letters about an article about Billy Joel from the previous issue. Although the letters refer to his Triumph and Moto Guzzi, the picture they chose to illustrate the section shows his Royal Enfield.
Jorge, the 85 mpg figure is a good 10 mpg better than I can do on my classic old iron barrel Enfield, and I never go very fast. I know that if I had a C5 I would cruise faster (since the extra power invites it), which would increase wind resistance regardless of how much more efficient the motor. Do you really attain a real-world 85 mpg?
ReplyDeleteIt is rather difficult to measure fuel consumption when the rate is so small. Any small error in estimating how full the tank is would be significant. I can only say it is way up there, certainly 70mpg at least. These guys claim 110 mpg in road use!
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