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- Herausgeber: Crowood
- Kategorie: Lebensstil
- Sprache: Englisch
Despite being one of the most successful motorcycles of all time, the Royal Enfield Bullet has had a very chequered history. Its story begins in the 1930s and by the 1950s it was at the height of its popularity in post-War Britain. Then it became a stalwart of the Indian Army and manufacture transitioned from Britain to India. The near-collapse of the Royal Enfield marque in the 1990s almost meant the end of this classic motorbike, but with the involvement of the Eicher Group from 2001 onwards, the updated Bullet generated new interest and renewed its original commercial success, just like a phoenix rising from the ashes. With over 200 photographs, this book describes the origins of the Royal Enfield company and the pre-war Bullets from 1932 and the relaunch of the Bullet in 1949 with its radical swinging-arm frame. Derivative models such as the 350 and 500, as well as those for competition and road are covered as well as specials such as diesels, V-twins, Egli and big-bore Bullets. The development story behind the lean-burn, electric-start and 5-speed updates is discussed as well as the UCE - the all-new Bullet from 2008 and the Classic and its design story. Finally, the evolution beyond the Bullet is covered which includes the Continental GT and Himalyan 650 twins.
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ROYAL ENFIELDBULLET
THE COMPLETE STORY
PETER HENSHAW
First published in 2020 byThe Crowood Press LtdRamsbury, MarlboroughWiltshire SN8 2HR
www.crowood.com
This e-book first published in 2019
© Peter Henshaw 2020
All rights reserved. This e-book is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication DataA catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978 1 78500 748 4
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Many people helped me in the writing of this book, both in original research and sourcing pictures, so in no particular order my sincere thanks go to the following: Stuart McGuigan, who recalled his work on the five-speed, electric start and UCE Bullets. Gordon May, the proverbial mine of information on Royal Enfield, was encouraging, providing several pictures and giving permission to use extracts from his book Overland to India. From the Watsonian-Squire team, hats off to Dan Sagar, Ben Matthews and Mike Williams, all of whom gave their time freely. At the Royal Enfield Tech Centre Mark Wells recalled his time with Xenophya styling the Classic and Continental GT, a visit arranged by Caroline Blake. Ridhi Jain of Royal Enfield India searched the Royal Enfield archives for more recent pictures.
The Royal Enfield Owners Club (REOC) was, of course, a good source of information, especially John Dove, Andy Berry and Graham Scarth. Formed in 1967, the club continues to thrive and caters for all Royal Enfields old and new, with a bi-monthly magazine – The Gun – and meetings all over the UK – seewww.royalenfield.org.uk. Justin Harvey-James provided more illustrations, while staff at the VMCC library were their usual helpful selves. At Hitchcocks Motorcycles, Allan Hitchcock and Wayne Timmings showed me round. Thanks go to Alan Cathcart for his information on the Egli and Carberry V-twin, plus the pictures taken by Kel Edge and Suresh Narayanan. Bullet overland travellers Nick Sanders and Jacqui Furneaux both gave permission to use pictures and extracts from their travels, while Paul Myer allowed me to use a picture of his Bullet on tour in Scotland. Peter Miller kindly sent several pictures from Royal Enfield’s early history. And finally, thanks go to all the Bullet owners whose bikes I photographed at Founders’ Day 2019. Thanks everyone, you’ve all made the Bullet what it is.
Peter HenshawSherborne, Dorset, November 2019
TIMELINE
1851
George Townsend sets up as a needle maker
1890–91
Albert Eadie and R.W. Smith join to rescue the company
1893
‘Royal Enfield’ name first used
1909
First motorcycle launched
1932
First motorcycle bearing the ‘Bullet’ name
1940–45
Military production of C/CO 350, Flying Flea and armaments
1946
Civilian motorcycles relaunched with telescopic forks
1948
Prototype swinging-arm Bullets entered in trials
1949
New G2 Bullet launched (swinging arm frame)
1953
Bullet 500 launched, Indian Army orders 800 350s
1955
Enfield India Ltd set up to assemble Bullets in Chennai
1962
Bullet replaced by New Bullet, Indian Bullet now largely Indian-made
1965
New Bullet production ends at Redditch
1972
New factory built at Anaikaraipatti
1977
India Bullet exports to UK begin, strikes in India
1983
Licence-built Zündapp production begins at Raniput
1987
Bavanar Products becomes the new UK importer
1988
Indian-built Bullet 500 launched
1990
Eicher Group takes an interest in Enfield India, Raniput factory closed
1994
Enfield now wholly owned by Eicher
1997
‘Royal Enfield’ brand relaunched,Watsonian-Squire is new UK importer
1999
A350 Machismo launched with lean burn engine
2000–2001
Financial crisis, Siddartha Lal joins with brief to turn RE round
2001
Bullet 500ES (electric start) launched
2002
Five-speed gearbox launched, plus Thunderbird and Sixty-five
2004
Electra X launched
2008
UCE launched, Bullet 350 sales in UK end
2009
Gearbox recall on UCE
2011
B5 launched, production now rising rapidly
2013
New factory at Oragadam, GT launched, production exceeds 178,000
2016
Production reaches 666,493, Himalayan launched
2017
650 twins launched
2018
Production reaches 837,669, Pegasus special edition Bullet
2019
70th anniversary celebrations
2020
Bullet 500 discontinued; 350 rolls on
CHAPTER ONE
BORN IN BRITAIN
Royal Enfield may be the longest running motorcycle badge in the world, but the company that coined it was named something completely different. There was no Enfield & Son dynasty, it wasn’t based anywhere near the town of Enfield, and there was certainly nothing regal about this down-to-earth engineering concern of the West Midlands. Instead, the name was inspired by another firm altogether – Royal Small Arms of Enfield, Middlesex.
EARLY HISTORY
Decades earlier, one George Townsend had set up shop in Hunt End near Redditch, making needles. The business grew through the 1860s and 1870s, branching into cycle components in the 1880s – by 1888, George Townsend Jnr was building complete bikes. With names like ‘The Scorcher’ and ‘The Business Rider’, Townsends was another company making a mint out of the late nineteenth-century cycling boom.
‘Made like a Gun’: Royal Enfield’s long-running slogan was simple but effective.
Alas, the company hit financial problems in around 1890 and was forced to bring in outside financiers from Birmingham. According to Ivor Mutton (quoted in Anne Bradford’s wonderful book, Royal Enfield), the Townsends left the company, and the financiers brought in two new men – Albert Eadie and Robert Walker Smith. Both had a successful track record in the cycle industry and would prove to be an effective partnership.
ALBERT EADIE AND ROBERT WALKER SMITH
Albert Eadie was the showman. Known locally as the Emperor (his telegraphic address was ‘Emperor, Redditch’) he was a flamboyant dresser, favouring a brightly coloured waistcoat, bow tie and stetson as day-to-day wear, and was ‘a great extrovert, articulate, good-humoured, generous and extremely popular’ (Anne Bradford). A born salesman, he had left school at thirteen, and by his late twenties had risen to become sales manager of Perry & Co.
If Eadie was the salesman, then Robert Smith (usually known as ‘RW’) was the engineer. The son of an engineer for the Great Western Railway, Smith had oil in his veins, serving his apprenticeship with the GWR and forging a reputation as a gifted cycle designer, as well as a keen racer. He became assistant manager at Rudge in Coventry, but at the age of thirty-five agreed to take on the riskier prospect of Townsends, joining as assistant to Albert Eadie shortly before Christmas 1891.
Royal Enfield is Born
Eadie persuaded several Midlands businessmen to invest in the still shaky company. Their breakthrough came when he obtained a contract to supply precision rifle parts to Royal Small Arms, which made the Enfield rifle. In honour of the new contract (and recognizing that it had probably saved their financial bacon), Eadie and Smith named their new bike for 1892 the ‘Enfield’. The following year they added ‘Royal’ from the name of their crucial client – Royal Small Arms – and so ‘Royal Enfield’ was born.
Within a few years, the renamed company was flying, riding the back of a cycle boom that was still sweeping Britain. They went public to attract more capital and expanded fast, with 600 workers building up to 400 bikes a week by 1897. There was a hiccup a couple of years later when there was a slump in the cycle trade, but Royal Enfield survived and was soon making profits again.
At least, the cycle side of the business was. A man with the inventive gifts of R.W. Smith (‘RW’) couldn’t ignore the possibilities of internal combustion. He built several prototype quadricycles in the late 1890s, one of which took part in the 1,000-mile (1,600km) trial of 1900, and that same year unveiled a motorized bicycle using a De Dion engine: the 172cc unit was mounted just in front of the handlebars, driving the front wheel. The company also offered motorized trikes, and started making cars in 1901, while the following year an updated version of the motorized bicycle was launched, with the engine mounted low, in the centre of the frame. It all sounded good, but the nascent motor industry was already oversubscribed, with too many motors chasing too few customers. In 1908, Enfield’s motor arm was sold off.
Where it all began – a 1910 Model 140 with Motosacoche V-twin.PETER MILLER
But that wasn’t the end of the story. To cater for the still booming cycle business, Royal Enfield had built a new factory near the centre of Redditch, a Midlands country town famous for its needle-making and fishing-tackle industries – light engineering was what Redditch did, and it would be Royal Enfield’s home (at least, the British one) for the next sixty years.
Despite the company’s unhappy experience with cars, it wasn’t long before RW was turning his attention back to petrol power, and at the 1909 motorcycle show launched a little 2¼HP V-twin, using a Swiss-made Motosacoche power unit and RW’s own patented two-speed gear with chain drive. It created quite a splash.
Encouraged by its reception, Royal Enfield unveiled a 6HP V-twin sidecar outfit in 1911, which would be something of a breakthrough – the JAP-powered combo was an adaptable thing, a race winner that could work with a tradesman’s box, and in 1916 it impressed HRH Princess Victoria, who had a go in the chair and was reported as being ‘charmed with the ease and comfort of sidecar travelling’.
Three Major Innovations
Name a Royal Enfield innovation today, and most enthusiasts will cite the swinging-arm rear suspension introduced with the Bullet in 1949. But the company also pioneered three major innovations in its early days – it wasn’t first with all of them, but was certainly one of the early adopters, stealing a march on the competition. A countershaft gearbox and chain drive were offered from 1911, which brought great advantages over the contemporary single-speed belt-drive bikes. A choice of gear ratios was an obvious benefit for hill climbing and acceleration, while chain drive was more efficient than a belt, and would not slip. If the chain did have a drawback versus a belt, it was the jerkier take-up of drive, but that was addressed in 1912 by Royal Enfield’s cush drive, launched with the Model 180 V-twin. This used rubber blocks in a separate hub to help absorb acceleration/deceleration forces, smoothing out the drive – and it was subsequently copied by countless other manufacturers.
Royal Enfield’s 6HP outfit was built as a machine-gun platform during World War I.PETER MILLER
The third of Royal Enfield’s early innovations was automatic lubrication in 1913. At the time, most bikes used total-loss oiling, the rider having to use a hand-operated pump every few miles to keep the engine lubricated, with obvious dire consequences if they forgot, though over-oiling was another pitfall. Instead, Royal Enfield’s new 3HP 425cc V-twin for 1913 held its oil in a dry sump, with an automatic geared pump supplying lubricant under pressure to the big-end bearing. Another big advance, and the little V-twin (the company’s first engine designed and made in-house) proved capable of all sorts of feats – a Mr Flowers rode one up Mount Olympus in Greece with a 14-stone passenger in the sidecar.
By now, Albert Eadie had left the company he had done so much to revive, probably because his membership of the board of BSA was thought to be a conflict of interest. But Royal Enfield was in safe hands. Not only was R.W. Smith now at the helm, busy designing motorcycles and overseeing the still booming cycle business, but his eldest son Frank looked like the start of a dynasty – he joined the company in 1909 and within three years was joint managing director, taking a seat on the board in 1914, aged just twenty-five. Frank (later Major) Smith would be a key figure in the Royal Enfield story.
The War Years and Postwar Developments
Frank served as a Royal Flying Corps pilot in World War I, and meanwhile Royal Enfield boomed on war work, supplying 6HP sidecar outfits and military spec bicycles to the War Office. As across the whole wartime economy, employment at Royal Enfield, plus wages and profits, all soared, profits more than doubling to over £70,000 by 1918. The Government, mindful that many companies were doing well out of the war on government contracts, duly deducted much of that as an Excess Profits Duty.
Despite that, Royal Enfield weathered the often difficult years of the 1920s and 1930s very well, and it was the only British motorcycle manufacturer never to default on shareholder dividends. Even in 1930, in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash, the company made only a small loss of £2,000, and soon bounced back into profitability. There were no boardroom crises, factory closures or scraping around for working capital, and the reasons aren’t hard to find. The company was not dependent on motorcycles, with a general engineering arm providing financial stability – it was still a major force in the cycle trade as well. As for the bikes, it tended to concentrate on straightforward machines, reliable ride-to-work mounts that offered the typical ride-to-work buyer value for money. In those days motorcycles were, on the whole, not playthings, and these sensible aspects counted for much.
8HP sidecar outfits poised for the Royal Mail fleet in 1922.PETER MILLER
Above all, Royal Enfield was blessed with having the right people in the right places. In particular, two engineers stand out: E.O. ‘Ted’ Pardoe joined the company in 1924, designed a 350cc side-valve single that same year, and followed it up with a 500 three years later. The latter shared its bore, stroke and piston with the Model K V-twin – useful for owners, and sound economic sense for the factory. Twenty or so years later, Pardoe would draw up the postwar Bullet.
If Ted Pardoe was the practical design engineer, then Tony Wilson-Jones, who came to Redditch the year after as Head of Development, was the cerebral analyst. A frequent contributor of papers to the Institution of Mechanical Engineers,Wilson-Jones was something of a ‘blue sky’ thinker. But this aspect of his personality shouldn’t be overblown. He was also a keen motorcyclist who understood what the day-to-day rider needed, and he appreciated that the company needed skilled workers, setting up an apprenticeship training scheme that would serve Royal Enfield well for years to come. In fact, Ted and Tony made a good team – just like R.W. Smith and Albert Eadie thirty-five years earlier, they complemented each other, Ted Pardoe doing the job of putting Wilson-Jones’ ideas into practice.
They were backed up by Major Frank Smith, who headed up the small product planning committee and had the engineering background to make an accurate judgement on what was, and what was not, worth pursuing. He became Managing Director in 1933 (after his father died) and Chairman three years later, so he also had the authority to put engineeringled decisions into practice. The result was that decisions were made and implemented swiftly, with Royal Enfield building on its good record for innovation – as well as those big three advances in 1911–13, it was an early adopter of the saddle fuel tank (1928) and pioneered the use of a plain big-end bearing with a floating bush in 1935.
A typical Royal Enfield offering from 1928: the 4.88HP four-speed 500.PETER MILLER
By 1929, the company was offering a wide range of machines, from the two-stroke 225cc Model A, through inclined sidevalve singles of 225cc, 346cc and 488cc, the 350 using the same 70 × 90mm bore/stroke dimensions as the postwar Bullet. The flagship was the Model K, a 976cc side-valve V-twin. Like the little two-stroke, this sidecar tug was an ageing design, though it had been updated over the years. Ninety years later, it would form the inspiration for Royal Enfield’s KX concept bike.
So far, so sensible, but for years Royal Enfield owners had been active in both trials and road racing, and the company wasn’t immune to the growing enthusiast market. A range of new 350s and 500s for 1930 reflected the fact. All sported inclined cylinders (increasingly popular at the time, for their more rakish appearance) with twin-plunger oil pumps, the oil contained in an integral tank cast into the front of the crankcases. The new 350s and 500s came in both side-valve and ohv form, with shapely saddle tanks finished in nickel and black with gold pinstriping, just the thing to cut a dash along Brighton seafront on a Sunday afternoon. The following year saw a 4-valve version of the Model J 500, with a pentroof head and said to be capable of 75–80mph (120–130km/h), or even more with tuning.
THE FIRST BULLETS
The first Bullet, when it arrived, did not come as an all-new bike with a fanfare launch. Instead, in September 1932 the first machines bearing the famous name were developments of the inclined singles, here in ohv form. They ticked all the boxes of a sporting bike in the early 1930s: as well as inclined cylinders, there was a four-speed foot gearchange (far quicker than the old hand change), higher 6.5:1 compression ratio, plus extra chrome on the tank, wheel rims and handlebars. The Bullet, which decades later became known as a ‘sensible’ machine for classic enthusiasts, started its life as a flashy sporting job, with a virtual pencil moustache and cravat – the sort of bike ridden by tennis club cads. A 250 joined the 350 and 500, introduced to take advantage of new taxation laws that favoured smaller engines..
Just to underline the fact that Bullets were the sporting edge to Royal Enfield, there was a 4-valve version of the 500, with a very similar power unit to the original 4-valve, now with roller-bearing rockers. Royal Enfield was a little vague about top speed, claiming between 80 and 90mph (130 and 145km/h), but added that with only minor tuning and higher gearing the 4-valve could be coaxed up to 100mph (160km/h).
To prove the point, in September 1932 the company prepared a bike with a slightly higher compression ratio than standard, but retaining the usual silencer and mudguards. Over a flying start quarter-mile, it averaged 98.9mph (159.1km/h) – not quite the ton, but as near as made no difference. The Bullet had arrived. And it was no radical, just a straightforward sporting motorcycle for the enthusiast.
In the 1930s, the British motorcycle industry found itself increasingly catering to an enthusiast market. Although thousands of bikes were still bought for commuting and as sidecar tugs for family transport, their numbers were falling, and Royal Enfield et al were ever more reliant on died-in-the-wool motorcyclists as the arrival of cheaper small cars such as the Austin Seven and Morris Eight were making inroads into sidecar territory. Previously, a new 350 or 500 outfit was far cheaper than a car, but now a two- or three-year-old Seven cost about the same. UK motorcycle production and sales slumped, from a high of over 140,000 in 1929 to just over 52,000 four years later, only recovering slowly through the 1930s.
Critics inside and outside the industry called for renewed efforts to produce a motorcycle not for the enthusiast, but for ‘everyman’ and ‘everywoman’ – it would be quiet, clean, easy to operate, and would open up a potentially huge market, way beyond the limited band of enthusiasts. The industry’s big players refused to heed the call, though Royal Enfield did, with the little 146cc Cycar. With its all-enveloping pressedsteel frame enclosing the two-stroke engine, the Cycar was a radical move, and able to take advantage of the new cheap taxation class (just 15s a year) for sub-150cc bikes. But after initial interest, sales began to tail off, and the following year Royal Enfield launched a more sporting two-stroke 150 with a traditional duplex frame – a four-stroke joined it in 1934.
This was the background to the Bullet – it was essentially a traditional product, albeit with up-to-the-minute features such as a 4-valve head and foot change, which catered to an increasingly isolated market. Like the Triumph Speed Twin and BSA Gold Star, it was a bike of its time in a market protected by tariffs, and peopled by a fiercely loyal band of enthusiasts. But it was a market that Royal Enfield, with key staff who were keen riders themselves, understood well – and apart from that small loss in the wake of the Wall Street Crash, the company made profits right through the 1930s.
The 250, 350 and 500 Bullets carried on into 1933 with high-level pipes, high compression pistons and four-speed positive-stop foot change. Prices – give or take the odd 7s 6d – were £48, £52 and £59 respectively, though all could be had without lights, saving about £6. The Motor Cycle tested the smallest Bullet, and in the way of road tests on those days, loved the bike. They liked its ability to trickle along at less than 9mph (14.5km/h) in top gear (attributed to Enfield’s cush-drive hub) and its spirited performance, topping 62mph (99.7km/h) with the rider upright, and creeping up to 69mph (111km/h) when he was flat on the tank. Brakes were deemed ‘just about adequate’, a classic piece of road-test language which probably meant ‘not that good’.
One of the first bikes called Bullet, 1933 BO 250.GORDON MAY
1934 500 four-valve Bullet with hand gearchange (a special order from the factory).GORDON MAY
Royal Enfield singles were already noted for their clean looks, having internal oilways, something improved again for 1934 with the pushrods now enclosed in tunnels in the barrel casting. It was an advanced feature that did away with the problem of thermal expansion and subsequent sealing problems of separate tubes, and other manufacturers followed Enfield’s lead. Through the Depression, the company had kept a low profile in competition, though of course private owners had entered bikes in myriad trials and road races. That changed in 1934 with an official entry for the Senior TT, using the experimental plain shell big-end bearing. It wasn’t a fairytale finish – Cecil Barrow crashed and Jack Booker retired on his fifth lap, but at least the company was racing again.
As was already clear, it wasn’t averse to innovation either, experimenting with sleeve valves and a transverse shaftdrive V-twin in the mid-1930s, though both concepts were rejected as too costly to make. What did see production was the new 3-valve 500 Bullet for 1934. The previous 4-valve Bullet had proved vulnerable to cylinder-head cracking, and it was hoped the new 3-valver would overcome this. In fact, the Model LO was virtually new. The 3 valves (one large exhaust and two smaller inlets) were vertical, giving a compact combustion chamber with all the valve gear enclosed – just one rocker opened both inlet valves. Unfortunately the 3-valve Bullet’s performance didn’t live up to expectations, and it was dropped the following year.
Royal Enfield replaced it with another 4-valver, the Model JF, for 1936. This was a development of the bike raced (and crashed) by Cecil Barrow at the previous year’s TT, a twinport vertical single with 84 × 90mm dimensions – the head could still crack, but it wasn’t as likely to happen as before. Reflecting the importance of the 500 market, there were 2-valve and side-valve models as well. Meanwhile the new 350 was the Model G, also with a vertical cylinder and with the familiar (to generations of Bullet owners) 70 × 90mm bore and stroke. The company had taken pains to quieten down this engine, both mechanically and from the exhaust – the cam gear, tappets and gear drive to the dynamo were all flooded with oil to suppress rattling and tapping. With a new frame, the familiar Enfield cush drive, lighting and a tanktop instrument panel, the G came in at just over £45, brand spanking new.
The Cycar was dropped for 1937 – a conservative buying public and distrust of its new-fangled pressed-steel frame translating into disappointing sales. That failure to tap into a mass market motorcycle was underlined by the concentration on what established customers wanted, with competition versions of the 350 and 500 Bullet now in the catalogue, including one of the JF. With trials in mind, the competition Bullets had a shortened frame with greater ground clearance, crankcase shield, adjustable bars and footrests, Lucas racing Magdyno and quickly detachable headlight. The JF was the flagship of the range, apart from Royal Enfield’s long-running side-valve V-twin Model K, a slogging sidecar tug in the best tradition. As if justifying the new emphasis on competition, Royal Enfield had a very successful 1937 in trials, winning six gold medals in the ISDT, plus thirty-seven trophies in sixteen open events.
Royal Enfield didn’t tamper with what was clearly a winning formula, and the 250/350 Bullets, J2 500 and 350/500 Competition Bullets all continued for 1938 with no major changes, though the 4-valve JF was dropped, and the bigger bikes now had rubber-mounted handlebars in a bid to quell vibration. Motorcycling magazine tested a J2 and pronounced it ‘A fascinating mount with a high degree of comfort’, underlining its off-road credentials with a picture taken in the rough. They liked the handling on trials sections and ‘colonial stuff’, as well as the big single’s flexibility, comfort and overall 72mpg (3.9ltr/100km). Testers didn’t like the front brake (maybe a weakness of 1930s Enfields?) but summed up: ‘Specially tuned, fully equipped, well finished and backed by an enviable reputation for good wearing qualities, this model is justifiably popular with the man requiring a good-performance “five hundred” for a moderate initial outlay.’
Saddle tank, foot change, high pipe and peppy performance – all the hallmarks of a 1930s mount for the enthusiast.
Glorious but rare – the all-alloy 350 for 1939.GORDON MAY
By 1938 the Bullet had made the cover of the Royal Enfield brochure – it had arrived.
There was bigger news for 1939 when the Model G 350 Bullet acquired the advanced feature of an alloy cylinder barrel. Alloy heads were well established by then (with bronze heads for competition), but an alloy barrel was big news for a mid-range bike. This one had a Vacrit austenitic liner, while the alloy head had cast-iron valve seats. As before, the pushrods worked in passages cast into the barrel, with all valve gear enclosed. Larger 7in brakes (compared to the 250) were part of the package, along with an oil-pressure gauge in the tank top panel. It was clearly a sporty little mount, but for the really serious there was a Competition version with narrow mudguards, 27in wheels, small tank and upswept exhaust system.
The twin-port J2 500 and the 250 stuck with their castiron barrels, though a Trials 500 with alloy barrel was listed as well. But Motorcycling was impressed with the all-alloy 350. ‘It was possible to travel for many miles on full throttle without any signs of distress’, but they considered valve noise was more noticeable at low speeds. As for the exhaust: ‘... of the type which appeals to a few sporting members of the motorcycling game...Our tester found the healthy exhaust bark decidedly embarrassing.’
250 BULLET (1932)
Engine
TypeAir-cooled ohv singleBore and stroke64 × 77mmCapacity248ccElectricsLucas 6-voltTransmission
GearboxFour-speedPrimary driveChain, oil bathRatios1st 18.1:1 2nd 11.1:1 3rd 8.4:1 4th 6.2:1Suspension
FrontGirder fork with adjustable damperRearNoneBrakes
Front6.5in drumRear5in drumPrice£48.7s.6dMODEL G 350 BULLET (1939)
Engine
TypeAir-cooled ohv single, aluminium alloy cylinder head and barrel, cast-iron linerBore and stroke70 × 90mmCapacity346ccCarburettorAmalElectricsLucas 6-volt Racing MagdynoTransmission
GearboxFour-speedPrimary driveChain, oil bathSuspension
FrontGirder fork with adjustable damperRearNoneTyresFront 3.00 × 26Rear 3.25 × 26Brakes
Front7in drumRear7in drumPrice£60.0.01939 iron barrel 500, not the fancy (and now rare) all-alloy 350, which made its debut that year.
WAR WORK
Like other manufacturers, Royal Enfield had a 1940 range planned, which would have been introduced at the Earls Court Show in November 1939. By then, of course, Britain had been at war with Germany for two months, the show had been cancelled, and any thoughts of civilian sales put on hold – which included the Bullet.
Like other motorcycle manufacturers, RE soon found itself busy with armaments and other contracts for the Government. By 1943 it had three factories as well as the established plant at Redditch churning out all manner of war materiel, everything from gun-sight components to diesel generator sets and armour-piercing shells. One of the new factories was an underground facility at Bradford-upon-Avon near Bath, where a disused quarry was rapidly transformed into a fully equipped factory, 90ft (27m) below ground. Workers were allocated time on a sunbed, to make up for the lack of natural light.
Bullets (no pun intended) did not play a part in Royal Enfield’s war work, but motorcycle production carried on, and the company would build over 46,000 bikes for the armed forces. It was by no means the biggest maker of military bikes for the British (BSA built more than twice as many), but this was still a significant contribution. The best known was, of course, the Flying Flea, which came to Enfield almost by accident and wasn’t originally intended as a military machine, though ironically the Nazis made it possible.
In 1938 DKW’s Dutch importer had been instructed to expel its Jewish owners – the company refused, and so as punishment the Nazi regime told DKW to ditch it. In a commendable piece of reverse espionage, the importer took one of DKW’s RT125 two-strokes to Royal Enfield, asking if they could make something similar. Ted Pardoe obliged, and the resulting Flea was a virtual carbon copy of the DKW, from its unit construction 123cc two-stroke to the rubber-band front suspension. The Flea was soon pressed into service as a lightweight despatch bike for the British armed forces. Held securely in a metal cage (which was built at Royal Enfield’s wartime Edinburgh factory), it was parachuted into action behind enemy lines (hence ‘Flying Flea’), and saw action on D-Day. Riders reported that the rubber bands for the front suspension tended to snap on rough going, so they always carried a few spares. And if the little bike got bogged down it was so light they could pick it up and carry it to firmer ground.
Most of Royal Enfield’s military bikes weren’t Fleas, but 350cc singles that would have been familiar to a generation of pre-war riders. These were militarized versions of the side-valve Model C and overhead valve CO, which were very similar. Both had cast-iron heads and barrels (none of the fancy all-alloy construction of the 1939 Bullet 350), with the plain big end pioneered by Tony Wilson-Jones, and a four-speed Albion or Burman gearbox – Burman-equipped bikes had to do without the familiar cush drive. Military equipment included a headlight blackout, speedometer, high-mounted air cleaner, panniers and pillion pad. A smaller number of 570cc side-valve singles were supplied to the Royal Navy as well as some J2 500s to the army. In 1944 Royal Enfield also developed a 350cc side-valve twin with horizontal cylinders and both primary and rear chains enclosed in a common case, but it never reached production.
Bert Wedgebury – quoted in Anne Bradford’s book of Royal Enfield worker recollections – recalled working as a motorcycle tester at Redditch in 1941. His job was to take a bike off the end of the production line, put in petrol and oil, and set the tappets before setting off for a 9-mile (14km) road test. When he got back, senior tester Reg Steel would put in another mile on the test track, after which Bert had to drain the fuel and oil tanks and remove the slave exhaust. For all of that, he was paid 1s 3d per bike – many Royal Enfield workers seem to have enjoyed their time at Redditch, but the company wasn’t renowned for its generous wages.
‘It’s a lovely day tomorrow...’. In 1941 servicemen and women could dream of postwar rides by Royal Enfield.
Most of the factory work was routine, just as in peacetime, but Barbara Seviour – Tony Wilson-Jones’ secretary – recalled being asked to model for advertisements. In 1941 she was photographed as pillion on a Royal Enfield single, which was piloted by a young man. The result was a line drawing of a good looking couple speeding towards a sunlit postwar future, past a thatched, half-timbered piece of Old England. The message was clear: this is what we’re fighting for, and the future is bright. Or as the strapline put it: ‘It’s a lovely day tomorrow.’
ADSPEAK: WORLD WAR II
‘When Victory has been achieved we’ll ride once more through the England that is ours, ten times more conscious of its beauty and of the brand new Royal Enfield Motor Cycle, which will most surely be our mount.’
POSTWAR
When ‘tomorrow’ finally came for Britain’s motorcycle industry in the summer of 1945, it wasn’t quite as bright as promised in the advertisement quoted above. In some ways the industry was in a very strong position. Despite falling sales in the 1930s, by 1945 it was the biggest in the world. German competition had been an increasing worry in the 1930s, but now it was in ruins, giving the British a golden opportunity to retake lost export markets as well as supply the huge pent-up demand for cheap transport at home. The Italian industry had suffered too, while Indian and Harley-Davidson were (for the time being) restricting themselves to heavyweight V-twins. Better still, the affluent Americans, who before the war had had their appetite whetted for smaller, handier bikes than a Hog, were a potentially huge and profitable market.
Not a wartime advertisement, but printed in 1945 to announce the postwar range.
On the other hand, Britain was bankrupt. Essential supplies such as iron and steel were in short supply, while demobilization of the armed forces would be a long drawnout process. Petrol was still rationed, and even that limited supply was stopped altogether in 1947 – it was another three years before you could finally buy as much as you could afford.
Deep in debt to the USA over the Lend-Lease system (the final repayment was made in 2006...) Britain desperately needed foreign exchange, and the answer was to export as much as possible. The motorcycle makers agreed to send 50 per cent of their production abroad. In fact the policy ‘Export or Die’ caused them less angst than it did the car industry, as British bikes were, in general, more suitable for exporting than British cars. Some thought that reparations from German industry would give access to the advanced pre-war designs of BMW, NSU and Zündapp, but in the event the American and Soviet allies were less enthusiastic to hand over anything very useful. Many of the factories were in the American and Russian occupied zones, and it proved difficult to gain access. The exception, of course, was the DKW RT125 – the basis of the Flying Flea – which BSA would make its own as the Bantam.
On the plus side,Royal Enfield did come out of the war with the Bradford-upon-Avon underground factory in addition to Redditch, which had not suffered as much significant bomb damage as factories in Coventry or Birmingham. A shadow factory in Edinburgh, producing armaments as well as the Flea’s flying cage, was closed.
Royal Enfield’s immediate reaction to the end of the war was to buy back military machines for resale to the public – it was a pragmatic reaction to a bike-starved market, and to give the dealers something to sell before the factories could be converted to civilian production. But it was also unusual, as most manufacturers were content for ex-military bikes to be passed direct to dealers for resale. Instead, Royal Enfield brought bikes back to Redditch, refurbished them as needed in civilian trim, then sold them on. It even treated these bikes as a regular part of the range, included in the brochure alongside bona fide civilian models. So girder-forked models C and CO, fresh from the barracks but repainted in black with gold lining, were part of the range.
But for those who could afford it, a brand new bike produced in 1946–47 was far preferable to some ex-army hack, which would probably have led a hard life. So Royal Enfield lost no time in launching its civilian range for 1946: the civilianized Flea, the 346cc Model G, the 499cc Model J and (for 1948, and for export only) the twin-port 500 J2. As with other manufacturers, these were simply rejuvenated pre-war designs, albeit with a few minor changes and one very significant one.
That significant change was, of course, telescopic forks, something adopted by all British manufacturers in the late 1940s. Royal Enfield’s new front end was one of the best, with two-way damping designed by Tony Wilson-Jones and made in-house. Central to the design was a long internal spring for each leg with a valve port screwed into the base of each leg. A hollow rod, anchored to the top of the spring, passed back and forth through the valve as the bike hit undulations. The rod was carefully machined with a taper at each end, gradually closing or opening the port as it moved through, altering the damping characteristics according to how far the forks had moved – the lower taper was gradual for progressive damping, and the upper one much steeper to keep rebound under control.
Where it all began – the 1948 trials prototype Bullet with swinging-arm rear end.GORDON MAY
