Bird Sanctuary ride - Sultanpur New Delhi

- - - - - Delhi Bikers Breakfast ride was held on 17 September 2011. This ride is different with individuals or members of different biker groups coming together for a short ride to support motorbiking! .The crux - A short ride away from the city with breakfast! Opportunity to meet new folks and expand your horizon, enrich your lives, see creatively modified motorbikes and have a nice time - not forgetting a delicious breakfast ! - - - -

- - Complete set of pics here - http://www.planetbt.com/royalenfield/rides/sep2011/sultanpur.htm

Artistic Royal Enfield stuff

The Royal Enfield motorbike campaign to attract the young has produced a very good sketch as below. It can be used as wallpaper on your tablets,mobiles or the good ol laptop! Enjoy Royal Enfield !

Indian romance with the Royal Enfield Bullet

Most in India who have grown up watching hindi movies will definitely remember the hero on a motorbike ... it had to be a Royal Enfield Bullet. Of course, I personally can't imagine Amitabh bachan riding a 150cc fat fati Rajdoot which used to always seem like gasping for dear breath! Now thats something thats real undigestable. The hero on an Enfield Bullet reflects sheer power through its classic iconic status.

Notably starting from the 1975 movie Sholay featuring Amitabh and Dharmendra on the Bullet , now 36 long years down the line even if we just look at 2011 movies, we can see the Enfield featured prominently. Infact over 5 movies have the hero or heroine using the Enfield ! Why..doesnt the Harley and other superbikes have charm ? India still loves the Royal Enfield Bullet and it has a special appeal!

Full feature with pictures on "Planet Bike and Travel" here -
http://www.planetbt.com/royalenfield/romance/indianromance.htm

Katrina Kaif riding the Royal Enfield :)

Katrina Kaif takes to riding the Royal Enfield in the new hindi movie "Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara". The movies great fun to watch with beatiful Spain's scenic views. (Farhan Akhtar/Hrithik Roshan/Abhay Deol...etc three pals get together for bachelors outing aka Hangover style..but a totally different movie!Must see.





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Aha here Katrina on the Royal Enfield 500cc!
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Cheers!

BT

RUST in peace?

There is normally a great amount of heart (read emotion,affection) involved in choosing to buy a motorbike. I bought my Royal Enfield without riding or test riding a bullet even way back in 2002 despite hearing the usual scepticism and anti-thoughts of the Bullet. I took to it like fish to water. Probably you just know some things are right for you...

:)

Maintaining a bike is painstaking... and not easy as it appears. It does not matter even if you have a couple of servants to clean the bike. The 'U' factor is esential. How to maintain the bike is beyond scope of this article and rather how NOT to maintain is more that matters in this platinum page !

Some Dont do's. -

1. Dont leave the bike in the open - exposed to weather elements. A decent bike cover will cost only Rs. 200 (or 3 pounds or 4 dollars in India... ).

Alternatively imagine the cost for removing the rust and corroded metal and all the yuck! If you dont care about the bike better sell it for what you can get now than selling it as scrap later... U probably can get a few dollars more. "Penny wise, Bike foolish" - BT.copyRiGHT.


2.Don't leave the bike as is- If u are going away for a long time somewhere, sometime. Theres normally a procedure to follow in all bike service manuals so that vital parts stay fit n fine. Like you need to oil and service some parts before packing the bike safely away.Or disconnecting the battery. Even if u got a garage..dont leave it in the open.


3. Animals too luv ur bike... Cats n dogs like to sit on the seats of ur bike - covered or no cover. Beware, along with "sitting" they may do a nasty thing (like read the quote words by adding 'h' as the second alphabet to "sitting" ! Get it ? :)


4.Dont insult ur bike - give respect and u will definitely get respect.That doesnt mean motorbikes will never break down. Normally they won't. But then some electronic parts may not agree with the motorbike's heart all the time :)

Weak and soft hearted readers please exercise caution for below picture set. Strange way to maintain a bike cruelly found in pics sent by one of the readers... I wonder whats the intention of letting this classic Royal Enfield Bullet motorbike rust away.

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- "RUST in peace ? :-|
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.Some one has also covered the petrol cap with a small ice cream cup.
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Im lost for answers and full of wild guesses.On one end I did come across news in north india about some youth stealing Royal Enfield bikes for sheer joy of riding them alone and at the other end these scenes...and there are others who are still saving up to buy an enfield at least a good used one - but what kind of memories can be kept alive by letting a bike "RUST in peace" ? DON'T Do.

Guesses welcome.


Ride on and take care - both u and the bike!
Have a nice weekend!

BT
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Rust in Peace is also title of a studio album by American heavy metal band Megadeth released in 1990.

Royal Enfield in Classic Superbikes

Honestly coming to the point, a major motivation for buying the "Classic Superbikes from Around the World" book by Mac McDiarmid is because it featured a Royal Enfield motorbike (which to me is irresistible as you may be knowing). This book has a selection of superbikes in a period of 25 years (1950-1975) which spanned major technological changes in motorcycle industry! A good read for the motorbike enthusiast.

What amazes me is the availability of so many huge cc bikes 1000cc, 750cc in the yesteryears and the lot though these days you don’t find enough manufacturers adventurous enough to compete manufacturing a 1000cc!



The Royal Enfield Constellation



Specifications:
Engine: air cooled 692cc OHV vertical twin
Horsepower: 51 bhp@6250 rpm
Transmission: 4 speed
Frame:Tubular steel cradle,single front downtube
Top speed:112 mph (180.246 km/hr)

- "Where Triumphs tended to do it on revs, the 'Conny' (Constellation) offered sheer punch"

- "The big Enfields enjoyed dynamically balanced cranks and prodigous torque"
Constellation production continued until 1962 and then the 736cc Interceptor was introduced.Neither bike was conspicously successful and sold its last bikes in 1968.A stranded shipment of engines were later used in the Rickman Interceptor. However the successful Enfield 350 and 500s still continues to be produced in India :)

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Another one of the interesting bikes featured in the book is Benelli's 750 SEI, the first production motorcycle to boast six cylinders!

Engine: air cooled 748cc SOHC
Horsepower: 71 bhp@8500rpm
Transmission: 5 speed
Frame:tubular twin cradle
Top speed: 114 mph (183.465 km/hr)



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This bikes performance was disappointing due to very high pumping losses.
This 100 odd page book is a good read for the enthusiast. It also features the Yamaha RD 350 and BSA Goldstar too!

I do plan to add a section to this blog explaining some terms like- 4 stroke twins,vee config,water cooling,fuel injection,camshaft,crankshaft,camshaft etc.

Have a nice week!
BT

Tea OR Biscuits

Would you have tea OR biscuits? That kind of offer would startle my mind for a second! I’m sure that statement from anyone would sound strange. Normally I would consider or offer Tea AND biscuits!

I had this quizzical effect when watching a program on TV. One of the automobile program TV hosts set out to compare a Royal Enfield motorbike with Harley Davidson bikes! What did he want to compare in the two bikes- cc? Torque? Style?, riding comfort ? I know Tea and Biscuits both are edible but comparison... is indigestible. Sorry mate.



I do agree that both motorbikes have a history of being used in the last two world wars as well as retaining their conservative designs in the new models too. But the buck stops there! The bikes are in a class of their own!

Things people do to fill up TV program time slots! Please don’t ask me more on this...you know the indigestion of Tea OR Biscuits has to wear off!

:D


BT

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Image source:Morning Tea By PSD
Under Creative commons license (http://www.flickr.com/photos/45581782@N00/3941959602/)

Amazing Enfield Bullet Stunts!

There have been so many stunts being performed on the Royal Enfield motorbikes in India.Simply awesome... I don't think Harley can stand up to all that ... ignore the japz for this exercise too :) . Indian Army team "Tornadoes" are a popular lot when it it comes to Stunts ... They are regular on Independance day(15th August) and Royal Enfield is the first and the BEST choice >>> check the lot !



Bow n arrow formation !



Below 54 guys on one Royal Enfield !









Thats a long jump.They some times jump over folks lying down too ! Ahem.. i prefer to be on the bike though :)




Water splash! If u havent had a bath or cleaned ur bike- Voila..golden opportunity! but do hold on to the bike. It will pass..what about you ?



And other amazing formations... see no aeroplane needed




Above is just the stunt dimension of the Royal Enfield. And you might have heard of Jacqui Furneaux world tour of 20 countries on the Enfield !


Should we say awesome? superb? amazing? or..... Just ENFIELD !

Tyre me please.....

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I changed my Bullet front tyre from the factory fitted original one after 8+ years:D

Gone are the days of manual twisting to get the soul( i mean tube) of the tyre out. There's this wonder apparatus which one can smoothly get the tyre out of the wheel rim . Its powered by a smooth motor! Hmmm. the west makes things easy or lazy for us!One just has to push the accelerator like pedals to get it rotating and the tyre is out :D

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For the Royal Enfield Bullet standard and electra wheel air - its 20 in the front and 30 in the rear wheel. The local tyrewallahs.. will try to push u for 30:40 !!!
Beware :)

Cheers!

BT