Overview
A classic bike which remains a popular ride – it is the type of motorcycle that you either like or you don’t. With a history of production in both England and India, the bikes are still made today with hardly any differences in style & look from the originals.
Royal Enfield History
Royal Enfield production first started in 1901 with the introduction of English motorcycles. Within 30 years Royal Enfield had developed a range of models called the bullet 250, 350 and 500. However, Royal Enfield never matched the popularity of companies like Norton, Triumph, or BSA.
Sticking to the name Bullet, Royal Enfield slightly redesigned the model after the Second World War (it was still a roadster style bike). However, labor was cheaper in India therefore production moved over to the sub-continent.
Around this time all motorcycle companies were starting to build parallel twin engines, and Royal Enfield also started designing such engines. This led to the 500cc roadster that later became the Meteor 692cc.
In 1958 the Meteor became the Constellation model. As the models kept upgrading, this led the way to the bigger and more powerful 736cc Interceptor from 1962. Financial problems at Royal Enfield meant production stopped in 1968.
The Royal Enfield brand continued under the name Enfield and the old Royal Enfield factory in Madras was used to restart the brand. The Bullet model was the survivor and continued with a 350cc model as a strong seller in India.
The Bullet layout remained virtually untouched, and was upgraded with a 500cc engine a few years later. Due to export demands the model was also upgraded with better brakes.