The Last Remaining British Motorcycle | The Royal Enfield Bullet

The Bullet has such a crazy story and even though the company technically went under this was the last bike to stop being made. A single countries love kept this brit alive for decades and now gives us the new Royal Enfield.
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[@hatchetjack1031]

I wanted a Royal Enfeild since I was 16...66 years ago. Finally got a pristine, classic black, Indian market, iron barrel with only 4500 miles. Rode it 500 miles before the transmission catastrophe, doing 5 mph in my driveway! No qualified mechanic for 200 miles. You can have them. Would look nice in my living room but I'm too old to walk!

[@PetersJourney]

I rode a 1968 350ccm Model from India back to Europe in the year 2000. :) It had some problems but it never let me down completely. Lots of memories with that bike. Unfortunately I had to sell it some years ago. A unique bike! Thx for bringing the memories back!

[@madhuridevarapalli5127]

they have a lot of these old Enfields in India especially in the south region.. they have huge cults of Enfield Even we have a cast iron Enfield.

[@davidmitchell4899]

I’ve got the exact same model. Kick start only, no electric ignition. One of the last ones made in 2007. Used to have the same problem with it being hard to start and not great on tick over. Then I got the timing sorted out and now it runs like a dream. Fantastic bike and great fun to ride around the country lanes of Cheshire, England. Good video👍🏻.

[@navscycles]

That’s odd. Mine is a 2003 and it was the first year of electric start. Perhaps it was an option? Or maybe just something that differs between region

[@davidmitchell4899]

@@navscyclesI believe they stopped production of the Bullet Classic in 2007. Mine was registered here in the UK in 2008. I’ve had it from new. They may have stopped exporting to US in early 2000’s. Mine is the common black colour. Love your white one. Very rare I think👍🏻. RE started making the electric start models alongside the old iron barrel in the early 2000’s I think.

[@navscycles]

@@davidmitchell4899 Yah the white is really rare only ever seen 1 other bike in the color to this day on the internet. But yah 2003 which this bike is was the first year or electric start here in the us, still pre unit which I also believe stopped in 07 08.

[@MrMomo182]

I love my Bullet 500. I'm so lucky to own it. Some people watch my videos and leave advice how to ride like a powerful sports bike. There's no way it can be ridden like that. A very leisurely paced bike.

[@alexsandovallapostol9998]

Good work taking a trip down really Dad's memory lane ! I would love to hear you or Dad tell some anecdotes

[@slawomirkulinski]

2:15 That they've also said about Enfield - No oil leak, means no oil.

[@navscycles]

Thats British bikes in general.

[@Mirrorlesslife67]

Might be slow but it looks really nice in the white

[@EricThomasHunterSweetland]

Hi. Starting a 500/350 single. Tickle carb, ignition off or keep thumb on the magneto kill switch. Find compression on the kickstart, ease over tdc with the decompressor pulled, long swinging kick with the decompressor and kill button released. Chances are it will fire up first time. Jabbing at it like you were will often result in a massive backfire and barked shins. Good luck 😂

[@navscycles]

This bike has carb issues like I mentioned in the video. It also doesn’t have a tickle. Every time I kicked it I took it over tdc just cut out the dead space when editing

[@EricThomasHunterSweetland]

@@navscycles Ah, understood, I stand corrected though that advice for starting 500 & 350 singles stands. What carburettor has your RE on? It ought to be a 275 or 375 Amal if memory serves.......

[@navscycles]

Yes your advice is correct. I honestly can’t remember what’s currently on it but it was fitted with a bigger carb with the gold star exhaust but it’s never ran right with it. I’m going to switch it back to factory carb I still have.

[@davegills3556]

Stock carbs work fine if all you changed are the intake & exhaust. Still running the Micarb VM28 on our 1998 Bullet 500 because there are lots of jets & slides available. See Hitchcock's for recommendations on setup.

[@navscycles]

Bike has an aftermarket carb right now which is causing my problems most likely. Going to switch back to oem set up

[@adventureswithfarmertroy]

~ Cool video Bro' . . . I have a 2017 Bullet 500, with Drum Brake in rear and Disc in front . . . EFI instead of Carb. and both Kick & Electric Start . . . Cheers!

[@kjeldpedersen666]

Yup, a piece of history on the road. Really envy you that cool white model. I have a 2014 Classic 500 in black & crome. Electronic fuel injection and start is convenient, and disc brake in the front makes it safer to ride. But it still have the looks, I can tell by the amount of times I’m contacted on the street. Conversation Piece. Admittedly it’s not quite as much of a genuine classic as your model here...😊

[@navscycles]

Yah I’ve only ever seen 2 white ones including this one, seems to be a pretty rare color. Thanks for watching!

[@leonidjoseph5483]

I have my 92 model 350. Single owner.

[@saurabbbhardwaj1930]

Bsa, norton. Both revived. All 3 indian ownership now

[@navscycles]

Yes they are. Someone really high up told me Ariel also might get Brought back. Triumph got brought back but not by an Indian company.

[@saurabbbhardwaj1930]

@@navscycles Ariel too? Wow. And triump I believe continues .. they have been making some great bikes. There's a colllab with Indian bajaj for smaller capacity 400 cc... doing well and think they are looking at expanding models. All good news

[@navscycles]

Yah it’s a possibility but they might can the idea after the issues they are having with BSA because most the world other than the uk and France and still waiting. And triumph exists now, they went bankrupt like everyone else but in the 90s they were bought out and started back up by someone in England so yes they did go under. Now they are making some great machines.

[@saurabbbhardwaj1930]

@@navscycles even Harley almost shut down and then revived. Seems to be past its peak and sliding down now. Enfield in india too was floundering till sid Lal bought it over and rook the Harley revival route of quality and customer feedback. But good to see these legendary brands being given a second life

[@rajb5595]

Not the exact way of kick starting. 😅

[@navscycles]

I just was letting off the kick start so it didn’t kick back. Everything else was fine tho

[@Chryslerlover6]

ROYAL ENFIELD

[@navscycles]

Gotta love them

[@zaddaz570]

It’s not a British motorcycle it hasn’t been for many years. It’s an Indian motorcycle.

[@navscycles]

It was all the way until 94

[@zaddaz570]

@@navscycles I remember correctly royal Enfield stop producing motorcycles in England in 1970. All the machinery was sold to India and then India started to produce in their own in the mid 70s.! am I mistaken?

[@navscycles]

India had rights to make and sell like i said in the video. But they didn’t own the company until 94

[@zaddaz570]

@@navscycles said they stopped making them in this country in the 1970 they made them in India in the mid 70s and shipped up over to England therefore they are not a British bike they haven’t been 50+ years ! I remember this because my father worked at the company Bradford on Avon and was laid off in 1970. India had the right to manufacture because they brought the machinery. I remember the machinery being shipped out. Your information is wrong.

[@navscycles]

You’re unfortunately not understanding what I mean which is fine. Have a good one

[@user-if3kj7ut5t]

Yeah we know they made gun's BSA stand's for British small arms lol

[@navscycles]

Theres a lot of people who don’t know that believe it or not.

[@JH-ox7hn]

No, it doesn't. It's Birmingham Small Arms.