Peter Henshaw - Royal Enfield Bullet

ROYAL ENFIELD
BULLET

THE COMPLETE STORY

Other Titles in the Crowood MotoClassics series

ROYAL ENFIELD
BULLET

THE COMPLETE STORY

PETER HENSHAW

First published in 2020 by
The Crowood Press Ltd
Ramsbury, Marlborough
Wiltshire 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 authors and publishers rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 1 78500 748 4

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 see www.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 Enfields early history. And finally, thanks go to all the Bullet owners whose bikes I photographed at Founders Day 2019. Thanks everyone, youve all made the Bullet what it is.

Peter Henshaw
Sherborne, Dorset, November 2019

TIMELINE

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 wasnt 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.