Quote:
Originally Posted by Sutripta How long have you been in India?
Non Bullet REs:- add Fantabulous (though a scooter) to the above.
The Crusader I think had a Villiers engine.
Regards
Sutripta |
Yes, they were Villiers-powered.
How long have I been around...?
Not nearly long enough to have witnessed the intro/launch any of those listed above...! But long enough that I can remember vintage Jawa/Yezdi, Lambrettas, and any number of "orphan" models/makes etc, in running condition selling at around scrap metal value (Rs1,500) - I was told by a med student riding one in Vellore that even the mighty RD350's could be had for around Rs5,000 - nobody wanted them, as the mileage was so poor.
Back to rare Enfields: Some years ago now, I had a friend living in Katwaria Saria, Delhi, where in a narrow little back-alley I happened upon
another mysterious, rather squarish-looking vintage RE - a two-stroke "EI 200". I was told later that this was actually the mini-Bullet (odd, as it looked a lot less like a Bullet than the Crusader did, so I'm a little skeptical. Perhaps someone out there could confirm this, or share something else about that model?). The owner wanted Rs4,000, and wouldn't bargain (it seemed a lot at the time!), as he planned to take advantage of one of those "trade in anything" deals on a new bike. Probably around the same time, I passed up a 350 Jawa, and referred a friend to the seller instead - who rode it home for Rs8,500...! But I digress.
At the risk of sounding OT (it'll be coming back around shortly, and by then the relevance should be obvious), let me say that in those days, in both places, one could still find a couple of running Crusaders and Fury's around, and I suppose some dozens / hundreds of Silver Plus/Explorer (which had been very popular in Tamil Nadu). The first time I saw an Explorer, it was a derelict, laying on its side near a scrap dealer - I loved the look and started searching for one, eventually purchasing the most clean/complete/original I'd seen, from a Bangy retiree. So within perhaps a year of my arrival in India, I was riding a 13-year-old 1987 Enfield Explorer (you may do the math now), bright red with the original little tail fairing / round bikini fairing-cum-windscreen up front... A neat little bike that would do a screaming 70kmph flat-out (on flat ground, with a tail wind I suppose) - felt fast at that modest speed, being about a 75kg machine. I enjoyed a year or so of lane-diving in Bangalore's rush-hour traffic, and later rode a little more freely on the old Grand Trunk Road that ran through southern A.P.
There was then exactly ONE spare-parts supplier for these remaining in Bangalore's two-wheeler market, and ONE specialist mechanic, too, on the backside of Lal Bagh. The RE showrooms themselves had forgotten them, of course, despite their being likable and quite reliable bikes. With the Fury, these Zundapps (the KS50/KS175 respectively) were unique in having a "lifetime" chromed cylinder bore and alloy "mag" wheels long before anyone else in the market; the Fury added a five-speed and disc brake (as did Euro-version KS50's, which also had liquid cooling; Early in the millenium, these "modern classics" were still commanding high prices in Holland).
Will have to dig up some of these old photos one day. For now, to get firmly back on topic, I'm just hoping that the Himalayan will NOT turn out to be another marginalized and forgotten market flop that was actually a great bike... It would certainly seem to deserve better.
Many of the bikes I've been most attracted to in the years of my Indian experience (the Zundapps, the Hero Honda Sleek, Kinetic GF150, Hyosung Comet, Boxer 150, Unicorn, Pulsar 200NS and most lately my Hero Impulse), turned out to be modest sellers at best (at least the regions I was familiar with), with the least (if any) dealer support... which
scares me just a little re: the Himalayan, which I also feel quite attracted to. My only consolation / hope is that the domestic market has changed ("matured"?) quite a lot in recent years. But peruse Indian two-wheeler sites and you'll still find a lot of would-be customers who even now can't seem to wrap their minds around anything too far out of the box or ahead of the curve or "different". Some, understandably, have been earlier burned; others are just closed-minded. RE was right in keeping it relatively conservative, but it's still a bold step for them, and it'll be very interesting to see the market's response.
I also wonder about regional preferences, etc. Up here in Kullu Valley few young men for years wanted anything but a Pulsar, and technically "competing" CBZ/Extreme/Apache/FZ hold extremely small market shares and are an absolute pain re: servicing. Moreover the NS200 has failed in favor of the more conventional P220. In another hill state, Mizoram, by contrast, Karizmas for years were the number one bike with literally probably 50% market share (of ALL bike sales), and lately the new Vespas can be found there in massive quantities at every turn; Whereas I can't remember seeing even one of these Italians on my last, albeit brief, visit to Delhi. The people to whom I passed on my old Enfield Explorer ended up having to take it to Tamil Nadu for servicing, since none of the local mechanics in AP had the expertise or spares available - a couple hours' distance by road and similar landscape and conditions, but a big seller in one place and not the other...?
Bullets had the distinction of indeed being a kind of image-enhancing "dream bike" for Indians everywhere... I suspect the Himalayan, though almost certainly a better bike in a number of ways, will struggle to hold that sort of appeal / image as universally. I suppose it doesn't need to... but I want to know I'm buying something the factory will not disown the memory of a decade from now.
-Eric