The traffic was dense; I was at the start of the line waiting for the red to turn into green. The buzzing noise of all the exhaust notes and sky was filled with the smoke of the said exhausts. The red turns into green, the honking starts, I depress the clutch and press the ignition button.
Attempt 1: The bike says, “Wait, I will start.”
Attempt 2: “Didn’t I tell you, I will start, bloody wait.”
The honking behind me starts intensifying, the tension in me starts intensifying, I slot the gear into neutral, push it beside to give away and voila it starts.
Image taken from external source. Not clicked me. For that one week I had the bike I was so into riding it that I didn't take a pic of it.
‘Dug, dug, dug, dugdugdug…..’ the Enfield starts and I move ahead.
And with every meter we move, the Enfield profusely apologizes for the traffic humiliation, and hence starts the confusing ride.
My fascination with the Enfields started when my friend bought a brand new thunder bird during my college days. The comfort, the pickup it had (when compared to my 125 cc bike) and the sound that resonated with teenage dreams.
However, the reality of owning an Enfield was far-fetched owing to the high CC engine and of course vitamin M. With passing time, clouds, political powers and multiple bikes the desire of owing an Enfield died down. The emergence of faster and more agile bikes dominating the market and frequent bashing over the unreliability and slow pace of the Enfield kept me away from owning the expensive piece of equipment that does not go beyond 80 KMPH with happiness.
I bought my self a Bajaj Avenger for comfort rides and also because it was half the cost of the Enfield Thunder Bird. There were shares of good and bad with the avenger and not able to ride another Enfield, incessant online bashing and the fact that the not able to buy one for very long pushed the desire away from it.
3 years later, my friend who returned permanently from the USA bought himself a 5-year-old Thunderbird 350 CC for just Rs. 90k with alloy wheels, graphics, modified exhaust and just 10k km on the odo.
Now, comes the magical part, he lends me his bike for a week just because I pestered him that I got bored of riding the Avenger and wanted a change.
And then started the confusing ride.
Coming from the short avenger where you feel like you travel parallel to the road, a hop on the saddle of the Thunderbird felt like I climbed on to a bull (now I understood why the Enfield is called a Bull) and then settled on a seat that was made to pamper masculine men.
The 20-liter wide fuel tank made my two legs face Kabul and Kathmandu respectively, the tall handle bars made you ready to face the traffic chaos, the weight on your shoulders and legs makes you realize the responsibility that you need to move and finally the kick that always works starts the life in the Enfield and in you.
Dug dug dug dug…the bike sings at idle as if it is clearing its throat for a beautiful song that it sings as you encourage it with the throttle response. Slot the 1st gear and the bull responds with thud acknowledging the fact that you dared to tame it.
Release the clutch and twist the accelerator with love and caution. Mind you this is not a machine that likes to be twisted, it excepts you to treat her with respect and portray gentleman behavior.
So, twist the accelerator the RPM needle moves steadily up to 2k RPM when the bike gently asks for a gear change to and then moving on to the 2nd, 3rd and 4th when the legendary vibrations start beyond near 3k RPM and you feel like up shifting to the 5th gear to ease the vibrations. This is where the Enfield bugs you.
Let’s go back a little to the 3rd gear. You see the best thing about Enfield is the way it can be ridden in the lower RPM’s like a charm up to 65-70 KMPH which is at most you do in the city roads. Once you hit the open tarmac and the itch to travel a little faster say around 85-100 KMPH that’s when the confusion with the engine dynamics get the better out of you.
In my personal experience the vibrations that crept in at around 3k RPM pushed me to shift early and I shifted to 5th gear at around 70 KMPH, though the bike rose up in speed steadily the vibrations also rose. I thought this is how Enfields behave and choose to ignore it and instead enjoyed it.
However, one fine day I raised the RPM in the 4th gear up to 4k and then shifted to the 5th and surprise surprise the vibrations that occurred when I was close to 3k RPM reduced by a good margin and I was able to push and ride the bull with pride at 100 KMPH until a real bull made its entry on the tarmac.
The reason why I call the ride on the Enfield a confusing ride is because:
• It makes you love it by the way it handles and the feel it gives you when you ride it at sedate speeds.
• The way it moves to 65KMPH at a mere 2.5K RPM.
• The way it gives you a commanding riding position and a feel of domination (not with speed as the Dominar gives)
• The way it refuses to self-start in crucial times like when the red turns into green
• The way it vibrates at some RPM and also does not vibrate at another time at the same RPM.
• The way it gives you reasons to not like it but at the same time gives you experiences to love it.
• The way it makes you believe that you will never get bored of this machine irrespective of its flaws.
A confusing ride indeed, I gave the bike back to him after a week usage and when I hopped back on my avenger, I felt as if I fell from a mountain peak to a valley, the 190 kilo to 155 kilo transformation made me laugh hysterically and almost loose balance. I was back on my Avy doing the daily routine. The slow rise of RPM gave way to quick twist to throttle to move the bike ahead, the wide tank gave way to a narrow tank, the imposing riding position gave way to riding parallel to the road level.
Did I miss the ride on the Enfield Thunderbird? I don’t know. May be this vacation with the bull was just a vacation and the routine is what is right for me or may be this vacation is like a soul trip for me that helps me make a change in my choices only time will tell.
Till then…dug dug dug…