Bit the Bullet and brought home a Royal Enfield Shotgun 650

It was what I imagined. I waited my turn and walked around, asked the dealer rep, threw a leg over and felt the bike’s heft and weight. It seemed just fine.

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A Monarch bites the Bullet and brings home a Shotgun

The First Love. Circa ’94 I must’ve been 22 or some and had got my first job. There used to be a restaurant called Food Inn on the Causeway at Colaba, which we used to frequent close to our pay days! Yours truly a young man then, saw a gleaming machine two wheels, twin exhausts, twin pod (even if one was just a ignition key) and the sleek look of the Yezdi 350 twin cylinder. I was smitten and started reading up all about the Yezdi Monarch. It was a Bike built on the Yezdi 350cc twin cylinder chassis, but held another gem of a engine from a model called the RoadKing, which two of my friends already had. The Roadking can be a separate story of an engineering gem in itself, but in brief - it had a bulbous fuel tank, low seat and a 2-stroke single cylinder 250cc engine, and could carve corners which was just limited and thankfully so by the foot-pegs, or else we would have been sliding on the roads everywhere! Well, to cut the long story there were no lengthy research sites, no test-drives at showrooms, except the first stumbling block - I had no clue where to find a Yezdi showroom in Mumbai! Now this was the time when the Hero Honda Splendour was still new (the ultimate fuel sipper!), the likes of Yamaha, RX 100 had proved to be a craze and Suzuki, Shogun was considered a performance bike. But those were toys for boys - men needed CCs and 250cc, 2 stroke, air-cooled Roadking engine was raw power and adequate torque. Bullets were still royal and beyond the pay grade of a newbie. I knew there was a Yezdi showroom back home and Dad had just retired and settled there. So, a waited for the weekly call from the STD Booth (pre-mobile era) and Dad was tasked to book the bike without even a test drive - though in my defense, I had ridden my friend's RoadKings enough, to fall in love with the engine and be comfortable with the mechanicals and the quirks. Come September (no that was not the Month, it just sounded good for a story!) I got a near to home transfer and there at home under TLC of parents (it was delivered home by the showroom staff) was the same black machine, with gold and red decals, which I saw at Mumbai, only now it looked much bigger for my 5’ 7” frame. But swung a leg over, pushed it off the main stand and weight was no issue (the hours of gymming had helped). Pressed the little notch on the back of the gear lever with the heel and Voila! It became the Kick lever. Turned on ignition, no neutral light (I think), no startup sweep of the analogue speedo just silence. A small ‘tickler’ (something like the back of a ball point click pen) on top of the carb I think, was pressed a couple of times to get the fuel going (it had no choke instead you had to make the mixture rich by letting extra fuel in!) and a easy but firm kick and the bike roared to that classic phat phat of a two stroke and you could smell the sweet petrol and oil mix fumes. Here is a sticker outline I found online as my archives of those times are still in physical albums.

That was the beginning of my two wheeler ownership's and till date, I have scrapped one (the Yezdi with much and continued regret) and continue to ride the second (not to mention the shame of buying a gear-less kinetic nova and proudly a Chetak for my Dad). The Yezdi, Monarch ownership was all of that a young man dreams - long rides, second love loved it too, basic cleaning maintenance and repair could be done by me, mods was just a cruiser handle bar, mid life chrome and paint at the then Hyderabad, and much later an additional muffler to muzzle the sound (not realising the drastic mileage drop it caused, which was also because I had literally strangled the engine exhaust!). Here she is 10 yrs later minus the original decals waiting faithfully only major work being a blacked out rims (a faux 350 sticker and rechristened THUNDER for the sound).

Biting the Bullet. Letting it go was one of the biggest mistakes of my life! There was a forgettable chapter of the Kinetic, presumably for the for, ‘the better half’, who bettered me and smartly hijacked the car and left me to fend for myself on the Kinetic (which also became the cause for disuse of my Yezdi) in the Mumbai rains. The Monarch found its way back to hometown of purchase and stayed there in anticipation of a RC renewal and search for a good mechanic for restoration, but in vain. It was finally scrapped to a vendor at presumably Coimbatore maybe living as spares for some needy steed.

Jump to 2013 while living with the Nova, one fine day a friend offered to give me the 6 month old booking of a new RE Classic 350 because he was tired of waiting and was getting one shipped from Chandigarh where he was getting it within 30 days. Now let me admit, I have never ventured near a Bullet after the scare I got long time back in the 90s, when I rode a friends bike, with the brake lever on the wrong side (left) and kept pressing the gear lever when I saw a pedestrian crossing the road, in sheer panic . Thankfully for both pedestrian and me, I was able to swerve my way past and get my heart beat in order and, give myself a mental kick to use the left foot to stop and handover the keys to my friend with both bike and self intact, never to ride the, ‘Real Bullet’ again. But times had changed and the Mr Lal had changed the way people looked at a Bullet, brought the UC Engine reliability without losing the entire thump and most importantly brought the brake on literally the right side! So the gleam in the eyes was noticed by the missus’ and the nod was received gleefully. Now the RE Bullet is not meant to keep pace with the world, it is instead supposed to get the world to ride at your pace! The engine is higher than the Yezdi so the CG took a little getting used to, but the stance was royal, the thump was soothing, speed really didn’t matter anymore - fast was a state of mind and how much of the engine note was being heard and most times you felt good just slow thumping along watching the world go by at the same pace. Here she is on a solo ride to nowhere but ended up on Athirapalli route along the Periyar.

The itch for upgrade: Jump to 2018, I was in Goa attending my first Rider Mania - The Twin was to be unveiled and it was a beauty, the throaty roar, the wide set silencers didn’t really suit my idea of sleek but I could live with it - should I, shouldn’t I? I had not discussed with the missus’ who surprisingly stopped riding pillion after getting the Nano and claimed the Monarch seat was much better than the Classic! Well, I decided to wait and soon enough a colleague drove one in to work. Casual conversation revealed the engine heat issue, aggressive seating, flatter saddle and I felt the Classic seating was my style and let me wait for the inevitable Cruiser. The J Series came and the Super Meteor, but I was still sitting on the fence.

The Shotgun story. Jump to 2023, 10yrs of thumping on various roads, started riding with some like minded friends, catching sights in the mind’s eye rather than through a lens or a screen, keeping secret discoveries secret and the bug bit again for a higher cubic capacity, a smoother engine and the last chance to upgrade - age is no longer a number and catching up faster than my rides! Jan 2024, the Shotgun comes along with an engine which was now proven, seating that was a little less aggressive (than Interceptor), silencers seemed a bit more tucked in, weight a tad short of quarter ton. I went ahead and did the booking a day after the launch date in January, the SA Kailash called from the allotted service center. No hype, no over sell, Sir, can you send the x, y, z papers and I asked for the details. By now the heart was already set and the questions were just a formality. The proposal, as if under consideration, was placed to the wife. Surprisingly, her response ranged from noncommittal, to almost like, yeah fine and that was a assent enough for me to start getting my funds in order. Tentative delivery was listed to Mar and typically I got delay news with reasons such as new Himalayan launch, productions biased to Himalayan and such. A day in Feb, I got a invite call for a unveiling. Again, sought a escape from office, picked up my, ‘moral support’ from hers and rode my 350 to the showroom, after all you cannot go to a bike launch in a car! It was a simple affair and thankfully so as I’m not the one for lot of hype and razzmatazz there was a Drill Green bike exposed from under the red satin wraps.

It was what I imagined. I waited my turn and walked around, asked the dealer rep, threw a leg over and felt the bike’s heft and weight. It seemed just fine, bigger than the 350, tank seemed longer like I had to stretch or maybe it was just slimmer than the 350. The offset arrangement of a big dial speedo and the tripper was not exactly what I wanted, the switches seemed to be made for bigger hands and the seat was a tad stiff, but like I said the heart was already set and the wait for the Classic 650 was not worth it - this looked more or less the part I wanted it to play. I clicked the bike in a few long shots but the child in me was more interested in the bike and not many snaps were taken.

The next round of waiting started and I gave a call or two to Kailash for updates. RE being what they are were not bothered to send any mail or texts. Kaizan WA status kept me excited with other launches of the new Himalayan. I was told they were flying off the shelf and production was biased to the ADV. The launch bike also went away and no test drives were being offered. The bikes would come into the display and the customer would take it away. March marched away and April fooled me, finally in end April I got a call that the bike had come and balance payment could be made to process formalities. I have never been big on PDI but decided to go and have look as it was my first, probably last big ticket bike purchase. The rest as they say is Shotgun and is there on the earlier post/link.

On a side note soon after the purchase however, I was placed on notice to move to Mumbai. The question rose of transportation of the bike. The TBHP was sought for help and Mr Vivek's number was shared. He was great but the expense of nearly 60k for 2 bikes from Kochi to Mumbai didn’t suit my stingy pockets and a secret idea has been germinating in my mind, of using this as the excuse! A ride from Kochi to Mumbai on the Shotgun. So with a heavy heart I have moved the 350 by train. A big shoutout to one Mr Ajay at Kochi South station - a typical jugaad guy, but got the packing and loading job done for me and the Staff at the station was super helpful. Only hitch is the timing of the RPF guy who does the no fuel & tank dry inspection.

So I hope this will be a, 'to be continued' of a ride to Mumbai in my first travelogue of Shotgun diaries…

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