Evolution of the Royal Enfield Bullet 350: Is the cult still relevant?

Over 90 years after it commenced production, a Royal Enfield for the uninitiated is still the Bullet.

BHPian BlackStrat recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Rarely have brands been overshadowed by their products. We do have a handful of examples but none of these come close to how “Royal Enfield” was almost never known to the masses in India, but everyone knew “The Bullet”. Ask anyone who owned one of these beauties before Eicher Motors turned it around and you will find that everyone, almost everyone owned a “Bullet” and not a “Royal Enfield”. Such is the cult of The Bullet that even today, over 90 years after it commenced production, a Royal Enfield for the uninitiated is still the Bullet. From its iconic straight-up stance to the laidback nature of its ride, the Bullet ruled the roost, not in terms of sales numbers, but aspirational value. Back in the day, not everyone could carry off a Bullet. You needed to have a certain physical presence, a certain aura to ride that chrome-filled thumper. For years, there were bikes and then there were Bullets. Such was the clout that every product, be it the Electra 350, the Machismo, or the Thunderbird, was bracketed in one single word, Bullet. Not even Royal Enfield, just the Bullet. Unlike today, where a Royal Enfield is almost everywhere your eyes can glance upon, The Bullet was almost like a mythical creature. If you heard the Thump (as Bullet Loyalists like to call the exhaust note), you would stop in your tracks just to check who was riding the bike. Now, why would someone stop to check a bike you ask, you see, unlike today where the exhausts are a shadow of what they were and the engines have to be designed to take care of pollution norms and decibel levels, the original bikes were made in such a way that you could hear the Thump from a mile away, talk about announcing your arrival!

Recently, Royal Enfield launched the latest version of the iconic Bullet. To put some perspective, the first Bullet was launched in 1932. We are talking about a product which is in its 90s in terms of age but still being produced, and it's not just out of nostalgia. Yes, newer, more advanced products have been launched by the brand but the Bullet, in their own words, is their NorthStar. And why wouldn’t it be? it has survived a world war, it has gone to war with the Indian Army, multiple times as a matter of fact. How can you not trust a bike which has gone to war? If that’s not all, it was and still is the preferred mode of transport for bike enthusiasts who wish to conquer Leh and Ladakh in the north and the seven sisters in the north east. 90 years is a long time to stand the test of time, long enough to cement your position in the hearts of your audience. You don’t survive for that long without doing things the right way. You must be wondering what is it the bike does that it has such a cult following, that so many people still want to own “The Bullet”, that so many still see it as the thing to own if you want to make a statement. Simply put, and you will be in for a surprise at the next like, the bike is not perfect. It never had great technology, it never had great styling, the engine oil was prone to leaking, as a matter of fact, it was supposed to be marking its territory when that happened, it was borderline unreliable sometimes but when it was fine and didn’t have any of these minor niggles, it was great at what it did. And what it did was simply munch miles and miles of the highway as if it were nothing. I am talking about the days when you didn’t have great roads to begin with. If you rode a Bullet then the road was at your mercy. You could just swing your foot over and ride it as if there was no tomorrow. Simply put, the simplicity of the product is what won people over. The Japanese made bikes which were almost perfect, so perfect that one could just take it for granted for years and years without bothering about it. The Italians were so flamboyant that only a few of us really fancied them post-independence. The Bullet, on the other hand, made in Chennai since the 1950s was simple, imperfect and kept its owner on their toes. You had to pamper the bike like your child. If you ask Bullet owners from back then about their experience with the bike, barring a few, almost all of them would say that it felt more like a family member rather than a machine. The connection with the bike was more metaphysical than cerebral and that’s the essence of its cult status. Unlike other bikes at the time, the Bullet made you feel more involved, its injuries were your injuries, and its breakdowns were your own. All these things resulted in the endowment effect of sorts where you not only own this piece of machinery but also feel it to be part of your life in a way more intimate than normal automobiles. One could argue that no company designs a product with the aim of reaching a cult status or following, they just make it in anticipation of profits, period.

But even Heros falter. Cult status is a double-edged sword in many ways. A minor deviation and the bubble burst. And this almost happened to the Bullet when the company undertook product expansion in the late 2000s. Almost was the key word there, as someone at Eicher realized that in the early stages of their turnaround story, the company won’t be able to just turn its back on its star product. They had the baggage of almost 3 generations of riders and their emotional connection with the Bullet. Like a drug addict has to be weaned off drugs in rehab, the cult followers had to be weaned off slowly and gradually. If you look at the progression of the company since the mid-2000s, Eicher Motor made sure that the soul of the Bullet is intact while the outer covering is changed every now and then. One can’t please everyone though and hardcore Bulleteers from back in the day were livid with the change, but it was a conscious call on the company’s part to let go of a few to look into the future, at the end of the day, these guys were in no state physically to ride the newer generation of bikes :P

More than a decade after the launch of the Classics, along with many more variants in between, the company reverted to mean this year to its Northstar, to the Bullet. Many argue if the cult is still relevant and question if it can stand tall amongst the plethora of new technologically advanced products being launched by local manufacturers. Answers to this may not be known for a while now, but if the product launch is anything to go by, one can surely say that the Bullet is still “Made Like A Gun”.

Here's what BHPian Carpainter had to say on the matter:

Very well-written post sir and considering this is your first post in this forum, you're off to a flying start.

Back to the bike, I think RE didn't do much here. They just put on a new coat on Classic's chassis with new paint schemes. Ideally, there's not much to be done either. I believe someone looking for single-channel ABS models of classic can buy the Bullet now and save around 20k. It almost feels like a derivative of Classic with the only tangible changes being non split seat and a bit more upright sitting posture because of the handlebar position. Nonetheless, Classic itself is a good product and has all the modernity it should have been a retro roadster and there will be a lot of cross-shopping between these two for sure.

Here's what BHPian SidharthaN had to say on the matter:

The Bullet J series is launched but the product portfolio in RE will leave it almost merged with the classic. The J series anyway does not sound like the UCE, AVL, or CI. You can hardly hear or realise the J series approaching on the road. The pinstripe tanks and the silhouette will be different, but this will find its place in hardcore standard loyalists. The RE story since S Lal is a success story, but I am still sold on the old school beauties which had a soul of their own.

Coming from me who grew up on tanks of Bullets and Yezdis and has owned a CI, AVL, and my current 2016 UCE Thunderbird clocking 1,31,000 km on the ODO and thumping strong.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.