Life with a 24 year old Royal Enfield Thunderbird Lightning

It's been tough to manage parts, but somehow I have managed to keep her running all these years.

BHPian Danny1212 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

So I have been a Team BHP follower for some years now, albeit a silent one; since my work profile didn't allow me to much time to write, I would just follow the interestimg discussions and garner some useful information about my passion - Bikes!

Talking of passion, I wish to share about a unique and I daresay 'rare' bike that I own - an RE Lightning 350 CC ( I call her Emma)

So, as I have read a couple of people mention, the RE Lightning 350 CC was the first bike from the RE stable wherein the gearbox was shifted to the left.

Infact, as far as I know, only "50 pieces" of the Lighting 350 CC were ever made and offered for sale, sometime in January 2001 ! Not to be confused with its older cousin, the Lightning 535 CC (gearbox on the left)

I picked up Emma from an RE showroom in Jaipur around Feb 2001, and ever since , have had a love affair with her over the past 23+ years. It's been tough to manage parts, but somehow I have managed to keep her running all these years.

Unfortunately, owing to me being on the move over the past two years, Emma was kind of neglected for the past two years, but now I am determined to get her running smoothly again.

I am attaching some pictures for reference, and am currently based out of Pune.

RE enthusiasts and connoisseurs of rare bikes like this are welcome to give suggestions as to how I ought to go about getting her back to shape in Pune.

Read BHPian comments for more insights and information.