Life with my 1968 Royal Enfield Bullet: 6 likes & 5 dislikes

The thump from the exhaust and feel this thing gives is something the current classic 350 can’t give you.

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I’m 22 right now and started my motorcycle learning journey when I turned 16 on my dad’s 1968 Royal Enfield Bullet 350 G2. Starting to learn on such a heavy bike and also one that had riding technicalities quite different from usual motorcycles, sure was a unique experience. However, it also ensured that I was able to ride any other motorcycle accessible to me without any fear. I won’t go into much technical details of the G2 but rather focus on what it is like living with this old machine in the current modern world.

The G2 has been with us for the last 35 years and is 55 or so years old by now. During its earlier days, my dad had done many rides ranging from inter-city in Gujarat to rides from Ahmedabad to Rajasthan. The bullet was restored in its later stage of life and was just parked at my dad’s office for many years as the new cars in the garage took over everyday life. Comes year 2017 and the Bullet was brought back to life by bringing it back home. My brother learnt to ride a bike on it and after a year it was me who got to try my hands on it. I had been a car guy since childhood but with time bikes started growing on me.

Riding it to my tuition classes and doing some random short rides around my home was the sole use of the Bullet. We moved houses 4 years back and right now as I move my gaze outside the window, I can see the bullet parked in the garage along with its garage mates, 2004 Honda Activa, 2019 Pulsar 150, 2021 Splendor Plus, 2014 Toyota Fortuner TRD Sportivo, 2009 Mahindra Scorpio and 2011 Toyota Etios (Might as well write ownership reviews of these buddies sometime).

Coming back to this Bullet 350, I absolutely love this machine. The bullet is no longer a primary vehicle at the house but rather it is kind of my duty now (which I enjoy) to take it for occasional short spins to avoid the battery getting drained. The thump from the exhaust and feel this thing gives is something the current classic 350 can’t give you. I ride it once a week now due to my 9-5 internship and it takes a few decompression kicks and 1-2 normal kicks to make the engine roar to life. It never fails to bring a smile to the face when the throttle is pulled on open roads and the thump starts growing louder while taking its own sweet time to gain momentum. The bike does feel heavy when it's your human legs pulling it back and forth over a little slope but you get used to it. It does catch attention on the road quite a bit, I had an incident a few weeks back where a middle-aged man on his new Royal Enfield classic 350 was surprised seeing a 21-year-old me riding this old machine, he told how his own J series engine had lost the character when compared to this old vehicle of my dad, another incident was a 40-year-old man on his old school chetak scooter beside me recognising the old bullet.

The majority of the time it is the men in their 35-50s who recognise this bullet mainly due to its old number plate starting with GJG and some due to their knowledge about the bike. But not all the things about living with this old machine are sunshine and rainbows, sometimes the bike is in its mood to start or the mechanicals requiring attention quite often. The bike was working well for some time without any issues and hence I decided to use it as my office commute half of the days. It is a 37-40 km total commute in a day with heavy and light city traffic combined. Out of 7 total days I took it, it left me stranded 2 days. One was the time its accelerator cable broke mid-way returning home, I asked 2-3 bike garages on the way and none had the wire in inventory so had to call my brother to get it pushed.

The second incident happened when the bike wouldn't start despite kicking until my right leg gave up and tried different things. It turned on after releasing the clutch in first gear while in momentum from being pushed with a leg from the back by another rider. These tales made me not want to take risks of taking it at any longer distances and just keep it as a short weekend fun ride machine.

Likes

• The exhaust thump
• Lively engine character
• Comfortable seating and riding position
• Attention catcher
• Smooth cruise till 50-60 Km/h
• You feel different from all the other classic 350s and Standard 350s on the road

Cons

• Reliability: Needs constant attention, the carburettor needs cleaning many times, the odometer stopped working a few days back and such things would happen now and then so gotta be ready to get your hands dirty any moment and put some money in
• Poor brakes: The front is useless while riding while the rear is just decent, they are safe till 50-60kph max, riding this machine above 60 is a death wish in case of an emergency braking situation.
• Moody: If the bike has been wet in the rain and the engine is cold then it does take longer to start also might leave you stranded in the middle of the road if it won’t start.
• Gears: Though you can boast about how your friend who wants to ride it would not be able to easily due to the opposite position of gear and brake pads, the gear shifting pattern along with neutral finder, the poor brakes and whatnot, the major issue is that the gears don’t shift many times despite of pressing the pedal properly and you end up revving the engine instead thinking that the gear changed and rolling the throttle but it's like the gear has shifted into neutral and you would have to press it again to engage the gear. I have seen the same gear issue in one other old bullet as well so still unsure whether it's just our bike or it's a major flaw with the gearbox on all old bullets.
• Engine heat up: The engine does heat up more than Pulsar or Splendor in today’s heavy traffic as it wasn’t made for riding in such heavy traffic.

Despite of cons outweighing the pros, this is the only garage Machine that is gonna stay permanently for many years to come.

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