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Spent 1 lakh to restore my dad's 15-year-old Royal Enfield Thunderbird

6th October 2024, 13:20 by Utkarsh Chaudhary

My father bought a Mahindra XUV400 so we sold the Bullet 350X as it was not being used and was also less comfortable than the restored Thunderbird TwinSpark.

BHPian SpyderTBTS recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

Hi everyone, I wanted to share my experience with the Royal Enfield Thunderbird Twinspark. Without any further explanation, I am directly getting into the topic.

The Thunderbird Twinspark was bought by my father on February 28, 2009. At that time, I was 6. I got really attracted to the bike the first time I saw it ( after the delivery ). Till that time, I really didn’t like Royal Enfield mainly due to its DUG-DUG sound and the old classic-looking model. But this one appealed to me. From that day, I imagined myself riding the bike when I would reach the age of getting a driver's license. The bike didn’t cause any major trouble for my father. At that time, I was hearing from everywhere that Royal Enfields, especially the new UCEs are not reliable and get major engine problems.

This is the pic of the Thunderbird in 2011 when it was used by my father

A few years later, the bike has gone through a lot of use, 11 years (2020), 70,000 kms, regular periodic maintenance, the sprag clutch giving up in 3rd year 2 times, the tachometer and the fuel meter stopped working at the 4th year, my father decided to sell the bike and buy a new BS6 Bullet 350x. I was 17 at that time and it made me sad because I could not experience driving it as I didn’t have a driver’s license. Then on March 21,2020, he sold the bike through OLX and after the Corona Lockdown, on June 6, he took the delivery of the Bullet 350x Royal Blue.

But even after that, I kept a contact with the guy who bought the Thunderbird. 3 years later, in 2023, I contacted him to enquire whether he is interested in selling it back to me. On September 9, 2023 my mother bought back the Thunderbird, as she was also very much attached to the bike like me.

This is when we bought it back

Immediate service and general checkup after getting the bike

That was the first time I was riding the bike and suddenly I was comfortable with it. More comfortable than the Bullet 350x. It had many signs of ageing, the bend pipe fully rusted, the painted parts became much more dull, the engine had a tappet sound, all the shiny parts were dull. The age of the bike was 14.5 years. Then we decided to restore it before doing the fitness test. After buying the Thunderbird, I rarely took the Bullet 350x. My father also took a new car, The Mahindra XUV 400 EV. Since it was an EV he also stopped taking the bike. So we decided to sell the Bullet 350x as we were not at all using it and the Thunderbird had more comfort for both the rider and pillion.

This was my Bullet 350x which we sold.

We replaced the full clutch assembly also

So after selling it, we started to restore the Thunderbird to Stock condition. I wanted the bike to be like how it was when it was delivered to my father. So I did not want to change the color. I wanted to keep the same color, it was red. I also wanted to electroplate all the chrome parts so that they would look new. The bike was completely disassembled and all the parts which required plating were given for the plating work. Meanwhile, the fuel tank, the mudflaps, the side boxes and the chassis was being painted. Then the engine head was disassembled and the pushrods, the tappets, the oil pump, rocker arms, and the camwheels were changed to a new one. Then the pistons and the cylinder were reconditioned and the engine was assembled back. This made all the tappet noise gone and the engine was much silent. We also changed the Sprag Clutch assembly and the Starter Motor which made the self start working after a long 11 years. Then the engine was assembled back and the bike was reassembled. The bike was completely changed, and many people started asking if it was a new bike. The restoration and all the associated works cost me around a lakh. Now I plan to keep it and not sell it.

Photos before restoration