Help! 1958 Royal Enfield needs point breaker arm

Can you help track down this part?

Last year Dennis Morgan, of Junction City, Ore., was the lucky buyer of a peculiar Royal Enfield product: an Indian Lance motorcycle built by Royal Enfield in 1958, with only 1,361 miles showing.

Now he needs a small part for his like new 55-year-old motorcycle.

Needed is a point breaker arm (the points are manufactured by Miller, he writes). Dennis has tried Hitchcocks in England with no luck. Is there someone else out there who can help? Contact Dennis at griffin303@q.com

The Indian Lance dates from 1955-1960, when the Indian nameplate was owned by Brockhouse Engineering of England. They imported nearly all the Royal Enfiled models to the United States to be sold as Indians.

One especially interesting model of the day was the Royal Enfield Ensign, a descendant of the Flying Flea that had been air-dropped to British troops during World War II. The Ensign looked much more substantial than the Flea. Telehydraulic front suspension replaced the Flea's girder forks sprung with rubber bands.

Indian renamed the Ensign "Lance" for the U.S.

The Lance was a 148cc two-stroke, with only three gears in the transmission.

1958 Indian Lance.

Old Empire Motorcycles alters the look of Royal Enfield

The "Fox" is a new Royal Enfield custom from Old Empire Motorcycles.

This photograph is a teaser: a first look at the "Fox," a Royal Enfield-based custom from the creative minds at Old Empire Motorcycles in Norfolk, England.

OEM's Alec Sharp provided it. He promised that the Fox be true to the company's standards and, what's more, will be "the first to incorporate parts which we are hoping to make separately and even staged kits to turn your standard Enfield into something with similar lines."

I very much liked Old Empire Motorcycles' original, Royal Enfield based "Pup," a light and lithe looking little bobber.

Lately, OEM has received much attention for their "EFI," built around a Royal Enfield G5 for a customer who wanted a "chunky" motorcycle. He certainly got it.

The EFI: The word is "imposing."

In photographs, the EFI looks as light and lithe as the Chrysler building. Many approved. I was just stunned, surprised to see a modified Harley Davidson tank, forward riding position, chubby tires and radically minimal fenders.

Then, looking through the photo gallery of the EFI offered by the BikeEXIF site, I spotted a remarkable shot that showed a human next to the EFI. Chunky, yes, but it also looks pocket sized, for while its tires and wheels are wider than stock, they are also smaller in diameter.

But wait! At human scale it looks as handy as a Swiss Army Knife.

At this comforting scale, the EFI strikes me as a more pleasing prospect: sold, self-assured, every hair in place, yet formidable. More Superman than Incredible Hulk.

OEM's motto is "...handmade motorcycles, parts and attire. Inspired by life to make a stand for what Great Britain has forever stood for: Excellence in innovation, quality and style."

I can't wait to see the rest of the Fox. What can we learn from the teaser picture? Well, I think I see the iconic nacelle still in place.

Royal Enfield chopper has been around the block twice

This chopped 1968 Royal Enfield Interceptor  has a story to tell.

The "best of the best" Royal Enfield chopper featured here recently has even more to it than meets the eye. Its owner, Keith, ought to know. He has owned it twice. Here's his story:

"I am the owner of the Enfield chopper featured above. First, I would like to say Thank You for liking my ol' bike enough to show her off on your blog. Second, if anyone has a few minutes, I would like to bore you all with the story of my history with this fantastic machine

" The thing that makes it at all interesting is that I have owned her twice! That's right! Twice.

"I originally purchased her from an older gentleman in Cooperstown, N.Y. about 12 or 13 years ago. He too loved this bike, but had become a little too 'worse for wear' to be riding a hard tail. He said he purchased the bike in the early '80s, as it still is, from a friend of his who was a mechanic/chopper builder, and who was responsible for making this beauty back around the mid '70s.

"So when I got her, I brought her home and she shared the garage with my '63 Triumph Bonneville 650 and '67 GTO. And I rode them both equally for about two or three years. But always seemed to have problems with that Bonneville and kept having to bring it back to the local Triumph Guy to get tweaked; but he must not have been a very good mechanic, because just like a Trident I brought there many times in the past, he still just couldn't get it right. He had no problems charging top dollar though.

"Anyway, frustrated with British Iron in general because of it, I decided to sell both bikes and get a Harley. So I did. I even sold the '67 Goat to get a '69. Well, that was that. Or so I thought.

"But only after about a year or so, I started thinking about the old Enfield chopper. I thought: 'It ran great!' 'Started right up!' 'Was sooo powerful!' 'Was a total blast to ride!' 'Why did I sell it?' And I didn't have a good answer!

"Now I was sorry I sold it, and I wanted it back! And I have Never wanted anything back that I had sold before. So the search was on. I searched and I searched. I made calls all over the place. For about three or four years I looked everywhere. To no avail. It was gone. Period.

"Then one day in June of 2006, I just so happened to look on eBay as I often do, just to poke around and see what's out there. I usually only go through a page or two before logging off, mostly because I have a short attention span and get bored.

"But not that day. For some reason, I pressed on. And there, halfway down the middle of the third page, my eyes were instantly drawn to this tiny pic. Could it be? Nooooo! Clicked on the ad. Yessss! There it was in all its glory!

"I yelled to my wife 'It'ssss Baaaaaaaack!' Because I knew I was winning that auction no matter what.

"It turns out, it was only three hours away the whole time, down it Brooklyn, N.Y. So, I made the trek down there from Albany and brought her Home. And swore I'd never sell her again.

"Well, fast forward to present day. And now, I'm that older gentleman, who realizes he's getting a little too 'worse for wear' to be riding a hard tail. So here she is again: searching for that person who will care for her as much as I have for many years to come.

"Thanks for reading my story. Anyone interested in purchasing this great old piece of history, Call Keith at  (518)469-6978 and please leave a message. I can't always answer my phone because of my work. And feel free to make an offer. She has to go, and deserves to be ridden."

Royal Enfield Interceptor makes Mariah Carey #Beautiful

Mariah Carey and this Royal Enfield Interceptor are both beautiful.

A beautiful Royal Enfield Interceptor co-stars in Mariah Carey's music video for her new song "#Beautiful." The motorcycle is best viewed with the video stopped, since the real focus is on the beauty of Mariah Carey.

Carey is constantly in motion, but having the motorcycle between her legs seems to have limited her to only a few moves, which she repeats over and over. She tosses her long hair about a lot — an actual motorcycle ride would have tied it into knots.

I'm not a qualified music or video critic, but I agree with this YouTube comment from Alybutterfly80:

"Maybe it's too focused on the body of Mariah: yes, she looks gorgeous, but in my opinion it's all too repetitive and in the video there aren't a story or a small plot..."

The gorgeous Interceptor got attention from the Royal Enfield Yahoo Interceptor group, and this bright suggestion from member Craig Hostetter:

"Invite Mariah to the Interceptor Rally!"

The best comment, though, came from member Bobby B:

"I will stand by my likes for a bike with long legs, big jugs and a nice sound. Mariah is OK too."

Here's the video: