Saturday, September 20, 2008

A Royal Enfield Military chopper

A Royal Enfield Military-style chopper? That is what I would call this creation by Vardenchi of Mumbai. They call it the "Stealth". It is typical of the creativity being lavished on the plain old Royal Enfield Bullet in India.

It is not typical of Vardenchi's other Royal Enfield choppers. Those feature the gorgeous lines and beautiful paintwork that make them real calendar girls. The Stealth looks looks warlike and its once all-over paint reminds me of the Military model Bullet sold in the United States.

Maybe it would ruin the lines, but can you imagine the Stealth with pannier boxes? As best I can see, the Stealth doesn't even bother with instruments. This is a bolt-action Enfield, alright.

Choppers aren't usually my thing. But even those who insist on a "proper" motorcycle have to admire the against-the-grain creativity shown here. I learned about the Stealth on the outstanding Big-Diesel blog. It is India-based but deals with a wide range of wonderful motorcycles. Don't let the "diesel" tag throw you off.

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous9/21/2008

    Just for clarity, what exactly is a "chopper" vs a motorcycle?

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  2. A chopper is a variety of customized motorcycle. As I understand it, in the good old days, a motorcycle that was run hard would get beaten up. Fenders would be dented, especially at the edges. One solution was to simply cut off the damaged part. This sort of motorcycle became a "bobber." As more damage came, the fender might be discarded entirely. And the mirrors. The instruments. The turn signals. Etc. Eventually you had a bobber that had been bobbed: a chopper.

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  3. Wow! These are some really cool bikes.

    ReplyDelete

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