Friday, June 6, 2025

Funny ads for used Royal Enfields

Motorcycle near messy garage.
What a lovely photo this would have been if the motorcycle had been pulled another few feet out of the garage!

 Goofy CraigsList ads for Royal Enfield motorcycles don't bother me. 

I enjoy the amusement of reading advertisements from sellers who don't know, don't care, or who -- sometimes -- deliberately exaggerate what they have. 

In the course of a few days of watching Royal Enfield motorcycles advertised for sale, I'll certainly come across examples like these: 

1. So-called "cafe racers" that have ape-hanger handlebars.

Motorcycle with high handlebars.
It's a "cafe" the advertisement claimed.

2. "Like new" bikes with "only a few" scratches.

3. "Used bikes" not even a year old with single-digit mileage and low prices. Can these be real? Did the seller research asking prices before listing the ad? Is there a catch?

4. "Restored" bikes with enormous asking prices: $10,000 for an old Bullet?

5. Over-restored "1965" Bullets with front license plates from India and zero miles on the (obviously brand new) odometers.

6. Bikes with broken electric start, described as an "easy fix." (It's not.)

Motorcycle parked next to garbage can.
What is the seller trying to suggest by including the garbage can?

7. "Always garaged" bikes posed next to a seller's garbage cans.

8. An INT 650 described as a "650 International."

9. A beautiful bike posed with a messy garage.

10. Too much information: "Been dropped twice both. First owner was in there garage and 2nd was my wife in our drive way. She is to short to put her foot down hahaha."

11. Royal Enfield described as originally a maker of military weapons.

(Royal Enfield courted this distinction, with its "Made Like a Gun" motto and the "Enfield" association with the royal armory, but it was barely true. During World War II the UK company made armaments aplenty, but these were not the original products of a firm that started as a maker of needles and grew up as a bicycle business.)

12. And my all-time favorite: Royal Enfields described as "Infields." This is certainly a mistake caused by Americans' familiarity with baseball infields.

"Infield" is probably not a deliberate attempt to describe a Royal Enfield made in India. Thus "In-Field."

That would almost make sense.

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