Modifications make a different Bullet

A Royal Enfield Bullet just like mine. Or was it?

 I own a 1999 Royal Enfield 500cc Bullet so, on a lark the other day, I Googled around to see what other 1999 Bullets are out there. 

The first thing to pop up was an eBay ad for a "1999 Enfield 500cc Bullet, Only 208 original miles." The asking price struck me as very reasonable for what must be a practically brand new 1999 Bullet! What a find. 

I expected to see a stock 1999 Bullet, just like mine, perhaps dusty from years of storage. But the motorcycle was very clean — and definitely different. 

The first thing I noticed was an attractive metal binnacle wrapping around the speedometer. Very nice, but obviously an aftermarket item. So, clearly, this Bullet has been modified to some degree. 

Note the binnacle around the speedometer.

I was pleased to see that a close-up photo of the speedometer shows that it is delineated in miles per hour, indicating this would likely be an original U.S. model. The odometer in the photo does, indeed, show just 208 miles.

The muffler on the motorcycle is an aftermarket item, much more attractive than the original bazooka. Not stock, but definitely an upgrade.

I ignored a couple of "Royal Enfield" insignias in places my Bullet doesn't have them — the aftermarket again? Markings on the toolbox label the motorcycle a "Bullet 500," and the rounded rear fender is correct for a 500cc Bullet. So far, it looked very familiar.

Something else that caught my eye was a curlicue in the oil line that feeds the head, with nodules, obviously meant to cool the oil. Not stock, but certainly clever, I thought.

Twisted oil line, intended to cool the motor.

Unfortunately, the official tag on the front down tube that might have settled what year the motorcycle is appears at an angle that does not show the manufacture date ("JUN 1999" on mine).

The tag on this motorcycle is in much better shape than the faded one on mine (blasted by water and debris kicked up by the front wheel for tens of thousands of miles). Again, an indication of low miles on the for-sale bike.

I began a search for other clues. The turn signals are the same as found on my 1999; unusual, as the mounting stalks of those things disintegrate with age, so you often see aftermarket turn signals fitted on an old Bullet.

A video in the ad shows the for-sale motorcycle running, and in the video the front turn signals are indeed changed to aftermarket items.

The handlebar controls look just like the Magura items on my early 1999 — the factory changed to Minda designs mid-year, again suggesting this motorcycle is indeed a 1999.

But this is strange: the back brake pedal is on the left side of the motorcycle. Royal Enfields officially imported into the United States from 1995 on were required to have the brake on the right, as does mine. 

Graham Scarth, of the Royal Enfield Owners Club (UK), helps motorcyclists determine the correct age of their Royal Enfields. He advised me that the numbers that are visible on the down-tube tag confirm that this Bullet is in fact a U.S. model.

This means that the motorcycle for sale should have its gearshift lever on the left side, if it is a U.S. model.

It doesn't. In fact, the photos in the ad show no gearshift pedal anywhere! How is this possible?

The brake lever is on the left, so there should be a gear lever here.

As with everything else, there is a possible explanation.

To be legal, Royal Enfield Bullets meant for the U.S. in the 1990s had their gearshifts on the left thanks to a peculiar bodge: crude and sloppy linkage that transferred shift action from the gearshift pedal, on the left, to the gearbox on the right.

I've worked hard to make this bodge work fairly well on my bike.

Some owners actually went to the trouble to install kits that reversed the modification, restoring shifting to the right side in hopes of better action. Perhaps that has been done here and the gearshift lever itself is off during modification? If so, this isn't mentioned in the ad.

The ad lists "Mikuni VM32 carburetor (up from 28), high performance camshafts, improved clutch, lightweight pushrods," all from Hitchcock's Motorcycles in the UK, a high end provider.

It also states: "208 miles, still needs to be ridden suitably to attain 500 mile break in. Upgraded components installed but no miles since that installation."

Instead of a look at exactly what my Bullet would have been like 26 years ago, the ad presents a look at how this motorcycle was modified. Interesting.

At the price, I'd consider buying this Bullet — if I didn't already have one.

Anne Bradford wrote Royal Enfield history

Author Anne Bradford has died, at 91.

 Author and historian Anne Bradford won a permanent place in the world of Royal Enfield motorcycles with her 1996 book, "Royal Enfield, The Story of the Company and the People Who Made It Great, 1851-1969." 

The book, a compilation of interviews with former workers at Royal Enfield factories in the UK, captures the memories of the people who created Royal Enfield in Britain. Most of the people she interviewed are gone. 

And now the author herself has passed away. 

Anne Margaret (Russon) Bradford, born April 9, 1934, died Nov. 30, 2025. A memorial service for her is 12:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 19, 2025 at Redditch Crematorium. 

Bradford called herself "an oral historian," a task for which she was well qualified, as a former teacher of shorthand. In retirement she became a writer.

"I have written about 30 books and dozens of booklets," she noted at one point.

"I concentrate on local material. The most popular is ghosts, murders and scandals. Haunted Pubs has sold well over 2,000. However, one book has bombed; my grandson... wrote a local ghost book to encourage him to read and we still have 500 stuck in the outhouse."

There was more to this spunky lady. Her obituaries appear in the Redditch Advertiser and the Redditch Standard.

Bradford lived and sold books from a small house at 66 Enfield Road, in the Hunt End neighborhood of Redditch. There's a colorful story about how her house led to her writing a book about Royal Enfield.

Blogger Jorge Pullin tells it on his blog My Royal Enfields:

"Redditch historian and Royal Enfield author Anne Bradford says that her interest in Royal Enfield started because local historians claimed that the house she lived in was the Givry Needle Works, which later became the first Royal Enfield factory in Hunt End.

"It turns out this is not true, the Hunt End factory was destroyed by a fire and there is now an industrial estate in the place it used to occupy. However, it is true that Anne Bradford's house was a replica of the construction that anchored the Givry needle works."

Anne Bradford's book is a must read for Royal Enfield enthusiasts.

On my blog I called the book that resulted "The Royal Enfield history you must read.

"It is more than a history book," I wrote. "It is the affecting story of ordinary (and extraordinary) Royal Enfield employees, told in their own words.

"Readers learn not only how these people contributed to Royal Enfield, but how the company intersected with their lives, sometimes through generations."

That Bradford wasn't a motorcyclist herself is obvious in a 1995 letter she wrote to Doug Young, then the archivist of the Royal Enfield Owners Club (REOC). The club apparently had invited her to an event.

"To my surprise, I thoroughly enjoyed the rally," she wrote. "It was nice to meet everyone, and very interesting to see the bikes after reading up on the theory."

Her book is listed for sale on Amazon and as available on Kindle.

But wait. There's more:

In another 1995 letter to Young she wrote "I'm very disappointed that not all of every interview can be included as I have made many friends among the interviewees but I suppose the book will be all the better for the stringent editing."

Fortunately, her concern for local history never flagged, and she expressed her determination to leave full copies of the interviews with the Redditch Library and the REOC.

I've made an attempt to mine those outtakes for tidbits that I think add to the story of Royal Enfield in the UK. You'll find the resulting blog items at these links:

Anne Bradford's magnificent outtakes

More from Anne Bradford's archive

More of "The People Who Made It Great"

Donations in memory of Anne Bradford are welcome to Alcester Day Care Centre at Justgiving.

The Redditch Local History Museum collection of history books is named The Anne Bradford Heritage Library in her honor.

Sell my Royal Enfield? No, never!

 The man asked me "is it for sale?" 

The answer sprang to my lips: 

"No, never!" 

My own answer surprised me. 

I've never considered my Royal Enfield to be the last thing I would hesitate to sell. I know it's just a machine. 

It's unusual, but not unique. Many thousands like it exist. It was not an expensive investment, like jewelry. 

I've never even given it a name. It's just "the motorcycle."

I like it. I'm emotionally attached to it.

But look: I'm 75. I will be parting with many material goods all too soon. Its turn will come.

So, my answer, in the moment, was a surprise to me. But there was a bit more to this interaction.

I was in the driveway, unpacking the car from a two-night camping trip in the Everglades. A kayak was still on the roof of the car.

The guy pulled up in the fanciest looking cream colored SUV I've ever seen. It literally glowed with lustrous paint and shiny metal, and must have cost a fortune. We live in a "nice" neighborhood, but this vehicle established a degree of economic well being out of character with my old Camry.

I didn't recognize the man, who was dressed in fine sport clothes that expressed a degree of economic well being out of character with my sweaty T-shirt.

"I see you have a motorcycle," he said, smiling, through the rolled down passenger window of his SUV.

This really surprised me. The motorcycle was in the garage, at least 30 feet away, and just a shapeless heap under multiple old sheets I throw across it to keep the dust off. How could he even see it?

"What kind is it?" he asked. I had to repeat "Royal Enfield" twice. He wasn't familiar with Royal Enfields.

"Who makes it?" was the next question. Rather than repeat "Royal Enfield" uselessly, I replied that "they're made in India. It's an old British bike. They never stopped making them in India."

"What does it look like?" was the next question. This was getting a shade odd. He wasn't directly asking to come in and have me show it off, but close.

"It's a naked motorcycle," I said. "This one is old looking. You can see them on the Internet," I said, maybe too warily. But he wasn't put off.

"It's a collector bike?" he asked.

This was getting odder. "Well," I said, with a shrug, "I collected it. It's a 1999. Nothing special."

That's when he asked "is it for sale?"

My answer, "no, never," said emphatically, seemed to end things. He wished me well, and drove off.

I know I behaved badly. I'm normally flattered and friendly when people ask about my Royal Enfield, as they often do when they actually see it. If this guy turns out to be a neighbor I just didn't recognize, I will be embarrassed.

Funny thing is, I have been on the "other side." I wrote recently about spotting a Royal Enfield in the parking garage of the condo where we stay when we visit Washington, DC. I left a note on the door of the apartment corresponding to that parking space, suggesting we get in touch.

I never heard back. Maybe the guy freaked out, same as I did. If so, he would have responded by clutching his Royal Enfield to his heart. Just like I did.