Unique Royal Enfields I've seen for sale

Ever see a Royal Enfield with a Model T sidecar?

 If you look at this blog on your PC you'll see that I list interesting Royal Enfield motorcycles I find for sale in the U.S. 

It's my hobby, scrolling through advertisements looking for admirable and oddball motorcycles for sale. 

You won't see these listings on your phone, for technical reasons. But, every once in awhile I feel as though some of these ought to come to the attention of all my readers. 

Here are a few recent ads that appeared on this blog: 

You have to admire the determination.

How about a 2022 Royal Enfield Classic 350 with a sidecar made from the cowl of a 1918 Model T Ford? 

"Unique" is the word for this. The asking price is not low but it does appear nicely finished, and you'll never find another one.

The seller, in Newbury, New Hampshire, writes: "Sidecar hand built from narrowed 1918 Model T cowl. $16,000. Will not sell separately." Mileage, if it matters, is given as 1,200 miles.

A bit over the top for you?

Here's an outfit for sale that links a Royal Enfield with another, but somewhat more streamlined, vintage sidecar.

Painted and marked to match.

It's a 2016 Royal Enfield 500 with a 1965 Jawa sidecar painted to match. A nice detail is that the "Royal Enfield" markings on motorcycle and sidecar complement one another.

The Art Deco style of the sidecar is attractive, and the Royal Enfield's vintage look seals the deal.

There appears to be an ammo box storage container that attaches to the nose of the sidecar. It somewhat spoils the lines of the sidecar, but it's, again, "unique."

Sidecar and motorcycle look like they belong.

The seller, in Prestonsburg, Kentucky writes: "No rust or damage and works perfectly. Electric or kick start. $6,500 firm." Mileage is 1,600.

Here's an eye catching 2021 Royal Enfield 650 twin in a full fairing. Before you judge it, consider that it is its own special, custom model.

The seller/creator, in Fredericksburg, Virginia, has transformed it into an "Intercontinental."

Just another Royal Enfield 650 twin? No!

How? He has combined a Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 with the Royal Enfield Continental GT foot peg location and clip-on handlebars. But that's not all. The cafe racer clip-ons are then raised one inch. This is truly "unique."

But THAT'S NOT ALL, either. The seller writes: "I have two other OEM tanks (black and Ravishing Red) another Baker Express painted cowl, various stock take off parts (but not all) and two or three  additional seats."

The permutations are endless! You could customize the motorcycle every time you ride it. Asking price is $4,900. Mileage is 3,400.

Many times I post ads for Royal Enfield motorcycles that I myself would want. Other times you just have to applaud the effort and originality of sellers.

There's a story behind every motorcycle, I'm convinced.

If only metal could talk.

Royal Enfield revives the real roadster

Its purpose is to "challenge established conventions."

 The Royal Enfield Guerrilla 450 launched July 17, 2024 for Europe, the UK, and India, with a stage event in Barcelona. 

This new motorcycle is no clone, the event insisted. 

It is a sibling of the Himalayan 450 off-roader, yes. But, if anything, the genes it inherited from that machine only help set the Guerrilla 450 apart from other "roadsters." 

The purpose of the Guerrilla 450 is to "challenge established convention," Royal Enfield boss Siddhartha Lal said. 

Siddhartha Lal introduces the many colored Guerrilla 450.

The Royal Enfield website puts it this way: 

"Modern roadsters look generic, sound synthetic and feel plastic. 

"The Guerilla 450 is a declaration of independence from this mind-numbing conformity. In a age when automation has dulled sensation, algorithms have stifled imaginations, and feature sets have replaced soul -- the Guerrilla stands defiantly apart." 

It goes on to say the Guerrilla "looks good naked." 

It sure does. I can't believe Himalayan 450's rough-hewn looks could be smoothed into this very pretty motorcycle. 

The Guerrilla 450 looks great naked.

Yes, it has the motor of an off-road thrasher in a chassis meant for the street. The 452cc liquid cooled Sherpa engine "wasn't designed for spec sheets or racetrack fantasies," the website confesses. 

"This motorcycle is tuned with real modes for real roads."

That means 40bhp, with torque way down in the rev range, and "before you know it you're getting down the road faster than everybody else," Royal Enfield Chief of Design Mark Wells told the audience at the launch event.

He described the Guerrilla 450 as "a bike that works in every situation." It's right for the city and for the mountains (meaning the roads through the mountains).

Compared to the Himalayan 450, the Guerrilla has a longer wheelbase, sharper rake on the fork, and a smaller front wheel and fuel tank.

And it comes in five sharp color schemes. The launch event went into detail on that. Obviously, Royal Enfield thinks looks matter a lot to the intended customers.

Where you're going, how much has you have to get there, and music, too.

High tech is there, including a big electronic instrument face in the upper Flash and Dash variants that can be configured to show your route map or play your music. There are two driving modes, Eco and Performance.

But the DNA, the launch emphasized, is pure Royal Enfield. Metal in places you'd expect plastic, a sound that pulses rather than screams, upright seating position, low seat height and looks that are sexy without being high tech.

Wells noted that the good looking graphics on the tank aren't pasted on: they're hand masked.

"That's some proper craftsmanship from our team in Chennai, and they hand mask and hand spray each one."

Is that really better, somehow? It is. For the soul.

Straight talk about old Royal Enfields

Paul Henshaw talks about vintage motorcycles on YouTube.

 I've lately become a fan of YouTube videos by British philosopher-mechanic Paul Henshaw. He often features vintage Royal Enfields and their joys and problems on his channel. 

Other motorcycles may be featured, but what he really offers to me is his sometimes gruff, colorful approach to bikes, and bikers. 

His videos are not produced, scripted or rehearsed. Lighting can be poor, audio worse. His hair is typically mussed up. His jeans and his fingers are embedded with grease. 

It's straight-from-the-shoulder talk meant to be informative. 

You're welcome to take it or leave it, although you'd do well to listen since he knows what he's talking about. And he'll tell you so. 

Criticize how hard he tests motorcycles and he'll respond "Mistreatment! My butt!"

He's all for the joy of motorcycling and he'll tell you that, too. In this video he says:

"This is what I'm coming to. None of us are getting any younger, and none of us will. A lot of us, or I will, in many cases, think that we might want to do something and, ah, it's a bit cold, it's a bit wet, I'll do it another time. But. How do we know that we've got another time?"

If the bike's ready and you're ready, go for the ride, he says, rain or shine. Because "the only thing that we're guaranteed is NOW."

Do not mistake him for a Pollyanna. Paul is plainly frank about his impatience with people, even customers, who don't do the right thing. He can be grouchy.

He admits to, years ago, having pinned to the wall a fellow who insisted that "British bikes are crap" but wouldn't agree to prove it by racing against him.

In another video he courageously details his own bouts with depression in an honest effort to help fellow sufferers. Agree or disagree with this guy, but if only we could bottle his sincerity.

Paul has more than 1,600 videos on YouTube, many of them showing him doctoring Royal Enfields.

His business Performance Classics is on Facebook, where he writes that he specializes "in preparing classic motorcycles for road and track.

"Since 2004 and long before on an amateur basis, we have also managed to bring some pretty sorry looking machinery back to life, where others might have given up on them. So whether a vintage or classic machine needs maintenance, restoration, tuning or the wheels rebuilt, Performance Classics is the place to go. Based in South Wales."