Friday, May 27, 2022

Idle 3 years, Royal Enfield starts first kick

 Royal Enfield enthusiast Dave, of the UK, has favored this blog with a number of his favorite projects. 

In 2016 he sent photos of a 1993 Royal Enfield Bullet purchased with a 700cc Royal Enfield twin-cylinder motor in it. 

In 2018 he shared his 1959 Royal Enfield Constellation, almost new when put away by the original owner, but descended into rust and cobwebs by the time he found it. Dave used the paint preserved under the tank to provide a perfect color match for his restoration. He nicknamed it "Poppy," after a pet cat.

Now he has sent a video of another reawakened Royal Enfield motorcycle running.

"I decided to fire up the 1999 Bullet 350 'Tasha' after three years' storage. Fresh fuel from the workshops' mobile tank link (like a medical drip type thing), five minutes battery charge and first kick she fired up perfectly. Not bad for points ignition I guess. Yes, this one is one of my dual sparkplug conversions running iridium plugs and yes I named another one after one of my cats!

 "Now it's time to get her out and put her back on the road for the summer. Oh, to add, an English summer is usually wet and windy."

Watch the video, and listen to it. There's something unusual about it.

"Such a great sound," I replied to Dave. "Why can't I hear the valves??? With my 1999 500 Bullet, at the distance shown in the video, at least half the sound would be clatter. And that's with a fairly unrestricted muffler. I don't think I've heard a Bullet that sounded better than Tasha."

As for English weather, I offered this consoling thought:

"English weather, I've read, can be unpleasant and I have lived in places (Chicago) where winters were long and dreary. But the upside is the joy of having a fine day in spring, the rare perfection that makes you glad you have a motorcycle.

"Ummm. Right?"

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