Royal Enfields still racking up the miles at age 50

This 1959 Royal Enfield Crusader Sports is a daily commuter.

You might expect to find classic and rare (these days) Royal Enfield motorcycles in a museum, but Bob Murdoch owns a fleet of them and none are on display behind glass.

"I like old bikes to be used as often as possible. I own three English Royal Enfields, and ride them all the year round," he wrote. Bob works at Airbus near Toulouse, France, in engineering support.

"I’ve been using my 1959 Redditch-built Crusader Sports 250 for daily transport since I rebuilt the engine after purchasing the non-runner in 1994. Since then it has clocked up 47,000 miles, with only one serious breakdown, due to a poorly made new part — and I don’t know how many miles were covered by the three previous owners.

"The last 30,000 miles have been accumulated on the roads of Southwest France. Heavy commuting traffic has taken its toll on the transmission over the years, but chains, sprockets and clutch parts are the only parts I’ve had to replace. While the bike is 97 per cent Crusader Sports, it borrows some parts from other Royal Enfield models because reliability and not originality is more important for a working bike.

"My commuting distance isn’t too far these days, only 10 kilometers (seven miles) to work, and I like to ride a bicycle two of the five days, weather permitting.

1959 Super Meteor encounters a Tiger tank in Normandy.

"If I have to collect shopping or my son from school, I take the 1959 700cc Super Meteor that is fitted with panniers. That’s my usual long-distance tourer. I have a 1963 Continental 250. It has also been on some long trips, but you have to keep the speed up to lift the weight off your wrists due to the Thruxton handlebars.

1963 Continental 250cc at home.

"I (also) have a 1962 Super-5 and a 1966 GT, both undergoing slow restorations."

Continental on 500 kilometer trip in Picos Mountains of Spain.

I asked Bob what it's like to ride a 250cc Royal Enfield — half the displacement of my poky 500cc Bullet.

"The 250s are happy at about 55 mph if the road is clear; they have a short stroke, so like to rev a bit, but will trundle along at any speed below this in heavy traffic, having a very low first gear that gives the clutch an easy life. The 250s are great, very strong and totally without vibration, giving a fatigue-less ride and they don’t shed nuts and bolts!"

Well, that is different!

Crusader Sports returns to the Royal Enfield  plating works in Redditch.

Mystery bike was Royal Enfield Hornet

The mystery is solved. The unusual looking Royal Enfield motorcycle that appeared for sale in Rocklin, Calif. in July is the very rare Royal Enfield Hornet model, sold in the United States for one year only, 1961. Its owner Jim Luzier knew it, and he had worked on restoring it for many years, but hadn't been able explain what it was to his daughter Aimee, who placed the ad.


I wrote about the motorcycle, noting that, while it resembled the 250cc Royal Enfield Crusader, it had a slim rear fender not seen on U.S. Crusaders. I guessed it might have been a transition model, intended to use up parts Royal Enfield made for the motorcycles they provided the Indian motorcycle company for sale in the U.S. as Indians. The deal with Indian ended in 1959 and Royal Enfields were sold under their own name after that.


With help from Aimee, U.S. Royal Enfield blogger Jorge Pullin and a Hornet owner named Nate, I guessed the pretty little motorcycle must be a Royal Enfield Hornet, although I'd never even seen a good picture of one. Jorge found the drawing shown above. The Hornet was the equivalent of a Crusader Sports, but had parts mixed in from the earlier Indian Hounds Arrow, a trail bike.

Sadly, Jim Luzier died July 15, of an apparent heart attack. Aimee performed CPR until paramedics arrived, but could not save him. Before he died, though, Jim Luzier left the answer to the question where Aimee could find it.


In 2008, in what Aimee says was a playful mood, Jim posed for a picture for a friend in England named Alun. Jim is shown in the picture holding up a sign that reads: "I need a wiring diagram from UK for this Hornet RE and/or a (Indian) Hounds Arrow. Jan. 20, 2008. Jim Luzier, USA."

As part of the joke, the motorcycle was festooned with extension cords from Jim's shop; it sure did look like he had a wiring problem!

Aimee also found a 1977 picture that showed her on the motorcycle, before restoration began. It shows the black frame, Chinese red tank and alloy fenders a Hornet would have. "Dad decided to paint most of the frame white for visibility when he was restoring it," she explains.

The little Hornet's immediate future is unclear. Aimee is leaving the U.S. for Norway, for a position as a teacher at the Red Cross Nordic United World College.

"I may have to just put the bike in storage until I return in two years, although I will be looking for a new owner who can lavish the same kind of love on it that my Dad did... I do have a lot of material (maintenance, wiring diagrams, paint, etc.) that Dad used in restoring the bike... I will hold onto it until I find the right person," Aimee writes. She signed herself "Aimee Luzier - daughter of James E. Luzier 1934-2009."

Mystery bike may be Royal Enfield Hornet

What is it?

This unusual looking Royal Enfield motorcycle for sale on CraigsList in Rocklin, Calif. may be a rarely seen Royal Enfield Hornet. Or it may be just a (more common, but still unusual) Royal Enfield Crusader Sports, with a few parts swapped in from other motorcycles. What do you think?

U.S.-spec Royal Enfield Crusader.

Jorge Pullin, who writes the blog My Royal Enfields, found pictures from ads for the Hornet and the U.S.-spec Royal Enfield Crusader. Both were 250cc bikes and neither sold very well in the U.S., apparently. They are rarely seen. Jorge says the Hornet was available for one year only, 1961, making it a rare motorcycle indeed.

Royal Enfield Hornet.

Both look a bit like our mystery bike, don't they? Both have a separate headlight. Crusaders sold in Britain had the typical Royal Enfield nacelle combining headlight and speedometer panel.

But look at the rear fenders. Like Crusaders in England, the U.S.-spec Crusader is shown with a chubby valanced rear fender. The Hornet has only a slim rear fender, looking not really big enough for the wide double seat. Our mystery bike also has a slim rear fender, although it may be wider than the one in the picture.

Nate's Royal Enfield Hornet.

"Nate," a motorcyclist who posts on Brit bike message boards, has what he believes is a Royal Enfield Hornet. He knows it has non-original parts on it now, but he was given pictures by a previous owner that Nate believes show the bike more as it originally looked.
Here we see the slim rear fender, somewhat oversize looking seat, and the stand-alone headlight.

The half-moon speedometer on Nate's bike is not what is on our mystery bike now, but speedometers tend to break over 40-plus years and it would have been impossible to find the correct half-moon type to replace it.

I think our mystery bike is a Royal Enfield Hornet. Here's why: the tail light appendage on Crusaders was fully boxed (and the U.S.-spec Crusader in Jorge's picture is fully boxed).

The mystery bike, Nate's Hornet, and the Hornet in Jorge's ad picture all have an unboxed tail light and license plate assembly.

Tail light structure on Nate's Hornet.

It's pretty thin evidence, I admit. Perhaps the fender was swapped in at some point.

Either way, it's a very pretty motorcycle.

As far as performance, it doesn't matter. Jorge provides the information that the Hornet had the light alloy head and hotter cams of the Crusader Sports, and Nate confirms that his Hornet does have the alloy head.

Is Royal Enfield project bike a rare model?

While Royal Enfield in India survived and prospered after 1955, selling the same standard 350cc Bullet motorcycle based on a British design, Royal Enfield in Britain moved on. In the last decade or so of its life, the British company seemed to explode with creativity.

There were big twins of 700cc and more, new 250cc motorcycles, unit constructed motors, airflow streamlining, a five-speed transmission and a partnership to produce motorcycles badged as Indians in the United States. Parts were mixed and matched to create new models and some of the bikes badged as Indians were not just renamed, they were different in appearance, too.

It is all very interesting and very confusing. Maybe that is why a pretty Royal Enfield for sale now on CraigsList in Rocklin, Calif. looks so unfamiliar to me. The seller is the owner's daughter, and here is what she knows:

"My dad's many-year project bike. Nearly complete — still needs a little work, but a great deal of money and hard work has gone into restoring it. Willing to sell to the right buyer.

"My name is Aimee and my Dad is Jim Luzier. He received the bike from his father who ran a motorcycle shop in Richeyville, Pennsylvania. It's a 1960 Royal Enfield and something of a puzzle... but it seems to have been made partly a Crusader, partly a Bullet — not sure of all the particulars. Anyway, Dad rebuilt and restored it, and it's nearly done. It has a little trouble starting right now but it's an amazing machine."

"Dad says it's a Crusader Sports... It's a mystery! I'll look forward to hearing what your fellow Enfield fans have to say. Dad says that it's a 250 and I'm pretty sure he's right about that."

The motorcycle does appear to have the 250cc Crusader unit constructed motor. A 350cc version of this was marketed briefly as "the new Bullet," but it had extra fins on the barrel this motor does not have.

On the other hand, this motorcycle has a svelte tank and clean, narrow fenders. The Crusader and Sports Crusaders in particular, tended to have chunky tanks and elaborate, valanced fenders. They also had fully boxed tail light appendages, yet this motorcycle has an "open" style structure to hold its tail light and license plate.

And then there is the separate headlight and speedometer seen on this motorcycle. Crusaders had the Royal Enfield nacelle combining instruments and headlight into one unit. The exception was the trials version of the Crusader, which carried this very style of tank and a stand-alone speedometer. But it had no headlight at all, its exhaust was tucked up high (the right-side toolbox was cut up to accommodate this) and its fenders were drastically cut down.

An obvious possibility is that Aimee's father, or his father, mixed parts from other motorcycles to create this one. The contrasting color of the tank certainly suggests that. The seat looks new, and the unusual crash bars appear homemade, as may be the speedometer mount.

If Jim Luzier assembled his own motorcycle, he did a fine job, because it looks as though it is supposed to look this way.

Still, I wonder if this isn't just a Royal Enfield model I've never seen before.

One Royal Enfield model I know little about is the 250cc Hornet, which seems to have been sold, at least in the United States, shortly after the agreement with the Indian company ended. The only picture I can find on the web is black and white and of such poor quality, I can't even tell if it has the nacelle.

Why is it so hard to find a picture of the Royal Enfield Hornet? Could it be that it was a short lived model, existing only to use up left-over parts? In 1960 the Indian Fire Arrow sold in the U.S. was a re-badged Crusader. I can not find a picture of it either, but other Indian models did do away with the nacelle.

Maybe what we have here is a Royal Enfield Hornet — at heart a Crusader, but with some parts originally intended to make an Indian. What do you think?