Royal Enfield adventure puts writer on the high road

Writer and photographer Rachel Glueck on her Enfield Adventure in India.
Here she is on a road just east of Jammu on the way to Srinagar in India.

A "Want-to-Buy" ad for a Royal Enfield on CraigsList led me to the story of a young woman with big plans.

"Looking for a Royal Enfield in good, rideable condition. I just returned from India where I rode one through Jammu-Kashmir, and fell in loooooove! Looking to own one by the end of June. Contact Rachel."

Rachel Glueck blogged about her Enfield Adventure in India. Her entries include fantastic photos that show she has an eye for the details as well as the sweep of scenery. Her reflections are sharp as well, and not just the ones that pertain to riding a Royal Enfield.

The headline of her Day 2 entry will sound familiar, however: "The Breakdowns Begin."

Rachel's Enfield Adventure started on her birthday in 2011, riding with friend Matthew. She is a motorcyclist, but didn't have an Enfield of her own in India. Day 1 of the journey made for the "most uncomfortable" birthday of her life. Other insights, butt sore and not, came rapidly:

"We stopped frequently for chai – the single most important ritual of an Indian motorcycle adventure."

"Lesson learned? If you’re gonna ride a bike across the Asian subcontinent, know how to fix your bike."

And then there was this one, my favorite, which Rachel and Matthew experienced when they reentered an area popular with tourists:

"There is no possible way to convey the events and insights of one’s journey in a way that is relevant to the listener or satisfying to the storyteller. The best one can do is skim the surface and move on."

With that understanding, Rachel is a writer.

"I'm actually in the middle of writing my first book (about my adventures in Hawaii, Australia, Vietnam, New York City, sailing to Panama, and San Francisco)," she told me.

"I'm currently working on wrapping up a video and children's book for a cultural education project I started in Nepal (www.ethnocation.com).... I hope to be back in India by January at the latest to explore and study with the Buddhist masters."

I asked her why she wanted to ride a Royal Enfield motorcycle in the U.S.

"Part of the reason I really want an Enfield here (aside from the fact that they're so damn sexy!) is because I'd love to get intimate with one so I'm better prepared when I return to India and buy one!

Royal Enfield: Is there a better way to explore? (Rachel Glueck Photo)

"Is there a better way to explore India? I doubt it. Though I wouldn't miss out on the train rides either. It was challenging, but incredibly rewarding. One has the opportunity to stop, explore, and engage with the locals. Especially when your bike has a gear box leak and you're about to cross one of the highest passes in the world in a terrorist-prone region. Despite all the warnings, we rarely felt unsafe (excepting for the thousands of insane, often drunk, cargo truck drivers on the narrow, winding roads).

"As for riding an Enfield in the U.S., I've never done it. For those concerned about the ability to let 'er rip on the freeways, I ask, 'Are you really going to buy a motorcycle to ride on a wide, straight road lined with strip malls and billboards?'

"Personally, I feel motorcycles are made for back roads, hills and mountains.... If it's speed you want, Go Guzzi."

Check out her blog and be sure to take time to watch the slide show of fantastic pictures with each item.

Enfield Adventure. (Rachel Glueck Photo)

ADDED NOTE: Rachel Glueck is available to give informative, inspirational talks and slide show presentations on her global adventures. She can be contacted at rglueck@gmail.com or 513-305-2444.

A Royal Enfield restoration in just two minutes

Time-lapse video shows how they did it.

If you follow the market for Royal Enfield motorcycles you're probably aware that some fantastic looking "restorations" are coming out of India.

These motorcycles look vintage, yet brand new, with styling touches no factory in Redditch, England or Chennai, India ever dreamed.

The world is long past asking "how do they do it?" The impression is that India can do anything. But now, thanks to a time-lapse video on YouTube,  we can at least watch while they do it.

The video is "Royal Enfield Bullet Restoration Project." According to Adhiraj85, who posted it, "We put together a 1978 Royal Enfield Bullet. It took around 45 days. Thanks to time lapse, I can show you guys in two minutes."

All we know about YouTube's Adhiraj85 is that he is 26 and from India. Facebook suggests he may be Adhiraj Rajan Lokengaonkar, of Mumbai.

Nicely done. The motorcycle is very pretty, too. Check out the video.

The call center man's dream: a road trip

Ever been tempted to talk about Royal Enfield motorcycles with the Help Desk guy in India?

Gary Pinchin did it. Here's what happened, in his words:

I live in the UK and have a 1999 350 Bullet I bought for 500 quid a while back. Needed a bit of tidying up but it's ready to go (well it has been since March). Only trouble is, I've been sidelined with a non-motorcycle related knee problem since February, which means I've not had a chance to ride it yet!

I'd been having trouble with my British Telecom broadband so I rang the help desk. The guy on the other end of the line says he needs to share the screen of one of the two laptops in the house to sort out the problem, so I hand him over to my partner.

Anyway, he does the job then she gives me back the phone and the guy says: "Do you work for Royal Enfield? I spotted some folders on the desktop with their name on on it." My partner does indeed do some work, dealing with the UK importer.

Turns out the guy is working in a call center in India and we strike up a conversation about the whole Enfield thing. The conversation went something like this:

Me: So you have an interest in Enfields?

Him: Oh yes, it's is my lifelong passion to own one.

Me: So why don't you buy one?

Him: I can't afford it. The price of a new Bullet in India is around £1,000 but the average wage is only £150 per month. How much is a new Enfield in England?

Me: Around £5,000 for the new EFI model. Just a bit cheaper than a base-model 883 Harley.

Him: £5,000 (in deep shock)! If you could afford to pay that much for a motorcycle in India you would be one of the richest people in the country. £5,000 would buy the very best luxury car here!

Me: Can't you afford an older model?

Him: It's not such a good idea. They always need a lot of work so it costs money for spare parts and repairs and my passion is to do a road trip. I don't want to keep breaking down. Have you seen the film Wild Hogs? I want to do that sort of road trip, just touring around. But the Enfield is a heavy bike and our roads are very, very bumpy. Have you been to India?

Me: No but I'd love to. I've seen what the back roads are like though. I bought Gaurav Jani's DVDs, One Crazy Ride and Riding Solo To The Top Of The World. They are truly inspirational.

Him: Really, I've not heard of them.

Me: Mate, you really must check them out if you're planning a road trip around India. Gaurav is in a club called 60kph Motorcycle Travel Club. Their website is just amazing.

Him: I will do that. Thank you so much for talking to me.

Me: No, the pleasure is all mine.

So, purely by chance, I've been talking to a guy in India who watches American-made motorcycle movies and loves Enfields and I'm telling him to check out Indian-made DVDs and websites on Bullets? Does it get any weirder? Sad thing is the call came to such an abrupt end when he had to get back to work, that I didn't get his name. But to bastardise an old Honda ad slogan, you meet the nicest people through Royal Enfield ownership.

Cheers. Hey, keep up the fine work with the blog!

UPDATE: Pinchin provided this picture of his Royal Enfield Bullet 350, a private import from India that still retains its Indian style front license plate. He adds:

"Sorry but been off-line sorting out wireless issues. Had to ring BT call centre again twice but no more Enfield chat!"

A Royal Enfield really is a God in India

A Royal Enfield motorcycle deified by believers in India is the subject of a YouTube video by Peter Bengelsdorf, who came across the shrine dedicated to the Bullet 350.

Bengelsdorf explains how the motorcycle became a God but he declines to say where the shrine is, for fear it would be overwhelmed by tourists. Bengelsdorf is a journalist and a former Newsday section editor. The video is informative and quite entertaining.

Royal Enfield Bullet plows for a living

Indian made Royal Enfield Bullets are available for service with the army and police, deliver the milk to cities and even plow the fields, according to The Times of India. Here is a picture of the "Bullet Santi" (Bullet plow) being operated by its inventor, a farmer. He uses it to plow, sow and weed fields. The conversion costs small farmers less than even a mini-tractor.

The inventor created it in the early 1990s, but it is in the news now because it has helped inspire a new "club" in India to support innovative technology solutions. Companies that want to use the imaginative devices would have to license them.

Mansukh Jagani's Bullet Santi was patented by Grassroots Innovation Augmentation Network (GIAN) in the U.S. as well as India. Apparently the motorcycle can easily be detached to serve as transportation, but it is no longer a very thrilling ride since part of the conversion to plow is a conversion to a husky but less powerful diesel motor.

Check other inventions up for licensing at IndiaInnovates.com

Have ideas of your own? Leave a comment here.

Women in India ride "Man's Motorcycle'

Reporter Sugandha Pathak of the Mumbai Daily News & Analysis reports that women in India are unafraid of the macho image of riding the iconic Royal Enfield Bullet:

College student Arati Vikas Samant, who got into biking for a new experience, has been hooked to it for the last six months. She says: “My dad rides a Royal Enfield, but I couldn’t understand his craze for them. Once, a friend who belongs to a biking club asked me to come along for an experience.” That, more or less, sealed it for Samant.

“It was independence day, and we rode from Churchgate to Borivali,” she says. “Riding a Bullet, I was ecstatic. Now I have my own Enfield, which I’ve named Gabbar.”

If women are doing something different, raised eyebrows and unwanted comments are to be expected. But there seems to be a shift in the way men think of women and motorcycles in the city. Reema Poreyana, a working woman who faced a comment or two when she first started biking, four years ago, says, “I see a major change. When guys look at me now, they give me an encouraging smile or a positive vibe. The problem happens with truckers on highways. But we must ignore them.”

Rajeev Shah, vice-president of Indiethumpers, a motorcycle club, says, “It’s really appreciable that women today don’t hesitate to ride a Royal Enfield, a bike which, in popular perception, is the tough guy’s choice. And the whole idea about women being bad drivers is untrue. We can’t associate bad driving with gender.”