"This is the motor," I explain. It isn't making any noise.
Unable to visit our two-year-old grandchild, I made a short video for her, showing off my 1999 Royal Enfield motorcycle.
My hope was to give her parents a moment's respite from caring for her while they attempt to work from home. But I admit to a certain pride that "grandpa rides a motorcycle." She is almost as interested in motorcycles as in dump trucks.
Admittedly, she is most interested in garbage trucks. But I don't have one of those.
The award for cinematography goes to my wife, Bonnie. The Bullet and I both performed without a script. If it had ad-libbed a mechanical problem, it would have been in the video.
Jonathan Gibson, a world traveler by Royal Enfield, talks about why he chose to ride a Royal Enfield motorcycle in out-takes of filmmaker Chris Zahner's documentary "Chasing the Bullet."
Gibson speaks movingly — and frankly — about the appealing and appalling aspects of riding a 46-year-old Royal Enfield Bullet from Sydney to London.
Appropriately, the February, 2015 interview opens with Gibson talking about getting his Royal Enfield started in the morning. He never puts on his gloves, never puts on his helmet.
"If you load up, you put your gloves on, you put your helmet on, you put your sunnies on, you know, she's never going to start," he says with a shake of the head.
"You can't put pressure like that on an old bike."
Gibson says family members have ridden Royal Enfield motorcycles going back five generations, making his choice almost inevitable. He rides the same make and model motorcycle his grandfather had at his age. In his pleasing Aussie accent he tries to explain how such a thing could happen to a young man.
"You've got this — mystique sounds like such a wanky word — but this kind of air about this motorcycle, that has this image of people crossing sub-continents, Himalayas, right through the ton-up boys blasting their old Continentals around the islands. And the fact that you can still get on these motorcycles and still ride them today.
"Shit. Why wouldn't you want to?"
The Gibson out-takes are another in a series of "Chasing the Bullet" extras Zahner has released, including a series of "making of" videos that are fun to watch.
In this case, Gibson has me sold. Give me a Royal Enfield! This out-takes video ought to be played over and over again inside every Royal Enfield dealership in the world.
Keith Wong of Zacky's Custom Rods with
a beaked bike from a different project.
Pulled by four Royal Enfield motorcycles, the incredible chariot in the new Macklemore and Ryan Lewis music video "Downtown" was built by Keith Wong, of the North Seattle, Wash. shop Zacky's Custom Rods.
Zacky's advertises "Bikes Built to Order."
Keith Wong was good enough to email me an account of the "chariot" order:
"It was amazing. I was approached by Ryan Lewis and Macklemore to build something 'over the top' for their video 'Downtown,' and as you can see, it materialized!
"I had two weeks to complete the project. The first week I spent thinking how I was going to be able to string these bikes together, and make them actually be able to be controlled by reins. Then the fabrication began, which was a challenge. To my knowledge this has not been done before.
"So to answer your questions, yes it's totally drivable, and I actually had an hour to teach Eric Nally (driver in the video) how to operate it.
"The bikes are strung together with a series of bars mounted with custom plates, all able to be removed without the bikes being modified, so the Royal Enfields absolutely maintained their integrity.
Removable framework links four Royal Enfield motorcycles together.
"Ryan Lewis is the master mind behind the look and he is who selected the type of bikes. I was surprised he didn't use Harley Davidsons!
"The chariot has custom foot controls and a few other bells and whistles besides a giant metal eagle head (created by John Lavin).
"I believe the chariot will be used on tour and eventually the bikes will be sold here in the U.S."
Incredibly, the reins really do steer this four-motorcycle chariot.
(As seen on Motorcycle.com)
Four Royal Enfield Bullets pull a chariot shaped like the head of an eagle through the streets of Spokane, Wash. in a new music video. It's not just a digital dream — the motorcycles and the chariot are real.
The video is the catchy, upbeat Macklemore and Ryan Lewis piece "Downtown."
John Lavin was art director for the music video. He's a production designer and art director, prop maker and painter, based in Seattle. On his website he explains how the eagle chariot came about.
"In the video there is an awesome, fully functioning, four-motorcycle chariot, which was custom made by Keith Wong, from the Seattle Hot Rod Shop Zacky's.
The Royal Enfields are the Black Chrome model Bullets.
"I made the chariot look like an eagle. It is a silver metal eagle with a gold-leaf beak, and headlight eyes.
"The chariot really works, and it really steers with the leather reins that I had made by a saddle maker in Spokane."
In a separate email, Lavin elaborated on the chariot's drive-ability:
"By the way, that thing really works. It’s for real. It drives like a stick shift, with pedals (gas/brake/clutch) in the chariot, controlling one of the bikes...
"Eric Nally (singer who drives it in the video) was a quick learner, who learned how to drive it in a parking lot the night before the shoot!
"As far as the origin of the idea, it came from Ben Haggerty (Macklemore) and Ryan Lewis, as far as I know. They knew what they wanted, and already had Keith on the job figuring out how to make it work, by the time I signed on as art director.
"They knew that they wanted it to look like an eagle. Ryan and I talked about it; I showed them some drawings of how I thought I’d approach it, and Ryan gave me the go-ahead. It all came together pretty quick. We had just started discussing the concept two weeks before shooting the video."
It's the oldest magic trick in the world, but can you do it on a motorcycle?
"Enfield Trick" has been on YouTube for years, but it's still funny. In fact, I guarantee you, it gets funnier every time you watch it.
Posted by Randall Haines, "Enfield Trick" is a spoof on an advertisement for a BMW motorcycle. Of course, you have to watch the BMW advert first, to appreciate how much better the Royal Enfield version is.
While you watch, notice how self-congratulatory the BMW ad is. Notice its pristine setting. Notice the presence of expensive props and a full production crew. Whatever else you can say about it, it contains no real surprises.
OK, but can you do it on a Royal Enfield Bullet?
On the other hand, you don't know what the hell is going to happen when the Royal Enfield Bullet is called on to perform the same trick.
And I am certainly not going to tell you in advance.
Colorblind calls its film "a tribute" to India's maestro mechanics, who create beautiful Royal Enfield Bullets with oil blackened hands.
They're selling themselves short. Less than 20 minutes long, "Old Delhi Motorcycles" is nothing less than an attempt to explain the universal appeal of motorcycles — and especially old British motorcycles.
The Royal Enfield Bullet is an icon in India and a rare survivor of a vanished species. Production continues but, as the film explains, the Bullet is much bigger in India than the Royal Enfield company itself.
The Bullet owes its survival in India to special factors, including war and isolation, but also to a special breed of craftsmen. Working crouched in dark alleyway shops, they devote their lives to this motorcycle.
"We have to keep their legacy alive," the film concludes. "We must not let this die."
Reader Michael O'Reirdan pointed out the video to me and vouched for its veracity.
"I visited the market where that was filmed, it is amazing. Alleys with old and young blokes all crouched over motorbikes tapping away making things. It was spectacular."
There's more about the real Old Delhi Motorcycles on Facebook.
Is this Royal Enfield Bullet going too fast, too near the edge?
Reader Michael O'Reirdan pointed me toward the latest GoPro video featuring Royal Enfield motorcycles on the "Highest Road in the World."
GoPro, maker of helmet cameras, gave us a hint of its adventure with Royal Enfield motorcycles in its original "Be A Hero" video.
But this time it's all Royal Enfield Bullets, close up, at speed and right on the edge of the cliff all the way up the Himalaya Mountains.
The story-behind-the-story is on the Vintage Rides blog. Vintage Rides arranged the logistics for the GoPro raid through Delhi, Jaipur and Ladakh.
The video features world-girding motorcyclist Alex Chacon. Of his first time on a Royal Enfield he told Vintage Rides that "The Bullet was a great, classy looking bike with plenty of power to enjoy the on and off roads of India."
Watch the video for a stomach churning bash through the traffic of India and up the rutted roads of the Himalaya. Would you treat your Bullet the way these guys do?
Surely — surely — the video directors speeded up the footage of the riders flying along the edge of eternity on those terrible roads. You'll see what I mean:
Something about motorcycles seems to bring out the "what if" spirit in human nature.
Ian Burns wondered what it would be like to look inside the motor of his Royal Enfield — while it was running.
Lucky for us, he uploaded his video to YouTube Oct. 27.
"Decided to take the pipe off to see what she sounded like and found it was a fire breathing beast lol. If you look to the right of the exhaust valve you can see the spark, a nice healthy blue 'n purple," he wrote.
Here's the video for all of us who would never try this at home:
"The Royal Enfield," is a surprising video by Gerald Emerick.
Got your sense of humor handy? Then you might appreciate a short, fun video entitled "The Royal Enfield" directed by Gerald Emerick.
The video begins as a study of a ride on a Royal Enfield Bullet. It's professional in appearance, reverential in tone — at the beginning.
It opens with loving close-ups of the Bullet's features. The rider approaches the beloved machine with evident admiration. He dons his helmet. This will be a ride through beautiful Malibu Canyon, in California.
The music swells. The motor thumps. Cut to more glamour shots of the Bullet, alternating with our rider's dramatic sweep through a tunnel.
And, then... I won't give away the ending but it's worth waiting for.
An evocative new video puts us on the road on a Royal Enfield.
If you're fan of the new Royal Enfield Thunderbird you will especially enjoy this new short video from Vita Brevis Films.
But you will enjoy it, even if you don't like the Thunderbird.
The new Royal Enfield motorcycle is featured again and again in "Chennai to Pondicherry: A Motorcycle Tour of Southern India," but it's the feeling of riding a motorcycle that stars in this film.
The voice-over script consists of the words of Robert M. Pirsig, from "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance."
No rider will disagree with Pirsig that "sometimes it's a little better to travel than to arrive."
Motors! Shots of the Royal Enfield factory are impressive.
The video whets our appetite with shots of the motorcycle being built with care in the Royal Enfield factory in Chennai, and then we hit the road.
Scenes of seemingly timeless India contrast with the roaring freedom of the Thunderbird on the open road.
Somehow, our rider never encounters heavy traffic! Only lesser motorcycles are seen to suffer that fate.
A lovely short video of a Royal Enfield rounding a curve so intrigued me that I wrote to the fellow who posted it on YouTube asking for details.
He replied, with another video of his bike!
Of the original video, he wrote:
"Yes it's my Bullet and I'm riding it too... So my name is Jan, 27 years old, from Dortmund, Germany and I work on my bikes in my free time. I like my bikes pure, low and loud ;)...
"The video is takes place at a spot called "Heggen," Germany. It's a nice little road in the woods with lot of curves on it — so it's used for illegal road races very often. Mostly of course raced by some super sport bikes (Honda CBR, Yamaha R6...) and supermoto bikes (KTM). But my Enfield has got such a nice handling that I beat most of the riders and they wonder a lot, cause it looks so old.
"The video is taken at the end of one of the last clear and cold fall days when everybody went home except me, for me it was a 300km run at 10 degrees over zero to this place.
"It is outside in the woods; normally nobody is there most of the time. The only thing you can hear are some bird sounds at this time of the day. So I decided to place my camera on a stand, start my bike with its loud pipe and 'Break the Silence' — so that's the little story of this video.
A very short (only 29 seconds) but very evocative video of a Royal Enfield cornering as the sun rises has been posted on YouTube by "Pesling."
It's entitled "Royal Enfield Bullet 500 — Break The Silence."
Definitely worth a look.
Where was it shot, and who is Pesling? The only information I find so far is that he lists his age as 64 and his country as Germany. His subscriptions indicate that he likes cafe racers.
Aniket Vardhan, the young man in Columbus, Ohio who built his own Royal Enfield 700cc V-twin motor from two 350 motors, says he is two weeks away from having a rideable motorcycle.
Vardhan's accomplishment, seen on YouTube, has brought attention from around the world. Yes, the Carberry firm in Australia is doing a V-twin from two 500cc Royal Enfield motors. But the fact that one young man could do something similar in a borrowed workshop truly captures the imagination. Here's his latest update:
"Well, not much longer! I just got back from the shop a few minutes ago; the motor is completely test mounted in the bike with the newly made mounting plates with modified hole positions. The cut frame top tube has been connected and the timing cover has been re-installed after dismantling to check how things looked.
"Need to reposition a couple of mounts for the seat and gas tank, complete the electricals, lengthen the drive chain (bigger output sprocket and slight change in engine position compared to stock).
"This phase did take a bit of time as I had to check and recheck that alignment and access to top end was not hindered -- you can still remove rocker covers, head and cylinders with motor in frame, a must for tinkering ease, making sure that none of the fasteners fouled with anything etc.
"All this is done and seems to have worked according to plan.
"It really should be only a week or 2 before she's rideable!"
Vardhan is originally from New Delhi. He came to the U.S. in 1999 for a master's degree in Industrial Design. He left his job as an assistant professor of Industrial Design at an art and design school in Columbus in July, 2008. He says his dream has been creating a Royal Enfield V-twin. As the world saw in the YouTube video, he is thrilled. His excitement is contagious.
Have you ever wondered what would happen if a dog chasing a motorcycle actually caught it? What would the dog do with the motorcycle? Here is video evidence of what would happen.
Is it that dogs hate motorcycles? Or do they actually enjoy the sound? This video was posted on YouTube by Bantujatt of India and shows his dog and his Royal Enfield Bullet Machismo.
If you would like to know how old your Royal Enfield is, or just wish to have its age confirmed, please email your frame and engine numbers to Graham.Scarth01 @gmail.com Graham is happy to be of assistance in this matter to all RE owners wherever they reside. Note that you may be asked to provide photos of the number stampings, along with one of the complete machine. More information.
A day out with Douglases
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A pair of shiny Douglases (Dougli?!) The front bike is very special, a
3.5hp ohv touring model with disc front brake. the first motorcycle to be
fitted ...
Old Brit Bullet or India made?
Paul Henshaw shows you the FAST way to tell an old Bullet made in India from an original UK Bullet. YouTube
What Royal Enfield did in the big war
Royal Enfield's book detailing its role in World War II is available for free download, courtesy of Simon Taylor. A Proud War Record
"Need to reposition a couple of mounts for the seat and gas tank, complete the electricals, lengthen the drive chain (bigger output sprocket and slight change in engine position compared to stock).
