Royal Enfield's top U.S. dealers for 2013, by sales

Royal Enfield of Fort Worth was the top seller of Royal Enfields in the U.S.

Royal Enfield USA announced its 2013 top 10 dealers by sales on its Facebook page.

Royal Enfield of Fort Worth topped the leaderboard.

The top two dealers were unchallenged for their positions but after fifth place the list gets crowded, with many ties. Here they are, by position:

1. Royal Enfield of Fort Worth, Fort Worth, Texas

2. Fremont Honda Kawasaki Suzuki, Freemont, Calif.

3. Go Moto, Minneapolis, Minn.

3. National Powersports, Pembroke, N.H.

4. Scuderia West, San Francisco, Calif.

5. Polaris West, Katy, Texas

6. Marks Motorsports, Enfield, Conn.

6. Southern California Motorcycles, Brea, Calif.

7. Gateway Cycles, Mount Sterling, Ken.

7. Route 66 Modern Classics, Marina Del Rey, Calif.

8. Bodacious Bikes, San Antonio, Texas

9. Detroit Iron, Highland, Mich.

9. LA Motorsports, Summerville, S.C.

10. Velocity Motorcycles, Richmond, Va.

10. Unique Rides, Fort Collins, Colo.

10. Premier Polaris, Monroe, Va.

10. Philadelphia Scooters, Philadelphia, Pa.

10. Kiss Cycles, Pottstown, Pa.

Classy classic sidecar matched to Royal Enfield

This Royal Enfield C5 and sidecar look as though they were made for one another.

I've written before about the remarkable custom sidecar outfits being put together at Royal Enfield of Fort Worth.

There's no ignoring this latest effort, offered for sale on CraigsList for $12,995.

It's an Inder sidecar, painted to match a new teal 2012 C5. There's a custom leather seat and a "hood" ornament on the sidecar. The sidecar is marked as a Royal Enfield in the same style used on the tank of the C5.

But wait.

Fenders of motorcycle and sidecar are painted to match.

An awfully nice additional touch is the white paint on the fenders of the motorcycle, matching the sidecar fender. Who would have thought of that?

Another nice feature: the sidecar wheel has a brake!

The sidecar has front and rear grab bars; the front is shiny, the rear is painted to match the car. Someone gave this a lot of thought.

Sidecar has a brake. Note treatment of the grab bars.

Royal Enfield of Fort Worth is at at 8124 West Freeway, Fort Worth, Texas. Telephone is 214-629-4011. I have no connection to this dealer and can't vouch for them, but if I was in town I would go take a look at this sidecar combination.

Royal Enfield dealership is far off the beaten path

Royal Enfield motorcycle in Frostproof, Fla.

Possessed of a fancy new phone with the ability to take and email photographs, my friend, screenwriter and wit Douglas Kalajian, decided to tease me.

He transmitted the picture above, of a new Royal Enfield motorcycle, without explanation. My only clue to its location was that I happened to know that Douglas was on a road trip through Florida at the time.

I replied to his message at once, with one word: "Frostproof."

Frostproof, Fla., is the home of one of the most unmistakable Royal Enfield dealers in the U.S., O'Hara Motorsports.

Unmistakable? Well, how many motorcycle dealers can you name that also answer the phone for a dry cleaners?

Their website, OharaRestorations.com explains that the business is owned by Bob and Sandy O'Hara, who moved their car restoration business to "downtown" Frostproof in 2002.

“We have done restorations on hundreds of cars, trucks, tractors and even boats, over the years...We have restored Aston Martins, Maseratis, Rolls Royces, Fords and Chevys, Fiat 500, Isetta, Daimler, Packard, Cadillacs and more,” the website claims.

The parking area in front of O'Hara's is full of intriguing cars of the past including, when I visited, a big Packard and the Metropolitan featured in Doug's photograph.

That Metropolitan was my tip-off. I could only peer into the store windows when I was there: it was the weekend and, contrary to what you might expect, O'Hara's is open only Monday through Friday (weekends by appointment).

The view through the big plate glass windows reminded me more of an antique store than a motorcycle dealership. The past lives on here.

But what's this about dry cleaning?

"We're just a drop-off point for dry cleaning in the area. But we do a variety things. We rent U-Haul trucks. We wear many hats here," office manager Donna Murray told me over the phone

Frostproof is in the middle of the state of Florida, off the beaten track, but close by the old roads that tin-can tourists took on vacation in the 1920s and '30s. They were called "tin-can" tourists because these were the days before motels; tourists didn't just check into a Best Western — they camped with gear unloaded from Fords, and ate out of tin cans.

It's not hard to believe that some of them left their old Packards and Plymouths in Frostproof, waiting for the day someone would want to restore them.

The big new highway bypasses Frostproof. "Downtown" Frostproof is now on what's called "Scenic Highway." Population is only about 3,000.

Surrounding roads meander through orange groves across the Lake Wales ridge.

It is a fine place to ride a Royal Enfield motorcycle.

Royal Enfield shed Indian brand name for the 1960s

The story of the Foglio brothers and their Royal Enfield motorcycle dealership of the 1960s inspired me to look up the Royal Enfield distributor they dealt with, Gene Shillingford & Sons.

I learned that Gene and Elmer Shillingford of Philadelphia, Pa. were instrumental in Royal Enfield's "debut" under its own name in 1960. For half a decade Royal Enfield had supplied motorcycles to be sold under the Indian brand in the U.S. Now it would shed its "American identity of feathers and war paint."

American Motorcyclist, November, 1959

American Motorcyclist magazine for November, 1959 carried this full-page ad on page 3, promising the new Interceptor and other models for 1960. Deeper inside the magazine was this press release:

Royal Enfield Returns Under Own Name

Royal Enfield motorcycles return to the United States under their own name, with a new look and many new models. 1960 motorcycles are enroute to this country.

There will be four 700cc models equipped with 52 HP engines. These are claimed to be the most powerful vertical twins in the world today.

Royal Enfield will introduce the ultra-modern "Airflow 700" with full streamlined front fairing, giving excellent protection and comfort to the rider, plus increased gas mileage and speed.

The 500cc "Fury" scrambler incorporates a newly designed large racing head with 1 1/2 inch G-P carburetor and cams that are so versatile that they bring the power range in at 2000 RPM through 6,800 RPM. 250cc scrambles models will be available shortly after the first of the year.

The Enfield Cycle Company, Ltd., of Redditch, England has established Cooper Motors of Los Angeles as their distributor for the West and Midwestern states. Gene Shillingford & Sons of Philadelphia will be covering the Middle and South Atlantic states. The Fenchurch Corp., of New York is now representing the Enfield Company, appointing distributors and dealers in the remaining territories.

Spare parts depots have been established to cover the U.S.A. The locations are Los Angeles, Detroit and Philadelphia.

Frank Cooper and George Caswell of Cooper Motors, Gene and Elmer Shillingford of Philadelphia and J.D. Bolz of the Fenchurch Corp., have just concluded a meeting in Columbus, Ohio, to coordinate their operations for an extensive sales campaign.

Selling Royal Enfield Interceptors back in the day helped young brothers build a leading dealership

Foglio brothers still possess banner from '60s dealership.

Tony Foglio Sr. and his brother Jim opened a Royal Enfield dealership in Weirton, W.Va., 35 miles west of Pittsburgh, in 1968. They called it Foley Cycle Center. It became the most successful U.S. dealership at selling Royal Enfield Interceptors.

Tony was gracious enough to tell me the story and provide the pictures you see here. He wrote:

"My brother Jim was racing a BSA 650 Hornet, the one with the fiberglass tank, and my oldest brother had bought a 1965 Royal Enfield that he bought from a small dealer named Cliff Jenkins. He made a chopper out of it, as you did in those days.

"The original reason we chose to become Royal Enfield dealers was that you only had to buy a couple of bikes. Anything else, and you would have had to have had a pile of money."

Royal Enfield Interceptors.

Foglio was 24 years old, and he and his brother worked in the steel mills. Selling motorcycles would be something they would do on the side.

"We had $1,000 apiece to put into it. We went to Bristol, Pa., to meet with the distributor, Gene Shillingford and Sons, and bought two Interceptors and two Sachs motorcycles, German dirt bikes. We (continued) to sell them until we couldn't get them anymore, and we were the largest RE dealer in the states.

"And we raced them; drag raced them. The Interceptor would get into the lower 13 seconds, stock. My brother was really good and I think he got into the high 12s. That's one way we sold them. We'd talk to the guys on Harleys and we'd say, 'OK, if we beat you, come buy one.' Sold a lot of bikes that way.

Tony Foglio's 1969 Interceptor.

"It was the prettiest bike ever made. In those days whatever year you sold them was the year of registration. The only difference between the '69s and the '70s was that the '70s had oil coolers on them, and they took off the pretty velocity stacks and put air cleaners on them. Of course, we went ahead and took the air cleaners off and put velocity stacks on. It was a great look.

Oil cooler on Royal Enfield Interceptor.

"We didn't know the end was coming. We had the head engineer from Enfield come out to have lunch with us. I don't remember if he came to us, because we were the biggest dealer, or we went to Bristol to see him. We told him they should make them 900 or 1000cc, to compete with the Harleys. The Interceptor's bottom end was bulletproof; they could have handled it. But he said, no, they couldn't do that.

"Why? Because the limit to race at the Isle of Mann is 800cc. I asked how many Royal Enfields they would race at the Isle of Mann and he said 'one.' I couldn't believe that they would keep all those motorcycles under 800cc (to suit) one race."

Interceptor's 150-mph speedometer.

Did the engineer know that the end was coming?

"Well, we didn't ask, and he didn't tell. But I can't imagine him coming all the way to Canada and the U.S. to see all the distributors if they knew it was going to end; although he might have picked up some information about what was coming.

"When the end came it was really alright with us business wise, because in 1970 we picked up a Suzuki franchise. And we did real well. We went from probably a 1,000 square foot building to a 20,000 square foot building."

It wasn't clear, at first, that Japanese motorcycles were to become the wave of the future.

"I didn't like them at all. They were two-stroke, they smoked and they made that ring-a-ding noise. The Interceptors were great handling and they had all that bottom end, and then you go to two strokes and it's all top end.

"The Suzuki 500s had pressed steel tanks and quality was mediocre. But the thing was, the number of cc's they were, that is about what they cost us: $500. We might have been paying $1,000 or $1,200 for an Interceptor, I don't remember. I think we sold them for around $1,500.

"That was a lot of money. You could buy a fully loaded new Volkswagen for $2,000.

"The Japanese were great marketers, and it didn't take them long. They took mediocre stuff and in a few years were making stuff you couldn't compete with.

The prettiest bike ever made.

"The British bikes were all good bikes, mostly all small displacement. That was the road racing genre in Europe and they wouldn't or couldn't change that fast enough.

"The Interceptors had the lousiest brakes in the world; you needed some room to get stopped. Riders who'd been on Japanese motorcycles would come test them and you'd see them go down the road and stop; they'd hit the brake instead of the gearshift, which was on the right instead of the left.

"The only real problem we ever had with them was a nylon tab in the primary chain tensioner. If you ran them hard you'd go through those pretty fast and there'd be the sound of metal on metal."

What about the made-in-India Enfields?

"In 2001 I was in India and I went to the factory; I didn't know you could tour it, but there was a showroom and they had both the 350 and the 500 and a 350 diesel that astounded me. Did you want to take a ride? And I said sure and I went for a ride — of course I was on the wrong side of the road.

"But I was very impressed. I didn't think it would, but the 500 had the same sound and feel as the Interceptor. I wasn't real pleased with the metallurgy of the engine or the fenders. I had the thought of opening a dealership in California but, at the time, there was one state where you couldn't sell them and that was California. But I understand they're now making a heck of a bike, with a new engine."

In the mid-1970s the Foglios sold the motorcycle dealership and Tony moved to California in 1980. He found Christ through a Billy Graham Crusade and eventually became a pastor, founding the Sonrise Church. His son took over as pastor when he retired.

The three Foglio brothers got back into Royal Enfields, finding between them a 1970 and two 1969s. These were immaculate motorcycles, with early production numbers. "We found bikes that had been from our dealership, but they were beat to death," Tony said.

The Foglio brothers back on two wheels.

The brothers posed for a remarkable picture beside their motorcycles, with the sun reflecting from the chrome tanks. Tony wore a 40-year-old leather motorcycle jacket , but they rode rarely and he decided to find a new home for his Interceptor. It sold on eBay recently, to a man in Michigan named Jack. Tony is confident it will be appreciated.

"I didn't sell it so much as put it out for adoption," he said.

Joe, Jimmy and Tony Foglio.

Dealer develops modern Royal Enfield flat tracker

Royal Enfield flat tracker/street tracker project.

This is a preview picture of the new Royal Enfield flattracker/streettracker in the works at Doug Douglas Motorcycles in San Bernardino, Calif. Art Guilfoil of Doug Douglas plans to offer kit parts to help you build one of your own — and it could even be street legal, he says.

"It's got a ways to go to be complete but we've come along far enough to show what it looks like," Guilfoil posted on the Flattrack forum.

He offered details there and on Facebook:

"We hope to have the chassis complete for track testing in February. If it turns out as expected we'll go forward with our plans to manufacture our conversion pieces.

"As for power, the standard Indian Bullet weighs over 400 pounds. We have this down to 285 but as you can see we left the center stand on for now, it still has the stock (heavy) steel tank and many more items yet to change to make 'race' weight. We expect to get it under 265 which is what a good stock frame (Yamaha) TT500 weighs.

"A stock TT500 has 28 horsepower and the Royal Enfield is also 28. With some good tuning and some serious hard part development it's not a huge stretch to think we can get it to perform as a hoped up TT500 does. This is not going to be a half-miler against full modern 450s, but it could work really well as a short tracker we think.

"For now the goal is simply to leave the motor alone as we make the chassis work right. We have a good start I think but only riding will prove that out. We expect the stock frame will need some bracing added in certain weak places so watching for stress fractures is needed before we add power.

"We're going to do this right guys. It's a long term machine and hopefully will be the answer to a vintage bike with modern engine reliability, street legal, electric start, etc. There's not only a market for that, it should make some smiles."

In line with keeping it street legal, note in the picture that the wiring and tubing for the (mandatory in California) evaporative emissions controls continues to dangle; will the canister simply be relocated?

Guilfoil notes that, while the motorcycle would look vintage, with its modern Unit Constructed Engine it wouldn't race in vintage classes:

"When I wrote 'vintage bike' I'm meaning the overall look and the namesake. I have no hopes of this being legal in vintage racing. Nor would I want it to be racing vintage.

"I know some people will be disappointed it can't race vintage but others will be glad it has modern attributes as well. The overall idea for us is a bike that may fit some classes in various flattrack racing, though for most  it's a great streettracker."

Royal Enfield café racer looks ready to run

Special touches make this Royal Enfield racer really red.

Doug Nassif, of Bismarck, N.D., is the proud owner of a 2008 Royal Enfield Bullet with the café racer kit, customized to his liking. He was kind enough to share these pictures of his red racer. He gives a lot of credit to the unusual Royal Enfield dealership that built it for him:

"Bob Pilz at Scoots4u in Lakemoor, Ill., and his staff are geniuses at the conversions; he bought all the remaining iron barrel bikes he could, so I bought one as the donor bike and he landed the kit.

"Took about three months through the summer. I didn't like the (kit's original) flyscreen, headlight ears or the air filter, so I changed them with Bob's help. I always put a grill over the headlight and I always put Norton 'S' exhaust covers on; two easy pieces of 'gingerbread.'

"Pieces that were easy to powdercoat were sandblasted (mild grit) and made red.

"The plan is to show the machine at 2011 Spring bike shows, then, when North Dakota finally warms up, ride the thing.

"We Royal Enfield enthusiasts love these bikes; much better than today's fare, which sound like vacuum cleaners or hair driers.

"As for myself, I'm in the shale oil and minerals business in North Dakota. Always loved motorcycles and I believe that to a certain extent, everyone does. It is a carryover from the day of the horse. First bike: Allstate (Puch) 250."

Red mesh over headlight really catches the eye.

Bob Pilz of Scoots4u confirmed Doug's story:

"Scoots4u is an authorized Royal Enfield and Ural dealer," he wrote me. "My staff and I come from a motorcycle back ground. All of us have ridden for years. Some as kids and all as teens. Currently, I have two friends that I've known since the mid '70s working with me. We met while all of us were working at a Harley and Honda shop in Elgin, Ill. To supplement the motorcycle business, I am also a sailboat dealer. We are dealers for Catalina, Precision, Hobie Cat, Honda and Nissan Marine. I own and operate a 94-slip marina on the Chain-O-Lakes here in Northern Illinois.

"As to the shop, if you check my Scoots4u website, it pretty well explains the philosophy. We came from an old school, mom-and-pop kind of shop. I have carried that experience here to my shop. Nothing fancy, polished, or slick about Scoots4u.

"We presently have about 15 new Royal Enfields in stock. When production of the cast iron motor stopped in 2008, I bought what the U.S. distributor had left for myself. We have four new cast iron Enfields left in stock. We also have some AVL powered Enfields in the the old style frame. The kits that are available for the cast iron bikes will also fit the AVL models.

"We also have three used Enfields in stock. One is an AVL model and two are cast iron. The two cast irons are pretty sweet to begin with. One is a new and unregistered 2003, I think, with a Trials kit on it. The other is a 1995 Military with about 2,300 miles on it. Both would be four-speeds with kick start only.

"The café kit as offered through Royal Enfield USA runs about $3,200 and includes rear sets for the footpegs to get you into a bit more aggressive riding position. Labor for us to install the kit is around $2,000. If a person is reasonably handy, they can install the kit themselves but it does take some patience and modification even though it is called a kit. New cast iron bikes that we have in stock are running about $5,500."

I did enjoy reading Pilz' introduction on his website, which emphasizes that, while he'd be glad to meet you if you drop by his store, he "won't remember your name" and won't call you later to try to hound you into a purchase!

"You'll probably have to tell me if you want to make a purchase. I like to sell the way I like to be sold," he writes, on the website.

What a terrific attitude.

Motorcycle club plans ride day to benefit Royal Enfield dealership that burned

A Suzuki pit bike will be among the raffle prizes at a benefit "ride day" Saturday, Oct. 23, at the Dayton (Ohio) Motorcycle Club. The event benefits KRW Cycles, the motorcycle shop and Royal Enfield dealership destroyed by fire Labor Day weekend.

"Riding starts at noon, dinner will be at 5 p.m., then hang around for some live music from Life Behind Bars," wrote rider James Reed, of Covington, Ohio, who listed KRW as one of his sponsors.

"Please come out for the ride day to have some fun and help out those great people at KRW who have helped out so many racers, riders and clubs over the years," he wrote.

The Dayton Motorcycle club is located at 3515 Stoney Hollow Rd. in Dayton. Get directions.

Owned by the Bapaille family, KRW Cycles was burned out of the Phillipsburg, Ohio building where it had done business for 42 years. Destruction was complete. There was no insurance.

KRW Cycles was one of the very early Royal Enfield dealerships of the modern era. Among the loses was a Royal Enfield being built for a speed record attempt at Bonneville.

If you can't make it to Dayton, Ohio this weekend, consider writing a check to the fund that has been set up for KRW at the Fifth Third Bank to help KRW Cycles. To donate, make your check out to KRW Cycles, put the word "Donation" in the memo line and mail it to:

Fifth Third Bank
1 S. Main Street
Drop 332911
Dayton, Ohio 45402
Attention: Anne Roesch

Royal Enfield: California here they come!

Royal Enfield will invade the California market in 2010 with high quality dealerships, I've heard. Royal Enfield will show off its motorcycles at the International Motorcycle Show Dec. 4-6 in Long Beach Calif.

The news is long awaited. Until now, if you wanted a new Royal Enfield in California you needed do some fancy work-arounds on your own and hope the DMV didn't mind. Your nearest dealer would be across the state line.

California's tougher emissions requirements were the problem, requiring an evaporative emissions recovery system. Royal Enfield has now perfected that, and California testing is proceeding.

This means that next year you should be able to buy new Royal Enfields from official California dealers. These could include South Bay Triumph of Lomita (Los Angeles area), Munroe Motors of San Francisco and Triumph Performance Cycle in Sacramento. There would be "more to come," I'm told.

If this is right, these three dealers look like the sort of people who would understand and care about the Royal Enfield customer. Munroe has been in business since 1958. South Bay Triumph says it is the "home of the world's fastest Triumph" and Performance Cycle has been with Triumph since 1997.