Craftsman creates a custom Royal Enfield

A custom furniture maker in Massachusetts poured his love of beautiful things into a custom Royal Enfield Bullet, and now it is for sale.

Thomas Cummings Woodworks produces custom studio furniture in a 140-year-old carriage house behind Cummings' home in Maynard, Mass. Cummings lives there with children Conor and Garvey, 23 miles west of Boston.

After completing an engineering degree in 1987, Cummings traveled, studied and trained in art and woodworking in Bali, Indonesia and St. John in the Virgin Islands. He did carpentry and boat building, and made kitchen cabinets and furniture.

"I am a furniture maker and love making one-of-a-kind beautiful things," Cumming said. "I immediately fell in love with this bike when I saw it. I could not help myself last winter so I stripped it down and did a little customizing. I love that old time look with some great new colors."

"I had so much fun doing this one I will be doing up another one."

The bike is a kick-start only 2000 model, with 9,000 miles. Cummings' firm price is $4,900. You can see his ad on CraigsList. Here is his description:

"I stripped it down to the bone and rebuilt it; it is better than factory. New flat slide JLP Carb. Total new top end with top of the line parts with larger cylinder 537cc many new parts updating the engine. It looks just like a 1955 except for the color. It has top of the line new 'Power ark' ignition that can be reprogrammed to adjust the advance curve. It has wider than normal whitewall tires. I switched it back to the original right-side shift. The seats are top grade leather with solid brass rivets, matching leather grips.

"The paint is Dupont’s best, with three full base coats of white, then three coats of orange color, then clear coated, then the gold leaf trim was added, clear coated again, then it was pin-striped and decaled, then three more clear top coats."

The pictures show a striking motorcycle in a color scheme that, although not pastel, reminds me of the new retro Bullet 500 Classic Royal Enfield will bring to the U.S. this year. Especially retro looking are the blinkers and lights Cummings made and the rear fender from a 350 Bullet.

The work transformed the Bullet, which was originally white. Cummings' tidy workshop suggests the workmanship was meticulous.

The Good Major is back, likely not for good

Royal Enfield's most celebrated Internet personality, the probably fictional retired British Army major, Bunty Golightly, has reappeared on the Bullet-Mania Yahoo web site. The delightful and completely aggravating major provides some technical advice ending, as usual, with a trip to the pub.

I've written about Maj. Golightly several times on this blog; check out the links here if you're unfamiliar with the good major. It's wonderful to have him back, if only briefly -- he comes and goes. His previous visit was in March, 2008.

Perhaps this time he will share a more up-to-date photo of himself. I can only hope. In the meantime, he bids us:

"By Jove, talking about the pub - time I was orf! Tally Ho,Your servant.

Maj Bunty Golightly MBH,

Defender of the Kickstart, BSA Owners Club [expelled for mispropriety]"

2003 Royal Enfield is suddenly a 1955

Apparently the fellow advertising the 2003 Royal Enfield motorcycle smuggled into the United States in parts and then assembled has decided he was naive to include that information in his ad. The lastest CraigsList advertisement for the motorcycle simply says:

"I have a 1955 Royal Enfield for sale. This bike has only 300 miles on it, and is like new. Has the 500 cc engine, 4 speed trans, and shifts gears on the right side, not the left."

Previous ads were charmingly honest in describing how the motorcycle was shipped from India bit by bit and then put together. The bike hasn't sold, even though he tried moving the ad from CraigsList to eBay in an effort to sell it. Motorcycles naturally sell faster on eBay, with its worldwide audience. But this one didn't.

Why? Maybe the smuggling aspect scared off buyers. So now the seller is just advertising on CraigsList a "1955" motorcycle that somehow has only 300 miles on it. The advertised price is $3,500.

Judging by the chatter on message boards, lots of people seem interested in importing their own Royal Enfield Bullet from India. If that is what you want, fine. But this fellow's troubles seem to suggest you might have a motorcycle future buyers will shun. Just for reference, here is what the seller's ad said back in September, when I first saw it:

"Up for bid, 1955 Royal Enfield Bullet motorcycle with only 350 original miles. I don't know a lot about this bike, as I received it through a trade. This motorcycle was brought over to the US one piece at a time in 2003 until the entire bike was here, then assembled. Motorcycle was titled a 1955 (Arizona clear titled) because it shifts on the right side not the left like newer bikes. So what you're bidding on is a 2003 motorcycle with a 1955 title... This bike is outlawed in the state of California, but may be registered there because it has a 1955 title, and will not need to pass emissions. This bike comes with no warranty, and you're buying as is."

Vintage bike, vintage biker, new medium

My daughter sent me an email today asking whether anything was wrong: I hadn't posted anything new about Royal Enfields lately.

Everything is fine. Like most people, I've been distracted by the holidays and visiting family. Rather than riding alone or toiling in the garage I've been shuttling relatives to the beach in the family car. It's a pleasant, unhurried duty that gives me a lot of pleasure.

I do miss blogging. But it's times like these that bring to mind the oddity of using the Internet to communicate about a motorcycle from the age of the singing telegram. Wouldn't I rather just be riding to the chuf-chuf-chuf of my Bullet? Sure I would and, given the choice, I would ride it a long way away from the nearest wireless hot spot.

I bought, and ride, a motorcycle designed in the day because I wanted to escape the rat race, get off "the grid." I wanted to use simple tools to make simple changes in my motorcycle and my life. Points ignition for me! Yet I prefer a fast connection to the Internet...