Royal Enfield Continental GTs dash Top-to-Tip

The last of six Royal Enfield Continental GTs departs John O'Groats.

The Royal Enfield Top-to-Tip photograph I like best is a frame capture from a video posted on Facebook by The Cabin at John O'Groats (aka Geoff's Burger Van). Here's a link to the video, which really does capture the historic moment as the motorcycles are flagged off.

In 1964 Royal Enfield introduced its 250cc Continental GT cafe racer to the world with a 1,000 mile "reliability test" race from the top of Britain to its bottom tip. Fifty years on, Royal Enfield recreated its 24-hour end-to-end dash this weekend with a half dozen new 535cc Continental GTs.

In 1964 it was a publicity stunt. This time the Top-to-Tip run was for charity. Five teams of six riders who bid for their places began their relay race at 10 p.m. Saturday, May 10 to benefit Riders for Health.

David Dixon finished the 1964 run at Land's End; right, the 2014 route map.

The first leg of the original gallop from John O'Groats at the island's north end to Lands End in the southwest of England was ridden by Royal Enfield test rider Brian Crow. He told author Gordon May that he started with his rear wheel immersed in the North Sea; "there was no start and finish line in those days."

"The Royal Enfield Continental GT proved absolutely reliable throughout," Royal Enfield later boasted in one advertisement. Along the way, racer John Cooper had even made "eight quick laps at Silverstone."

The ad didn't mention that the 1964 Continental GT used wasn't stock.

“The engine was assembled very carefully in the competition shop so that it ran perfectly. They used a titanium con rod so that it would stand up to the thrashing it was about to get,” Crow told May.

After 50 years, better (but more crowded) roads likely eased the way. Appropriately, John Cooper, now 76, even took a new Continental GT on a lap of honor at Silverstone Sunday.

Elapsed time in 1964 was 22 hours 20 minutes. The best 2014 time was 20 hours 57 minutes. According to rider Sam Manicom's account, only two of the six 2014 Continental GTs came in under the 24-hour target, but all six finished the run.

#489686855 / gettyimages.com

CEO of Royal Enfield Siddhartha Lal, center, with Royal Enfield riders Tom Bray, left and Dan Cartwright in Land's End, England after the successful Top to Tip ride.

Royal Enfield ad raises more questions than it answers

A Royal Enfield museum piece?

This blog lists used Royal Enfields for sale in the United States but it doesn't list them all.

I can't bring myself to list Royal Enfields that strike me as possibly incorrectly described by their sellers.

Now, I have no connection to any of the sellers, and can not vouch for any of them. But if you peruse the ads listed here you'll soon come to a realization that motorcycles that look as described and are priced as might be expected suggest that what you read is what you'll get.

On the other hand, a Royal Enfield Bullet that is described as vintage — as "one of the last English produced Enfields," for instance — raises suspicions when it carries a seat typical of Royal Enfields made in India.

My eyes open wider when the ad swears that this motorcycle has had "no restoration of any kind but it looks near new." This is especially true when one of the reasons it looks near new is that the paint appears fresh, shiny, and possibly not a factory color. No restoration of any kind?

Suspicions might increase further when that same "1968" Royal Enfield is described as having only "300 original miles!"

What has it been doing for the last 46 years? The ad helpfully explains: "This bike was in a climate controlled museum since new."

Why would a museum — any museum in the world — have added a then brand new motorcycle to its collection? Sure, it's possible, but is it likely? New speedometers with zero-mile odometer settings are easily fitted, a much more likely possibility.

Perhaps this seller is truthfully relating what he was told when he himself purchased the motorcycle. Perhaps he doesn't himself realize that the story seems unlikely.

Almost always the case with ads of this nature is that the asking price ($6,500 for this one) will be high — sometimes twice the asking price you see in other ads for Royal Enfields of the same engine capacity.

Royal Enfield Bullets are, after all, mass produced motorcycles, still in production. They shouldn't naturally become more valuable just because they are aging.

These extreme claims and high prices place a real burden of proof on these sellers. It is up to them to create ads that convince rather than raise questions.

1959 Royal Enfield Works Replica faces a fresh trial

This 1959 Royal Enfield Works Replica faces a new challenge.

A 1959 Royal Enfield Works Replica trials single will thump and bump across England and Scotland this June for a good cause. Rider Graham Lampkin has raised a major part of his fundraising goal for cancer research. You can help him reach his goal by contributing online through JustGiving.

He recently issued this appeal for support and good wishes:

"Hopefully most of you are aware of our little jaunt to raise funds for Cancer Research UK (hint 1).

"If you’re not sure, or just a reminder, on June 3 I’m setting off on a 1959 Royal Enfield W.R. for the Shetland Classic Vehicle Show in Lerwick (June 7 and 8). The idea is to go via the ferry from Aberdeen, off road where possible, minor roads elsewhere. I’m being joined by Frank Anderton and Les Humphries. They will share back up van driving while the other rides with me, also on a classic bike.

"So while you are enjoying the globally warmed balmy British summer, cruising the highways, munching sticky buns and supping tea, we will be wheezing and clunking north (that’s the riders, not the bikes), doing our impersonation of ‘Last of the Summer Wine’ on tour. Hopefully we will enjoy it and (here comes hint 2) raise lots of money for Cancer Research UK. What ever we raise will help reduce this terrible illness. (Here comes BIG hint) If every biker on or off road, classic of modern, donated the price of a pint (or gallon even) of beer then we could save a lot of suffering. Most of us have watched someone go through cancer.

"There is a dedicated website Lampy Goes to Lerwick with details of how to donate or contact me... This is an opportunity for us all to help. The three of us are paying our own way; all money donated will go to Cancer Research UK...

"A huge thank you to all those who have helped or are going to help."

Royal Enfield Bullet a great bike for the Florida Keys

Going to the Florida Keys? You'll need a Royal Enfield motorcycle.

"It is a great bike for the Keys," wrote the seller of a 2003 Royal Enfield Bullet. He should know. He lives on Big Coppitt Key, just short of Key West in the string of islands known as the Florida Keys.

The Keys stretch south from the tip of the Florid Peninsula, with every attraction from beaches to tiki bars lining the sides of the one road that runs the length of the islands: the storied Overseas Highway.

The views are great and — for much of the way — speeds are Royal Enfield Bullet friendly.

If you're in too big a hurry in the Keys, you're missing out on the experience. It's best to live life there at the speed a damp bathing suit dries while you sip a cool drink. It's perfect for my speed challenged Royal Enfield.

Reading the seller's ad I wondered why I've never taken my own Bullet down to the Keys.

The answer is the "dreaded 18-mile stretch." This is the one-lane-in-each-direction connection between the mainland and the first Key you come to, Key Largo.

It's straight and boring and passing is impossible except at short, designated two-lane passing zones. You put Florida drivers in that situation, at the wheel of their over powered SUVs, and you have Road Rage. Anyone doing just the speed limit (or, like me, unable to do more than that) is mercilessly tailgated.

How can people be in such a damned hurry to get to a place where they plan to RELAX? Are they afraid Key West will run out of rum before they get there? Unlikely.

There is another, longer, and less hurried way around called Card Sound Road. Advantage: Alabama Jack's, a great biker spot, is on Card Sound Road.

That's the way I'll go!

I'll take with me a print out of the free Florida Keys Mile Marker Guide at FloridaRambler.com It tells you what there is to see and do mile by mile the whole way to the end of the road in Key West.

This is going to take some time.