Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Royal Enfield Returns to Branchville Motors

If the 60's and 70's styling of Triumph's modern classics are not retro enough to satisfy your Brit-bike nostalgia, our new Royal Enfields should fit the bill.
While the body and frame harken back to Enfield's glory days in the 50's, the engine is an entirely new design, incorporating fuel injection and other modern updates, while retaining the looks of a classic British single.
The C5 Bullet Classic (seen above) is certainly not the beast for highway adventures at extra-legal speeds. If that's the kind of riding you are interested in, this is not the bike for you. But for leisurely putts through backroad twisties, you just might be surprised how much fun you can squeeze out of the 27.5hp,  499cc engine.

For a more in depth  review of the 2010 Enfields, with the new unit design engine, check out this post from AutoBlog:
The Enfield feels very mechanical, and planting one one in your garage is likely to lead to more of a relationship with the motorcycle than actual ownership. In the two weeks we spent with the G5, we seemingly learned what the bike likes and we were more than happy to oblige by altering our riding style appropriately.

Paradoxically, slowing things down a couple of notches actually made the bike seem faster and more robust. The old saying that it's more fun to ride a slow bike fast than a fast bike slow may never be more apt than with the 2010-and-newer Enfield. When ridden at 7/10s, everything falls into line – the deft handling could be described as flickable, the acceleration is relaxed, but completely acceptable, and the braking performance is admirable. Listening to the beat of the single lung directly below becomes soothing and the vibration you feel through the footpegs becomes little more than a reminder that you are riding a motorcycle. A real motorcycle. It has a reason for being. And you actually have a desire to ride the Enfield within its limits, not because it can't push its boundaries, but rather because it is simply better not to.

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