The best from both worlds

I’ve just read the article on the Royal Enfield EFI Trials machine. I am now 52 years old.

Between the ages of 17-24 I owned several Japanese bikes. Then I got married and the original love affair was over.

A few years ago I took retirement and freedom. I now live in India. 2 months ago I purchased a 2007 Royal Enfield Bullet. It’s the perfect machine for the crazy roads of India, where I now live.

I was never much of a mechanic, how can you be with modern technology. Last night I purchased an original 1968 British made G2 Bullet engine.

Over the next month, with my Indian mechanic I will build a bike round it. The Royal Enfield is plain and simple, just like me. Man and machine in harmony, does it ever get better than that?

Over the last 2 months I have learnt to tune my 2007 model to tick over and run perfectly (for a couple of days at least) and I’ve suddenly become able to really know when it needs a slight adjustment, and with the the most basic of tool kits (4 spanners and a double ended screwdriver).

Then when I’m on the road, listening to the gentle thump of the single 350cc piston it’s meditation. No Jap bike ever did this for me.

If/when I come home there is only one machine I will be looking to buy. Joint East and West technology has combined to create the ideal mount for Indian roads.

It will be interesting to see how the EFI trials machine copes with the rat race I escaped from.