Classic Bullet hits target

With a history dating right back to 1890, Royal Enfield has a rich motorcycling heritage.

Founded in England, but later transferred to India, Royal Enfield is famous for the Bullet model, which has been around since 1951.

In terms of classic design and styling, the Bullet has remained virtually unchanged - but it received a major mechanical upgrade in 2009, with the adoption of a new fuel-injected unit construction engine.

With this redesign, the safety features, engine performance and reliability have been vastly improved, offering a modern bike with retro appeal.

The rich heritage of Royal Enfield is expressed in the sophisticated retro styling and paint schemes combined with modern day technology - taking the bikes into the future while not forgetting the past.

Riding an Enfield is about the thump of a 500cc, single-cylinder, four-stroke engine. It's about tearing through empty, open spaces and taking the long way round just for the hell of it. As the saying goes - Royal Enfield - made like a gun, goes like a bullet.

With every model that comes out, manufacturers put together a marketing team to see who buys their bikes. The first time I saw a Royal Enfield bike, I thought it looked like a bike off a James Dean movie set.

You can imagine the ideal buyer of the Royal Enfield as an urban +/- 35-year-old, white male, who probably owns a business; a free thinking, retro male who is well groomed and who does not look like a biker (torn jeans and boots etc) and, ideally, owns the said Enfield as his only motorcycle.

On this subject, the ideal, but slightly younger, Royal Enfield rider would probably be a guy my age, yes labeled as a trendy adventurer, 30-35 year-old male but white/Afrikaans, living in an urban area with a disposable income, free thinking and retro but who might not have enough bucks to buy a Harley.

It's good that Royal Enfield has placed itself in the range of cheaper options.

The bikes are still for the individual who might have a biker background, having owned a scooter at one time or another, but who is constantly looking for something new.

his brand also caters for those over 45 with the same sort of profile who are probably in need of a new challenge or interest in their lives.