The Royal Enfield 500 C5 – Made Like A Gun

Did you know you could buy a brand-new old bike? I don’t mean like a modern bike that’s been designed to look old, or, like Triumph a venerable nameplate affixed to fully modern technology. I mean a real-deal ye olde motorcycle. You can, sort of. Royal Enfield was once one of Great Britain’s most venerated motorcycle names. Today, it’s one of India’s, and the company – Royal Enfield Motors, offers their bikes for sale here in the States, in much the same form as when the British built them back in the ’50s and ’60s. I came across this RE 500 C5 Classic at a recent Cars and Coffee and was taken with its old-school cool looks. It must be said that certain concessions to modernity and safety have been made on these bikes – they do rock a hydraulic disc front brake, fuel injection for the 499-cc one-lung, and a 12-volt electrical system. Despite those contemporary aspects, the bikes are still comprised of a traditional tube frame and dual-shock swing arm in back, plus spoke wheels and an overall retro style. That vertical single – which sounds lovely by the way – is still air-cooled, and drives through a 5-speed gearbox. The new but old styling is what makes this new bike so cool, although the owner of this one pointed out to me the addition of a wider seat – still a tractor saddle style – and slightly lowered handlebars, both of which work in its favor. So how did this traditionally British bike happen to make its way to America by way of India? Well, it started when the Enfield Company began making bicycles in Great Britain in the early 1890s. By the turn of the Twentieth Century they were manufacturing both bikes and motorcycles under the Royal Enfield name. The company built motorcycles under commission from the government during both World Wars, and during the Second World War they built an underground factory in an old quarry to keep production safe from bombing raids. In 1954, Royal Enfield received an order from the Indian government for 800 Royal Enfield Bullets to be placed into service at the Pakistani border. So pleased was the government with the Bullet bikes that they submitted similar sized orders in ’55 and ’56. Seeing a trend, the company set up a factory in India, which eventually became Enfield India. Back in Great Britain, Royal Enfield suffered a fate similar to that of other British motorcycle makers, falling on hard economic times. In 1968 they were forced to merge with Norton-Villiers-Triumph, and by 1970 their British motorcycle production was suspended. The company was dissolved the next year. Things were different in India however, and Enfield India – later Royal Enfield (India) – continued to construct motorcycles even after its British progenitor had ceased to exist. The Chennai-based company builds much the same bikes today as it did back in the ’50s, with all of its components locally sourced. The frame for the 350-cc and 500-cc bikes is based on a ’50s design, while you can trace the engine’s roots to 1962, making it a metric design, and not Whitworth. The company began exporting the bikes to England in the mid-’80s (Port-Out, Starboard Home) and today you can buy them new here in the States for pretty reasonable prices. Here, the C5 Classic lists for about $5,500 while the café-style Continental GT only runs about $400 more. They all still sport the classic Royal Enfield trademark – a cannon that harkens to the original British company’s arms manufacturing origins – along with the motto ‘Made Like a Gun.’ The rest of the bike is like a time warp, with the notable exception of the disc up front and the EFI in place of the expected Amal. Instrumentation is basic, but it too offers up an old school vibe. You can check out more of the specs, and the company’s other rides at their U.S. website. When I talked to the owner, he said that the bike was a ton of fun to ride, albeit not one that was scary fast, just a good Sunday cruiser. He noted that when he had proposed the idea of getting a motorcycle, his wife had said, ‘not on my watch.’ Surprisingly, it was his wife who initially proposed the purchase of the Enfield. I’m think that she, like the bike, is a keeper. Images: ©2014 Hooniverse/Robert Emslie, All Rights Reserved