alphashifter
New member
I wanted to get some comments from anyone who's had experience with the more recent (2001 and up) Royal Enfields -I understand these bikes are intended for low-speed, short radius putting and require some tinkering. That will fit my purpose for this bike, but if anyone has comments or opinions about Enfields in general, I'm interested.
Wondering about relative ease of maintenance, parts cost and availability, short trip reliability when properly sorted and maintained- anything you can offer is appreciated.
I rode a 2001 Bullet 500 yesterday that will need some work (and may well have been abused and looks like it's been wintered outside). Book is only $1250 on a solid one, so I'm going to work the price appropriately. Once sorted out, I think it may be a good pre-classic-airhead bike for my wife to learn on since it's light, small, has choke and kick start, and is pretty fun for putting around the neighborhood. (She's infatuated)
I'm obviously not asking about this specific bike since I haven't provided enough information, but I'd like to get an idea what kind of time and money pit recent Royal Enfields tend to be.
Honestly: are they crap?
How well do they tend to survive abuse?
Are they worth the effort of replacing cables, sprockets, seals etc?
Any specific stuff to look for on these, beyond the usual compression, shift, bearings etc?
Wondering about relative ease of maintenance, parts cost and availability, short trip reliability when properly sorted and maintained- anything you can offer is appreciated.
I rode a 2001 Bullet 500 yesterday that will need some work (and may well have been abused and looks like it's been wintered outside). Book is only $1250 on a solid one, so I'm going to work the price appropriately. Once sorted out, I think it may be a good pre-classic-airhead bike for my wife to learn on since it's light, small, has choke and kick start, and is pretty fun for putting around the neighborhood. (She's infatuated)
I'm obviously not asking about this specific bike since I haven't provided enough information, but I'd like to get an idea what kind of time and money pit recent Royal Enfields tend to be.
Honestly: are they crap?
How well do they tend to survive abuse?
Are they worth the effort of replacing cables, sprockets, seals etc?
Any specific stuff to look for on these, beyond the usual compression, shift, bearings etc?
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