Royal Enfield

[MartytheMartian]

Afraid I am still not convinced by them. When I was thinking about the trials model I did a lot of watching on YouTube etc. and there were a lot of videos from India of owners puzzling over why they themselves and others stick with the brand and basically saying that, whenever they make a journey on them there is no guarantee that they will manage to get to where they are going without a failure. It doesn't exactly inspire confidence. Another fellow I watched was in Oz and he started off ownership full of praise for his new machine and then, in follow up videos he was fixing this, that and the other. I am hoping that I will be able to stick with my Hinckley Triumphs from now until the end of my biking days or at least until they stop us being able to enjoy petrol driven wheels.

 

[GaleForceEight]

Afraid I am still not convinced by them. When I was thinking about the trials model I did a lot of watching on YouTube etc. and there were a lot of videos from India of owners puzzling over why they themselves and others stick with the brand and basically saying that, whenever they make a journey on them there is no guarantee that they will manage to get to where they are going without a failure. It doesn't exactly inspire confidence. Another fellow I watched was in Oz and he started off ownership full of praise for his new machine and then, in follow up videos he was fixing this, that and the other. I am hoping that I will be able to stick with my Hinckley Triumphs from now until the end of my biking days or at least until they stop us being able to enjoy petrol driven wheels.

It does appear that they have dealt with many of the issues you have noticed.

For example the Himalayan (BS3 version) which was launched in 2016 had a number of issues with frames breaking etc. The BS4 version doesn't seem to have the same issues, but this being the internet all the shit flung around rightly or wanted stays stuck to whichever wall it was thrown at. Now there is the BS6 version which has slightly less power due to the environmental compliances, but they also seem to have dealt with the quality issue of packing the head bearings with a good amount of grease.

They do appear to have moved on from churning out old outdated designs that worked (to a point), towards being a global concern again and dealing with everything which that involves.

I am looking forward to see what 2021 brings in the RE line.

 

[Flynnt20]

I like em and at that price i can see em selling by the shed load , lets be honest the build quality cant be any worse than the newer triumphs

 

[MartytheMartian]

I can sit on the fence as I have my 'forever' bikes in my Bonnie's and don't need anything else although my Sprints should serve for when I want to be crazy. I can say that RE must have come on leaps and bounds since the early nineties as I remember seeing footage of production in an article on telly back then and it particularly stuck in my mind that they had guys sitting on the ground bashing cylinder castings into shape with hammers which I don't imagine was even a technique used when the original Royal Enfield started production in 1901.

 

[Sarky B’stard]

I like em and at that price i can see em selling by the shed load , lets be honest the build quality cant be any worse than the newer triumphs

Well that’s an assumption, not proven fact. Triumph have worked hard to assure quality control in Chonburai whereas Royal Enfield are let down by their own suppliers as much as their assembly. The Hinckley Bonnies’ weakest link was Italian chrome rims and occasionally their electrics. The Thai models don’t seem much worse just poorer chrome but better electrics.

 

[MartytheMartian]

Not to derail the thread but I was just looking around ebay and there is someone selling a 2001 Bonnie with 72,000 miles on the clocks which has to be the highest mileage on one I have seen so far. If my two manage that (one is at 8,000 and one at 18000) I should be sorted for years to come. My Thai 2014 one is just coming up to 3,000 and both my Sprint RS's are at just over 20,000

 

[Public Enemy]

Not to derail the thread but I was just looking around ebay and there is someone selling a 2001 Bonnie with 72,000 miles on the clocks which has to be the highest mileage on one I have seen so far. If my two manage that (one is at 8,000 and one at 18000) I should be sorted for years to come. My Thai 2014 one is just coming up to 3,000 and both my Sprint RS's are at just over 20,000

Amazing really, what low mileages most bikes do nowadays. even that 72,000 miler is only 3,600 miles a year!

 

[MartytheMartian]

Yep one of my Bonnie's, the 18,000 miler had done about 12 thousand miles in it's first two years of life and then covered something between thirty and two hundred miles a year from then until I bought her. The other did about six thousand in it's first ten years and then a hundred to two hundred a year or so from then on. The 2014 was in showroom condition when I bought her with not a mark anywhere that I could see and I don't think she had seen rain in the two and a half thousand miles she had covered and must have spent the rest of her time in a house or heated garage.

 

[half ton]

my 03 790 has (i think) around 30,000 on the clock, I would like to put more on it but ride time seems short,I have no worries about sticking miles on it and think 100,000 is doable without any engine worries,Trouble is when my Matchless is on the road the Bonnie will get less miles per annum.....still I can retire in 2 years and then they should get more road time.

 

[Don the Don]

Treated properly and serviced as required there is no reason why bikes today can't rack up very high miles, it only becomes a problem if you need to sell or exchange them, take these big BM GS's people buy them on these new fandangled terms but are penalised if they do too many miles the machine is capable of going around the world but the motor trade will penalise you if you do and try to sell it.

 

[MartytheMartian]

Having a few family members who've been in the motor trade I gather that they would like to be able to sell you a car or bike at a maximum of three years from new and, if they could get away with it, they would make them fall apart like clown cars at the three year mark. All this 'eco' crap they spout and even their new fangled electric cars have a maximum estimated life of less than ten years before being scrap because the batteries will be at end of life and of course the batteries aren't even recyclable.

 

[Flynnt20]

Well that’s an assumption, not proven fact. Triumph have worked hard to assure quality control in Chonburai whereas Royal Enfield are let down by their own suppliers as much as their assembly. The Hinckley Bonnies’ weakest link was Italian chrome rims and occasionally their electrics. The Thai models don’t seem much worse just poorer chrome but better electrics.

Please dont tell me we are going to start dealing in facts on here , half the fun will disappear

 

[Don the Don]

Mahindra to open second research centre in the UK - Adventure Rider

In yet another sign of the weird, inter-connected world we live in these days, […]

advrider.com

 

[Sarky B’stard]

Please dont tell me we are going to start dealing in facts on here , half the fun will disappear

Well where do you think they get their metal?

 

[Don the Don]

It seems our marmite mate like's the new Enfield, in his long winded way

 

[Doc Strange]

...., take these big BM GS's people buy them on these new fandangled terms but are penalised if they do too many miles the machine is capable of going around the world but the motor trade will penalise you if you do and try to sell it.

Don't knock it - anything that encourages people to buy expensive motorcycles, do sod all miles on them and then sell them on much cheaper once they are out of warranty is a good thing in my book!

DS

 

[Don the Don]

Royal Enfield Scrambler Coming - Adventure Rider (advrider.com)

 

[Sarky B’stard]

It seems our marmite mate like's the new Enfield, in his long winded way

I reckon he’s on the payroll as a Brand Ambassador is old Ferrero Rockall. Avon turned him down over some newspaper story.

Police force hit by fresh sex scandal

A POLICE force has been shaken by its second sex scandal in a year after one of its senior members of staff was suspended over allegations of “inappropriate behaviour” with a colleague at the force’s headquarters.

www.express.co.uk

 

[Don the Don]

Royal Enfield opens assembly facility in Colombia to build Himalayans - Adventure Rider (advrider.com)

They should do well in south America, good luck to them.

 

[half ton]

Well I ran some of the stock Bonnie parts over to the Dealers this morning, He informed me that my bike is allocated and in the UK, Hopefully be in my shed in 3 to 4 weeks time So should get it run in before the salt hits the roads.