The best Bullet ever?

In 1957 I wanted to buy a Royal Enfield Bullet, but they were not available in New Zealand. So in 2017, after many motorbikes, nostalgia finally caught up with me and I decided it was time to scratch that 60-year-old itch.

I also decided that I wasn’t concerned about the cost, and the bike’s on-road cost is now more than double its purchase price. In total, there are 52 additions or changes, the major ones being as follows: Around 55% more power with a 535cc kit from Hitchcocks; a Carberry vibration reduction plate; larger diameter exhaust pipe with a free-flow Moto Torque silencer; alloy wheels; Corbin dual seat; windscreen; panniers; Ikon shocks; front and rear crash bars (the rears on-offs to my design); raised and pulled-back handlebars; and a Koso digital tachometer/speedo.

It has nowhere near the power of my previous bike, a Ducati Multistrada, but at

81, it is time I slowed down a bit – although the bike will still hit more than 100mph. It’s comfortable with the new seat and shocks, and delightfully free revving.

On a different subject, my first bike was a 1957 197cc Villiers-engined Francis Barnett Scrambler, complete with knobbly tyres. There was no battery, ignition switch or regulator, and the spark plug was simply wired directly to an alternator on the crankshaft. To start it, you just kicked it over. There was a bit of spring steel clamped under one cylinder head bolt, which sat over the spark plug, and you just pushed that down onto the bare spark plug top to stop the engine.

Voltage output of the alternator was directly related to engine speed, so it was impossible to ride the bike in town in top gear. The light was just dull orange. You had to be in second gear and maybe third if you were going a bit fast, in order to have any respectable illumination. Barry Blackman