Enfield’s first ‘retro’?
I always enjoy reading your magazine each month from cover to cover, but I especially liked the article on the Royal Enfield G2, in the December
2021 edition.
Even though I consider myself a BSA person – having started with a humble 1953 C11G then progressing through a B31 and B33 to a DBD34 – I purchased a RE J2 model in the early 1970s.
I bought the bike from a farmer in Cheshire as a runabout, going to work and making trips up into the Peak District on weekends. I had the J2 for several years and it always started first kick, never missed a beat, super reliable albeit at a slow rate of knots. Never thought too much about the J2, but over time I’ve realised this was a bit of an oddball bike, first registered in January 1954, telescopic forks but solid rear end, that seems to be a real mix of pre- and post-Second Word War bits and pieces.
I wonder where such a machine came from, and who would have bought such an antiquity new in 1954? An early nostalgist?
John Prior, Parksville, BC, Canada.