Hi everyone, I am Abhilash Bharadwaj; Just now completed my engineering course and I would wish you to join in my journey of my passion about bikes and specially Royal Enfield. I had written a review about my first bike FZ16 in the same site for the previous review and was also selected as the fourth In this article, I would like to write a story rather than a review about my First Love, a legendary machine which is ruling the streets for over many decades – The Royal Enfield – Bullet 350. Passion about Bullet and how I became a owner of a Bullet. The urge to ride this legend was over many years even before I knew it was called a Bullet.
As I was happy riding the Japanese bikes for over 7 years, I got an opportunity to ride this monster in Goa when I was on a college trip. Two of my friends along with me hired Royal Enfield bikes for a day and this was probably the point I fell in love completely with this machine. That was the day I decided that further if I ride a bike it’s gonna be a Royal Enfield.
by the judges.Along with this, a video named “Riding Solo to the top of the world” by Gaurav A Jani was a great inspiration for me to own a Bullet. The bike which I hired was a 2009 model STD 350 which had a right foot gear shift and it took me time to get adjusted to this pattern. I was amazed with the performance of the bike and its capacity to pull up to 50kmph in 2nd gear.
Once I came back home I started to speak fulltime about the bike its performance and comfort and my parents were fed up of listening to the same story again and again. Finally after convincing them for over a month they agreed to get me a Bullet. Now it was my turn to decide which bull to buy. I decided to go for a 350cc itself as I have plans to do lot of touring and it needs to be economical on fuel.
As this plan of getting another bike was just for the sheer passion and not for any purpose, I did not have any other options than Royal Enfield and I have observed that people who decides to go for Royal Enfield out of passion will not even compare tech specs of other bikes or do research on fuel economy or even the maintenance cost. In this regard Royal Enfield is a competitor for itself and none others are in its league.I finally decided to go for a Royal Enfield Bullet 350 because of two reasons
My dad insisted me on that because of the Royal Enfield metal badge on the tank.Waiting period of classic was over 10 months and I could not wait.
As all 350cc Royal Enfield’s run on the same engine, I did not have much to worry about. Finally my dad booked for a STD 350 on 9th of November 2010 in Shimoga in his friend’s showroom as he promised to get the bike within 5 months. After a painful waiting period of 4 months ( thank god I got the delivery 1 month early) I got my bike on 7th march 2011. I got it packed and loaded on to a train and finally got it to Bangalore.
I named him “Hermes” which means Greek god for travelling. From here on I kick-started the most exciting journey of my life with my faithful and trusted companion a 350cc 4-stroke motorcycle. This bike made me realize that one could also fall in love with a machine and have a bonding. Let me not bore you further with my story so let me speak about the bike, its performance, positives and negatives in brief.It’s not a bike designed or upgraded periodically with the changes in the market or the customer taste. It has the same frame and same finishing as it was a few decades ago but still maintaining the presence in market because of its classic styling which takes us back to 1970’s. The badge on the tank looks great.Initially I faced questions like is this model still available in market including from the RTO who registered the bike, as it is not sold frequently now a days because of its drum brakes and kick starter many people prefer for other models in Royal Enfield. “Handcrafted to perfection”, the paint work done in the tank is by hand and gives it a touch of elegance.God did not create metal to make paper clips and plastic to make bikes.! ”. It should be the other way round. This logic is followed by Royal Enfield, it has a sturdy build in which plastic is used nowhere apart from mirrors and indicators. One would feel safe when on a Royal Enfield.This probably has the best riding position which is balanced between highway riding for long distances and trails or off-road. This makes the riders prefer a Royal Enfield to ride in the highest motor able road at very tough situations in like Leh and cross other passes. “When going gets tough the tough gets going”.
Power
There is no need for me to explain about the power of the bike. The new UCE provides a power of 19.8bhp and a torque of 28Nm. The new engine has better acceleration and provides a stable cruising at 60 miles an hour.
One should know it’s neither a commuter nor a sports bike and know the behavior of the bike and how it needs to be handled. It is the only bike which demands Respect apart from fuel.
Touring
The purpose of going for a Royal Enfield is touring, there is no fun riding a Bullet in city traffic like a commuter. One has to tour on this bike to explore its strengths and the highest level of comfort which it provides for the rider and also pillion.
