Ultimate Poseur: Royal Enfield Bullet 350 cafe racer

Last year I bought and resurrected a 2007 Royal Enfield Bullet 500. I chronicled my travails on a few m/c sites. One fellow was so impressed with my skills (it is to laugh) that he shipped me his 1972 Bullet 350 to resurrect and sell. Yes, just sent it to me via a shipper. From Texas to Pennsylvania.

The cafe conversion/restoration was done in India. This is a photo of the bike shortly after completion back in 2009:

It looks pretty much the same although it came to me pretty filthy having not been run for 3 years. The shifter doesn't work and the throttle is stuck...this is the list so far. I started doing a video series on it if you want to follow along as it's a bit difficult to keep up with all the bike forums and so on I've posted it on. I'm no expert on motorcycle repair so my bumbling ineptitude will be on full display.

YouTube cafe racer

It is a beauty.

How is this a poseur?

Royal Enfields are the most true-to-form "retro" style motorcycle you can buy. They're pretty much a brand-new 60 year-old motorcycle.

I remember this bike from ADVrider.

Chanderjeet built a beautiful bike on a shoestring, and sold it dirt cheap.   I was very tempted when he listed it.

Here is another one of his builds.

From this-

To this-

And the the way these bikes were built was nothing short of incredible.

A far cry from the Reality TV bike builds with hundreds of thousands in tools and spotless shops.

And one last pic to show how the bike you have looked when CJ acquired it (yes this exact bike)-




It's an incredible bike with a great story.   Be gentle with it.

I had a Royal Enfield about 10 years ago. I did a little Scrambler theme build to it. What a steaming pile of E36 M3 that bike was. Built in a dirt floor factory indeed. 

Let me reiterate, steaming pile of E36 M3.

By all accounts they're much better now.

In reply to Cousin_Eddie (Forum Supporter) :

You are confused.

The two bikes I posted are the specific original 60s and 70s motorcycles that Chanderjeet restified in India.  Not ones built in the 2000s.

Cooter said:

In reply to Cousin_Eddie (Forum Supporter) :

You are confused.

The two bikes I posted are the specific original 60s and 70s motorcycles that Chanderjeet restified in India.  Not ones built in the 2000s.

I'm familiar with Chandlerjeet and I've been on ADVrider since 2005 or so. I hang out in Olds Cool and Some Assembly Required and follow every word. I'm more a motorcycle guy than a car guy for sure.

I agree that my Indian Bullet 500 is different, apples/oranges, from earlier Bullets and not really pertinent to this discussion at hand of CJ's work. I only mentioned it since ShawnG brought up the modern ones. 

My experience with British bikes is mostly on Triumph with some BSA and Norton thrown in. I hated all of it (It was done for customers and making money was my goal at the time so I agreed to do it). I could just never get the joy of British motorcycle ownership to outweigh the frustration of poor British quality. I don't care for British cars either to be honest. Though I do carry a torch for Kate Winslet so I'm not totally anti British.

At the end of the day though, Japanese motorcycles put the wind in my sails. My opinion is that Honda builds the finest machines on the face of the earth. Yamaha and Suzuki don't do too bad of a job either.

is there a link to the Indian dirt floor shop ,  I love what people can do with very basic tools , 

I have seen  the bottom 6 inches of rusty cars  rebuild with a couple sheets of steel and simple tools , 

and I had  a basic shop  in a couple days put a nose clip on my VW camper that smacked a deer,  this was outside of Prague.....

found the build link

https://advrider.com/f/threads/1972-royal-enfield-cafe-racer-project.514041/

Cheers

californiamilleghia said:

is there a link to the Indian dirt floor shop ,  I love what people can do with very basic tools , 

I have seen  the bottom 6 inches of rusty cars  rebuild with a couple sheets of steel and simple tools , 

and I had  a basic shop  in a couple days put a nose clip on my VW camper that smacked a deer,  this was outside of Prague.....

Not dirt floor content, but this Royal Enfield video will impress anybody. 

https://youtu.be/UsTIMxeO_ng

Can somebody embed that video I posted ? It's a gem.

Painting stripes on Royal Enfield tanks

There you go! That video probably sold more RE's than anything. I know I was totally enamored by it and really wanted one because actual hand craftsmanship. I did wind up with my blue 'deluxe' but...the stripes are all tape! Apparently the chrome tanks aren't hand striped.

Anyway, I've only worked on 'iron barrel' Bullets which are truly rustic, 1950s British technology with absolutely  no advancement in quality. The Indian built ones are actually worse because the materials aren't as good. Yet despite that I am very happy with my 500 deluxe. If you accept it for what it is--a 1955 motorcycle made in recent decades--they are a lot of fun. They are certainly NOT Japanese bikes and for this I am thankful. Other than my Kawasaki KLR650 I've been bored with most Japanese bikes I've tried. My Triumphs (Hinckley ones) have way more character. I find Honda cars as dull as their motorcycles. If you want stellar efficiency and reliability then they are for you. My CB350 was no more a regretful sale than my CRX Si. They were good vehicles but pretty forgettable.

I like British bikes. British cars I'm more lukewarm about. I'm hoping to pick up a British twin bike eventually and would really like a 750 Enfield. Everybody has a Triumph. Nortons are expensive. BSAs I'm not keen on. 

I call this thing a poseur because cafe bikes were made to race between the truck stops in the UK and you'd want it to be capable of 'doing the ton'. Ain't no Bullet going to hit 100 mph without a ton of custom engine parts or a rocket strapped to it.

Cooter, you could own the bike now. It will probably sell for less than what CJ wanted.   I'm already developing an attachment to it but I DO NOT NEED another Bullet!

ddavidv said:

 My Triumphs (Hinckley ones) have way more character.

I had a Hinkley Triumph for a few years. While I never really bonded with it much and selling it didn't pain me, I can't say one thing negative about it. They got the reliability thing figured out for sure. I never touched the bike with a spanner beyond maintenance or doing a modification. It was 100 percent reliable top to bottom. It was {gasp} Honda reliable.

Straying OT but...

Only thing I've had to do is replace the tires and a weeping cam cover gasket. They are a little heavy but are nice cruise around bikes. Plenty of used ones out there that are affordable too.

If anyone has a contact in India to  mail some stuff to the USA send me a PM please , 

My friend in Europe bought a lot of bike parts in India back n the 1980s....

Stay safe

What? You didn't subscribe to the YT series? Shame on you.

Currently stymied by the clutch.

In reply to ddavidv :

The long rod sits against the pressure plate center.  You push the rod, the other end of the rod pushes the center of the pressure plate which compresses the springs and releases the clutch.  

Well, after months of part-time wrenching and diagnosing I finally got this thing to function. Bunch of videos on my channel following the debacle with the clutch not releasing which turned out to be a bent shaft. And if you watch the last video to see how we straightened it you won't be surprised it was bent, LOL. Anyhow, here is a video I made to help sell it that shows the bike in detail, startup (not as smooth as I'd hoped), etc.

Royal Enfield Bullet cafe racer for sale