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Bullet in the head

I couldn't help notice the changes on the roads in India. The amount of people using them and the vehicles they chose.

Because of the high import taxes on vehicles for years India had a small cast of  immediately recognisable vehicles like the Padmini, Amdassdor, Chetak and Bullet. There was a comforting reassurance in their ubiquity. The fact that they were all models that had already had a full life in the West before the factory tools made their way to India to give them another shot. An *ahem* Indian Summer if you like, that meant they were always charming and retro to a visitor from Europe.

Deregulation, liberalisation and green policy is quickly changing the demography of India's roads. Delhi can still choke you with fumes but the auto-rickshaws seem to be entirely running on CNG (compressed natural gas) and it sure does make a difference. It's necessary for their survival, they used to pump out ferocious plumes of two-stroke smoke and the city appears to be serious about cutting emissions. The diesel Harley Davidson trikes (yes really) that used to ply their trade in the capital have disappeared, they were insanely polluting both with smoke and noise and presumably it was impossible to do anything realistic about it but it's always a shame to lose a characterful vehicle.

That is the crux of the looming problem that Royal Enfield is facing. Right now the Enfield is a great vehicle to use in India. It can cruise at a decent speed all day long, but it's no longer the fastest thing on the road. It's not just the new Mercs, Beemers and Jags that are starting to appear on India's roads that are quicker than a 500 Bullet. The much larger number of Maruti Suzuki (and similar) compacts can easily cruise faster than the bike that used to reign supreme. Right now it's okay, just remember to keep checking those mirrors on the highway for the small number of people going faster than you...

...but as the numbers increase it will become harder. The Bullet isn't really fast enough to ride in Europe any more. It's a great urban bike but the faster stuff leaves it breathless with the rider feeling bullied by traffic, lacking the motorcycle's usual trump card in extremis - a burst of acceleration to get you out of trouble. We put up with it because we are enthusiasts and as such are blind to the faults of our chosen marque or at least infinitely forgiving. But we could not recommend a Bullet to a colleague or in-law.

As India's roads become more crowded with nippy little cars this will increasingly become the case for the Bullet in India too. We might be indulgent enthusiasts in Europe who enjoy Enfields in spite of their shortcomings but it only exists because it is a decent ownership proposition and a reasonable value deal for the Indian rider. When that is no longer the case then the end of the Bullet won't be far away.

That's why I think Royal Enfield need to act now. They've proved in the past that they can update the Bullet to keep up with the times. The addition of electric start and fuel-injection may have appalled the traditionalists but was vital for survival, however the performance issue is even harder to solve.

I think they should be bold. Don't fuss around at the edges trying to squeeze a shade more performance from the Bullet lump, no. Make a twin! Gifted enthusiasts like Carberry (amongst others) have already proved the concept and using two existing 500 barrels they maximise the amount of shared parts with the 500 single. This wouldn't create a superbike, but it would certainly create a bike capable of holding it's own again in Indian traffic now and for the foreseeable future. Enfield would have a halo product and enthusiasts the world over would be interested I'm sure in a brand new 'vintage' 1000cc 'British twin'. What's not to love? Enfield shouldn't just make this motorbike... I don't think they can afford not to.

Highway notes

20 years ago we used to see the odd domestic (Indian) tourist in Goa - they'd drive in from a neighbouring state in a Hindustani Ambassador with the whole family and mother-in-law to visit the beach, paddle, and gawp at the licentious hippies they'd heard so much about. Dad would drink a bottle of Kingfisher and be rolling drunk. Mother-in-law furious. Good times.

Today there are large groups of domestic tourists at every attraction. That stuff you've been hearing about booming middle classes and the BRIC economies is patently obvious on the ground. Sure there's still a MASSIVE amount of poverty everywhere but it's clearly boom times for a lot of folk.

And they all want vehicles... SO many cars on the road. Little white Maruti Suzukis everywhere driven with brio, zeal and zero mechanical sympathy. And for every car on the road there's a shit ton of two-wheelers as anyone who's spent time in Asia knows. 

The new Bajaj Pulsar looks like a proper small bike - anybody who tells you they'd need something bigger for commuting is lying, sure you may WANT something bigger, go ahead knock yourself out... but NEED? I know where there's a few hundred million experts who'd disagree.

It's a new 2012 model and the magazines estimate it'll be 90-95,000 thats £1134 - 1197 in English. Holy fucking Cow! as I believe they say in India.

Mahindra's new Duro for 2012 is a 125cc twist 'n' go scoot - one of the most popular and numerous bikes in India. Remember the old cliche about the Cub paying for your Fireblade? Sure it definitely looks built down to a price...

...but that price is £636 OTR!

You can buy a GSXR thou in India today, it'll run you £19.5k - India has historically had incredibly high import taxes to protect domestic industry. meanwhile the local domestic partnerships (KTM, Yamaha, Honda etc etc) are making bigger 'proper looking' bikes for the aspiring riders coming through with a wee bit of money that cost a fraction of the imports. And there are MILLIONS of these aspiring bike buyers. HUNDREDS of millions.

You don't need to be a Harvard MBA to see where this is going do you?

Just one more observation.

You know how everybody points and laughs when a manufacturer styles their scoot with some of the styling cues of the top of the range superbike? Ha ha... what a joke etc. 

That wasn't meant for you Mr European who already owns a superbike. It's called brand building and it works¹. It's for the folk who aspire to the superbike and want a little piece of the magic for themselves. If you can engender brand loyalty in India you can wallpaper your outhouse in hundred dollar bills. 

The days when the opinions of European riders had a large influence on the bikes global manufacturers made may be on the wane...

¹ what else could possibly explain the existence of the BMW X3?

on the road

Rajputana Custom Motorcycles

It's very hard to say anything about India without it quickly descending into hack cliché, the kind of vapid wordery that is too trite for even an airline magazine. Old versus new, the emerging middle class, space programmes and poverty, blah, blah, blah. But there's a reason everybody ends up doing it anyway, because it's true. You just can't help it in the end. Gahhhh!

I was thinking on this as we rode to a very exclusive address in downtown Jaipur to pay an impromptu visit to Rajputana Custom Motorcycles. Rajputana are quickly gaining a reputation for some of the most exciting Royal Enfield custom motorcycles being made in India right now, fusing the old and new school. 

As we negotiate a crazy intersection underneath another of the enormous elevated highway projects that seem to be underway in every Indian city today an elephant lumbers past us into the middle of the road, scattering traffic, against the lights of course. Goddamit India! Do you have to keep doing this?

It's not the most typical address for a custom bike shop. Civil Lines, Jaipur is a world away from a dodgy industrial estate, it's a world away from Jaipur to be honest. A wide, spotless tree-lined avenue, substantial houses behind even more substantial walls. Walls wearing nameplates of retired military types and senior politicos... what on earth are we doing looking for a bike 'shop here? Like the most exclusive addresses in India there's a sentry post on the end of the street so I decide to ask the soldier inside if he can confirm if I'm in the correct place. Holy Shit! I thought these guys were decorative... he's got a large selection of AK-47s behind the sandbags ready to go, these fellas clearly don't mess about. He directs us a few yards down the street and we tentatively walk in amongst the residencies. This can't be right. Just as we come to end of a smart cul-de-sac looking gormless yet suspicious (I'm mentally picturing our soldier friend just checking that he has sufficient assault rifles available in case the terrorism threat has a new secret weapon - idiot foreigners) I ask a local lady about Rajputana... the tone of my voice already suggests that we've got the address quite wrong but her eyes light up and she directs us to the door of a nearby house.

Down a ramp into the basement and all becomes clear... there's a goddam bike workshop down here (mental note: resist temptation to use the words Cave or Aladdin). Erm, is this Rajputana? I ask nervously.It's a bit bloody cheeky turning up at anybody's place of work unannounced. A smart young guy smiles. Yeah, that's right. I erm, I'd stumbled across you guys on the internet and thought as we were in the area we'd pop in... (jesus this sounds weak!). Luckily Vijay Singh founder of Rajputana is immediately welcoming beckoning us to have a look around, take photos and generally get under the feet of everybody as if it's the most normal thing in the world to travel five and a half thousand miles to visit a bike 'shop. Chai? Yes please! Vijay and I are soon chatting bikes, particularly Enfield's as he talks about the work they're doing, he's clearly confident and self-assured but endearingly self-deprecating about how much they have to learn about customising. 

When he started with a friend they worked out of a single cement garage space upstairs, he shows me the tree in the front yard with a Vee where two trunks meet. Before we had the lathe, the pipe-bender, English Wheel and all that kit we had to do everything by hand. The frame on my first bike was bent in between the trunks of that tree. We filled the pipe with sand, welded up the ends and put it in the tree to bend it cold with a lot of manpower. The neighbours hated us man. 

That original bike is still in the workshop. Vijay knows it looks a little rough around the edges compared to his latest work but he's proud of what they achieved and is determined to keep it in it's original state, slightly wonky paint lines and all. I managed to enter the bike in the Delhi Expo - the paint was still drying in the truck on the way there, but the response it got was fantastic, that's really where it all began.

The most eye-catching bikes are the choppers wearing the obligatory massive rear tyre. It's not my favourite style but I have to admire the workmanship. Vijay started with rear wheels imported from the States but import duties make the already high prices stratospheric so they've developed their own home-brew solution taking domestic market car alloys and machining them to create extreme chopper rims. 

There's more clever thinking at work to create the mexicali cruiser style multispoke front for the Harley chop - those are spokes from the heavy duty haulage cycle rickshaws, threaded into a custom designed hub. Smart.

It's the bobbers and retro styled bikes that do it for me though. One of the nicest touches on Rajputana's bikes is Vijay's enthusiam for using local craft skills where possible, it gives them a unique Rajasthani identity. Rajasthan doesn't have the same need as it once did for exquisitely produced saddlery and ornate engraving on weaponry so these artisan skills have been dying out. These touches perfectly complement this style of bike - it's no coincidence that British bikes are inextricably linked with small arms manufacture and their prescence in India, tied up as it inevitably is with British occupation has a hint of military flavour that works so well as an understated style for a bike. Luckily like Cricket and the trains Enfields are one of Britain's Indian legacies that we don't have to feel too ashamed about.

Original Gangster - Vijay's first build in front of a '42 BSA M-20

from little acorns... or small tree-trunks at least

Custom built using heavy-duty rickshaw spokes

Custom swingarm with the rear fender attached to get that oh so desirable flush look

Loving the colour on this softail - looks like a good tyre choice for Dirt Quake too

Bullet toolboxes are an iconic feature and can be put to interesting uses

One Bullet seven men, what do you do?

There's more!

I found out it's from the Republic Day (26th Jan) Parade in New Delhi, a big old show by the look of things... check it out on Google images.

It's an old fashioned expression of military strength; look at the size of our missiles and tanks type thing which isn't usually my kinda gig... but oh how Indian. Ranks of gorgeous bright turbans, insanely dressed men on camels, huge moustaches, flypasts, dignitaries and it seems every national department that gets issued an Enfield showing how many fellas they can get on it at once. Huzzah!

Makes the White Helmets look distinctly unambitious.

I think I like this chap on the front best (click for biggerosity)