My thoughts on riding in Rajasthan on the Royal Enfield Bullet

20th February 2019

The first rule to understand about driving, or riding, on the roads in India is that there are NO RULES!!! Everyone makes their way without looking, or signalling their intentions..eye contact doesn’t happen..its up to other road users to avoid me as I go where I want. That may be the wrong way down a dual carriageway, if that is the shortest distance; or against the traffic on my side of the road on a single lane carriageway. The bigger the vehicle, the more “right of way” it has. 🙂 Overtaking is usually a game of “chicken” and on either side wherever the gap is. The towns are a chaotic mix of vehicles and people all going in different directions at the same time..the HORN IS KING and the noise is deafening!

Unlike the Western World where hooting one’s horn is usually an angry gesture and means the other driver has cut you up, or upset you in some way; in India the horn lets the others know you are coming, as they won’t be looking out for you 🙂 Lots of the trucks have “Blow Horn” in big letters on the back. The other main difference between Indian drivers and us in the West is the overall lack of aggression on the road; they are just like ants criss crossing each other, but they all get through some how without getting angry with the next guy. Strangely I didn’t see one accident the whole time we were there 🙂

Riding a motorbike in India is again very different to what we are used to at home. It is important to completely “recalibrate the brain”..road surfaces and other road hazards, such as animals of all sorts, cow dung and the other road users mean that there is real potential danger at any moment.

Its not about speed here, its about survival; enjoying the scenery, the culture and using a motorbike as the best means of transport to escape the highways and get out into the country on the backroads to meet the friendly people and see the real India. The Royal Enfield Bullet 500 single is absolutely the best bike for the conditions in India, even though it has only 27HP (my GS has 125HP and you can buy bikes today with as much as 200HP), one doesn’t need more here.

The Royal Enfield Bullet has the longest unchanged production run of any motorcycle having remained continuously in production since 1948. The Bullet marque is even older, and has passed 75 years of continuous production. The Royal Enfield and Bullet names derive from the British company having been a subcontractor to The Royal Small Arms Factory in Enfield near London making parts for the Lee Enfield bolt action rifle which was the regulation issue to British soldiers…hence the tagline “Built like a Gun”

The Bullet is quiet a physically small bike, hence me looking like Spider man riding it with my 6’4 frame 🙂 I soon got used to it and it was not uncomfortable. The engine thumps away with its big single cylinder and the after market exhaust can fitted by Indian Rides made a great noise to let others know we were coming 🙂 There are no frills to this bike, or rider aids like antilock breaking or rev counter etc, but its does have an electric start (with kickstart back up). It was so easy to lock the front wheel with sudden use of the single front disc break and I never did get any stopping power out of the rear drum brake. This bike has a carburettor and is easy to work on, unlike modern bikes. The motor has lots of low down torque and definitely does not like to be revved; instead short shifting is the way to ride and let the globs of torque take you forward. Apart from a broken chain on Trevor’s bike they all stood up well to the bashing we gave them in over a 1000 miles on rough back roads and bouncing over the myriad speed humps all over Rajasthan; the same bikes also do the Himalayas trip, which is really extreme! I was sorry to say goodbye to my Bullet at the end.

The Indian Rides guys maintain their own fleet of Bullets and our mechanic on the trip, Ram, certainly knew his way round the bike. He would wash the bikes for us, check oil and chain lube and then line them all up nicely for our start each morning and also warm them up before breakfast..great service from Indian Rides 🙂