After 54 years, this Indian vestige of the golden era of British motorcycling builds an all-new model.
Only now, after 54 years, it was time for an all-new model. And it actually looks older! Target year for the new styling was 1951. As for the mechanicals, much like Harley-Davidson needed its Evolution engine in 1984 to ensure long-term survival of the company, so Royal Enfield needed this new motorcycle with its redesigned, modernized Unit Construction Engine.
And that’s what they call it, the UCE. Name for the new model? Well, it’s called the Bullet Classic C-5. Apparently, five decades of making the same bike brings a certain conservatism, at least as it regards naming!
The beat is that distinct sound of a long-stroke Single with plenty of flywheel. That engine character is ingrained in the very fiber of Enfield’s customers, especially in India. So when designing the new motor, the engineers kept the 90mm stroke, working with an 84mm bore on the 500 (the 350cc versions of the UCE won’t be brought to the States). The basic goals for the new engine were increased reliability, ability to cruise all day at 70 mph and extra passing power. Electronic fuel-injection and EPA- and Euro III-compliant emissions (with dual-catalyst exhaust) were also a must, because the new Classic is an export-only machine meant to sell in the U.S., Europe and other markets to help increase sales outside India from 10 percent of current 45,000-unit production to more like 25 percent.
The old engine really was essentially like the 1955 version. Carburetion and ignition had been updated, electric start had been added and a lot of work had been done to increase reliability and reduce oil leaks, etc. But tooling and manufacturing methods were quite old, and holding the kinds of tolerances that lead to trouble-free long-term running were problematic. Not to mention that the fundamental design could only be updated so much. The final nail in the old Bullet’s coffin was that getting it to meet forthcoming emissions regulations both in India and the rest of the world would have been next to impossible.
Helping break Enfield out of its old mold is Ravichandran, a former executive with India’s TVS/Suzuki and Bajaj Motors, in charge of Enfield since 2005. Ravichandran was brought in by Siddartha Lal, whose family truck-manufacturing business, Eicher Motors, bought Enfield in 1991. Lal was a long-time rider and Enfield enthusiast, and had convinced the board after acquisition to give him a shot at reorganizing the company. It was a harder job than he thought, but Enfield started making strides in both quality and sales numbers. He was drafted to work at parent-company Eicher (recently allied with Volvo’s truck division) but knew that Enfield needed a future beyond the old non-unit engine. He convinced Ravichandran—”I worked on him for two years!” said Lal—to oversee the next phase in Enfield’s evolution.
For the first time ever, the company set up its own in-house design group and also sought extensive European consulting both for engine and chassis design, and for testing.
This bike is the result. Some of the challenges have been finding Indian suppliers who could work to the new quality-control standards. But the influx of Japanese motorcycle companies in the 1980s that decimated domestic Indian makers also has elevated manufacturing and quality standards, making this new Enfield possible. Also, key people beyond Ravichandran have been trained by working for Japanese companies, including one of his former and now current associates, head of Quality Assurance, Dr. K.P. Nair. They have quantified everything and used extensive computer modeling in an effort to produce a fully reliable, modern interpretation of a 1950s-era classic British Single.
