So the Bullet Bug bited me too.
My friend Shivinder lend me his Electra for a fortnight and that’s what got me started into the Thump world. Enfield is a cult bike among Riders in India and now i can relate why. it is slow,calm and composed bike. oodles of Torque, now i am hooked onto it like a leech.
what i got is a 2003 Model Silver Electra.

i bought it in 58k INR(~950$). as production of Cast Iron Engined bike stopped in 2010 so that model of Enfield is in demand right now and people are asking for ridiculous amount of money. just to put things into prespective, new Standard enfield with UCE Engine is price at 1 Lakh rs on road (~1650$) and people are asking for 1.5 lakh for a 2010 model. i expect prices to rise furthur ,have noticed this hapens with any of cult motorcycle when it goes out in production.RD350 also fetches same kind of price 1.5 lakh. there are no spares and bike was phased out in 1985 , still people are mad after RD350.
The bike when i bought was not in best of condition.
i have got following work done on Motorcycle:-
-Normal Service right after buying
-Changed Clutch plates
-Got rear shockers changed
-switched alloys to Spokes
for comprehensive Ownership experience please check this Excel file https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AoerMScKzfVddFlYSlNiYmRiR3BOVlJuX0xkLWktT3c&usp=sharing
Electra is having digital CDI and so it is not possible to ride it @low speed in high gears. something Standard owners take pride in.it still is better than modern japanese Bikes in this regard. The low speed riding thing doesn’t matters to me much. for me the sweet riding spot of electra is @70kmphr. it can go on and on at that speed all day long
Maintenance wise this is a expensive bike on pocket. Mechanic ask exorbiant prices of sum as labour.as i am a DIY guy so slowly learning to fix it myself.
Things i love about the Bike:-
Ride Quality:- it is quite heavy bike at 170kgs. but all metal body and wide wheel base of 19 inches eats every obstacle on the road.it feels planted at road at speed of 80 and is stable like rock.
Thump:- Thump is the main plus point of this bike. you have to ride it for some time to get feel of the thump. it’s addictive. i have ridden standard /AVL and electra . standard has best thump of them all.
Rideability in low gears:- i do less changes than my other bike.
Torque:- Bike pulls like locomotive,that s the main thing that got hooked me and i am in awe at how the bike pulls from 40kmphr to 80kmphr
Things not so good:-
Clunky gearshifts
Poor braking
weight on being higher side
Despite above all not so good things Enfield is truly a timeless classic.i used to be such a hater of Enfield and used to curse my friends who had this bike. one ride on it was all it was required to Brainwash me. some decisions in your life you take from heart and not from brain and this was one of those.
i am riding the bike from last six months and have ridden it more than 5k Kms it hasn’t let me down once. it is more of like a meditative ride on this motorcycle. i make it a point to ride it once a day 😉
next in list is to buy Proper Riding Gears 🙂