Indeed each to their own. I do like the 'first glance' impression of the interceptor overall but no, that engine just doesn't work for me aesthetically. The big rotund engine side casing and squat cylinder block look off to me whereas the big single has a sort of art deco 'Metropolis' thing going on in it's profile. Sadly I gather that this year is the end of the line for the 500cc Single after all those years under it's belt as I have read that Royal Enfield have discontinued it.
Here's an interesting question, inspired by a bike for sale on fleabay..... If you had the choice between a Royal Enfield Johnny Britain model, ex-Demo with sixty miles on the clock for three and a half thousand or a 2006 standard bullet converted to trials trim with Hitchcocks parts (alloy tank, guards, trials pegs, hi-level exhaust etc.) which would you go for?
Yep they are ceasing production of the bullet 500. They are launching a tribute version at the end of the run. It looks stunning and as I understand it will be in the UK in August.
When they throw the tooling out, some guys will be in the skip and before you know it....on Tik Tok you will see a couple of Indians squatting in the dust cobbling Enfields together with an hammer and pair of pliers. Ken.
That pretty much sums up what the British bike manufacturers tried to stuff bikers with for years, same old same old...until the Orientals arrived and stuffed our bike industry. Ken.
OK a new twist in the tale...... I have watched a few videos of folks taking Triumph scramblers off road and I have to admit that I am quite impressed by what they managed to do with them even over terrain quite a bit rougher than I am contemplating. There are a few for sale around the same price as a new Royal Enfield Trials... Better bet?
Well...I guess we are on a Triumph forum so the audience is biased. I didn't like the 865 scrambler that I ride around on for 3 months some years back as a loan bike. For me it was quite bland and it was v impractical...no luggage capacity even for a trip to the shops....and of course the high pipes made me wonder why they bothered fitting pillion pegs at all...at least Enfield havent even pretended it's possible to carry a passenger on their trials offering. No doubt the new generation Scramblers are ideal off roaders ( not).
Excellent...long time since I've seen one...rare even when new. I'd buy it if only I could remember the number of my Swiss bank account.
I reckon Triumph could be really top dog if they take over where Royal Enfield are leaving off and developed some 500 singles with all the classic looks of the originals but all the modern tech and Triumph quality as they’ve done already with the present classics. Yes they’d cost twice as much as the REs but given the improvement in quality of materials & therefore confidence in reliability I’m sure there’s an eager market... me for one !
I’d buy a nice 500 single scrambler type ,40 to 50 hp would be enough, I had a Honda xl 500 which was a fun bike.
Don’t know anything about the quality etc. But visually it looks good to me,from the pictures http://www.mash-motors.fr/en/motos-650-cc/46487-mash-x-ride-classic-650-.html
Mash have a respectable name, made in France with chinese engines similar to SWM built in Italy with either chinese or Husky motors, for throwing down country lanes instead of ruining your best bike I suppose it would do
@Don the Don I saw a really smart TR65T for sale somewhere recently for about eight grand and I can't deny that it did catch my eye but I couldn't in all good conscience use one of those for the purpose I intend as I would hate to bend it plus I would imagine that replacement body parts for it would be hard to find and expensive. That would also apply to these 'Mash' creatures (what a strange name). There is one for sale used on Fleabay and it's fairly cheap but is it easy to get spares? I think these use a motor which is essentially the old Honda XBR500 unit? That was a nice thumper. Don't know about the Chinese quality levels though and there certainly don't seem to be many 'used' models around. A Honda XL would be smart but they are thin on the ground, commanding high prices and new parts are expensive. My reasoning for the Royal Enfield was that it's carb'ed and very low powered meaning plenty of control at low speeds and relatively light or at least I thought it must be until I looked up the specs and discovered that it is only 18kg's lighter than the Triumph 865 scrambler. Basically both the Enfield and Triumph are 'Scramblers' in the old way, not lightweight, high saddled, knobbly tyre'd flying machines but slow plodding, knobbly tyre'd trundlers that demand respect and don't make you try and do fifty miles an hour over a rocky mountain side. Basically I think I would be less likely to kill myself as, whatever I did, I would be doing it a slow speeds and with extreme caution. I do have to say that, when it comes to looks I find the Royal Enfield to be much more 'cute' than the Triumph in scrambler guise. The Triumph looks far too dense and bulky to me in comparison. I don't know how they managed to make it look so chunky as the standard Bonnie's visually appear lithe and slender.
All these bikes like mash, SWM, Benelli, have chinese backing and produced engines based on old Honda XL and Suzuki 125, there is much more to come as BSA name has been purchased by Mahindra , But I think for country lanes you don't need a lot of money spending on one, if you are set on an Enfield go for it at least you can get parts.
Nice Bikes....but two buddies have sold the Enfields after short time...to many overheat problems and some qualtity problems....a extra minus ..its hard to get spare parts here in germany. You will get all....but you have to wait. Maybe its interesting...the Jawa motorcycles from Europe...not from India. https://www.jawa.eu/jawa-350-ohc--2
Fantic, another name from the 70s do a scrambler 500, 150kg , most of the bike is made in Italy but the engine is Chinese, I’ve not seen one in the flesh but they don’t look bad ,
