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Made Like a Gun
Royal Enfield's Bullet… the most loved vehicle having an offbeat status in Indian market. Bullet is the heartbeat of Indian youth. Every bike lover must have a dream somewhere in one’s mind to buy a ‘Bullet’. Its voice is demeanour and its appearance adds status to one’s personality. But the history of this company is very interesting: it is a journey from needle to giant ‘Bullet’.
In the year 1851, a company was making needles. Its owner, George Townsend, got into trouble and shut down the company. But then, his son and his brother built a bicycle called the Boneshakers. In the year 1880, they started making spare parts instead of bicycles. Gradually he started building his own machines. The company was again in financial trouble in 1890 and was taken over by financiers.
The new financiers were Albert Eadie and R.W. Smith. The company was renamed as ‘The AD Manufacturing Company Limited’ in 1891. In the year 1898, the same company formed another company called 'The New Enfield Cycle Limited'. The company started making bicycle parts and within a year, they built a four-wheeled bicycle. After many experiments, the company manufactured a bicycle with a 239 cc engine. The engine belonged to Minerva Company. The company also started making cars in the year 1903. But they lost a lot and sold their car-making stake to another company.
The company now focused only on bikes. The company made bikes with 344 cc and 770 cc engines in the year 1910 and 1912 respectively. Soon World War I broke out. The company received a large order from the Russian War Department. Apart from this, several orders were also received from the governments of France, America, Britain and Belgium. Later on, the company also made a 350 cc ladies’ model. The plant caught fire and almost the entire plant was burnt down in 1926. Yet, the company came out of it and started remanufacturing bikes.
Our favorite ‘Bullet’ was born in 1932. The company launched three variants of 250 cc, 350 cc and 500 cc engine at the Olympia Motorcycle Show. Bullets also dominated during World War II. Bullet entered India immediately after independence, in the year 1949. K. Sundaram Aiyar started a company called Madras Motors in Madras and started importing British bikes. He started importing Bullets from Royal Enfield. At the same time, Madras Motors received a very large order of 500 cc Bullets from the Government of India in the year 1952. The plant was renamed as 'Enfield India'. Machinery kits were imported from England and assembled at the Madras plant. At that time, only 163 Enfields were assembled in a year. The Enfield plant in England began to suffer financially, and in June 1970, the plant was shut down.
Now, full manufacturing has started in India. India started exporting to the UK and Europe. Sales grew very fast. People applauded the newly launched three variants - Classic, Deluxe and Superstar. In 1994, Eicher Group bought Enfield India. Running on the worst roads in the world, the bike set a new benchmark. Then, the rest is history.
Classic Bullet
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