Do you know these facts about Royal Enfield?
Royal Enfield was a brand name under which The Enfield Cycle Company Limited of England sold motorcycles, bicycles, lawnmowers, and stationary vehicles which they had manufactured. Enfield Cycle Company also used the brand name Enfield without Royal.
Entrepreneurs Bob Walker Smith and Albert Eadie buy George Townsend & Co. of Hunt End, Redditch. Townsend’s is a well-respected needle manufacturer of almost 50 years standing which has recently begun manufacturing bicycles.
Earlier they used to make Lawn- movers.
The duo wins a contract to supply precision parts to the Royal Small Arms Factory of Enfield, Middlesex. To celebrate this prestigious order, they rename their undertaking the Enfield Manufacturing Company Ltd. and call their first Bob Walker Smith designed bicycle, the Enfield.
The following year, their bicycles are renamed Royal Enfields and the trademark ‘Made Like A Gun’ is introduced.
We know Royal Enfield Bullet. It is called so because this company earlier used to make Weapons. So the slogan of this company is also “Made like a Gun”
In 1898 the company made a Quadricycle of single-cylinder 244 cc engine having 2.75 hp power and a top speed of 30 miles per hr (48 km/hr).
In 1901 the company made its first bike. This bike had 211 cc engine having a power of 1.5 bhp and having a top speed of 50 km/hr. It had a mileage of 3.3kmpl.
Royal Enfield also used to supply motorcycles during the World Wars.
Royal Enfield launched the first 4 stroke motorcycle in India. It had 350 cc engine capacity.
It is the first company in India to give disc brakes in rear wheels.
Enfield India produces the world’s first and only mass-manufactured diesel motorcycle. Known as the Enfield Diesel, it uses a highly fuel-efficient 325cc power unit installed in the standard Bullet rolling chassis. The bike claimed to give a mileage of 70kmpl which is more fuel-efficient than a splendor.
Royal Enfield sells more in India alone than the total overall sales of Harley-Davidson in different countries.
What are your views regarding Royal Enfield motorcycles?