Short History of Royal Enfield

The pride of British manufacturing companies, Royalan aircraft along with the troops provided a means
Enfield has established a reputation that dates backof motorized battlefield transport not previously
to the mid 1800’s. Like many earlyavailable.
manufacturers of personal transportation, founderThe Royal Enfield line even included a version of the
George Townsend focus on producing parts forfamous red-painted Indian motorcycles, after the
existing bicycle designs, and by 1893 was producingcompany acquired the brand name rights. The RE
and selling complete bicycles under the Enfield name.Indians were discontinued in the 1960’s. Intense
It wasn’t long before Townsend turned thecompetition from Japanese motorcycle producers
name Enfield and its slogan “built like a gun”during the 1960’s and 1970’s meant the
into household words across Great Britain.Royal Enfield needed bikes that could match the
The most endearing product introduction by Royalspeed and performance of the Asian bikes. The
Enfield has to be the Bullet. With a single-cylinder, 4answer was the Interceptor line of extremely fast
stroke engine, the 1933 Bullet sported a dramaticmotorcycles, with a top speed of over 105 miles per
front to rear rake making for truly classic line. Worldhour and able to cover the quarter mile in les than 14
War II brought a one-of-a-kind bike from Enfield, theseconds. Sadly, production could not keep up with
Flying Flea. Complete with its own parachute anddemand, and the Interceptor became the last of the
packing cage, the Flying Flea could be dropped fromEnfield line to be produced in England.