Royal Enfield

Enfield Cycle Co. Ltd.

Fate Ended production

Successor Royal Enfield Motors (formerly Enfield of India)

Founded 1893, as Enfield Manufacturing Co. Ltd.

Defunct 1971

Headquarters Redditch, Worcestershire, England

Key people Founders Albert Eadie and Robert Walker Smith

Industry Motorcycles, lawnmowers

Products Royal Enfield Clipper, Crusader, Bullet, Interceptor, WD/RE, Super Meteor

Royal Enfield was the brand of the Enfield Cycle Company, a British engineering
company. Notable for producing motorcycles, it also produced bicycles, lawnmowers,
stationary engines, and even rifle parts for the Royal Small Arms Factory in Enfield
Lock. This legacy of weapons manufacture is reflected in the logo, a cannon, and their
motto "Made like a gun, goes like a bullet". It also enabled the use of the brand name
Royal Enfield from 1890. In 1955 Enfield of India started assembling Bullet motorcycles
under licence from UK components, and by 1962 were manufacturing complete bikes.
The original Redditch, Worcestershire based company dissolved in 1971, but Enfield of
India, based in Chennai, continued, and bought the rights to use the Royal Enfield name
in 1995. Royal Enfield production continues, and now Royal Enfield is the oldest
motorcycle company in the world still in production and Bullet is the longest production
run model.[1]

History
In 1893, the Enfield Manufacturing Company Ltd was registered to manufacture
bicycles. By 1899, Enfield were producing quadricycles with De Dion engines and
experimenting with a heavy bicycle frame fitted with a Minerva engine clamped to the
front downtube.[1]
Royal Enfield built their first motorcycle in 1901 with a 239 cc engine. In 1907, Enfield
merged with the 'Alldays & Onions Pneumatic Engineering Co.' of Birmingham, and
began manufacturing the Enfield-Allday automobile. By 1910, Royal Enfield was using
344 cc Swiss Motosacoche V-Twin engines, or large-displacement JAP and Vickers-
Wolseley engines.[2] In 1912, the Royal Enfield Model 180 sidecar combination was
introduced with a 770 cc V-twin JAP engine which was raced successfully in the Isle of
Man TT and at Brooklands.[1]

First World War (1911–1920)

1913 Royal Enfield 425cc

On the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 Royal

Enfield supplied large numbers of motorcycles to the
British War Department and also won a motorcycle
contract for the Imperial Russian Government. Enfield used
its own 225 cc two-stroke single and 425 cc V-twin
engines.[3] They also produced an 8hp motorcycle sidecar model fitted with a Vickers
machine gun.[1]

Inter-war years (1921–1939)

1923 Royal Enfield 225cc

In 1921, Enfield developed a new 976 cc twin, and in 1924

launched the first Enfield four-stroke 350 cc single using a
JAP engine. In 1928, Royal Enfield began using the
bulbous 'saddle' tanks and centre-spring girder front forks,
one of the first companies to do so. Even though it was
trading at a loss in the depression years of the 1930s, the company was able to rely on
reserves to keep going. In 1931, Albert Eddie, one of the founders of the company, died
and his partner R.W. Smith died soon afterwards in 1933.[1]

[edit] Second World War (1939–1945)

During World War II, The Enfield Cycle Company was called upon by the British
authorities to develop and manufacture military motorcycles. The models produced for
the military were the WD/C 350 cc sidevalve, WD/CO 350 cc OHV, WD/D 250 cc SV,
WD/G 350 cc OHV and WD/L 570 cc SV. One of the most well-known Enfields was the
Royal Enfield WD/RE, known as the Flying Flea, a lightweight 125 cc motorcycle
designed to be dropped by parachute with airborne troops.[1]

[edit] 250 cc models

Royal Enfield Crusader

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Royal Enfield produced a number of 250 cc machines.
The biggest-selling of these was the Royal Enfield Crusader, a 248 cc pushrod OHV
single producing 18 bhp (13 kW). In 1965, a 21 bhp (16 kW) variant called the GT
Continental, with GRP tank, five-speed gearbox (which was also an option on the
Crusader), clip-on handlebars and rearset footrests, was launched. It sold well with its
"cafe racer" looks. Other variants were the 250 "Turbo Twin", fitted with the Villiers 247
twin two-stroke engine. An oddity was the 250 Clipper, mainly notable for its use of
trailing-link front suspension (all the other 250 models had conventional telescopic
forks).

[edit] Royal Enfield Interceptor

Royal Enfield Interceptor motorcycle

During the onslaught of the Japanese motorcycle manufacturers in the late sixties and
early seventies, the English factories made a final attempt with the 1962–1968 [4] series I
and Series II. Made largely for the US market, it sported lots of chrome and an engine
performance with less than 13 seconds to the quarter mile at speeds well above 175 km/h
(105 mph).[5] It became very popular in the US, but the classic mistake of not being able
to supply this demand added to the demise of this last English-made Royal Enfield.[6]

The Redditch factory ceased production in 1967 and the Bradford-on-Avon factory
closed in 1970, which meant the end of the British Royal Enfield. After the factory closed
a little over two hundred Series II Interceptor engines were stranded at the dock in 1970.
These engines had been on their way to Floyd Clymer in the US, who unfortunately had
just died. His export agents, Mitchell's of Birmingham, were left to dispose of them. They
approached the Rickman brothers for a frame. The main problem of the Rickman brothers
had always been engine supplies, so a limited run of Rickman Interceptors were promptly
built.

As far as the motorcycle brand goes, though, it would appear that Royal Enfield is the
only motorcycle brand to span three centuries, and still going, with continuous
production. A few of the original Redditch factory buildings remain (2009) and are part
of the Enfield Industrial Estate.

[edit] Enfield Indians

From 1955 to 1970, Royal Enfields were painted red, and marketed in the USA as Indian
Motorcycles by the Brockhouse Corporation, who had acquired the rights to the Indian
name after it went under in 1953. Floyd Clymer, of manual fame, was involved, but
Americans were not impressed by the badge engineering, and the venture was
unsuccessful. The largest Enfield "Indian" was a 700 cc. The marketing agreement
expired in 1960, and from 1961, Royal Enfields were available in the US, still through
Kelly, but under their own name, up until Kelly's death in 1970.

[edit] Enfield India (1949–present)

Main article: Royal Enfield Motors

Royal Enfield motorcycles had been sold in India from 1949.In 1955, the Indian
government looked for a suitable motorcycle for its police and army, for use patrolling
the country's border. The Bullet was chosen as the most suitable bike for the job. The
Indian government ordered 800 350 cc model Bullets, an enormous order for the time.[7]
In 1955, the Redditch company partnered Madras Motors in India in forming 'Enfield
India' to assemble, under licence, the 350 cc Royal Enfield Bullet motorcycle in Madras
(now called Chennai). Under Indian law, Madras Motors owned the majority (over 50%)
of shares in the company. In 1957 tooling equipment was sold to Enfield India so that
they could manufacture components. The first machines were assembled entirely from
components shipped from England, but by 1962 all components were made in India.

Tank badge

Now Royal Enfield is an Indian Company.