From England to India: A royal ride

The journey of the world's oldest and motorcycle manufacturer wasn't just a location or ownership change. Chandan Basu Mallik traces the meteoric rise of Royal Enfield in India and globally.

- Chandan Basu Mallik

The Bullet name for a motorcycle model was introduced in 1931 in Great Britain when Royal Enfield launched its four stroke single-cylinder motorcycle. It was the first to feature this new name. Interestingly, the Royal Enfield and Bullet names were derived from the British company which had been a subcontractor to the Royal Small Arms Factory in Enfield, London. The first G2 Bullet in a rigid frame was launched in the UK in 1938. Shortly after WWII, in 1948 an upgraded model with a rear swing arm suspension was introduced.

India’s connection with Royal Enfield motorcycles can be traced post-Independence. In 1949, the Indian Army ordered 500 Royal Enfield G2 Bullets from the British motorcycle maker and in 1955, the Redditch, UK-based manufacturer partnered with Madras Motors in India to form 'Enfield India,' to assemble and sell under licence its single-cylinder, aircooled, four-stroke pushrod G2 350cc engined Bullet motorcycles in Madras (now renamed Chennai). Those models had MO1 Type magneto ignition systems supplied by Lucas with separate 6V dynamo for lights and horn.

The British company later sold the complete tooling to the Indian outfit to facilitate its manufacturing including the designs for the then G2 engine. The originally designed and produced in England pushrod G2 engine was initially imported and came with separate bolt-on 4-speed transmission with neutral finder, Amal carburettor (pre-monobloc and later Monobloc) and mechanical kickstarter and during its journey in India remained mostly unmolested while the UK-version got some mechanical upgrades.