Hi,
First and foremost, thank you moderators for accepting my registration to the xbhp community. I'm extremely glad to be a part of this community.
It all started way back in 2010, when I was in Bangalore and on my way to office. I slowed down my bike to stop at a signal and a guy overtook me, and stopped his bike right in front of me. While he was stopping the bike my sight clearly noticed, that huge break lever that was on the left side of the bike. It was a silver coloured Bullet Electra 350 CI. I was then perceived by the blissful world of Bullets. It was then when I realised what a Bullet actually means. And after that, all the time I was on the streets l longed for a glimpse of the bull, and back of my mind, almost every minute of my life I was thinking about a Bullet..
After a couple of months I was discussing some work with my colleague, and I noticed that key lying on his desk, the key with the name embossed on it 'Royal Enfield'. I quickly asked him whose bike is it and what bike is it (because I knew he owned some other bike). He said it's an old bullet and his friend asked him to keep it with him for a couple of weeks. I was overwhelmed that my fantasy was turning into reality of actually having a look and feel of the Bullet. I asked him for a ride and he was a buddy, he said sure. We left all the work at the desk and rushed to the parking lot. To my surprise it was indeed a silver coloured Bullet Electra 350 CI... We took the bull out for a ride and it was heck of a confusion shifting gears and applying brakes. I somehow managed to get the bull back to the parking lot and with a hesitation i asked him 'can I take the bike home and you take my RX135 for today', as I couldn't enjoy the ride because of the right side gear shift confusion, he instantly agreed as he was fed up filling the bull as it hardly gave 20kmpl.
It took me two days to get adjusted to the opposite side brake and gear shifts. My friend didn't ask for the bull back as my RX consistently gives 45kmpl:) and he was happy. The bull was with me for more than a week and boy those were the best biking days of my life...
Now, I was sure I have to buy a bullet to make my biking days more meaningful. So I starting digging in for as much as information on the bull available on the Internet. And eventually I ended up with the plan of buying an old bull that is not being used or is in a breakdown condition, so that I can rebuild the bull to the stock condition under my observation.
Starting looking for Police and Military auctions to get the bull. But all the efforts went in vein and I couldn't even end up in a single auction.
Two years passed by and my career plans where haunting me to leave B'lore and startup a business of my own at my native place Gulbarga. I had to put the plan of buying a bull in my action plan way below my business plans.
Another two years passed by, plans turned into action by mid 2014, started up a Hardware Distribution centre at Gulbarga.
Bullet came back to my priority list once again but there was a financial constraint. To my relief one fine day I got a call from a mutual fund corporation to inform me that my funds have been matured and were amounting to 85k. Bingo.. financial constraint was resolved. I went to every mechanic in the town who worked on bullet and told them to call me if there's any bull on sale.
The D day: My younger brother called me and told me one of his friend is willing to sell their bull. I went right away to check the bull. At the first sight it looked like it's in superb condition with an awesome paint job but as I closed in, the guy told me it's not been rode for two years. A 1971 model and the Odo read just 200 kms. The guy said they had installed a new speedo along with the new bore and piston two years back and he rode just 200 kms and left it to eat dust since then. The guy asked a whopping 1 lakh for the bike. With a little bargain and the guy being my brother's friend we agreed upon 85k for the bull.. yippee...
Bought the bull home after a couple of days after all the paper work was done. Here I am, after five long years of waiting, a proud owner of the 1971 Royal Enfield Bullet 350 CI:)
PS: Guys I couldn't find the option to upload pics. Please guide me on that, so that I can share some pics.
First and foremost, thank you moderators for accepting my registration to the xbhp community. I'm extremely glad to be a part of this community.
It all started way back in 2010, when I was in Bangalore and on my way to office. I slowed down my bike to stop at a signal and a guy overtook me, and stopped his bike right in front of me. While he was stopping the bike my sight clearly noticed, that huge break lever that was on the left side of the bike. It was a silver coloured Bullet Electra 350 CI. I was then perceived by the blissful world of Bullets. It was then when I realised what a Bullet actually means. And after that, all the time I was on the streets l longed for a glimpse of the bull, and back of my mind, almost every minute of my life I was thinking about a Bullet..
After a couple of months I was discussing some work with my colleague, and I noticed that key lying on his desk, the key with the name embossed on it 'Royal Enfield'. I quickly asked him whose bike is it and what bike is it (because I knew he owned some other bike). He said it's an old bullet and his friend asked him to keep it with him for a couple of weeks. I was overwhelmed that my fantasy was turning into reality of actually having a look and feel of the Bullet. I asked him for a ride and he was a buddy, he said sure. We left all the work at the desk and rushed to the parking lot. To my surprise it was indeed a silver coloured Bullet Electra 350 CI... We took the bull out for a ride and it was heck of a confusion shifting gears and applying brakes. I somehow managed to get the bull back to the parking lot and with a hesitation i asked him 'can I take the bike home and you take my RX135 for today', as I couldn't enjoy the ride because of the right side gear shift confusion, he instantly agreed as he was fed up filling the bull as it hardly gave 20kmpl.
It took me two days to get adjusted to the opposite side brake and gear shifts. My friend didn't ask for the bull back as my RX consistently gives 45kmpl:) and he was happy. The bull was with me for more than a week and boy those were the best biking days of my life...
Now, I was sure I have to buy a bullet to make my biking days more meaningful. So I starting digging in for as much as information on the bull available on the Internet. And eventually I ended up with the plan of buying an old bull that is not being used or is in a breakdown condition, so that I can rebuild the bull to the stock condition under my observation.
Starting looking for Police and Military auctions to get the bull. But all the efforts went in vein and I couldn't even end up in a single auction.
Two years passed by and my career plans where haunting me to leave B'lore and startup a business of my own at my native place Gulbarga. I had to put the plan of buying a bull in my action plan way below my business plans.
Another two years passed by, plans turned into action by mid 2014, started up a Hardware Distribution centre at Gulbarga.
Bullet came back to my priority list once again but there was a financial constraint. To my relief one fine day I got a call from a mutual fund corporation to inform me that my funds have been matured and were amounting to 85k. Bingo.. financial constraint was resolved. I went to every mechanic in the town who worked on bullet and told them to call me if there's any bull on sale.
The D day: My younger brother called me and told me one of his friend is willing to sell their bull. I went right away to check the bull. At the first sight it looked like it's in superb condition with an awesome paint job but as I closed in, the guy told me it's not been rode for two years. A 1971 model and the Odo read just 200 kms. The guy said they had installed a new speedo along with the new bore and piston two years back and he rode just 200 kms and left it to eat dust since then. The guy asked a whopping 1 lakh for the bike. With a little bargain and the guy being my brother's friend we agreed upon 85k for the bull.. yippee...
Bought the bull home after a couple of days after all the paper work was done. Here I am, after five long years of waiting, a proud owner of the 1971 Royal Enfield Bullet 350 CI:)
PS: Guys I couldn't find the option to upload pics. Please guide me on that, so that I can share some pics.