My new, 2022, Indian motorcycle!

[stormsedge]

Another view of the Triumph showroom. There's an impressive lineup of some very rare and exclusive vintage British motorcycles displayed up on that wall shelf, including a Triumph/Vetter X75 triple, orange bike seen to the right of center up there. The motorcycles up there are displayed in chronological order, from the earliest to motor modern bikes.
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Wow, they have really (REALLY) expanded since I was last there. Awesome. When I purchased my MG from them in the mid-90s, they had the franchise. I was stationed in the Omaha vicinity at the time, making them a destination ride about every 30-45 days. Good times.

They used to stage a "get-together" campout at some farm property once during summers...you might ask about that next time you are in.

 

[String Tree]

No, NOT, a Polaris Indian motorcycle...we're talking about a REAL Indian motorcycle here, like, from India.

It's a Royal Enfield Interceptor 650.

If I'm not served divorce papers before then, I'll be driving to Marne, Iowa next week (or so) to pick it up and haul it back here (Rapid City area).

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Now you are confusing me.
If Indians aren't made in India ...????

 

[Count]

At one stage Royal Enfield UK exported motorbikes to the USA that were rebadged as Indian. Royal Enfield India makes Royal Enfield motorbikes that are designed at their design studio in the UK. Royal Enfield India used to export motorbikes to the UK but were not allowed to have the Royal it of the name as that was still owned by royal Enield Bicycle company so they were sold as Enfields. Now Royal Enfield owns the Royal bit as well they are exporting motorbikes all over the world, UK included, as Royal Enfield. Here is my Royal Enfield, designed in the UK and India, made in India, but lives in Australia.

 

[Lone_Poor_Boy]

Beautiful guitar!

Hey, you're in Rapid! I lived there for 9 and 1/2 years, leaving in 1992, when I was in the Air Force. I miss the restaurants and Sturgis Jerky. And the Black Hills. I was looking for B.J.'s Grinder King but based on limited info on the internet it looks like it changed hands and went under. Best deep dish pizza and meatball grinders ever.

I don't miss the long winters, wind or snow drifts.

I do miss cruising the old logging roads and stumbling on CCC projects, old mining camps etc. in my 1946 Willy's CJ2A that was fantastic for Black Hills off-roading.

 

[Ricky D.]

Don't let that horsepower get away from you John.

47 hp puts in the same category as a 1965 Triumph Bonneville. That was a fast bike then. Much quicker than cars. Plenty of power to go fast on public roads.

 

[Dennyf]

I still need a Stearman biplane.

I figured you for a Beech Staggerwing.

 

[P Thought]

I still need a Stearman biplane.

Everybody does.

 

[John Backlund]

I figured you for a Beech Staggerwing.

Nah, 'cabin' biplanes are for sissies.

 

[jedediahd]

I'll order the factory black and chrome fuel tank for it in a couple weeks. This is the tank I wanted for it from the first, but that model is hard to come by, so I bought the orange model and figured I would just order the chrome tank off of eBay, where a number of them are available from India for a very reasonable sub-four hundred dollar price.
I would then have the option of selling the orange tank to defray the extra cost of the new tank.

It will also get the black rubber kneepads applied to the tank for a super-cool retro look.

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I saw this video today:
Cool gas tanks.

 

[teletina]

I think that I'm gonna bite the bullet and sell my other bikes and buy new Enfield !

 

[Colo Springs E]

If I was in the market, I'd be very interested in that bike! Only thing not certain of, is the standover height... I'm short, not sure it would be low enough for me.

Question: what is the gold colored cylinder behind the rear shock? Is that a gas cartridge?

 

[WingedWords]

Many happy miles on a 350 RE Bullet. Until the bike was written off by a blind man reversing a van - which confirmed a decision I really needed to take that various health issues meant I wasn't really safe on a bike. 50 years of happy memories of a long succession of bikes.

I still have the partly rebuilt RE and an SV650S in the garage.

 

[drf64]

If I was in the market, I'd be very interested in that bike! Only thing not certain of, is the standover height... I'm short, not sure it would be low enough for me.

Question: what is the gold colored cylinder behind the rear shock? Is that a gas cartridge?

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Not a mechanic, but I believe those are old style air shocks and there is capped air valve on the bottom of the cans.

Edit: looking at photos maybe they are sealed gas cannisters?

 

[Flyboy]

It's 'Old School' British styling is straight out of the mid-60's, often very pretty, but also utilitarian by most modern measures. It's what also could be referred to as a 'standard', which is what bikes such as these are now classified as in a many sub-divided market of sportbikes, sport tourers, adventure tourers, heavy tourers, cruisers, power cruisers, and on and on...

Before motorcycles became so specifically specialized, as they are now, with few exceptions, almost everything was a direct derivative of a 'standard' machine, tourers, road racers, desert racers, etc.

This Royal Enfield 650 is about as much of a 'back to the basics' street bike as one can find these days, no engine 'power modes' or other extraneous electronic bullcrap to insert itself between the rider, engine, wheels, and road surface. It does, of course, have ABS braking, and that's ok, it's mandated as standard on almost all production motorcycles world-wide these days anyway.

The Royal Enfield 650 has a relatively low hp, 270 degree engine rated at a conservative 47 hp, uses a six-speed transmission and can probably do around 100 mph if you insist, but they're much happier running out there on the curvy, hilly backroads at about 50-75% effort.

Yep. Old Skool 'Cafe Racer'.

 

[John Backlund]

Not a mechanic, but I believe those are old style air shocks and there is capped air valve on the bottom of the cans.

Edit: looking at photos maybe they are sealed gas cannisters?

Yes, they're sealed reservoir shocks, and they'll both be replaced with a pair of Hagon shocks from England over the winter, mostly because I feel that the original set are visually inconsistent with the 1960's styling of the bike. The Hagons are also functionally superb shocks, so my anal 'styling vanity' will actually be a performance upgrade in this case.

 

[John Backlund]

My next, and final modifications to the 650 will be to replace the bike's original, rather cheesy, grey plastic fenders with a set of polished metal ones, and possibly have the seat recovered with a black and grey vinyl with white piping, similar to the seat coverings on the mid 60's Triumph Bonnevilles.

 

[John Backlund]

On Thursday, I will be losing my '22:Royal Enfield 350 Classic by trading it in on (another) Kawasaki W800. I've had the 350 since early August, but have only put 500 miles on it since. It's a visually beautiful little bike, and runs perfectly, but it's performance, at 20hp and 430 lb of weight, just isn't enough for what I want to use it for out here.

I miss the other W800 I had, and will sacrifice the 350 to replace the '21 W800 I had with a '22 model. The only difference between the two W800's is the tank color, being a beautiful metallic navy blue on the previous Kawasaki, and a metallic red on the new bike. I preferred the blue, but the red is ok too.

 

[Cosmic Cowboy]

No, NOT, a Polaris Indian motorcycle...we're talking about a REAL Indian motorcycle here, like, from India.

It's a Royal Enfield Interceptor 650.

If I'm not served divorce papers before then, I'll be driving to Marne, Iowa next week (or so) to pick it up and haul it back here (Rapid City area).

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Those bikes definitely have some eyeball. My friend and nieghbor has an Int 650. Cool bike. Enjoy.

 

[Cheap Trills]

Very nice. I'm jealous. Congrats on the bike, condolences on the relationship. Maybe there's a backrest conversion on that seat, and you can spin it as a bike for both of you.

 

[John Backlund]

Very nice. I'm jealous. Congrats on the bike, condolences on the relationship. Maybe there's a backrest conversion on that seat, and you can spin it as a bike for both of you.

For better or worse, she doesn't have much desire to ride 'cupcake' on my cute little retro motorcycles these days...

Her current bike...

One of her more substantial 'scooters' from her recent past...