BHPian sox recently shared this with other enthusiasts:The BeginningMore than a decade and a half ago i.e. 2007, My Father-in law told me that his Bullet was for sale. He offered to give it to me for a great price of 20000 INR. At that time, I had just recovered from my accident involving my Yamaha RX135 where I slid off a road at high speed when the road was full of oil in NH 544. It was one of the worst accidents of my life as I was bedridden for 4 months and I developed a spinal cord issue. Prior to this, I always had a strong liking towards the Enfield Bullet. The thump just resonates with you. I wanted a good cure after my accident and this bike was just what I needed. If you don’t care about riding fast and don’t mind the performance figures and if you only care about the riding experience, this is the best motorcycle. But the Bullet was far from acceptable. My Father-in-law did not maintain the bike well and as a result, It was a leaking mess. To add to the problems, He painted it grey to make it look like the Bullet Electra 4s but the original colour was still black and was not updated to the RTO. The bike was anything but pleasant and needed a lot of work to get it up and running well. I only took it out very occasionally during this time period as I was too lazy to fix it up. And my doctor advised me to buy a car immediately and advised me not to ride a bike again after which I bought a Tata Indica. Years passed and 2012 came. My spinal cord issue slowly started to drift away. I had just ditched the Horrible Tata Indica for a much better Hyundai i20 1.4D. We moved our house to Coimbatore where we had to shift all our belongings (which included the Bullet). When I saw it I couldn’t ignore but imagine how it would be if I get it up and running and enjoy it. This time I couldn’t say no and I started to build it. I had to learn it the hard way to find a proper Enfield mechanic who specializes in CI Enfield engines and not the normal bike mechanic. There are not a lot of people who specialize in CI bullets but if you find one who does, He is your lifesaver. The engine was completely rebuilt and all the engine leaks were fixed. Still I had to make a lot of modifications to make it comfortable enough for me.List of fixes and mods I have done to the bike and estimated cost:Full engine rebuild: Around 30K-40K INR (8-9 years ago)New Classic 350 rear: 11K INR including labour cost. (7 years ago)Brand new Bullet 350 tank: 4000 INR (5 years ago)Vardenchi Classic 350 front and rear seats with backrest: INR 12000 (trust me it was worth it) (7 years ago)New Ammeter and Speedometer from classic 350: 1000 INR (7 years agoAnti rust package: 10K INR (9 years ago)And very recently, The self start retrofit which cost me a reasonable 15K INR.Brand new aftermarket headlight: 1000 INRVardenchi Lo-Rider Handlebar: 5000 INRContinue reading BHPian sox’s post for more insights and information.
Source link
A decade and a half with my 1991 CI Bullet 350: The beginning
