Britbike forum Forums British Motorcycle specific Brands Royal enfield forum 1965 royal enfield bullet

New member, just registered to the forum.
First "classic" bike, I've had many bikes over the years, mostly custom and sports bikes but I've been wanting a classic to keep hold of long term.
I bought this 350 bullet from an old gent that had imported it in 2015 and never put a mile on the clock, as it was too big for him.


This was when I bought it.

The paper work with it shows it was built for the Indian army originally, then completely rebuilt before being imported to the UK.
It retains an age related plate, albeit everything bar the engine and chassis is new....


I've removed the engine crash bar as I wasn't a fan, the pillion seat I've taken off and stored. The front reg plate (indian plate) removed, and the airbox I've repainted black as I felt the yellow was too much..... and we do miles not kilometers here.

What I'd like to do, is replace all the modern parts that they've put on it, with more age related parts.

Smiths speedo and a Lucas ammeter, the ignition switch I'll relocate to the tool box, and put the lamp on/off switch back where it would have been.

The modern switch gear I want to replace with the older style brake and clutch lever with decompression lever. And just a horn/dim switch on the bars.

I've noticed that after a short while riding, the bike seems hot and will randomly cut out, it will take a good few minutes for it to fire into life again, bit I can't figure out the reason for this

Possible restricted fuel supply: blocked filters or filler cap vent hole.

There is fuel present in the glass bowl filter, and seems to be travelling to the carb... the next time it happens I'll release the fuel tank cap to see if its a breather issue

Thankyou

This kinda sounds familiar... some years ago I was asked to see about selling a Bullet for a "friend-of-friend" deal. It was imported as a vintage Bullet (forget year) that had pretty much the same story as yours. Supposedly it was purchased in India by an American tourist and exported by it's new owner to US. Some local Indian documentation stating everything but engine and chassis replaced with new parts. I thought the story a little dubious, and posted some pictures here with questions. A few members much more savvy about Enfields immediately piped up, identifying the engine as undoubtedly a newer version.

This was probably done to get a bike that didn't comply with US EPA regulations into the country... apparently at that time the models shipped to US had to be specifically made for this market, local Indian bikes, available there much cheaper couldn't be brought here.

Don't know if that restriction exists where you are, and am certainly not saying that your bike is the same sort of case.

But it does sound familiar...

I've read similar stories too, the guy I got it from told me it was dated as a 1965, which is what the.logbook states and has a c reg registration mark, however aside from a chassis and engine VIN to go from, I've no idea in all honesty as the rest of the bike is made up from new parts
Essentially I think.even if the bike was manufactured 65, its essentially a new bike as all parts have been replaced.

Royal enfield I've found is a very complicated company when it comes to the origin of their bikes after they opened up in madras

I'll take some photos shortly of the engine and numbers etc

As I recall, one of the tell-tales on the bike I was referring to was the crankcase breather mounting, not visible on your bike... other side.

On mine it's a 3 bolt breather .... I'm out at the moment, possibly have a photo on my phone I'll check

May have to zoom in to see. I'll rake some.close ups later on

Thanks

I think that is what was described to me as original vintage. The bike I was dealing with just had a cast-in spigot, the older types supposedly had a triangular plate screwed on, as yours appears to be.

Hope that is good news.

battery and coil ignition ?
The last of the 350 British Enfields were battery and coil ignition
but I don't know about the Indian built stuff

And was this bike 6 volt ? or originally 6 volt ?

when the bike is warm and hard to start ,
grab onto the coil and feel how warm it is ?

It's on a battery and coil, points ignition. It's been completely rewired however to 12volt, I couldn't tell you what it was prior to being rebuilt

That's a good point on the coil, I'd not thought of that, I'll have to dig out my feeler gauge and check the points gap.

I'd also like to find an AMAL carb for it, these are fitted with a 24mm mikarb.... a copy of Mikuni. Though I can't find much information on which model of carb it should have originally had fitted.

Just having a little read, I have the g2 engine code which would suggest the engine was british built and the ei number for enfield India.
So from my (very limeted) understanding the engine was one of the last built in England and sent to India

I'm unsure of the frame as it also has the g2 number but from my understanding the non loop frame was the last of the British frames and the ones with the bolt are indian, so why would it have a g2 number?

My engine number is g265xxx
This article says from g266xx the crankcase was indian

So does that make this engine one of the very last of the British engines?