With the advent of BS III emission norms in India, Royal Enfield has had to retire its older engines and switch to the new lean burn engine with integrated clutch and gear box i.e. UCE. Now all the new Enfields in India come with engines which are newer than that of Hero Honda Karizma and Honda Unicorn and if one factors in Classic 500 Fi, technologically advance as well.
With this, I feel, all the excuses about the poor reliability of Enfiends due to them supporting an age old engine, goes out of the window and all that matters now is how good/bad Royal Enfield’s manufacturing process is and how much effort they spend on quality control and after sales service.
Although I am still skeptical about the reliability factor as I have already heard a few complaints about the newer Enfields, I seriously hope that Royal Enfield is serious about tackling them head on and isn’t counting on the goodwill and leniency of the Enfield community.
On the side note, during last month’s ride to Udaipur, Bhuwan was riding his Classic 500 Fi , which was still in the running in period and hence wasn’t being ripped. However I was more than impressed by it’s in gear acceleration and the fact that it now comes with 18″ wheel.
The only things which I did not like about it was the fact that the petrol tank capacity has been reduced by a liter (according to me even the initial capacity was low) and so has the ground clearance.
The new upswept exhaust looked good and although wasn’t as quiet as I would have wanted it to be, it wasn’t loud enough to force me to maintain a lot of distance with the bike.
Overall a nice bike, although not something that I would want to buy as of yet (not convinced yet), but still something which I feel is a step in the right direction and would likely get Royal Enfield a few more takers which weren’t earlier interested in its portfolio.
4 Comments
i wasn’t impressed much by the classic, i still feel the standard is much better…
I like the old Royal they are historic bikes!
The new EFI is naturaly more reliable,powerfull and economic in
petrol and oil!!I have a lot of pleasure with the two types!
The new engine is light years better in terms of fuel efficiency. I own a TBTS and it consistently returns me an economy of 45 kmpl. Also the top end has marginally moved up with the UCE engines. The CI350 used to puff and pant and eventually max out at 100 kmph, the new UCE350 is capable of a 120 kmph provided it is given a long stretch of empty road. On my TBTS, I couldn’t manage above 115 kmph but that might be on account of the stock silencer.
Yogesh both of us know that the newer engines are better than the old, as well as the fact that RE’s quality control is non existant (i would be surprised if i was told they have a division for this), after sales (if you include spares) is deplorable (save a few mechanics that are worth their salt they are few and far between asw wel)due to erratic supply of spares.Im talking expensive ones (read block pistons, carburetors..) not liners bearings and the like. Their manufacturing process, i cant comment on honestly as i have very little information about it although judging from a few horror stories i have heard off (from authorized service point owners) and the lack of any guarantee/warrenty on spares regardless of price, i would have to say it needs much more improvement.. that being said i dont think the bike you wish for will be made anytime soon. There are way too many issues that RE as a company need to sort out otherwise they will simply be run out of business with imports which seem to be rolling in every month as well as any company that is willing to send across/fully train competent certifiable mechs! That apart would you say that it would be possible (although not cheap) to buy a model that is as close to what you want and getting the work you require done?