Kingston's Royal Enfield 500 - “No.5”

A quick list of major German accomplishments. Kraftwerk. Krautrock. Sausages. Beer. BMW. Autobahns. Rockets. Rotary engines. Jet fighters. Printing presses. Diesel engines. Boxer engines. Cocaine. Amphetamines. Morphine. Asprin. MP3s. Record players. Tape recorders. The pill. Toothpaste. X-ray machines. Geiger counters. Zeppelins. VWs. Helicopters. Television. The theory of relativity. Computers. Gliders. Cars. Motorbikes. Oh - and this bobber. OK guys. Enough's enough. Now you're just showing off.

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Rajputana Customs - ‘8 Ball’

You want another bike, and you want it bad. But you know the awkward, tense, likely-to-be-sleeping-on-the-couch discussion with your partner about the money that you should be spending on the mortgage/rent/credit card payments will be a killer. The more ordinary amongst us would probably leave it at that. God knows I would. But not one Mohit Sharma from a little place west of Asia you may have heard of called "India". See, when he wanted a new bike for his stable, he didn't ask the misses. Oh no. As a matter of fact he didn't tell her at all; what he did was build this here bike you see before you and then give it to her as an anniversary present. Genius or what? We're pretty sure the Nobel Prize doesn't have a "Contributions to Bike Collecting" category, but if it did then this Sharma dude would be a dead cert.

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Royal Enfield Bobber - The Himalayan Outlaw

The country Nepal is probably most famous for that rather large hill they call Everest. Known to the locals as 'Sagarmatha', or 'Goddess of the sky'. The thing they are probably least famous for is their killer death metal bands. Oh - and building custom motorcycles. As we recently learnt, there's a reason for this. Any type of of motorcycle modification is strictly prohibited by the Nepalese Government. Not one to thrive living inside the rules, Sergey Egorov decided to chance it and build one of the first truly custom bikes in Nepal. This is the story about the bike named 'Himalayan Outlaw' or as we'd like to call her if we magically got naming rights, 'Goddess of the street'.

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Rajputana Customs Royal Enfield - 'Chingari'

Here at the Pipeburn palace, we often wonder aloud to ourselves while relaxing river-side with the elephants, a fresh yoghurt Lassi and decent serve of post-curry gulab jamun, just why there isn't more Royal Enfield-based customs around the place. After all, they are in a way a living fossil whose basic design hasn't changed since 1948. Surely this would make a perfect base for creating a motorcycle that would be pleasing to these young coffee racer-types we hear so much of? Today we were doing just that - wondering, that is - when the young tea wala broke his usual silence and pointed out to us that we had indeed received a communiqué from our good friend Vijay of the very reputable Rajputana Customs in Jaipur just this very day. "My word," I exclaimed. Then there was a long pause in proceedings where I stared into the distance, adjusted my monocle, and commanded the wala to refill my tea with a mere twitch of my eyebrow. "Well, shouldn't we read it?" Scotty interrupted. "Jolly good," I said. "Let's have at it then..."

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McDeeb Six Day Scrambler

When I first came across photos of this beautiful scrambler with the script "McDeeb" painted on the tank, I pictured a small company in the countryside of England, producing some classically-styled machines. After doing a bit of research and finally getting in contact with the owner, I realised how off the mark I was. Fabrizio Di Bella (AKA McDeeb) turns out to be an Italian with a penchant for Royal Enfields and classic motorcycles. Fabrizio has had an impressive career in the Italian motorcycle industry. "My career began as a motocross and road test-driver for some motorcycle magazines" Fabrizio says. "My technical background was formed mainly in R&D in the Kawasaki off-road and ATV's Italian branch". Then twelve years ago he got sick of working for 'the man' and decided to start his own garage and workshop which he called Classic Farm Motorcycles. 

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Rajputana Customs 'Nandi'

This bike, believe it or not, was a wedding gift. No, it wasn't on the gift registry but the soon-to-be groom Subhayou Nayak decided to buy himself a little present before the big day. Smart guy. So he commissioned Vijay Singh and his team at Rajputana Customs in India to build him something special. The brief for the bike was pretty straight forward. "Subhayou specified that he wanted an old-school-looking fatty, with a 300mm rear tyre and a Royal Enfield 500cc engine" said Vijay. Apart from that, they could pretty much do what they wanted.

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Royal Enfield 'Light Foot'

Just came across this stunning motorcycle on Bikermetric. No, it's not the latest from Falcon Motorcycles – although it does look like they've taken inspiration from the Bullet Falcon. Surprisingly, it was built by a custom shop in India called Rajputana Custom Motorcycles. The bike was made for a famous Bollywood actor, model and singer named John Abraham. Vijay Singh, Rajputana Customs Co-Owner said: "The bike we have built for John is an extension of his personality and taste. For instance, the bike is subtle, simplistic, and a complete stand-out much like John’s calm and uncomplicated demeanor but amazing presence”. Doesn't John sound like a catch?

The motorcycle was built around the new Royal Enfield Bullet Classic 500 engine and was inspired by Board Track Racers from the 1920's. Fitted with girder front suspension and original 1948 BSA 500 spring. The attention to detail is amazing, right down to custom hand engraving on all the brass parts. 

If you want to see more pics of this bike they call 'Light Foot', you can visit Rajputana Customs Facebook page.

Royal Enfield Military

You can definitely imagine Steve McQueen escaping the Nazi's on the Royal Enfield Bullet 500 Military. This will surely be a favorite among military and history enthusiasts around the world. The Bullet 500 is not a bad looking ride (if you are a fan of Olive drab), especially for the base price of $5,545 USD. Although it looks like something your Grandpa rode in World War II, it has lots of modern features, like a highly-tuned engine that has 23 BHP at 5500 RPM. Recent updates include lower emissions and better fuel economy (75 mpg). If you like this bike you will probably also enjoy Harley-Davidson's Military Appreciation campaign using supermodel Marissa Model. It definitely got my soldier standing up at attention.

India on an Enfield

Simon Lister is a sound engineer by trade but has a passion for photography and riding motorcycles to places only a handful of adventurers would dare to venture. He has ridden Royal Enfield's through Rajasthan in northern India and has recently returned home from the Himalayas traversing some of the tallest passes in existence. We love how Lister describes riding in India... "When you're on the motorbike, the adrenaline is running the whole time. You see amazing things on the road, especially in India. You see funerals, people on the roads, thousands of trucks, elephants, camels, dogs, dead dogs, dogs eating dead dogs, cattle, what you smell, what you see, what you taste, everything. It's an explosion of all your senses." You can view his beautiful collection of photographs on Simon Lister Photography. [If you want to do a trip on a Royal Enfield around India visit Venture on Wheels and they will organize an adventure of a lifetime].