Hitchcocks Forum

Hello, I hope you can help me, I'm looking to buy an older (1997 ish) Enfield to convert into a bobber type bike. What is confusing me is which engine size to go for. Can anyone help please? My thought is that bigger cc equals faster and less stress on engine when cruising.

The bike will be used for fun mainly, but will need to be used for my daily commute along the A47 so must be able to do a 75 mile trip and keep up with traffic.

I guess looking for speed, torque and fuel figures for both, plus other points like, 500 may be stronger so better for tuning etc.

Sorry if this has been asked a million times before

Daily commute 75 miles, buy a Honda. Try cruising an 350/500 Enfield at main road speeds and it will go bang.

I have to agree with papasmurf a comfortable Enfield speed is 50 to 60 mph, and even those speeds I would only like to maintain for fairly short distances, the latest EFI model which I have is not a good choice for that sort of work its a great bike for a pleasant ride down the back roads and is my favourite bike for a day out, but if I want to get some ware especially in every day traffic and using main trunk roads I get my Kawasaki out, the 500 is more powerful but there is more vibration you may spend a lot of time bolting bits back on that fall off

I agree with Papa and Les, neither would do the job really. However, if you want one to just potter around, the 350 will actually be stronger. It's the same bottom end basically, so the 500 gets more stress. Realistic cruising speed is 50 for the 350, a bit more for 500. If you drive it at modern traffic speed it neither will last long.

The older bullet design is a mid fifties bike, which helps explain why it likes doing mid fifties and not really any faster.



Mind you, there ar e a few good candidates that deserve being 'bobbed'. Honda comes to mind.

Dave - if you are doing a 75 mile daily commute an enfield is not the bike. I did an 80 mile round trip commute for years and an enfield bobber is definitely not the bike for that. I own a 350, it is unstressed, reliable and great fun but i would not dream of using it for that sort of job. The miles soon mount and the bike would need constant attention. Personally I would buy an ujm for the commute and do up an enfield at your leisure as time and money allows. £1500 quid on a bandit/divvy/cb500 would do the job. You will be offered varying opinions regarding 350 v 500 and there is no right answer. I went for the 350 as it is smoother, starts first kick every time and is very reliable but of course it has a bit less power. I can live with that - other bikes are available for going fast.

Buy a 350. Shorten the barrel, port the head and put a 389 Monobloc of 1 1/8" on it and enjoy. I have such a 350 that will do 65 all day, it is all there for the taking.

I remember the A47 from the '80s, now 2015 you need a 500+ Honda to do that run without doubt

If you've got some spare cash, then how about our hosts beefy long stroke crank in the 500? Soft tune 570 with lots of stomp

Thank you for your advice, I re-read what I had written, when I said daily commute, What I actually meant was that it would need to do it every now and again, not every day, so sorry for misleading you.

@Chris, after reading some of the other comments my next question would be, do Hitchcocks do any upgrades which would help out the situation?