Forum

[Alan R]

Hi guys------- There is only ONE test rider worth their salt and that's }---------------------- YOOO lot!!!!!..So get yer boomkins down t' Dealer and give bike a good thray-pin !! ( Sorry GRUNDA...poor copy of Northern (Hard-nosed guys) accent !! ... but you know what I mean ?? I certainly will be trying one out ASAP then we can ALL compare "actual experience" notes on here... What do you say ?? PS}--- did anyone listen to the music then ??

[sofiaspin]

Hear hear to Paul's piece, well reasoned and putting the bike and the review in context. It is not a Thruxton. In any case, read my comments and you will see that thrashing a Bonnie or Thruxton at 80, which they can easily do, is a somewhat unrewarding experience. I did 3500 miles from Glasgow to Palermo and back on one. This café racer is for older men - the riding position is so far removed from the ball crushing neck ache inducing position on a full on Triton. These Enfields are for Sunday blasts - but I reckon they would be great for pretty much anything. Damn good value too, and wait til January and I reckon you could whip one down to £5k. Wait til next Sept and you will get a low mileage tricked up one privately for £4k. But why wait? I am seriously tempted to put the Enfield trials on ebay and sell the Beam S8 to finance one of these beauties.

[STU]

I've held back but now an incensed!
Did MCN actually ride it or were they looking to simply trash it?
As I very very often find in their magazine the info is very highly opinionated or simply incorrect - this often goes for their stated 'facts' and figures re weight, power, options, years of production etc.
In this case they are SEEM to be stating that the Conti GT achieves 60mph at 5000 rpm? Well, it is geared for 17mph/1000rpm which means that at 5000rpm it will be doing 85mph! This concurs with Pauls ACTUAL report of the bike achieving an indicated 90mph - which would equate to 5300rpm - about where maximum power actually is!!!
Also, all of us on here who have ridden Enfields 1000's of miles on long runs will know that the vibes are not only characterful but also by no means 'scattering through your head' - what???
I took my old Electra XS with Highway kit, which has roughly the same power & torque as the Conti GT, from Leicester to Brighton and back a few times and also to the Ace Café in London always down the M1, M25, M23 etc and cruised at a (correct) 65-75mph and the vibes smoothed out at 4000rpm, I kept up with traffic (including the odd lane 3 overtake) and it never felt a chore or INSANE!
As Paul said, some of these testers are just too used to the latest high power bikes - or simply are afraid that the market for 150bhp+ bikes is ebbing away as you cannot use the power and the running costs are too high.
Finally, MCN say that a 250 Inazuma is faster - what with 20% less power and 50% less torque?? They are a shower - but hey, at least Riggers and Gwilly felt that their worst fears have happily come true!!!!

[Winkie]

No point in getting upset about these things! Most modern bike journalists judge bikes by power, speed, acceleration, and track day performance. They have never known the simple pleasure of riding a well sorted big gentle single on country lanes, enjoying the relaxation and fun that we get. They assess journeys by how fast they can reach the destination; we just enjoy the journey for its own sake. So let them criticise all they want - we know better!!

[Riggers]

No probs Gwilly. One more thought springs to mind...I reckon it's a racing cert that the designers of the Velocette Thruxton and BSA Gold Star are now producing bikes for St Peter and St Paul, but perhaps Eicher could commission a seance and summon down their magic!!! They managed to get around 41bhp and 110+ mph from push rod singles in the 1960s without the aid of EFIs, ECGs, CNCs, EMSs, CADs (ad infinitum). I know that we now have all sorts of regulations which the guys in the old days didn't have to worry about but hey come we've now got the benefit of 50 odd years of progress and development. I've no personal axe to grind and I wish Enfield every success with the new bike but my opinion is a definite "Could do better".

[John R]

30 horsepower should give reasonable performance.My Honda 250 RSA (which I remember with affection) had a claimed 26 hp and it was quite motorway-capable. Mind you it cost £650 o.t.r. Them was the days.

[sofiaspin]

'do better' than what? A Thruxton? Ever tried to start one and ride it through traffic with a GP carb. Rose tinted specs even for those that never wore them abound about these bikes. I would love a Thruxton, but instead have a tamed Venom Clubman that is fast enough, more affordable than a Thruxton and a much better bike in many ways than the 04 Trials Bullet. However I think Eichmann and Co have got this spot on - it is good enough, appealing to the eye, sensible servicing intervals, parts and engine upgrades. If I get one it will sit alongside the Venom but I would take the GT on a long trip over a few days.

[grunda 12]

nowt like a superbike newspaper to piss on other style of bikes chips theyve been doing it with harleys for years but heres the crunch 90mph on a 535 single in its dreams maybe i bet the speedo was at least 10mph over active try a gps on it if it does do 90mph all well and good but if it lives up to all other recent enfields i fear that it will all end in tears especially at that price but i hope for any prospective buyer that i,m wrong but get this most every day biker mags are never happy with any bikes that are not rice burners just another thought for a tad over 6k you could buy a real piece of torque a harley 883 a proper twin ,thats where the smart money is although 10k gets you a top of the range 1200 more muscle just don,t mention mpg figures !!!i can wait to burn serious petrol although a 1580 harley is just under 11k so you just never know !i hope my thoughts trouble you not !!fire extinguisher at the ready!!!!paul

[Alan R]

----------Hey Paul--don't hold back there, me old mucker !!.LoL.....Personally I wish Enfield had developed a completely NEW engine to make it a WHOLLY new machine,ie}-- not looking like a re-hash single (nice re-hash none the less) .....Maybe that fabled "Twin" that's in the offing would do the trick?? ----Or perhaps it's time Enfield considered having license-built engines supplied by one of the major players, if only to get those elusive QUALITY upgrades that is clearly needed in the engine dept..- But to be fair this type of machine is purely aimed at the "Something for the week-end,??" fun market and viewed in that context then this must be a "Fun" bike....it's just a matter of your definition of FUN, I think ???..........Will post again after a test run..PS, What exactly ARE the differences between the "Standard" version and the "Upgraded" version ??

[Riggers]

Just out of interest it states on the new Enfield web site that the maximum power for this bike is 27.2bhp at 5250revs, which if correct might explain the less than neck-wrenching performance. Tony.