RE: I will never look at another bike

I began this blog off by detailing where my love for bikes started. Over the years I have drooled over several different bikes, Yamaha's, BMW's etc... But there was a point where I came across a specific bike that had so much more that a pretty face. It had history. Now I am a nostalgic kind of guy. Antique furniture, classic cars and now classic (styled) bikes. I have never longed over any other bike since I became aquainted with Enfields.

I mentioned that I first came across the Royal Enfields on a visit to Bangalore, India. I spoke about one of our drivers owning an Enfield. I was sure I had a photo of the bike somewhere. I finally found it. To my disappointment it is not such a good shot. However it takes me back to that day that he showed us the bike and started it. It took him several attempts to get it going. No electric start on this one. I realise now why it had such an effect on me and why I fell in love with it. I notice now the shortened silencer on the exhaust. We were in the parking basement, so the acoustics were great and it sounded fantastic. That "small" bike roared into life and stood there popping as it idled, You know how the bike idles and for a split second you think it has stalled but it suddenly springs to life again. I love it. Well here it is....

License to ride

As mentioned before, I have never owned my own bike. Therefore it will come as no surprise that I do not actually possess a motorbike license. I have had a learners once before, but did not convert it into the full blown license. How silly. When my Dad bought his bike we obtained our learner's together and shortly after that he went for his practical test and got his license. He encouraged me to follow suite but I was afraid that I might drop his bike during the test. So eventually the learner's expired.

In preparation for the purchase of my Enfield, I have booked my learner's test for 4th Dec. I will then book for my license test sometime next year. I was chatting to a salesman at one of the local bike shops the other day. He recommended that I got for training as the testers try and trick you into failing. Fancy that.

Talking about the license to ride here is something that happened to me many years ago. One school holiday I was spending sometime at a friends place on the outskirts of town. He had a Yamaha RZ 50. His place was halfway to where my girlfriend lived. So the one day my buddy had to go work at the local steakhouse and he said I could use his bike to go pay the girlfriend a visit. So off I went. Now you have to understand I was riding down a country road. On a quiet open stretch of the road, from behind a bush, like something out of a movie, out stepped a traffic officer. Wearing his khaki uniform. He casually walked out into the middle of the road and raised his hand, signalling me to pull over. Can you imagine my disbelief at the situation. In the middle of nowhere. Bugger just my luck I thought. Besides the fact that I was nipping myself. He asked me for my license to which I replied I had left it at home. Fortunately at the time it was not compulsory to carry one's license. So he asked me what code it was which was an easy question to answer. He then let me go. Whew!!!! Oops all this while the tap had been open and the bike had flooded a bit. I could not kick start it so I had to push start it. But he did not take that as significant. In retrospect I was pretty calm under the circumstances. I still have this image in my mind off this dude walking out from behind the bush. Still tickles me from time to time.

These days they would throw the book at me if I was caught riding without a license. Hence me not wasting anytime to get a learner's.

Let us hope the test is as painless as it was the last time. Wish me luck ;-)

To what extent does one go?

One of the main barriers to purchasing an Enfield is cost. Now Enfields are not that expensive when compared to other bikes. But you see I own 3 cars at this point, one of which is a Toyota Land Cruiser, 80 series. The Cruiser costs money to run and probably is a good idea to offload it. However it needs some TLC and it is not a sellers market at this point. Therefore I am going to loose some serious money if I sell. And truth be told I would like to keep her. She is beautiful to drive and....sorry this is supposed to be about the bike.... DON'T FORGET THE BIKE!!!

Okay back to the bike... Basically I would like to buy the bike cash and without having to sell any cars. Not asking much!

But here's the point. There is an official Royal Enfield importer in South Africa and then there are some not so official importer(s). Obviously prices differ between the two, the one drastically cheaper than the other. You know which one is which right? It seems that the unofficial agent brings in models sold in India. From what I hear this person gets several people together that wish to purchase an Enfield and buys them in India, puts them in a container and ships them to South Africa. The buyers supposedly split the freight costs. Now I know that in South Africa you cannot legally import second hand cars. I am assuming that this does not apply to motorbikes. Just checked, seems not to be a problem, and in fact there are no import duties on motorcycles of this kind.

Let us compare some prices to illustrate the point... I will choose the new Bullet Classic (C5) as a benchmark. The Classic has just been released in India (http://www.royalenfield.com/Motorcycles/classic-500.aspx). In India it costs RS 125 000 to Rs 140 000 which converted to Rands is between R 20 000 and R23 000. Now in South Africa it goes for R69 500. So give or take a couple of grand for the cost of freight, the bike costs you about double at the official importer. As a side note the cost of the same bike in the US is $6395 which is about R 50 000.

Okay the temptation is to buy the bike through the unofficial importer just based on price. However this is not the route for me. I will buy it from the official importer!!!

I don't not think the importer is trying to rip us off. The RoyalEnfield SA (www.royalenfieldsa.co.za) has a showroom with several models, if not all of them. From my recent discussions with the guys there, these bikes are not fastest movers in terms of sales. We will all agree that there is a specific type of person that buys an Enfield and they are not found on every street corner. So they have to cover their costs of having stock standing on the floor, they have to pay rent and they have one or two bikes that are demo's. I am sure the scale of economies will come into play here, the more they sell the more competative their prices can be. So support them, BUY OFFICIAL!!!

There are several other advantages of buying official. Firstly is the after sales service. If I buy a bike and have a problem with it I have a local warranty. However if I buy a parallel import and have problem I probably will have no way of taking advantage of the 2 year warranty given on the new EFI bikes. I am sure that Royal Enfield SA will be understandably less than willing to help an unofficial bike. The other side of the coin is the problems one has trying to register a parallel import. I have heard that several people have had problems concerning this.

I noticed on the Royal Enfield website they mention the cons to privately importing a bike into your country (http://www.royalenfield.com/privateimports.aspx). There is also the point that the models sold in India are different to the rest of the world.

When I buy my Royal Enfield, I would like to build up a relationship with the guys, especially the mechanic. Therefore the Official Royal Enfield is a lifestyle choice. I would like to be able to grab a cup of coffee on a Saturday morning at the showroom, go for a Sunday ride with the Enfield Club and perhaps go on the organised road trips. I would not want to be shunned as an unoffical Enfield owner.

Just in my opinion.....