At the end of October 2009 the Royal Enfield showroom in Johannesburg "moved" out of the centre that they were in. I expected that they would to another location. Unfortunately this was not the case. When I called the guy he told me they were selling the bikes over the Internet for now.
This unfrtunately meant that one could not go for a test ride on a saturday morning anymore as the bikes were now in storage. So the next time I would ride an Enfield would be when I eventually bought one.
Earlier this year I tried to visit their website, www.royalenfieldsa.co.za. It was gone! I now knew what was happening, they were slowing closing down.
This was confirmed this last week when I was looking for second hand Enfields (not many in SA) on the Net. I found an advert on a website that read Seller: Dealer Description: Closing down sale. There was the bike that I had test ridden a few months back at almost half price.
Just my luck, the bike I want at half price, brand new (800 km) and I can't afford it at this moment. Normally when you see a bike at half price the first question is usually "what's wrong with it?". In this case you know where it is coming from.
Well the bottomline seems to be that there won't be an authorised Royal Enfield dealer in South Africa. That is if no one else is picking up the dealership.
