Royal Enfield Bullet Trials : Gold or Gimmick?
Vijay Krishnan Mar 27, 2019
Royal Enfield are going all guns blazing and they have just launched the Bullet Trials. Here are our first impressions :-
What is the Trials
Photo Credits - Wikimedia Commons
The new Royal Enfield Trials has been touted as an ‘homage’, a word that RE tends to use liberally these days, to the Trials bike from 1949 that actually earned its name by cleaning up in motorcycle trials events across Europe. Also, the O.G. Trials was a revolutionary machine at the time for Royal Enfield due to it having Telescopic suspension at the front and hydraulic suspension at the rear, instead of the then conventional Girder style forks and rigid setup for the rear.
Fast forward 70 odd years......
Royal Enfield are offering the new Trials bike exactly like the stock Classic, but with less stuff. They are doing exactly what the big shot Automobile marks like Porsche and Lamborghini do and charging more for less. But instead of a better machine, we have received a Frankenstein motorcycle, with parts from all over RE’s parts bin slapped on it. Despite having less stuff on it compared to the Classic, Royal Enfield have somehow managed to make them heavier. So have they atleast added some power to offset this increase in bulk? Well, no actually, as they have put in the engine and gearbox from the 350 and 500 as such with no change in state of tune.
So, it’s not revolutionary in any way, has less stuff, makes the same output, weighs more and costs more than the standard variants. Well, at least it would be optimally damped to tackle all the Trials you can throw at it, one would think, to which RE shows a huge middle finger with a diamond ring on it as they have equipped it with the same suspension set up from the standard Classic with no difference in damping.
So what is the difference.....
Unlike the Classic, it looks abnormal with parts from all over the board and an upswept exhaust that looks like the standard exhaust bent upwards at the tail end by Big Show from WWE at the factory.
Add a 48 badge to the side and you instantly get reminded of the Harley Davidson 48. The only similarity between the two bikes is that they both come with a single stock seat.
Enfield do have a few good things going for the bike though. The grill on the rear and on the headlamp are nice touches. The paint scheme on the chasis is unseen in a factory built RE motorcycle and sets it apart from the crowd.
While RE is making strides elsewhere and gaining heaps of praise with their all new Twins and Himalayan variants, this motorcycle comes as a sign of them perhaps being cocky. Cocky enough to think any concoction they conjure up will sell like hot cakes, and they probably will, which is the sad part!
Since we are yet to get access to usable photographs of the motorcycle, and primarily because we don’t fancy it, here is a picture of something which fits the bill for our idea of a bonafide Trials motorcycle :-
Photo Credits - flickr
What to you think of the new motorcycle? Let us know in the comments.
Head over to their website by clicking here and check out the motorcycle yourself before forming your opinion.
VISIT THE STORE