Being the oldest motorcycle brand on this planet is no mean feat. From world wars to pandemics, market crashes to technological innovations the Royal Enfield brand has been through it all in one guise or another, sucking up speed bumps and going from strength to strength in recent years. And to think, it all started with needles…
Bought by entrepreneurs Bob Walker Smith and Albert Eadie in 1891, the brand started as ‘George Townsend & Co’: a needle manufacturer from Redditch in the West Midlands. They diversified into producing bicycles and, in 1893, the duo won their first contract to supply parts to the Royal Small Arms factory in Enfield, which is when things really started to take shape.
This is where they renamed the brand to the Enfield Manufacturing Company Ltd, and their first bicycle dubbed the Enfield was sold. It was the following year where they renamed their cycles as Royal Enfields, and introduced their legendary trademark, ‘Made Like A Gun’. Fast forward a few years to 1898 and the first motorised vehicle made its appearance; a quadricycle, which was essentially an engine built around two sturdy bicycle frames.
This also a signalled a name change for the brand, as become The Enfield Cycle Co. Ltd – a name which would stick for the next 70 years.
It was in 1901 though, was when the very first Royal Enfield motorcycle was produced. At the time, hundreds of new motorcycle manufacturers were popping up. Almost all fell by the wayside and a few (such as America’s Indian Motorcycles, also formed in 1901) would be nostalgically revived after decades in the wilderness. Enfield, despite numerous changes and a relocation halfway around the world, were one of the few to survive wars, recessions and changing consumer tastes.
Designed by Bob Walker Smith and a French chap called Jules Gobiet, the first Royal Enfield had an 1.5 hp engine, which powered the rear wheel via a rawhide belt. In the following years it was innovation after innovation, and in 1909 Royal Enfield’s very first V-twin saw daylight, with a 297cc Swiss-made Motosacoche engine at its heart.
Five years later, Royal Enfield’s first two-stroke machine went into full production, but as World War One broke out they had to hit the brakes and put the two-stroke on the backburner. This was to make way of production for their big, 770cc 6 hp V-twin machine, which Royal Enfield supplied to the likes of the British, Belgian, French, US and Imperial Russian armies.
Following the war, there was continuous development throughout Enfield’s range with eight new models arriving, including their 350cc OHV four-stroke – complete with a then innovative foot operated gear change. A major fire at their factory in 1925 proved to be a setback at the time, but not for long as Royal Enfield continued to innovate, with 1932 seeing the arrival of the legendary Bullet.
After the death of Bob Walker Smith in 1933, the ground-breaking Model Z Cycar went on sale, while a new 500cc Bullet was also released before World War Two consumed the planet. During this time, Royal Enfield once again produce a huge number of military motorcycles that were used across the world.
Post war, Royal Enfield saw incredible success with their updated Bullet models, winning a whole host of competitions including the illustrious Scottish Six Days Trial, alongside sending their first imports into India. In 1955, Enfield India is formed with a factory opened to build up Enfields, before the iconic Continental GT was released in in 1964.
Unfortunately, just three years later, the original factory in Redditch closed its doors for good, although a small number of machines were still built in the UK. The Indian operation continued to be a success though. The tooling to make Bullets was bought by the new company and shipped to Madras (now Chennai), as Indian police, military and civilians bought them in huge numbers.
The designs barely changed over the years but, despite this, in 1977, Enfield India started exporting the 350cc Bullet to the UK and Europe. It sold in small numbers outside India, and they even went through a slightly wacky phase here where they even produced the world’s first and only mass-manufactured diesel motorbike, but they were back on the global stage.
In 1994, commercial giant The Eicher Group acquired Enfield India Limited, renaming the company to Royal Enfield Motors Limited – opening up new plants, and turning a new page in the history of the Enfield brand. In 2013, Royal Enfield opened their mammoth, state-of-the-art factory in Tamil Nadu, before rolling out the new Continental GT, which housed a frame designed by legendary British firm, Harris Performance. Just a few years later Royal Enfield acquired Harris Performance, before opening up Royal Enfield North America and debuting their Himalayan adventure machine.
In 2017, Royal Enfield opened a new technology centre at Bruntingthorpe here in Blighty, which employs over 100 engineers, designers and testers for model research and development. Since then, a third plant has been built, a whole host of new models have been released, including the best selling Interceptor and Meteor. Royal Enfield have celebrated a whopping 120 years of motorcycling with a range of special anniversary bikes, and as a truly global brand with no desire to slow down…
