Royal oilfield

Anyone owned a fuel injected Royal Enfield, not the latest models, im looking at the 2009-2015 models post carb but pre abs etc…

I want it for a 36 mile round trip commute 3 days per week and for Mrs W to ride after doing her direct access, im looking at a 350 as i believe the lack of horses makes it eligable for a first bike for her? Friends in the past have had the older British ones and the later indian ones pre 2009 and spent a kings ransom at Hitchcocks getting them anywhere near reliable, post 2009 seems to be the sweetspot, without the euro3/4 nonsense. I’m fairly handy on the spanners but don’t want to spend hours/£’s when i need it for work and Mrs W’s piece of mind.
Any advice welcome

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@PatW I’ve moved this out of the Speakeasy, which is really just for non-bike stuff, and in to a newly created RE subcategory. People will still be able to see in in their new/latest lists.

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Cheers mate

The lack of horses would be fine if she’s doing her A2, but if Mrs W is doing her Direct Access for her A licence, she can have any horses she likes. Wishing her luck with it :slightly_smiling_face:.

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I’m a fan of the “royal oilfield” header!
Made me chuckle!

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Mrs W actually likes the enfields. Plus she doesn’t want anything modern looking or very fast or European and she doesn’t like Harleys. Its going to be her bike predominately and I don’t care what i ride to work so we’ve narrowed it down to the Enfield.

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I like the look of them, there are a few of the newer Interceptors round here and they are smart and sound pretty nice too.

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Its what we always called them

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My interceptor was brilliant, no oil leaks at all. I was talking to a mate who was looking at the new 350 single that enfield have launched. Great looking bike at around 4k on the road. Might be worth a look.

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Before i bought the T100 I tried a few different retros including the interceptor it was ok but the seat was too small for long two up rides, the reason for the bullet is a cheap commuter and occasional use by Mrs W.

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As requested I’ll add my ‘review’ of my 2022 Royal Enfield Meteor 350.
Bit of background, I started riding in the late 70’s on a 100cc 9bhp bike, commuting to college. Had a bike most of my life since then, 250cc two stroke, BMW’s 100S/100RS, Triumphs Trophy/Daytona/Sprint Sport/1200 Trophy. Not owned a small capacity bike for a long time, so I wasn’t expecting the meteor 350 to be suitable. I went for a test ride thinking this won’t work but at least I’ll have tried one and then I can try the 650. Had a 3hr test ride on a meteor that had around 800 miles on the clock. Was very surprised with it’s ability to keep up with traffic, I even managed to overtake some slower cars. Took the other half on the back for an hour or so, managed to see 70mph on the dual carriageway 2 up, but it was a very windy day so I wasn’t sure if it was wind assisted. It pulled better than I thought it would with 2 onboard, had to drop down to 4th on some of the steeper chiltern hills, but it could keep up with the normal traffic flow no problems, and still pulled away from cars from a standstill, although if a car driver was more enthusiastic it would have problems.
Back to the dealer and put my order in, couldn’t be bothered trying anything else. I liked the 350 classic, but the tubed wheels and lack of luggage (as it was a new release) put me off.
Got the bike, running in was a real pain limited to 42mph for the first 300 miles and then 50mph until 1200 miles… Saw a lot of country lanes, found a lot of beautiful villages I didn’t know. So not such a bad thing.
Problems in the early days were a engine management light that came on with a code that the dealers machine didn’t know about, but it was a code their demo meteor had thrown and it was about coolant temp (on an air cooled bike). It kept coming on so I bought a code reader and cleared it. Didn’t affect running. That was the only fault/problem I remember, so far done around 4000miles. Got some other errands to do now, so will post this incase I lose it, but will return.

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While doing other errands I was thinking why did I want a 2nd bike, and the truth is as much as I’ve enjoyed owning the trophy 1200/4 (since new in 2002), I’d stopped wanting to ride it, it was becoming a chore to get out of the garage, it was hot to ride in the summer. In the last 20 odd years I’ve enjoyed wildlife so I go to reserves/areas in the country where some roads are no longer proper roads, I’d scrapped the belly of the trophy a couple of times and it was always a 10 minute job deciding where the flattest piece of stable ground was to park it up. I’m also starting to suffer from arthritis, so the clutch was becoming painful to hold in traffic, my neck was aching after 40 odd minutes riding. So I was looking for a lighter bike, with little or no fairing, easy to maneuver, light clutch, more suitable seating position, but something that could still be loaded up with luggage and pillion and that I could go on an adventure with.
I looked at tigers (too tall), bonnies (T120 felt too heavy, T100 just right, Speedmaster, a beauty, Enfield interceptor, seat a bit short, finish a bit off, Himalayan load capacity too low…). Anyway that’s my reasoning for a 2nd bike.
So clutch is lovely and light on the meteor, tick, seating position suits me perfectly, tick. I can now ride for 2 hours until a numb bum sets in, but 5 mins off the bike and I’m ready to go again. I no longer feel like an old man crippled by arthritis when I get off, needing 30 mins to recover only to succumb to pain 20mins down the road…
On the demo model it had a black royal enfield fly screen fitted and I hadn’t noticed a problem with wind at 60+mph, but on mine once run in I was getting beaten up by the wind, so added the fly screen. I still can’t believe that little thing works so well, but I guess it must be something to do with the low seating position.
The gear lever is a seasaw type affair, toe down to shift down, heal down to shift up. I wasn’t sure about it at the start and found it awkward, but now the brain is used to it, I love it.
The finish on the bike seems very good, the switchgear is nice and positive and just works. I like the tripper navigation that is included as standard (it’s a bit like the beeline but with a few more detailed arrows. The software on the phone limits you compared to google maps but there are work arounds if you don’t want to take it’s default and only route. I don’t use it a lot because it needs data on your phone and I’m pay as you go so seldom have data enabled. But I’ve used it around England, Spain and France and it worked fine with my phone.
One drawback while it’s in it’s 3 years warranty is that the servicing is every 3000 miles and so far seems to be around £250-300 a pop, however my dealer does change the oil/oil filter every 3000 even though it’s only required at 6000 for the warranty, but I’m happy with that as it only takes just under 2 liters.
Fuel economy has been great in these expensive times, running hard on the mway 2 up at 65mph I’m dropping to the high 80’s low nineties, but generally, I get mid 90’s to around 105mpg, so the tank range before the fuel light come on is often around 200miles (better than my trophy) and I only seem to get around 10 liters in when filling, so I guess it’s being cautious as it’s supposed to be a 15 liter tank.
Over the 4000 miles it hasn’t used any oil that I can see and hasn’t developed any oil leaks, I’ve gone around checking bolt tightness etc and nothing has come loose. What surprised my was that on the recent 2000 mile journey I didn’t need to adjust the chain, I started off at 25mm, and it’s now around 30mm, the book says 25-30mm.
Ok it’s getting a bit long winded so I’ll take a break and have another think. Let me know if there are any specifics you’d like answerring.

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Loads of great information and insight on the RE - thanks. You make a very good case for the Meteor as a regular commuter.

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Alot of what you said mirrors my reason for getting the T100, arthritis, slowing down etc. Mrs W prefers the Classic so thats probably what we’ll end up with, very helpful Wattie, thanks :+1:

A few more points have come to mind.
The demo meteor and mine when new had harsh rear suspension that bumped me out of the saddle over some of the rough backroads, so I’d started looking for new rear units. However as the mileage has increased this stiffness has gone away. I don’t even think about the rear shocks anymore. After the 300 mile service I started using it 2 up and didn’t feel the need to add rear preload, as the miles went on I’ve needed to add preload for two up.
When new I’d just picked it up and was riding home over some unknown very backroad roads, I ended up having to stop on a steep uphill, offroad in a muddy ditch, thanks Mr range rover… The rear wheel lost traction initially in first and stepped out a bit, but then just gripped and the engine just plugged away and tractor’d me out of there. As someone who’d never ridden a long stroke single I was surprised how well it pulled, I didn’t need to slip the clutch or take any other action. I don’t know if this is just a trait of this machine or if it’s a single cylinder thing but I think it would be excellent for a beginner. I’ve had a few occasions like that now as this bike just encourages you to take the more adventures route. In Spain I ended up in a hilltop village in the Picos de Europa, where my sat nav was trying to make me do a loop back because I was of the route but I didn’t understand. I must have gone through every street in the tiny village, there were a couple that were a real lump in the throat moments, where I thought I can’t get down/up that… The bike/engine just plugged on through and made me feel stupid for doubting it. Must admit I’d have never made it on the trophy.
At about 1000 miles I added the DNA air filter cover but kept the standard filter. The reason was it was supposed to add a nice induction sound. It did and it also improved the throttle response, although now backing off the throttle can be a bit more sudden, but your brain gets used to it and adjusts your right hand in response.
I’ve added the givi pannier racks and rear carrier. Because of the lower max loading weight of an extra 184Kg I weighed the pannier frames (3KG tot for both) and the rear rack, 3KG, plus the top box plate 500gm. The panniers I use are kappa K22N (same as Givi E22N), 22 liters. They weigh approx 1.8Kg each, and on the rear I use an old triumph badged Givi E36N (36liter, 3.1KG) topbox. All to keep the extra weight down.
I’ve started to notice some links on the chain that are not straighten out as I turn the wheel, so stiff links, but as soon as I touch them they straighten with no resistance. They are not stiff as they rotate around the rear sprocket, but I have looked at a possible new chain from JT (X1R I think) which is X seal and only £48, so I might do that. The meteor runs a split link chain so easy to replace without specialist tools/cutting.

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After what you’ve gone through with your op, you’d probably laugh at what I call arthritic pain…
Glad you’ve found it helpful.

I’ve had rheumatoid for 20 years too, i feel yours and my pain :joy:

Turns out everyone is buying these meteors https://www.bennetts.co.uk/bikesocial/news-and-views/news/2022/august/best-selling-bikes-2022 bummer I thought I was unique and had ‘special’ tastes. Turns out I’m no different to the GS crowd.

But still have a healthier bank balance. :+1:

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Good point. Shame the GS is so expensive, now if they sold it for £4K perhaps it could regain it’s crown?