[TCP]

For all Vintage owners.

I am running a thread on UCE and Campfire relative to the average age of RE Owners.

Vintage and retro is what appeals to my aesthetic sensibility.  I am 49, and wondered how the RE brand would be carried on after the old guard is no longer able to sit upright.

Responses have been interesting so far, so forgive me if I intrude and ask you to participate in my little survey.

Current average age of RE owner is 51.49 years.

There is a definite trend going on here.

If you have contributed to this survey on one of the other threads, I apologize for the redundancy.


The Caseman

[rotorwrench]

I'm right on the dot in the average age bracket but I've owned one of my RE-Indians since I was 20. I've never owned a single model yet. All of mine are twins.
One 500cc type, two 700cc types, and one 750 type as well as all the partial bitsas in the pile.

[TCP]

I'll put you in at 51.

At 20, that would have been around 1980 ish.

You had a collectors eye at a young age.

That's about when I got my first Triumph.  Still have it.

Thanks.

Caseman

[rotorwrench]

I grew up on a farm in western Kansas. Wichita was several hours away and Denver even further. All I was used to seeing back in those days were the usual HDs, Japanese bikes, and an occasional Triumph or Norton. When I found my first Indian Trailblazer, I was amazed that such a thing existed. It was a Brit bike that was built like a tank with classic motorcycle lines that were still being used by Japanese manufacturers and the few British manufacturer's that still existed in those days and they were made back in the 50s.

The 50 bucks that I paid for it also had a bit to do with my first purchase. The thing I didn't know was how dificult it was going to be to find information and parts back in the days before computers and cell phones. Back then you sent a self addressed stamped envelope and hoped you got back what you were looking for. That and a lot of land line phone calls to places you've never heard of before. I've found more of the hard to get parts in the past 4 or 5 years than in all the years since 1980 to that point. I have learned a lot about the machines though over the years. Many of the ones who have given me information over the years have all gone on to the happy Indian hunting ground.

[TCP]

Must have been extremely difficult back before the days of internet access.

Before I started working on the restoration of my '69 Bonnie, I thought that parts for a 40 year old motorcycle might be near impossible to find.

How wrong I was, as every part is avvailable through multiple sources domestic and otherwise.

Thanks Al Gore for inventing it (internet that is).

[Lwt Big Cheese]

You forgot the sarcasm emoticon.   

[bullethead63]

Before I started working on the restoration of my '69 Bonnie, I thought that parts for a 40 year old motorcycle might be near impossible to find.

My friend Joel is currently restoring a 1969 Bonneville,while our friend Guy is restoring a 1969 Tiger...lot's of the same parts on those bikes,BUT...lot's of "one year only" parts,as well...$$$...parts are available,but not cheap...part of my reason for buying Iron Barrel models...lot's of cheap parts on eBay,24/7/365...my 1959 Indian Chief,however,is proving to be a bit more difficult...very few parts available,even fewer repro parts... ...oh well...1,000,000 Harley's out there; I'll have the only '59 Chief in town!

[TCP]

Yes, you will have the only '59 Chief.  Keep at it.  Preserve that bit of history you have in your hands.


LWT.  My Emoticons just won't work.  Maybe out of protest.

[Gunner]

I turned 58 in November last.

The Chief has been a bugger to find parts for...not Enfield parts..but model specific parts..so Im having to fabricate some from scratch. Dashboard, etc etc.

The 72 Triumph Tiger..parts are everywhere for it.

The 73 BMW..parts are available..for the cost of ones first born child....

[royaloilfield]

Im 39 have owned enfields since 1993..The first being a 1969 interceptor that i got for free!  I too remember trying to find information back then!  Waiting for the North American Newsletter to show up with 6 pages of precious information!  Very few people even knew what a Royal Enfield was! brian

[TCP]

Still the same.

Almost nobody knows what a RE is.

Of the dozens of people who have stopped to comment on the bike, only 2 seemed to know what it was, and I think one of them was bluffing.

Caseman

[bullethead63]

I turned 58 in November last.

The Chief has been a bugger to find parts for...not Enfield parts..but model specific parts..so Im having to fabricate some from scratch. Dashboard, etc etc.

The 72 Triumph Tiger..parts are everywhere for it.

The 73 BMW..parts are available..for the cost of ones first born child....

The Chief and Trailblazer share a LOT of parts,but the Chief has the most model-specific "non-Enfield" parts...my dash is cracked,and if not easily repaired,I'll have to fab one...I'll PM you,specifically...

[Gunner]

Many thanks Gearhead. Be advised..I do TIG aluminum as well as MIG it.
Fixing cracks is easy. Making them pretty..is much harder <G>

Gunner

[carlo]

I'm 62. (don't feel old though)

I've been somewhat obsessed with Royal Enfields ever since I saw an ad in Cycle  World Magazine in 1968. I was 18 years old, and had yet to buy my first motorcycle.

The ad read "20 mph or 120 mph, have power to spare on a Royal Enfield". By then, the only model they sold in the US was the Interceptor.
There were  other ads which called it the only factory customized motorcycle, and "the Rolls-Royce of motorcycles", a moniker which I was much later to learn belonged to the Brough-Superior.
3 years after I got my first motorcycle in 1969 (a Yamaha YDS3 Catalina 250), I had a chance to buy a basket case Interceptor.
In those days, there really weren't a lot of parts sources, even though there were many stashes of parts hidden away.. Things like seats, un-hacksawed fenders, mufflers, gas tanks, were hard to find. Engine parts, and tune-up parts were a phone call and a few days away though,  so I kept mine running, even if it had a Triumph gas tank and forks, a custom Cobra seat, generic Dunlop fenders....

Hoping to come up with the right parts to restore my  '66 Interceptor to original form, whenever one of these parts stashes turned up while I had money in my pocket, I bought them.
The funny thing was, there still weren't a lot of original fenderrs, gas tanks, seats, or other parts like that.
Thanks to Enfield India and companies like Hitchcock's and Burton's, reproduction  original parts are now available if you have the money.