[palace15]

 Well then, out of all the bikes on the market why did you choose the Enfield?

Reasons you did not!
Price...............................can be matched and bettered by many.
economy.........................." "    "   "   "     "    "     "     "    "      " "
Speed............................... you must be joking!
reliability........................... pretty fair, but certainly better out there.
Handling............................Its no Ducati.

I once had a 500 AJS, I fancied a new bike and I was hoping the Enfield sounded, and rode very much like the old 'AJ' and to be honest I am not disappointed.
so what was the deciding factor for you guys? especially the younger owners who probably don't remember much about the old brit iron, There were still a few old brit bikes on the road when I started riding but it was, like it still is, mainly Jap.

[Ducati Scotty]

There's nothing else like it out there that you can buy new.  Nothing.

Scott

[palace15]

I don't know how old you are but are you old enough to have had British bike experiences? The only downside for me is electric start only(C5) and too many 'electrics' in general, if it was not for the poxy Euro emissions a C5 with a carb would have been great.

[fzr400]

to save my license

[Ducati Scotty]

I don't know how old you are but are you old enough to have had British bike experiences? The only downside for me is electric start only(C5) and too many 'electrics' in general, if it was not for the poxy Euro emissions a C5 with a carb would have been great.

No, I'm 42 and didn't start riding street bikes until about 12 years ago.  Some days I want the kicker and other days I like the clean look without it.  I'm old enough to have started on carbs and moved on to EFI, I'm at home with both.  I prefer EFI because it's so much simpler once you understand it.  That said, it's generally less approachable for the backyard mechanic who wants to tinker so I understand why some people want a carb.

I like the UCE bikes, perfect combo of old and new.  Old where classy looks and simple mechanicals give it character but new with brakes that stop the bike and an engine that doesn't need fusiing with all the time.  I'm old enough to value my time.  I like to wrench but I like to ride more.

Oh, and when my Ducati was totalled (no accident, someone just knocked it over) it seemed like a great time to move to something a little more tame that didn't beg me to seek every apex of every trurn.  The RE is a fun bike to ride at moderate speeds.  I need that since I have very little self control.

Scott

[fzr400]

have you pushed a ducati?  mr. rossi and hayden are sure having trouble.  k

[MegaMoo]

This is my first bike ever (C5). I wanted to learn how to ride but didn't want to buy a big bike that would be hard to master. I also didn't want a sports bike so started looking at cruiser types. After looking at a few I decided that I didn't really like the way the rider sits on a cruiser, the seat height of most is low (I'm 6' 2) and they are often a bit too showoffy, not my style.

I had an image in my mind of the 70's British style bikes so started looking at those. Then saw the Triumph Bonneville but thought the 850cc engine would be a bit powerful to learn on (I will still own one in addition to my RE one day!). Next I saw was the RE and fell instantly in love. Understated but different and cool. The fact that people were saying it was a 500 but not too fast sounded perfect to me. The speed limit in Nassau is 45 miles per hour on the "highway" and about 30 miles on the rest of the roads so cruising around on my Enfield is simply amazing!

[barenekd]

Not being a Ducati fan, I can certainly bypass that one.
Frankly, I'm quite happy with the handling. If I were looking for ultimate handling, I'd look for another Superbike. Does not include Ducatis. But then I'd be more uncomfortable, and the economy wouldn't be there.
Unless you're riding a moped, there isn't much that is more economical than an RE.
Speed? It's fast enough to get a ticket, if you work at it.
I have no complaints with my bike's reliability.
The price was fine as far as I was concerned. I could've gotten a lot of other stuff cheaper, but they just don't have the panache.
I had been looking at these since they started importing them over here. I'm sorry I waited so long to get one. I coulda been having all this fun for years! This bike will definitely be near the top of the list of favorites that I've owned., maybe at it. It keeps getting higher.

Bare 

[Kevin Mahoney]

I first bought three bikes. One for me, one for my buddy Manley and one for us to sell to pay for ours. We opened the first crate in my basement (drive in basement). It was a Blue Deluxe. When I first saw it I was overwhelmed. Within two hours I had decided to try to make a go of Royal Enfield USA and worked out a deal with the then distributor. I still feel that way when I see one. I have had and still have a lot of bikes including a 2002 Bonneville. None of them are as much fun nor as nice looking but I am not a neutral party.

[Arizoni]

I grew up in the '50's and early 60's and always liked the looks of the British bikes.

The Royal Enfield is the only new motorcycle that still looks just as it did back then so when I decided to buy a new motorcycle it was the obvious choice for me.

I considered buying an old Triumph or BSA but I found parts for those can be pretty expensive.
They also have the same life they had back in the '50's.  It was very uncommon back then for a motorcycle to go 10,000 miles without needing a total overhaul.  Come to think about it, some of them back in those days needed rebuilding after only 5,000 miles.
I can live without that sort of hassle.

I do wish RE offered a 750 vertical twin like the old Interceptor series but the 500 fits my riding style and will do everything I want except riding at 80-85 mph to keep up with the other vehicles on the Interstate highways.

Before buying my 2011 G5 I also considered a new Triumph Bonneville and although they are big vertical twins they just don't seem to have the old school look.
Their prices are also several thousand dollars higher than the RE.

Of course, after putting 5000+ miles on my G5 I have not given up on the idea of buying a Triumph but if I do I have no doubts that the RE is going to be parked right next to it and it (the RE) will probably get ridden more often.

There are absolutely no new Japanese bikes I would want to own.
They are either crotch rockets, hump backs or poor imitations of a Harley cruiser.
Speaking of Harleys, they are just too damn big.  I like a bike that is fairly light and very responsive.  The RE fits that wish.  Harleys don't

The RE is just a very fun bike to ride and the maintenance and insurance costs are low enough to make it a keeper.

[Ducati Scotty]

I should say, I think Kawasaki still makes the W650 and I know the make the W800, but they're not sold in the US.  I would have looked at those for sure if they were available here.  They are more like the old Triumphs than the new Triumphs.

Scott

[ace.cafe]

I liked the idea of having a vintage bike that I could still buy brand new parts at the dealer.

[Ayers Garage]

I'm the opposite of all you guys. My last bike which I sold to buy the Enfield was a Triumph Bonneville. I rode it a lot and it was perfect. Zero maintenance issues, zero repairs. Absolutely nothing but fresh oil every so often. Lots of week long road trips and commuting.

I hated it. The bike had no soul. I was going to buy a Scrambler, but after my first Triumph purchase, I vowed to never use that dealer again and there's only one local Triumph dealer around here to shop with.

[wildbill]

My purchase was a bit different from most. I went out to buy an old 67 MGB sporty - couldn't get the owner to negotiate on the price so i decided to buy a motorcycle.
I knew about the Royal Enfields - I had the 4 speed right gear change iron barrel 4 years ago. hated it - really hated it and sold it within two weeks.
Looking about on utube I saw the UCE model. Ticked all the right boxes -fuel injected-electric/kick start-left gear change.....................Old bike world charm which still looks good.
The rest is history and I'm very happy with the bike. That much  if the cafe racer comes our way .......I'm very interested. not as a replacement but a new addition.
Guess I've got the bug!

[Hobbydad]

Your first two points where actually major considerations for me. Price & economy. How many street bikes (cruisers) offer this style & displacement for the money? I looked and there are almost none. You can find cheaper sure, if you want a modern style and half the displacement, but there's really nothing like the Enfield at it's price point.

I did in fact look for a Ducati Hypermotard, couldnt find the color (had to be red), and didn't want to drive 2-3 hours to look at one. I also made 2 trips to a local Harley dealer, but I must not have looked like I could afford one, because I was ignored both times. But really, the bottom line was that both bikes where almost twice what I wanted to spend.

As for economy, even if the bike gets 60 mpg, that's all I could ask. Much better than my Avalanche getting 12 mpg, and I think that's easily up to modern bike standards.

But having said all that, if I where asked why and had to give the most basic one word answer, because it's cool. Really cool.