On a freeway, my 2011 G5 seems to be happiest running around 58-62 mph.
At that speed, it can just purr along for hours.
At 65-70 I can tell it is working pretty hard and even though it can reach an indicated 80 at speeds over 70 it is about out of breath.
That's with just me in the saddle and I weigh about 155 pounds.
Although the engine has been redesigned and can take these freeway speeds, it is still an old fashioned single cylinder 500cc thumper and its power is about the same as the bikes built in 1955 when a speed over 60 mph was considered fast.
("My God! He's going at a mile a minute!"
)
It's just a personal opinion but I would shy away from the non kick starter bikes.
Just today after leaving my bike unattended for 5 days it was sulking and didn't want to start using the electric starter. My using the kickstarter must have told it 'I still love you' so it fired up on the third attempt. Definitely a nice feature to have.
From an American point of view where a vehicle goes into production and is only changed if some major problem surfaces, the Indian built Royal Enfield is rather unique.
They are constantly incorporating small improvements into the bikes during production.
For instance, a bike like mine only a few years older has a wiring harness in the headlight nacelle that looked like a total snarl. The harness in mine looks like a tidy rat's nest.
Perhaps a better example is the oil filter cap.
The older ones consist of the cap, a spring, a metal plate (filter bypass) and they are all loose pieces. This makes changing the filter a pain in the ass.
They redesigned it by adding a thru bolt and packing so the newer ones are 'unitized' making an oil filter change quite easy.
Buying a newer bike gets the owner newer, better designs and parts.
Anyway, you seem to understand that the Bullet is an old fashioned bike with a low powered thump and I'm sure your going to really love it.
It is the essence of motor biking from a time when riding was a pleasure rather than an 'on the edge' experience.