Author Topic: 1955 trailblazer  (Read 2371 times)

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AB55TB

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on: April 20, 2013, 03:34:03 am
Ok I'm new to this forum,royal enfield bike, until my friend found one...he claims its a 1955 royal enfield Indian 500cc trailblazer is this model legit?
I'm helping him in the restoration of this bike, an any help in what to look for would be helpful...like any email addresses or sites that may have diagrams or exploded views of the engine, or whole bike, thanks again for any help   ;D


High On Octane

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Reply #1 on: April 20, 2013, 05:28:36 am
Welcome to the forum!    :)

The Trailblazer is a 700cc twin motor.  I'm just finishing up a full restoration of my '58 Trailblazer, I knew nothing about it until I joined this forum.  If you go back though all my different posts since November of 2012, you'll learn pretty much everything you need to know about the bike.  I learned everything I needed to know with the help of this forum.  The '55 will have a few minor differences, but are essentially the same bike.

Scottie
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Arizoni

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Reply #2 on: April 20, 2013, 05:45:17 am
The book "Royal Enfield- By Miles The Best" shows the 1955 Trailblazer as a 692cc twin with the "Indian" logo on the fuel tank.

Other "Indian" imports that year include the 248cc Fire Arrow single, the 499cc Woodsman single and the 496cc Tomahawk twin.

While Royal Enfield was exporting "Indian" motorcycles complete with their bright red Indian Red paint jobs to the USA, at home they were building the 150cc Ensign 2 stroke single, the 250cc OHV Clipper single, the G2 350 Bullet single, the JS 500 Bullet single, the 500 Twin, 692cc Meteor twin and a 350cc Bullet Short Circuit Racer single for Great Britain and the rest of the world.
Jim
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rotorwrench

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Reply #3 on: April 21, 2013, 06:49:15 pm
The 1955 model year was the first for the Brockhouse Indian model line. They were all manufactured by Royal Enfield for John Brockhouse (an importer that ended up owning Indian Sales Corp when it came out of bankruptcy). The Trailblazer and the Tomahawk were different in several ways other than engine displacement. The Tomahawks always had the classic RE casquette on the tripple tree and they always had the battery ignition in some form (all Lucas). The early ones had the distributor dyno set up. The alternator didn't show up for another year or so. They had the short swing arm and a narrower fuel tank than the Trailblazer. The early ones had the small bore pistons that are harder to source than the 58 & later models. You can check out Phil's web-site RE-Indian.com if you haven't already. It gives a few details from factory literature.
« Last Edit: April 23, 2013, 01:05:47 am by rotorwrench »


AB55TB

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Reply #4 on: April 22, 2013, 03:50:11 am
 :)Thanks a lot of the info was very helpful...I hope to pass
This on to my friend to help him better understand his bike...thanks to all!