I'm in the UK and am considering a new Enfield but I am appalled at James' and others experiences. The recall was bad enough, okay that happens, but worse is the damage done to the bike during the repair work with apparently no comment from the dealer or importer. Then there's the continuing mechanical problems.
After all the inconvenience forced on customers by the lengthy recall, you'd think that they would have gone out of their way to make sure it ran perfectly upon return and fitted new engine cases where the old ones were damaged by them, plus corrected any other damage due to their work. Outrageous behaviour and contempt for a customer spending £4,500 on a new bike.
This whole thing has made me reconsider whether I should go ahead or not and I really feel for for those owners who have been put through this ordeal yet even after all that, still ended up with a substandard damaged bike due to the poor service from WS or whoever did the work.
What happened to James has confirmed a fear expressed by some recall owners that their bikes just wouldn't be the same as the later VIN bikes which do not require recall. And even assuming the damage can be rectified, which seems difficult from what James says, there may well be a stigma on recall models, a feeling that they are not as good as those manufactured with later VINs where the gearbox fix was done from new.
I know that buying a new model now avoids that problem, but the fear is that if something else major happens, the quailty of service leaves a lot to be desired.