Unofficial Royal Enfield Community Forum
Royal Enfield Motorcycles => Bullet with the UCE engine => Topic started by: Monty on October 15, 2011, 12:26:24 am
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Just saw the new color RE is offering for the military...Great looking bike, might have to pick one up.
Thank RE for making a bike in the desert color
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I haven't decided yet. The darker color was cool, maybe the lighter color will grow on me. Sure makes the bike look a lot different, then again I'm not a big fan of military stuff.
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Glad they finally took my advice on that ......
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Just My Opinion,
The military color looks great, however, a true "military " bike would have ZERO chrome, as they did not want to be seen at night. Think of all the money RE could save if they didn't have to chrome anything!
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From the complaints about the chrome I've read, they come damn close to zero already.
As many of you know, I live in Phoenix where rain almost never occurs.
The only water I recall riding thru was a short patch where the underground water line had forced water up thru the pavement.
I have only ridden thru this puddle 3 times in the last 2 months and yet as I looked under the bottom side of my torpedo muffler I spotted 3 areas with some rust showing. :(
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Just My Opinion,
The military color looks great, however, a true "military " bike would have ZERO chrome, as they did not want to be seen at night. Think of all the money RE could save if they didn't have to chrome anything!
The older models had green wheels and green/black engines. I think the earliest UCE Military's off the line had green wheels (a friend has one) but now they are chrome. Economy of scale, the painted ones are more expensive since they are such a small minority of the production. Cheaper to make everything chrome.
Zero chrome with a black exhaust would look way cool but even just getting rid of the chrome wheels and polished side covers would be a huge improvement.
Scott
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I like the green better, but the brown/tan isn't bad. Also, count me in with the no chrome crowd. I like the old iron barrel military (I also liked the hard cases on it) but the chrome on the new one looks out of place. I can definitely understand the economies of scale argument, but it is a shame. I suppose blacking out the pipe, side cases, indicators, and wheels wouldn't be too hard and would help quite a bit.
Maybe they'll make one with the old German grey next. Wait, would that be wrong? Couldn't be any more wrong than Daimler building Jeeps.
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Kevin,
Is this a color that is going to stick around or is it a special color with limited run
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The older models had green wheels and green/black engines. I think the earliest UCE Military's off the line had green wheels (a friend has one) but now they are chrome. Economy of scale, the painted ones are more expensive since they are such a small minority of the production. Cheaper to make everything chrome.
Zero chrome with a black exhaust would look way cool but even just getting rid of the chrome wheels and polished side covers would be a huge improvement.
Scott
I recall reading the issue with the painted wheels was, as you would expect, they chip and rust more than chrome, and their were customer complaints.
Presumably there are other options like powder coating but they are not economical at present.
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Just My Opinion,
The military color looks great, however, a true "military " bike would have ZERO chrome, as they did not want to be seen at night. Think of all the money RE could save if they didn't have to chrome anything!
Get out the rattle can ;) ..... it can look like the one that I built with painted cases, etc .... which really IS right for a military machine .....
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There is no way to tell how long the color might last. The painted rims were discontinued for many reasons but customer complaints were the main factor. Actually paint and powdercoating are cheaper than the plating. The C5 frames are powercoated for example and the factory has a brand new paint booth so neither is a problem. I have seen entire powdercoated bikes as the factory as part of a series of experiments. At the end of the day because customers objected to any little mar, ding or signs of a tyre being installed the factory decided to discontinue it. Very difficult to touch up. It was the same with the engine. The engine was painted with a spray gun but was not baked for obvious reasons unlike the rest of the paint. It came off pretty easily and of course got banged up pretty easily. I always thought that all of this was consistent with the look of a Military bike. They were painted that way back in the day to camouflage them sort of, not to win a bike show. However.....I am not the customer however and the customers ruled.
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Wehrmacht grey would be a nice colour.
If you add a swastika, you could get in to all sorts of arguments with those who only know the swastika from the Nazi's and not as a peace symbol, from where it was hijacked.
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LOL the Swastika would sell well here in India where as you point out it is a peaceful symbol.
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Wehrmacht grey would be a nice colour.
If you add a swastika, you could get in to all sorts of arguments with those who only know the swastika from the Nazi's and not as a peace symbol, from where it was hijacked.
Oddly the people who argue its a peace symbol usually turn out to know nothing about Hindu or Buddist beliefs and actally want to use the NSDAP version on a tee shirt, in computer games or on a historic WWII vehicle :D
The appropriate Third Riech symbol for the "desert storm" color would be the Afrika Corp emblem with the palm tree over the swastika in a circle. However as Enfields are of British origin presumably Montgomery's 8th army would be the best option.
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The Swastika is also a symbol of the sun from ancient S. American Indian cultures.
Still, I feel that that particular adornment would be misunderstood by most.
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How about a big ole yella smiley face. Its understood the world over as a peaceful sign.
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I did a Luftcroissen on my CJ750 in desert tan ..... it looks good and didn't cause too much controversy ......
(http://file:///C:/Users/Scooterbob/Documents/scooterbob/old%20sb%20website/scooterbob/images/DAK_Solo_1.JPG)
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Here is a pic that I had on the hard drive .....
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I do not recall the Balkan Cross being used on Motorcycles much. It was relatively common on armored vehicles and aircraft but not so much motorcycles.
If you want to do Deutsch Afrika Korp but want to avoid the swastika one of the better solutions is to replace the Swastika normally in the center of the Palm Tree insignia with the initials DAK.
(http://www.soldierandwar.com/soldierandwar/images/shirts/TshirtAfrikaFrontclose.jpg)
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I do not recall the Balkan Cross being used on Motorcycles much. It was relatively common on armored vehicles and aircraft but not so much motorcycles.
If you want to do Deutsch Afrika Korp but want to avoid the swastika one of the better solutions is to replace the Swastika normally in the center of the Palm Tree insignia with the initials DAK.
(http://www.soldierandwar.com/soldierandwar/images/shirts/TshirtAfrikaFrontclose.jpg)
You are correct - I don't think it was ever on anything either - but it "LOOKS" like it's supposed to be there - and again - not offensive on a daily driver. SOME people get all upset over wanton display of any WWII German symbols .... And that DAK Palm Tree has been on the nose of a couple of CJ desert rigs that I sold ..... I happen to LIKE that one!
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The frame on my Nortless was powdercoated. I wasn't terribly impressed by it's durability. I didn't particularly think it was any better then a regular old paint job. My only impression was that it was easier to get an even layer on, but there wasn't any difference in the paint once it as applied.
bare
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The frame on my Nortless was powdercoated. I wasn't terribly impressed by it's durability. I didn't particularly think it was any better then a regular old paint job. My only impression was that it was easier to get an even layer on, but there wasn't any difference in the paint once it as applied.
bare
I'm not a huge fan of powder coating either .... on the older bikes that I do, I apply the lacquer on the frame with a red sable brush - just like the factory did. It's durable, easy to touch up and IF you ever have to get into it again - easy to REMOVE ...... "just paint" wins for me ....
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Powder coat was originally intended to be applied over a manganese phosphate coated substrate I.E. parkerized metal.
Done in that fashion it will not peel and is near indestructible.
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I don't like the tan look at all. It's very hard to find the proper mud color to run the bike through to touch up the paint job. I have a C5 military and find that most of the mud puddles here are pretty close to OD green and so having the tan would ruin the look in these parts. I've had the bike for 5 months and have yet to wash it. Plus I have the powder coated wheels and can't imagine having chrome. Please Kevin, keep the whells OD green! :o
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http://www.vmccnorwich.co.uk/16Hweb.jpg
From the 8th Army..
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http://www.vmccnorwich.co.uk/16Hweb.jpg
From the 8th Army..
My WM20 BSA aspires to be that bike again .... Hahaha!
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I've had the bike for 5 months and have yet to wash it.
Ducati Dark is just like that. Dirt doesn't show much on the flat black. I washed it once a year before I put it away for the winter. Then I stopped putting it away for the winter so avoided that pesky chore altogether :)
Scott
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Ducati Dark is just like that. Dirt doesn't show much on the flat black. I washed it once a year before I put it away for the winter. Then I stopped putting it away for the winter so avoided that pesky chore altogether :)
Scott
Atta BOY!!
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I don 't feel bad not washing my bike, I don't feel ashamed either. I'm basically just GD lazy, and proud of it. OD green works for me!
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I don 't feel bad not washing my bike, I don't feel ashamed either. I'm basically just GD lazy, and proud of it. OD green works for me!
Hmmmmmm - I could have written that!! Hahahaha!!
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Way to go scooter, we are two green peas in a pod apparently.
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;D ;D ;D ;D ;D