ROYAL ENFIELD

 Enfield Cycle Company Limited of Redditch, Worcestershire sold motorcycles, bicycles, lawnmowers, and stationary engines under the Royal Enfield brand name. Without the “Royal,” Enfield Cycle Company also used the name “Enfield.”

In 1901, the first Royal Enfield motorcycle created. The Royal Enfield Bullet, the longest-lasting motorcycle design in history, created and first manufactured by The Enfield Cycle Company.

In 1967, Velocette purchased the spare parts division of Royal Enfield. Velocette benefited from the deal for three years until closing in early 1971. Last remaining Enfield motorcycle company acquired by Norton Villiers in 1967, and it eventually went out of business in 1978.

HISTORY

In Redditch, George Townsend established a company in 1851 to manufacture sewing needles. His son George, who had the same name, began producing saddles and forks for manufacturers of bicycles in 1882. Complete bicycles being sold under the Townsend and Ecossais brands by 1886. In 1891, this company’s finances collapsed.

Townsend’s bankers chose Albert Eadie, sales manager Birmingham’s Perry & Co Ltd. producers of pens who had started providing parts for cycles, and Robert Walker Smith, an engineer from D. Rudge & Co, to oversee the company.The company re-incorporated in 1892 under the name Eadie Manufacturing Company Limited and had its headquarters in Snow Hill, Birmingham.

Later, in 1907, the Birmingham Small Arms Company acquired Eadie Manufacturing and its pedal-cycle component company following significant losses from their recently launched Enfield Autocar firm (BSA).

Years later, acquisition would “do wonders for the cycle department,” according to the BSA chairman in a statement to shareholders. When Raleigh acquired BSA’s cycling interests in 1957, Eadie still had its own distinct personality.

ENFIELD

Government’s long-running, Middlesex, with its branch in Sparkbrook, awarded Eadie contracts supply precision parts firearms,company adopted name Royal Enfield. New Enfield Cycle Company founded in 1896 handle portion of cycle work, in 1897 Enfield. Made entire cycles parts other assemblers. Took over all of Eadie’s cycle assembly duties.

Enfield expanded into motorbikes in 1901 and automobiles in 1902. The motor division transferred to a separate subsidiary, Enfield Autocar Company Limited, which built in new works at Hunt End, Redditch, and incorporated in 1906.Eadie surrendered his ownership of Eadie Manufacturing to BSA in early 1907 after Enfield Autocar, which had only been in operation for 19 months, reported a sizable deficit and, aside from Eadie himself, shareholders were unwilling to give additional funding. Before the proposed transaction offered to shareholders, Albert Eadie and Robert Walker Smith appointed as BSA directors. The newly formed BSA and Eadie company produced “motor-cars, (pedal) cycles and cycle components, sporting and military guns, and BSA and Eadie cycle specialties.” However, alongside BSA, there were still a few minor Eadie shareholders in 1957.

Enfield Autocar’s operations, including its facility and inventory, sold to Birmingham’s Alldays & Onions Pneumatic Engineering. [14] The Hunt End location taken over by Enfield Cycle Company.

Enfield Cycle Company and Madras Motors in India joined together to become Enfield of India in 1955. Enfield of India headquartered in Chennai and began producing the 350cc Royal Enfield Bullet motorcycle there. The earliest machines put together using English-imported parts. Enfield of India began acquiring the equipment required to produce components in India in 1957, and by 1962 all components produced there.

The eldest son of Robert Walker Smith, Frank Walker Smith (1888–1962), began working for Enfield Cycle Company in 1909. When his father passed away in 1933, he assumed sole duty as managing director after being appointed jointly (with his father) in 1914. After his passing, investors E & H P Smith purchased Enfield, which they later sold to Norton Villiers for £82,500. The assets of Enfield’s pedal cycle, parts, and diesel engine divisions not purchased, even though Norton Villiers bought 33% of Enfield India.

Up to its closure in early 1967, Royal Enfield’s Redditch facility produced bicycles. The ‘Revelation’ tiny wheeled, introduced by the company in 1965, was its final brand-new bicycle. Motorcycle production came to an end in 1970, and the original Redditch, Worcestershire-based business shut down in 1971.

In 1967, Velocette purchased the spare parts division of Royal Enfield. As a result of the deal, Velocette able to continue operating for an additional three years before being shut down in the early part of 1971. For a brief period, a small group of engineers working for West Bromwich metals merchant C C Cooper continued to make a small number of spare components.

Enfield of India kept making the “Bullet,” and in 1999 it started branding their motorcycles as “Royal Enfield.” In a case involving the use of the word “Royal,” trademark holder David Holder sued Enfield of India, which now makes motorcycles under the brand name Royal Enfield. Cafe Racers, Cruisers, Retros, and Adventure Tourers are among the models made and sold in India.

PRODUCTS

A quadricycle, which is a bicycle modified by the addition of a wrap-around four-wheeled frame and the retention of a rear rider-saddle and handlebars, produced by Royal Enfield by 1899. It had a front-mounted passenger seat and powered by a rear-mounted De Dion engine.

Enfield manufactured first motorbike 1901 with 239ccengine after experimenting with bulky bicycle frame fitted with Minerva engine strapped front downtube.

In 1903, either a French Ader V-twin or a De Dion single cylinder engine used to power a light car. A new business, the Enfield Autocar Co Ltd, with facilities in Hunt End, Redditch, took up the production of cars in 1906. The independent business only existed until 1908, when Alldays & Onions bought it.

Enfield and Birmingham’s Alldays & Onions Pneumatic Engineering Co. joined in 1907, and production of the Enfield-Allday vehicle commenced.

When chain drive and the Enfield 2 speed gear introduced in 1911, the 297 cc Swiss Motosacoche V-Twin engines used by Royal Enfield increased to 344 cc. Enfield entered the 1911 Isle of Man lightweight TT after hiring Bert Colver from Matchless.

The 770 cc V-twin JAP engine that powered the Royal Enfield Model 180 sidecar combo, which debuted in 1912, raced successfully at Brooklands and during the Isle of Man TT. Enfield created a mockup of the upcoming 1913 425cc model 140. The prototype, which had an overhead inlet and side exhaust configuration and likewise 344cc, made by Enfield in-house for the first time.

First World War (1914–1918)

1914, Enfield obtained motorcycle contract for Imperial Russian Government addition to providing significant quantity of motorcycles to British War Department. Enfield employed its own 425 cc V-twin engine and 225 cc two-stroke single engine. Additionally, they manufactured an 8 horsepower sidecar motorbike type with a Vickers machine gun.

Inter-war years (1921–1939)

Enfield created new 976cc twin in 1921,in 1924 it unveiled its first 350cc four-stroke single powered by Prestwich Industries engine. One of first businesses to use the bulbous “saddle” tanks with center-spring girder front forks was Royal Enfield in 1928. The business able to rely on reserves to survive the 1930s slump even though it was operating at a loss. One of the company’s founders, Albert Eadie, passed away in 1931, and his business partner, R.W. Smith, passed away not long after in 1933.

Second World War (1939–1945)

The British government requested The Enfield Cycle Company to create and produce military motorcycles during World War II. The WD/C 350 cc sidevalve, WD/CO350ccOHV, WD/D250ccSV, WD/G350ccOHV, and WD/L 570 cc SV versions made specifically for the military. 125cc 2-stroke RoyalEnfield WD/RE, intended to be dropped by parachute with airborne troops, one of the most well-known Enfields.

In an abandoned Bath stone quarry in Westwood, close to Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, an underground workshop built starting in 1942 in order to create a location not vulnerable to the wartime bombing of the Midlands. An estate of “prefabs” constructed in Westwood to house the several staff members who relocated from Redditch.

Along with making motorcycles, it also produced other military hardware including mechanical “predictors” for anti-aircraft gunnery; the constant temperature underground aided in the production of such highly precise equipment. The plant kept operating after the war, focusing on the production of engines and highly precise machining. Precision engineering work continued after Royal Enfield motorcycle manufacture stopped up until the company’s collapse.

Postwar Model G and Model J and ex-military C and CO (1946–1954)

Following the war, Royal Enfield started making the 500cc Model J and the 350cc Model G, both of which had sturdy rear frames and telescopic front forks. These were the most basic types for people who commute by car. As they were being sold off as surplus by various military services, a sizable number of factory-reconditioned ex-military sv Model C and ohv Model CO singles were also made available for purchase. 

Rear suspension springing, a revolutionary invention made in 1948, was first designed for competition model “trials” models (current enduro type machines), but it was quickly made available for the road-going Model Bullet 350cc, a single cylinder OHV. This product, which provided a comfortable ride, was very well-liked. Shortly after, a 500cc variant was released. Manufacturing rights, jigs, dies, and equipment for a mid-1950s version of the Bullet were sold to India for manufacture there, where evolved versions are still produced today.

500 Twins, Meteors, Super Meteors and Constellations 1949–1963

The parallel twins, which are currently a hot commodity, made their debut in 1949 as a Royal Enfield design. 500cc model served as prototype for several different Royal Enfield Meteor models, including the 700cc Super Meteor and 700cc Constellation. These sold well, if somewhat quietly in repute, due to their reasonable price and good performance. As the first superbike, the 700cc Royal Enfield Constellation Twin called.

250 cc models

In the UK, the 250cc class was significant because it was the biggest engine a “learner” could operate without completing a test. Royal Enfield developed a number of 250 cc motorcycles in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including the “GP” racer and the “Moto-X,” a scrambler with a modified Crusader frame, leading link suspension, and a Villiers Starmaker engine. The Crusader, a 248 cc pushrod OHV single with 18 horsepower, the best-selling tourer and the base model (13 kW).With a red GRP tank, a five-speed transmission (which also an option on the Crusader), clip-on handlebars, rearset footrests, sweeping exhaust, and a hump-backed seat, the 21 horsepower (16 kW) Continental GT introduced in 1965. With its race-inspired design, which included a flyscreen that resembled a race number plate and served as a front number plate mount, it did well in the market.

The Avon “Speedflow” full sports fairing was an optional extra and came in complimentary red and white factory colours.

Other variations included Olympic, 250 Super 5, and 250 “Turbo Twin,” which used Villiers 247 cc twin cylinder two-stroke engine place of other 250 road models’ traditional telescopic forks.

The Manx Grand Prix the first race where the Royal Enfield GP production-volume racer used in September 1964. Royal Enfield Racing Manager Geoff Duke helped develop it, first public presentation took place Earls Court Show in November 1964. 250cc two-stroke single engine similar to other small capacity race machines offered by rivals Greeves, Cotton, DMW, and especially Villiers, which provided the engines for these marques and many other manufacturers and bike-builders, including the “Starmaker” competition engine used for the Scorpion racer and Sprite scrambler. The engine also used a duplex-tube frame, leading link forks, and a one-piece tank and seat unit.

Royal Enfield Interceptor

English companies made last try during assault of Japanese motorcycle manufacturers in 1960s-1970s with 692cc Interceptor(1960–1961) 736cc Series I,SeriesII Interceptors(1962–1968). It primarily designed for the US market and had a lot of chrome. It was fast, finishing the quarter-mile in under 13 seconds at speeds well over 175 km/h (105 mph). This gained popularity in US, but manufacturer unable to meet demand, hastening downfall of final Royal Enfield built in England.

British Enfield came to an end when Redditch factory stopped producing in 1967 and Bradford-on-Avon factory shut down in 1970. A little over 200 Series II Interceptor engines abandoned at the dock in 1970 after the facility shut down. Engines destined Floyd Clymer in US, but Clymer passed away, Mitchell’s of Birmingham left in charge of disposing of engines. For a frame, they consulted the Rickman brothers. The Rickman brothers’ primary issue engine supplies, right once a small number of Rickman Interceptors constructed.

Enfield Indians

Brockhouse Corporation, which controlled Indian Sales Corporation and stopped producing all American Indians in Springfield facility 1953. Royal Enfields red and marketed them in the US as Indian Motorcycles from 1955 to 1959. However, the badge engineering did not impress Americans, and the marketing arrangement ended in 1960. As of 1961, Royal Enfields sold in the US under their own brand. Like its American forebears, the largest Enfield “Indian” a 700 cc twin known as the Chief.

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