Made like a Gun- A Long Term Ownership Review of My Classic 350

It is heavy.
Cumbersome at times.
And a fuel guzzler.
Wobbly at speeds of more than 60.
And with the winter kicking in,the usual starting drills of pulling the choke becomes all the more a necessity.Compare it with the reliability of the Jap bikes, and that too leaves a lot of questions unanswered.Look into the motorcycle closely and chances are that there elements that require re-engineering.
And that is how an Enfield is,if you have bought it ONLY as a vehicle to shorten distances.

It was quite sometime since I had booked it and there I was thumping my way through the city traffic one evening, more than 6 months later.It was a Classic and Black in colour and looked lovely all the more with the gleaming chrome.It has been more than a year and a half now that I have owned it and everytime I rev the throttle, and the meaty thump of the exhaust beats, I can't help but grin. An Enfield is much more than mere technicalities - it is a timeless piece of machinery.

Back to figures:
The Classic 350 returns an overall mileage of 35-36km/litre in the city, where I usually stick to speeds of around 50km/hr, beyond which all the parts of the motorcycle literally rock - right from the mirrors to the handle to the entire frame. The best speeds to enjoy it is 40-50 and you get that trademark Royal Enfield thump.It feels planted on the roads

Breakdowns Beware:
Over the entire duration of owning it, there were a couple of times when it broke down - once in the garage, when it refused to start and the earlier time, it all of a sudden broke down in the middle of the road.It was then that it feels how much cumbersome an Enfield can be. Breakdown situations can be tricky because hauling such a beast over to the nearest garage is physically taxing.

The Feeling and The Attention:
I had learnt riding on my Enfield.It is my first motorcycle and after all this time, it now feels like my second skin.From a trip to the bazaar or the nearby mudir dokan or office commute, the Classic is a part of me.And boy the attention that it commands is overwhelming.When compared with other motorcycles, an Enfield certainly has its fair share of discrepancies but what they have is CHARACTER.And that is evident once you are out with it on the road.

Epilogue:
I bought my Classic despite owning a car.It does not provide you a cover from the rain or the wind.It is risky, anything on two wheels, is.But riding it gives me a sense of joy and owning an Enfield was one of the dreams of mine.Enough can be said and written, but in the end:
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do"(Mark Twain)