Thunder comes in big packages. Review on Bullet ThunderBird

Ah you want to buy an enfield. Maybe you are a hard core bulleteer or have suddenly realized that you need a bigger bike with mean looks. Whatever be your reason you must have read hundreds of reviews and queried hundreds of innocent bystanders and driven a few of the people at the showrooms nuts. Bulleteers kept telling you "Why that's not a bullet" and you keep telling yourself "yeah but it does look bloody good and the mileage does help too". Well as a person who has been there done that let me chip in my .02$.

Opinion among the bulleteers is that the TB is not a true bullet - Agreed since the original and now the standard are  Cast Iron engines and have gears on the right side. Frankly I don't give a tiny rats posterior about this. The bike sets out to do well in the areas that its supposed to have been designed for and that is why I was interested in the bike in the first place.

Lets see whether we can address a few common questions that keep popping into peoples mind when trying to decide.

1. What does it cost and ES/DB ?

I have purchased this quite recently from the royal enfield showroom at Bandra,Mumbai and the cost was 99018 for an Electric Start & Disk Break version. Add the front knee guard and the price comes to about 99500. Go for the ES and DB you will not regret it. I had an injured right leg for a few days and without the ES I would have further compounded the problem. DB is manadatory for even the smallest amount of City driving.

1. Mileage : Too early to say but on a proper maintained bike the mileage has been known to be between 39-45 on a highways. And these are user claims and not company brochure that we are talking about. But for a 350cc bike these figures are damn good

   
   




2. City Handling : Needless to say highway handling is a breeze and the bike does keep wobble free straight at higher speeds. But the city handling is what we are interested about and quite frankly the bike handle quite nimbly without a pillion, its almost feather touch there. It could be because I have driven in mumbai for 3 years now but I like to beleive that its possible that a new rider could also get into the groove in a few rides.

   
   

Though with a pillion and a really bad traffic snarl prepare to loose a lot of weight sweating profusely.

1. Maintenance : Come on admit it, this is what you really want to know. The TB has on successive iterations become better as most of the initial user complaints have been taken care of and the bike is in its 5th year now and is hassle free compared to its Cast Iron cousins.  But since the no two bikes are the same it all depends on the cards that fate has handed out to you. As omnious as that might sound its not that bad and you will be pleasently surprised. I have not had "bullet" leaks yet and everything has still held together. Stick to the service schedule and read the bullet user manual every night before going to seep and you should be OK. Also since this bike has a lot of Chrome/Shiny parts on it it means you will have to wipe it clean regularly and a weekly wash and polish is a must. It does mean that you will spend more time with your bike than human beings. But really who cares :)

   
   




2. Sound : Does it sound like the bullet ? NO it does not have the trademark bullet thump but a change of silencers should bring the sounds pretty close. Though don't fool urself into thinking that it can ever sound the same, these are totally different machines that we are talking about.

   
   




3. Kickstart - After having heard of tales of people getting decapitated trying to kick start an enfield you thought the ES was the only thing stopping you from loosing you foot. Well the KS on the TB will be one of the first things that the guy at the showroom will show you and 100 out of 100 times you will get it right the first time. There is just one extra step of decompression that you need to do otherwise its a nomal kicker no magic there am afraid.

   
   




4. Seating : Am afraid but the stock seating that comes with the bike isn't vrey comfortable though compared to the pulsar that I used tro ride the "pain" sets in after 3-4  times as much distance :) This will be the first thing to change once I am out of the warranty period.

   
   




5. Suspensions : STIFF. You will feel it a lot less but your pillion rider needs to be the person who loves you the most to actually forgive you after a long ride on this one.

   
   

What do you know.. I think I have covered most of the things that I was worried about when I set out to buy the bike and hope that helps thouse currently on the look out.

No matter which bike you end up picking. Have a safe ride and njoy.

Edited on 22-Feb-2007 : Its been nearly 5 months since I got my dirty little hands on her and the euphoria is still to evaporate. :) I did a mumbai goa and back alone and subsequently a night ride from Mumbai to ganapatipule and I have still to face a big problem. But its not all rosy, spares are tough to find even in a city like Mumbai. The original new clutch cable format that comes with the 2006 TB is not available even in the Original showroom. The old cable can be used though and suprisingly the old type has outlasted the 2000 Km that I got from the original. The mileage is great on this bike, averaging 80KMPH all the way from to Goa I roughly calculated 38KMPL, not bad at all. I have now got used to the seating and have realized its all in the seating posture. Had little/no problems during both my trips. Just remember to sit ramroad straight. It does not look as cool as those guys make it look riding those crazy choppers but hell I rather travel comfortably than look it. Have not modified anything yet, have strangely even got used to the handles now, I guess she just grows on you. Till next time, ride hard ride safe.