Royal Enfields that you didn’t know existed!

Many of us might not know that the Royal Enfield is the oldest two-wheeler brand in the world. It is even older than the Triumph and Harley Davidson. The brand is been present from the early 1900s. In today’s period, the brand is not so popular in the world. However, on the other hand, Royal Enfield is a household name in India.

It is famous for its retro bikes like Classic 350, Bullet 350 and more. However, there were a few bikes by the Royal Enfield that many Indians might not be aware of. Let’s find out which are these bikes.

Royal Enfield Explorer 50

In previous times, RE sold multiple Zundapp rebadged bikes in India. These were not completely RE bikes but still, it had RE badge so we can count them as Royal Enfield’s. The Explorer 50 was one of the Zundapp rebadged bikes. It was launched in 1980. The styling was more of a Japanese, though it was a German bike. Nevertheless, the bike was a lightweight motorcycle with just a 50 cc engine and three-speed gearbox.

Royal Enfield Fury

The Royal Enfield fury was also a rebadged Zundapp bike. The bike will remind you of the old Honda and Yamaha bikes. We can say that this bike was pretty advanced bike as it had disc brakes at the front wheel, sleeveless hard chromed cylinder barrel, five-speed gearbox. All these features were first for any bike in India. It was quite popular in India, many RE enthusiast might already know much about it.

Royal Enfield Lightning

Lightning, Thunder and Meteor are all the things that shake the earth. In a similar way, Royal Enfield Lightning cruiser was made to shake the market by its unique proportions. It’s the predecessor of the current RE Thunderbird.

It was launched back in 1977 and was powered by a 535cc single-cylinder engine. It produced about 26 bhp max power and 38 Nm of peak torque. In the coming days, Royal Enfield will be bringing the Meteor, the successor of Thunderbird and also the Lightning.

Royal Enfield Silver Plus

It is quite unusual to think that at one time, Royal Enfield had mopeds in their portfolio. The Silver Plus was the first moped from the brand launched back in the ’80s. It too was a rebadged Zundapp motorcycle. Pretty much like most of the mopeds back then, it also came with the hand-operated gear shifter. The Silver Plus was equipped with a 65 cc single-cylinder, air-cooled engine. It initially had two gears but later got updated with a three-speed gearbox.

Royal Enfield Fantabulous

Royal Enfield Fantabulous was the first and only scooter from the manufacturer. The design of the scooter was very Italian. The RE Fantabulous had a 175 cc two-stroke engine which produced about 7.

5 bhp max power. The interesting thing about the scooter was that it had a self start.

Royal Enfield Taurus

This RE bike we guess doesn’t need an introduction. It is still seen on the roads, of course rarely. It is a head-turner for every bike enthusiast. The bike was very popular in the ’80s and ’90s, It was the diesel counterpart of the Bullet. So many enthusiasts still call it as a diesel Bullet. It was powered by 325 cc diesel engine which produced about 6.5 bhp max power and 15 Nm of peak torque. The interesting thing about the bike was that it returned approx 80-90 km/l. Even today’s modern four-stroke engines struggle to achieve that milestone. However, the bike had a lot of vibrations and was a very heavy motorcycle.

Royal Enfield Mofa

Royal Enfield Mofa was a scooter cum bicycle. It was similar to the modern electric bi-cyles but with an IC engine. It had a very small 25 cc engine which can only provide the force to overcome rolling friction and air resistance. So for initial pickup, you have to move the motorcycle with the help of paddles. It was the smallest bike or moped made by the Royal Enfield.