Royal Enfield Bullet

The Essential Buyers Guide

350cc | 500cc | 535cc | Bullet | Peter Henshaw | Book review

Peter Henshaw is a name that many of you Sumpsters will be familiar with. Based in Dorset, he's been around the block a few times and has penned numerous buyers guides on a variety of motorcycle marques including Triumph, Norton, Harley-Davidson and Honda.

Well, we've been reading another little guide by Henshaw, this one on the Royal Enfield Bullet. The publisher is Veloce, and the book was launched in September 2016. Like all Henshaw's books, it's a fair enough pint-sized publication that, in this instance, deals with the nuts and bolts of purchasing your first Indian-built Bullet. But it doesn't "shine" anywhere, or impress you with humour, or leaving you feeling particularly good about the marque, or the production.

Then again, neither does a Haynes manual or an instruction leaflet for a flat-pack wardrobe. And we don't mean that in any sneering way. This volume is simply basic and practical, bordering on dull, but with advice, tips and history to help a buyer make a more informed decision. Only, much of that advice is actually more general than specific. In other words, the reader is cautioned to look out for rounded nuts and bolts, or binding cables. Useful tips, but hardly unique marque guidance.

The book is organised into convenient sections and addresses pretty much all the questions we'd be likely to ask ourselves when faced with a new and unfamiliar motorcycle. The pictures are very much up close and personal and of average quality. But the captioning needs a slap. For instance:

"Twin leading shoe silencers can work well if set up correctly" or "Left foot gearchange rubber." Ideally, as a buyer we'd want to be treated to an insightful caption nugget of information such as fitment problems or maintenance issues rather than a statement of the bleedin' obvious. Or even no caption at all.

Also, there's an on-page rolling evaluation system in which a buyer can rank aspects of a prospective bike and see if the tally reaches a certain threshold. So okay, such a system might be useful for some, but it struck us as something you'd find on an Open University course. In other words, a little tedious.

The bikes covered are the 350cc, 500cc and 535cc Bullets. There are 64 pages, but the last few are simply adverts for other Veloce publications. On the back cover is a stark warning that reads: STOP! DON'T BUY A ROYAL ENFIELD BULLET WITHOUT BUYING THIS BOOK FIRST! Well, that's a fair enough warning because if you've no RE marque experience, spending a tenner or so on a guide is prudent. Just don't expect to be entertained.

As a general note to Veloce, a couple of double page aspirational images would (a) encourage folks to buy an Enfield, and (b) would help encourage them to buy the book. However, this publication is perfect-bound, so double page shots are problematic. The back cover needs an image, ideally of a happy new Royal Enfield owner shaking hands with the seller. Corny, but expedient.

So we think it's rubbish, huh? No, but there are numerous ways that this book could be improved by less lazy editing, more thoughtful design, and the injection of some humour to help lighten what comes across as a mostly academic tome.

Veloce is asking £12.99 for the book. We wouldn't argue with that. A guy's gotta eat. But these guides are discounted all over the place, so it's up to you what you want to pay.

ISBN: 978-1-845849-40-5

www.veloce.co.uk