Exploring Baja on Royal Enfields

[gatling]

My buddy Joe Gresh and I had a couple of loaner Royal Enfields. Pointed them south and explored Baja for a few days...

http://exhaustnotes.us/blog/index.php/2019/03/26/baja-a-7-day-itinerary/

 

[sfhogman]

I've been following it.
I envy you guys....

Jeff

 

[bogus bill]

HELLOOO!! I used to be a Royal Enfield alic. My first one was a 1965 750cc Interceptor. Later I owned a 1958 Indian 700 cc made by Enfield for the Indian name. I believe I read it was the last year that Indian company imported them before going under. Think I read eleven of them were imported in 1958. Didnt know what I had until I later read that. I also owned another later basket case interceptor that I didnt restore but turned over. At the time they were said to be the hottest motorcycle made. I know mine would do over 120 MPH as I once broke both the tach a speedo. Also had to do a top end afterwards. They had a heel lever that was called a "neutral finder" so you didn't have to go down through all the gears if you came to a fast stop. Mine had loud pipes that sounded like dynamite going off. I had a apartment in North Hollywood and worked swing. When I got off at midnight going home I would get my speed up the last block, shut down and coast in around the driveway so they wouldn't evict me.

 

[radicalrod]

My son Adam won an ARMA National Championship on a 500 Enfield about 10 years ago....I have one with the café kit and a big bore aluminum cylinder kit....RR

 

[Poco Oso]

Great write up on an excellent ride. Yeah, I'm a little jealous too. I've been enjoying your blog for a while now.

 

[Mega Twin]

The dealership I worked for had Enfield,until the distributor failed to pay the franchise fees.
They were kind of a neat motorcycle,but very primitive for the time,and if you owned one you had better liked to tinker :roll:

 

[Wyandot Jim]

Very enjoyable read as always. Thanks
We saw the whales while on a cruise to Alaska. Pretty impressive for sure.

 

[CGDustDevil]

I got some reading to do!! I haven't been on a Royal Enfield since 1969!! (A pre-Norton Interceptor 650) I guess the things are made in India these days. I see 'em around from time to time.

Your title certainly has stirred up some memories! I didn't know about your blog 'till just now. But I'll be watching from now on!

 

[Bob Wright]

Apparently these are not .303 Enfields?


Bob Wright

 

[bogus bill]

I didn't know Norton had anything to do with Royal Enfield. Maybe they did? I once had a Norton 750 cc Commando too.
Bob, I do think they were the same parent company. The Royal Enfield company had a slogan "Made like a gun". I also had a V 700cc MotoGuzzi, a 1958 650 Triumph T 110, 3 Harleys, a 750 Suzuki, a KLR, a CZ, Whizzer and probably a few others. I and my wife are too big to ride a Harley comfortably anymore. Also she never flew with me so the plane and toys went. I never got married the first time until I was almost forty, that didn't last and I was a bachelor for many years in between. Else I couldn't have afforded the planes and bikes. Do stuff while you still can. Now I aint nothing but a has been.

 

[Bull Barrel]

Enfields are pretty nice these days. Modern brakes, metallurgy and new tooling have gone a long way to improving build quality.
No need to carry tools, they are stone simple they can be fixed with a rock.
There is something about them that has always attracted them to me.
Must be the simplicity and the fact you don't see one often.

 

[Wyandot Jim]

Do stuff while you still can. Now I aint nothing but a has been.

Well at least we have done it and have the memories unlike a lot of Guys that have said " Gee I wish I could have done that".
I have flown high with the Eagles and built and restored several airplanes, built and raced fast cars from XKEs, muscle cars, and Vetts, swam in the deep amongst the sharks of the ocean, fished, owned and driven boats from 18'-31' in the deep blue sea for 55 years, ridden scooters from Cushmans to Harleys, roamed the high country of the Rockies chasing the Wild Trout, Shot 100,000s bullets of all sizes, helped build billion$$$ complexes, traveled and lived in 20+ countries of the World, Married a life long friend of 56 years, and took out time to raise two GREAT Kids

Yes it has been one hell of a Ride :wink: I still don't let "The Old Man In"

 

[bogus bill]

A guy retired at Lockheed. He was loading his tool box on his truck his last day, got a heart attack and died!
I retired as soon as I could. My mom didn't think I would make 21. My dad was talking to our preacher about some deal I had went through and the preacher said "One of these days his guardian angel might be off duty". I just seen on Fox news that NASA is paying people $19,000 to stay in bed for two months. I didn't catch how to apply.

 

[gatling]

Now I aint nothing but a has been.

Far better to be a "has been" than a "never was..."

Thanks for all the nice comments, folks.

 

[bogus bill]

That interceptor could bite you. I owned a 1963 Harley with no starter and all the britt bikes, triumph and enfields with no starter that you had to "twist her tail" to fire up. Once my Enfield kicked my boot heel off to where it flew across the yard, put a hole in my pants and cowboy boot! That hurt! Never had a Harley kick me as bad with almost twice the size engine.
I once had a MC cop friend ticket a guy and while he was writing him his bike fell over. The cop was a lightweight and had a hard time tipping the motor up. The guy he wrote came over and helped him lift the Harley. My friend tore the ticket up.

 

[CGDustDevil]

That interceptor could bite you. I owned a 1963 Harley with no starter and all the britt bikes, triumph and enfields with no starter that you had to "twist her tail" to fire up. Once my Enfield kicked my boot heel off to where it flew across the yard, put a hole in my pants and cowboy boot! That hurt! Never had a Harley kick me as bad with almost twice the size engine.
I once had a MC cop friend ticket a guy and while he was writing him his bike fell over. The cop was a lightweight and had a hard time tipping the motor up. The guy he wrote came over and helped him lift the Harley. My friend tore the ticket up.

Bill - Yeah - The Interceptor was unpredictable. Back when I was riding with the MC, one of our members' wife decided she was gonna be Lady Tough Stuff, and start Roger's (Her husband) Sportster. It bucked on her (which it did often) and busted her ankle in 3 places! Pretty brutal, but she was a trooper. We were up on top of Cadillac Mountain in Maine, and it was quite a few miles to Bar Harbor to visit the doc! Got her splinted up and we rode home to Bangor where she could get it set properly.

So yeah, Harleys will hurt ya... Especially if you're a 90 lb cute little blonde. My '69 Sporty didn't kick back very often, but Roger's '68 was a real pig to get started. We'd take a pitcher of beer out to the sidewalk when we were fixin' to leave the bar, and we'd take turns trying to start the thing. We'd bet money on who was gonna be the lucky one. We usually had the pitcher of beer pretty well done by the time the ole "Blue Max" roared to life. I never could start that SOB.

I sure miss those days... Sorta.

 

[Cholo]

Really cool, gatling! I remember your post about doing the entire Baja on the mini bobbers. It doesn't get any cooler than that! Didn't one of your friends die of heat stroke on that trip?

I'd love to do that trip some day soon...

 

[gatling]

Really cool, gatling! I remember your post about doing the entire Baja on the mini bobbers. It doesn't get any cooler than that! Didn't one of your friends die of heat stroke on that trip?

I'd love to do that trip some day soon...

Nope, nobody died of heat stroke on the trip with the little Mustangs. We ran the length of Baja, all the way down to Cabo and back, on 150cc California Scooters. You can read about the 150cc trip here:

http://exhaustnotes.us/Baja.html

On my first foray into Baja, we did lose a guy who was riding a Harley. That's described in the first chapter of Moto Baja, which is available here: https://www.amazon.com/Moto-Baja-Joe-Berk/dp/1979933758/

 

[Rick Courtright]

So yeah, Harleys will hurt ya... Especially if you're a 90 lb cute little blonde. My '69 Sporty didn't kick back very often, but Roger's '68 was a real pig to get started. We'd take a pitcher of beer out to the sidewalk when we were fixin' to leave the bar, and we'd take turns trying to start the thing. We'd bet money on who was gonna be the lucky one. We usually had the pitcher of beer pretty well done by the time the ole "Blue Max" roared to life. I never could start that SOB.

I sure miss those days... Sorta.

Hi,

You'd have loved to watch this one, Pete:

Labor Day weekend, 1970 or '71, two of us went up to Lake Tahoe, just for giggles. We spent the night in a campground, and despite the bluebird weather during the day while we watched a sports car autocross in the parking lot of one of the ski resorts, it started snowing after dark. In the middle of the night, a group of half a dozen bikers and their mamas pulled into the campground. I don't recall the patches, other than that they were from the Bay Area. Everybody went to sleep, though I'll admit the snow was a bit more than any of us had planned for.

Morning comes, everybody's standing around shivering, and the guys start kicking their Harleys over to go find breakfast and warm up. 1st one fired, 2nd, 3rd, until they got to the sixth guy. His bike wouldn't start. He kicked and kicked until his leg was tired, and one of his buddies took over. Same thing. They went thru all of the guys, when one of the gals came back from the little girls' room and asked, innocently enough, "Did you turn on the gas?"

I think all eyes were on their boots as the owner of the bike sheepishly flipped the petcock to "on" and with a single kick, life was good again! The bike was probably halfway warmed up just from kicking it, and he couldn't get out of that parking lot fast enough to outrun his embarrassment. We took bets on how many miles they'd put on before anyone would talk to the gal who'd asked the question!

Rick C

 

[bogus bill]

I never rode with clubs. Always by myself or one close friend. Memorial day of about 1967 I and a girl friend rode up the Kern river in California. It seemed to be a bike run for every outlaw 1% group. We weren't part of it. It was wild and loud. I even seen a filling station attendant wearing a revolver. We just had sleeping bags and tried to sleep out in the open. The entire length of the river from Johnsondale to Lake Isabella was campfires and boomboxes. There was a particularly loud party going on about 75 yards away. The next morning we found a local Indian had been kicked almost to death. I talked to a deputy at the scene and he didn't think he would make it but a year or two later I was passing through and heard he did live. I did make the last Harley Davidson sponsored Death Valley run I think about 1968. After that I believe is when everyone started going to Sturgis.
When I rode in the 1960`s you didn't see near as many motorcyclist`s touring as you do now, probably due to the motorcycles being more reliable and comfortable now.

 

[bogus bill]

On that death valley run there was a black motorcycle club called "The chosen few". At a filling station this little black girl wanted some snacks and her 300# boy friend bulked at giving her some money. He grumbeled something about leaving her azz there. She said, "Yo brung muh black a-- here, an yo is gonna take it on home!" With that she jumped up and popped him on the nose! Never a dull moment!