Considering Commute on Royal Enfield, Mad?

[mrdelmonti]

Next year I will be moving to Swindon, this will mean a 110mile round commute or thereabouts, 3 times a week and I'm thinking of doing it on a new model EFI Enfield.

Now I know at first glance it seems mad but reports seem to think they'll do 80mpg, they are reliable, they're easy peasy to service and they will happily sit at 65mph, which all seems to make sense to me, and then there is the indisputable fact that they're cooler than a frozen polar bear.

Am I just mad for thinking it's even feasible?

[herman]

Personally I'd buy a CB500 or similar and something fun for the weekends like the Enfield.

[P4ulie]

I agree with Herman on this, regular commuting is one way to knacker the looks of your bike. Shiny bits stop being shiny & after a while you stop caring.

I regularly do 200 - 300 miles a week on mine & after 4 years it shows. I'm sure it would handle it but there's not much weather protection & 110 miles is a fair distance in the cold n wet. You asked

[mrdelmonti]

You're right I did ask and that's exactly what I'm after, a balanced view.

The only thing that concerns me with something like an old CB is I'll be putting 15,000 miles a year on the bike just commuting, exactly the reason why I don't want to use my ZZR600 (well one of the reasons) as I fear it'll be dead after a year of that combined with leisure miles.

Just for a bit for background the plan is to keep my ZZR for 2up rides and trips requiring a bit more gogo, and run another bike alongside it.

With regards to commuting taking its toll on the finish the plan would be to get something with minimal "shiny" plus everyone likes the worn in look dont they, I mean distressed jeans sell pretty well :whistle:

[herman]

GPZ500 then, hugely underrated bike but without offending Enfield lovers they need a bit of tlc to keep them ticking along.

[Sleepy]

I used to do a round trip commute of about 75 miles, on a ZZR600, from 1993 to 2001.

That, and going on holiday etc. clocked up 97,000 miles hmy:

I used to get home about 1am.. and in the winter months would hose it down before putting it in the garage, when I sold it on to a friend of mine it still looked pretty good, a ran perfectly.

Just a bit of info...

[mrdelmonti]

Cheers, the problem with the ZZR is it's currently on 66k miles and certain parts are getting difficult to pick up/difficult to pick up at a reasonable price, I could also do with with a bit more fuel economy (yes i know, it'll take a lot of miles with better mpg to offset the cost of another bike, but it's a good excuse, plus with any luck consumables on whatever the commuter is will be a lot cheaper)


Herman just been looking at older CBs, don't suppose you know much about them do you?

[utaka]

A guy who rides one and could have possibly given you accurate answers I think as been 'banned' from the forum, Palace 15? red and blue avitar badge,met bianchi at the Stella, I don't know if they keep in touch.

Google British bulleteers to see their forum.

[mrdelmonti]

Cheers, I'll see if I can get in touch.

[xtgaz]

i paid £ 700 for a cb 500 last mach with 34000 miles i do 30 miles a day round trip never missed abeat 60 mpg cant loose much on it £60 a year insurance :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: