Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | NXg | Friday Review | Cinema Plus | Young World | Property Plus | Quest |

Kick-start a change

This may just be the biggest technical leap forward for Royal Enfield in its history. The Chennai-based company has made a few technical developments in the last decade, including aluminium construction for its trusty 346 cc single-cylinder motor, a five-speed gearbox and transistorised coil ignition (TCI). But it is the introduction of an all-new unit construction Twinspark engine in the Thunderbird that promises to make the biggest difference to owners. Why? The company claims it has been optimised to deliver hassle-free motoring with minimal maintenance, something most Thunderbird lovers have been longing for. Is there a price to pay for its new-found efficiency? Has it lost any of its charm, an intangible element which is a big reason why the Thunderbird is still so popular? We find out.

At first glance, or in silhouette at least, you would be hard pressed to tell the Twinspark from any other Thunderbird. Until, of course, you look at the engine. It’s a modern-looking power plant by Royal Enfield standards, with an integrated crankcase and gearbox intended to reduce oil leakage.

Every other bit; the round headlamp, twin instrument pods, front disc brake, swooping seat and pillion backrest are all exactly the same as they were on the regular Thunderbird. What immediately catches your eye, though, is the shorter muffler that we received on our test bike. It looks so much better than the ghastly mile-long muffler that comes with the bike.

The quarter panels below the seat feature a tiny ‘Twinspark’ sticker, which is the only indication of this major technical leap forward of the bike. Also on either side, just below the tank, are round reflectors; a useful touch when you’re emerging from a side road onto a highway. A good place to start would have been the fuel tank; and the fuel cap looks like it jumped up straight out of a history book. However, the Twinspark does well to offer snail-cam chain adjusters.

The big news about this bike is its power-plant. An all-new engine, it features twin-spark plugs firing together, an automatic decompression facility and unit-construction that the company claims has solved the problem of oil seepage, a major hassle with the old engine. The bore, stroke and compression ratio of this Bullet’s powerplant are all exactly the same. The Twinspark benefits from TCI ignition for a good spark. You get 2bhp more, for a figure of 19.8bhp, and 2.85kgm of torque, which is a negligible 0.1kgm more than the older version. Do these translate into discernible benefits on the road? Actually, no.

Sling a leg over it and it feels the same. Thumb the starter, and you immediately notice a smoother feel near idle. The handlebars don’t judder in your hands just yet. Select first gear and as you let the clutch out, it feels a bit better than what you’re normally used to. A six-plate clutch instead of four makes its presence felt here.

As you accelerate through the gears, this smoothness sadly diminishes, however, to be replaced with Royal Enfield typical vibrations, these amplifying as the engine closes on red-line. Which is where things start to get really rough, and it’s obvious that thrashing the engine is not the way to ride this bike. It feels at its brisk best shifting up just past maximum torque. There is a false neutral between third and fourth gear, and sometimes these can raise their ugly head between other gears too, which may take novice Royal Enfield users some time to master. Shift action is relatively lighter, still nowhere close to as good as this day and age demands. A heel-and-toe lever will be appreciated by those dandies who don’t like to scuff their riding boots on a toe-shifter.

The figures give you an idea of how similar a Twinspark performs relative to a regular Thunderbird; the sprint to 60kph is less than a tenth of a second quicker.

The riding position of the Twinspark is typical cruiser fare, and its saddle is a reasonably nice place to be on long rides. The seating geometry tends to place weight on the base of your spine, and this starts to ache long before wrists or shoulders.

The Thunderbird uses familiar, tall, kicked-out forks and an extended single-downtube frame. Its gas-charged dampers at the rear are par for the course for motorcycles in India, but even on their softest setting, tend to bounce when pushing the bike to its limit. These work best when the bike is loaded. The new Thunderbird, like most Royal Enfields, isn’t a bike that corners with élan.

The Thunderbird Twinspark is rather a burden in city traffic, but a stable bike on the highway, thanks in some measure to its 19-inch rims. The handlebars do provide sufficient leverage for city riding, but there is no escaping this bike’s rangy wheelbase and heft in the city. The Twinspark handles like the earlier Thunderbird, with a heavy, suspect amount of front-end grip. It, however, warns you early before running out of grip. The Twinspark brakes are a front disc / rear drum combination, and the Thunderbird brakes from 60kph in 18.14 metres, which is good considering its considerable weight. Some more feel from the front end wouldn’t go amiss, though.

Fuel economy is not a subject of relevance among Royal Enfield bike lovers, who will buy the Thunderbird Twinspark more for its lifestyle value, than economy. For the record although, the Twinspark returns 35.7kpl in the city and 36.8kpl on the highway, which is actually pretty good for this class of a motorcycle.

Judged with the head, the Thunderbird Twinspark would not score very high marks. The lacklustre overall quality, the hefty price tag and the dated technology go against outright sensibility. Yes, the new engine is improved and more modern, but then these are changes that should have been made a long time ago. But looking at the Thunderbird Twinspark as such is missing the point completely. It is a bike you buy with your heart. It is a bike you buy when you want character, exclusivity and old-world charm in today’s hurried times.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail