By that time, I had already learned that the second thing you have to have, after you acquire just about any piece of machinery is a good manual. Unfortunately, I couldn't find _any_ manual for my "new" motorcycle. The situation was complicated somewhat by the fact that most of it came in a couple of cardboard boxes - it was in a state of "some assembly required."
The only book(s) I could find on the subject were one afficianado manual, which assumed a widespread and general knowledge of motorcycles, and was a sort of pocket-size coffee-table magazine, called _Book_Of_The Royal_Enfield. It offered up lots of esoteric information, such as what years the "famous pre-war Enfield V-Twins" were produced, but very few specifics on my mundane little workhorse 350. The only other book I could find that even mentioned Royal Enfields was the excellent, but not particularly detailed due to its universal coverage, the Nicholson Brothers' _Modern_Motorcycling_, an early '50's edition.
Later I began to come across Triumphs. The manual situation was completely different for them - from the beginning, the factory workshop manuals - and even the owner's manuals - were comprehensive and beautifully written and illustrated. If a little technical. But in those days, few if any non-technically-inclined people were inclined towards motorcycle maintenance, or even toward motorcycles in general, so it all worked out very well.
I sold "Ralph," my last running Bullet - a 1957 MX350 "Moto Cross Bullet," which I had painstakingly restored in 1961, a few years later while in college. A few years after that, I got back into motorcycling - mostly dirt competition for some time, and finally back into street riding, this time mostly on Triumph twins. Enfield Bullets were always thin on the ground in this country, I never ran across another one. But about 1975, I began to hear rumours that they had been transplanted to India, and had been being made there, on original Redditch tooling, since the late '50's. This got me interested, and by the time the internet started to come alive, in the late '80's, I was in more or less constant contact with many Bullet owners all over the world, with whom I found myself exchanging reams of information about my first motorcycle love. It turned out that with my intensive experience with the virtually identical models from Redditch in the '50's, I was able to be of considerable help to the "newbies" to the marque.
It seemed that there was still no really satisfactory owner/service manual, especially for beginners - and there were plenty of people buying new Bullets primarily for the nostalgia value. Nostalgia over a time of simpler motorcycles, that looked and sounded like motorcycles, and over a misspent youth that didn't spend enough time in Auto Shop, and too much time in Bookeeping classes, gymnasiums, Physics and Chem labs, and the like. And some of those with this kind of youth now wanted to master the black(fingered) arts of motorcycle mechanics, with particular to maintaining their new instant collector pieces.
After a time, I began to toy with the idea of writing a comprehensive manual, a sort of _Idiot's_Guide_To_ _Volkswagen_Repair_, something that would enable the complete newbie to get a grip on the esoterics of maintaining his RE Bullet, yet hold all the information needed for the experienced mechanic to do any and everything necessary, from basic tuneup to complete overhaul. This is especially important, not only because of the unique demographic to which these machines appeal, but also since the few Dealers are so thin on the ground. Even for those not completely desirous of becoming late-in-age mechanics, the appeal of being able to avoid trips of hundreds of miles to have a 15 minute procedure done on your motorcycle seems to me unbeatable.
Hence my first manual - for the Enfield Bullet. It was the product of many hundreds of hours of dedicated work on my part, having taken a lot of my spare time over a period of some years. No small number of "Beta Testers" provided the necessary proving ground for me to evaluate the usefulness of various sections of the manual. It has been very successful, it makes me a few dollars every year, and, more importantly, gives me that warm fuzzy feeling of having been helpful to a lot of my fellow-motorcyclists the world over.
There is some irony in this. I haven't owned a running Enfield Bullet for almost 50 years! I baby-sat one in trust for the son of a suddenly-deceased friend for almost 20 of these, and have one "in restoration" - a project bike if ever one existed - but no running Enfield of my own in all that time. They're very thin on the ground in Canada, due to Draconian import laws, and it's unlikely there'll be a Canadian importer for some time.
|
However, in the past 40 years or so, I've owned many Triumphs. I currently have a '69 TR6 for a daily rider, and two T100 project bikes which will be finished "soon." I love the Meriden twins; between you, me and the fence post, I think they're the best value on the motorcycling road today, and are still underpriced by at least 50%. I've had a few people on the royalenfield and triumph-twins internet yahoogroups suggest I might put my hand to writing a CD manual similar to the one for the Bullets, and I got to thinking about it. |
This is not the '50's. There aren't a mess of $300.00 and under rigid frame Speed Twins and Thunderbirds around to practise on as we hone our backyard mechanic skills. Most fresh-to-Triumph-Twins owners aren't teenagers with time and old Triumphs to kill learning the ins and outs of maintenance. Rather, they're new custodians of increasingly valuable and now-esoteric vintage machinery, who are often not "up to speed" with the dry and detailed, though excellent, factory workshop manuals - or even the after-market dilutions of same. They are, I think, a market waiting to be exploited (he says, rubbing hands gleefully!) by the appearance of a user-friendly yet detailed and comprehensive shop manual written by One Who Has Been There. (And, one supposes, is there!)
| Thus this CD. It will likely soon be produced in book form - although time will tell. Personally, I much prefer the CD version of the Enfield book. It's easily searched, information is quick to find due to the linked text aspect, and a page or two can be printed out and taken to the workshop to aid in whatever project is at hand. When the work's done, the pages become useful for cleaning the bench-top; there's plenty more where they came from! But we'll probably have to give in to popular demand and produce an in-your-hands book as well. It's hard to read a CD in the bathroom or at the breakfast table! |  |
"I have been wondering how to have it published, with two main questions in mind:
The first problem was handled initially by deciding to write the manual in .html format, and to distribute it on CD's as you see here. The potential for cross-linking files, inserting graphics, etc. is just mind-boggling compared to print medium, and it has been well-received indeed in this form. Furthermore, it is completely updateable; as changes come to mind (and they really do, as feedback from owners comes in!), I have been posting "patch" files to update your current manual at the promotional website. - link below in blue,
I was at first stymied as to offering a printed version - the market is just too small, and I just wasn't prepared to consider having a few thousand knocked off by some vanity publisher. But an Enfield owner and afficionado - here in Canada, even - lept into the breach shortly after becoming one of my first CD customers. Bruce Aitken is now the official publisher of the print version. For more information, just connect to the internet, and click here. This printed version is also updated from time to time - Bruce's digital printing setup allows him to print manuals one at a time, so there's never any backlog which must be gotten rid of.
As for the second concern, getting paid reasonably for my time, I have decided just to appeal to all of you who find a copy in your hand/computer to deal fairly with this thing. It is a simple matter to take the disk to anyone with a CD burner, and burn copies for all your Enfield-owner friends, neighbours, and relations, and it for this reason I deal this heart-felt appeal: Don't! OK? Just pass on my address, and on receipt of the sum of $US 25.00, I'll be happy to mail a copy anywhere in the world. (Latest fee schedule and my address should be a link off of www.enfield.20m.com/manual/ )
If you prefer to burn him/her a copy yourself, I think it's entirely fair enough to ask that you send me the sum of $US20.00 per copy as a "registration" fee.
And finally, if you find yourself in possession of a bootleg copy of this manual, and you feel that the poor slob who spent so much of his time making your life easier is worth a contribution, please remit a cheque in the currency of your country, in the amount of your choosing, to: Pete Snidal, 6515 Sleepy Hollow Road, Grand Forks BC Canada V0H 1H5.
Thank you. I have faith that I'll be repaid by the majority of Bulleteers, honest fun-lovers that they are. Peace be with you!
 Ralph, 1962 |
6515 Sleepy Hollow Rd., Grand Forks, BC Canada V0H 1H5 |
 (The one with the smoke) |
Since the introduction of the Bullet CD, in 2002, I have had many great experiences with the distribution aspect. I have in fact had people send me money for copies they made for friends who "just had to have one right now," as well as many purchases from people who explained that they'd been in that position, but their friend just wouldn't make them a copy. (The delivery time is after all less than two weeks for most of the civilized world.) And I have no doubt that the Triumph-riding community will prove to be every bit as fair-minded.
Keep On Trump'in'!
Hit your browser's "back" button to return to the previous page
---