The Enfield Bullet Manual

- by Pete Snidal (C)2002

How This Manual Came To Be

There are two things I've been for most of my 61 years on this planet. One is a wanna-be technical writer; the other a Royal Enfield Bullet fan. Other motorcycles, too, but the first motorcycle I was able to get my hands on (that could be made to run) was an ex-WD 350 Royal Enfield Bullet - the Canadian/British Army bike from WWII.

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.

This was only the first of many Royal Enfields that seemed to come my way as a young enthusiast in Vancouver, BC, Canada in the '50's. Although there was only one Enfield dealer in Vancouver ever, and him for only part of one year, there were a few pre-"unit" Bullets - models G and J2 - and a half-dozen of the post-'53 swingarm frame "unit" models, like the Indian-made 1956-2003 350//500 bullets of today.

Although I owned a half-dozen Bullets in The Day, I never did find a decent service manual. Most manufacturers of British Motorcycles in the '50's seemed to assume a high degree of mechanical ability on the part of any owners, dealers, or their mechanics. The only even modestly comprehensive Shop Manuals I ever ran across were for AJS/Matchless Singles (AMC) and for the Triumph Twins. These were, don't forget, the days before Clymer, Haynes, et al., and the only suppliers of manuals of any kind were the factories themselves. The Royal Enfield manual was a toolbox-sized pamphlet, which contained a few of the most necessary things to know, if you could read between the lines, and had enough basic mechanical know-how to be able to understand them. It was enough, though, and I worked my way through repair and restoration of a number of "fixer-uppers," mostly but not confined to Bullets, over the next few years.

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. Although a few years after that, I got back into motorcycling - mostly dirt competition for some time, finally back into street riding, mostly on Triumph twins - I never ran across another Bullet. Finally, 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.

One of the things I found was that there was still no really satisfactory 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 this manual. It is the product of many hundreds of hours of dedicated work on my part, having taken a lot of my spare time in the last couple of years. My bibliography/credits must include many sources, beginning with the two books mentioned above, many years of Bullet work of all kinds, conversation with owners face to face, and especially, via the internet, from all over the world, the original Redditch manuals, such as they were (fortunately, I still have mine), the REM manual, Gopi and friends with their very generous tripod.com manual project (www.workshopmanual.tripod.com), and particularly to a few Enfield Bullet professionals. I name one of the partners of the Canadian Enfield Dealer, Terry Smith, Guru Nandan, of Bulletech in India (www.bulletech.com) and Dan Holmes of DRS Cycle, in Goshen, Indiana, all of whom have been very helpful consultants in this project. (Dan's Very Useful Enfield FAQ, from his DRS Cycle website, is also included in this disk.) Thank you also to my "Beta Testers," who provided the necessary proving ground for me to evaluate the usefulness of variou sections of the manual.

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. Paypal is a good way - snidey@look.ca

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 follow your heart, as Sir Alex has said.

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!

"We're All In This Together"


Your Authour and His Friend
Ralph, 1962
Pete Snidal,
PO Box 331,
Grand Forks, BC
Canada V0H 1H0

Same guy, later (2002)

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