Climbing aboard the Bullet 350 ’ s plushlooking saddle there ’ s no warning that you are going to be transported back , in time . A glance at the single clock picked up the word ECO . I put down the gentle pace to being in ECO mode but could find no switch for any other setting . When I attempted to raise motorway on-ramp speed , I discovered that with a twist of the throttle the ECO display disappeared , but if used very sparingly , the ECO stayed on . A manual eco mode . Aha ! Funny , quirky , and a little bit groovy , baby . What the Royal Enfield Bullet 350 delivers so stylishly … is the element of charm .
ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT Time for a complete change of headspace - back to the very essence of motorcycling , when
there was time to stop and pick flowers , dance with the pretty girl , hoist a sail , stop for ice cream , wind your watch … you get the point . It ’ s an escape vehicle ; a dream motorcycle ; rest and recreation with an eye firmly on the rosetinted memories of yesteryear . Royal Enfield , the marque , largely inhabits that world , and the Bullet succeeds well at it - all 195kg and 20.2 horsepower of it - providing acceleration that identifies as … lugubrious . It ’ s not awful , it is just all very 1950 . It looks exactly like a motorcycle should look from the bodgey vs widgey era - when components and badging used to be made out of steel and enamel and glaze . When British Engineering ran to a timetable and a union card , made to last . Before they sold it off to India . There is nostalgia and more in the Bullet , and the livery nearly gets to that level of original
KIWI RIDER 29