I had been invited to conduct workshops on "Interview Techniques & GD Participation", for MBA students at a prestigious institute a few days ago. I always ride a bike wherever I go to teach, and no other form of transport. The students of this institute had a one-week induction programme with me 18 months ago. I had never taught there again after that.

Now I had been invited there again after 18 months. Must make a new impact. As I would ride into the campus, dozens of these students would see me and rush towards me, not to see ME or talk to ME (their professor), but to see which bluddy bike I was riding! Who the hell gives a shit about Dilip Bam? What matters, is which bike is between his legs? And when the bike matters so much, which other bike can it be but BULLET?

Eliminator will get eliminated by a bigger, faster, Eliminator. A new terminator will overcome the pulse of the Pulsar. The Shogun will be overshadowed by the Ronin, the RX 135 by the ZXR, and so on. But the Bullet will remain Bullet. For it is not a reality. It is a dream. And what are students, but dreamers? And therefore when you meet a new batch of students after a long gap, you have to ride a dream. A dream called BULLET.

Dreams are of many types – pleasant, painful, enjoyable, scary, exciting, new, old and many more. Bullet is all this and much more! It is the closest any bike comes to being all things to all people. Being all things to all people is impossible. A theory. That is what Bullet is. A theory. And people love theories. All people love theories. Especially if they sound so good. And nobody can deny (even my 100 year old grandmother does not deny) that no other bike in the world sounds like Bullet. That is its USP. That is the DC (Distinctive Competence). And so it carries on, with the new Bullet Electra.

While the basic Bullet remains Bullet, it has become much more useable. Ride-able it always was and still is. Yet for the first time (at least to me) it has become more useable. Useable- as in user convenience. Foremost is the side stand. One can actually use it without trying to be Nadia Comaneci (no need for gymnastics in trying to use side stand on the Electra). It is almost as easy to use as in any Indo-Jap.

Further, no oil leaks from crank-case cover joints – at least not yet and it’s been almost four months and 2400 km. Nothing has fallen off yet – not even the silencer. And from the looks of it, it looks like it has no intention of falling off in the future either. No cable has so far broken. No bulbs fused.

Front fork leaks? Aah! Don’t ask stupid questions. Like I said, perfection is just a theory.

And what did I say earlier about the relationship between Bullet and theory?

So there you are. The switchgear is greatly improved – and all the switches are still working. The handlebar grips are, well quite grippable. The front face remains pure Bullet. Same headlight, dome and accoutrements, including the twin Mandrake (the magician) eyelights.

The headlight power and beam quality is excellent. I also love the stepped seat. Though there have been contrary comments about that. Other than this, everything else is classic Bullet – wheels, tyres (size and pattern), gears (including behaviour) and gearbox, footrests, kicker, chain and chain-cover, brakes (including behaviour) even though the front one is a twin lead drum.

The classic tank is without the plastic knee pads – and is looking much better. The overall paint and plating is greatly improved. Quality of rubbers has improved all over – nothing has fallen off yet. Why, EVERYTHING seems to be greatly improved. I prefer this one more, than four of the seven Bullets I have had so far. The three better- loved ones were: a standard 350 I owned over 15 years ago, a standard 500 I tested around 10 years ago and the Diesel Bullet, better known as the Enfield Diesel.

The Machismo, the Lightning 535 and the A350 failed to strike a chord with me. This one is the seventh. Perhaps the endearment with the better liked three mentioned above was because of reasons other than performance or quality. The Standard 350 I loved more, probably because it was my first Bullet (first love!). The Standard 500 I loved more, probably because it was one of the first 500s in the country (exclusivity?) and it boosted my ego unlimited.

The Enfield Diesel (ED) I loved more, definitely because it gave almost 80 km per litre of diesel, which costed one-third of petrol at that time (1994). It had the best standard headlight I had seen on any Indian bike (till 1994) and of course, the fact that nothing even happened to the diesel engine no matter how much I abused it. The fact of its pickup, being slower than a bicycle, notwithstanding!

While the power (18 BHP) and torque (27.6 Nm) of the Electra, are equal to, and delivered at the same rpm (5625 and 2875), and the same compression ratio (CR=6.5) as the standard 350, the spex for the Machismo A350 are slightly different. The CR of the Machismo A350 is 8.5, while its rpm rating for BHP and Torque, are 5500 rpm and 3500 rpm respectively. From these figures it is pretty obvious that the Electra engine is much less stressed and would hence be more reliable and longer lasting.

The biggest difference between std. Bullet and this one (Electra) is the ignition system. While the std. Bullet has contact breaker ignition, the Electra has CDI. This single Electro-technological change has made starting much more reliable and easier than before.

While the 1370 mm wheel-base remains the same for all Bullets, the seat height differs.

The Electra has a stepped seat, which gives a much lower rider seat height at 760 mm, compared to the 850 mm seat height of the standard Bullet. This one fact should make the Electra more appealing to shorties with tall ambitions. The gear ratios are the same as they have always been for all the 350 cc models including Machismo. While the 19 inch 3.25 front tyre is common to all Bullets (including Machismo and 500), the 19 inch rear tyre on the Electra is also 3.25 (same as std.350) compared to 3.50 on the Machismo and 500. Controls and Electrics are common to all models, with the excellent headlight being 45/40 watts.

Fuel average is between 33 and 35 kms per litre ridden steadily in the city, measured on a tankfull-to-tankfull basis. However if you revv hard and ride at high speeds, it drops considerably. Acceleration zero to sixty was done in eight seconds, as measured manually by hand held stop watch and top speed was a trifle above 100 km per hour as per speedo reading. Price on-road Pune was Rs.63,120/- at the time of testing. Three colors are currently available, that is, Silver Ash, Riviera Red and Amazon Blue.

The Bullet Electra is a definite technological comeuppance for Enfield, in terms of electronic (CDI) ignition, fit and finish, paint and plating, no leakages, no breakages, and no fusages so far. But is that far enough? The fact is that Bullet has still very far to go: in terms of time, in terms of life expectancy, in terms of consistency of performance. This is because expectations from Bullet are far higher than from any other bike. Whether this Bullet will go as far as it is expected to go, only time – and a long term test – will decide.