After 55 years of continuous production, Royal Enfield discontinues the Bullet

You may or may not be familiar with the Royal Enfield and the story of how production of the bike was moved from England to India. If not, the tale goes a bit like this: the Indian military bought bunches of the Enfield Bullet because it was ideally suited to the conditions of their country. A bit later, the original factory in England went out of business and the tooling for the Bullet was shipped to India, where it has been in use ever since. Yep, the same bike is being sold right now that was for sale back in the 1950s. But only for a little while longer.

According to a note sent to Enfield dealers in America, the shipment of cast iron cylinder, carbureted Bullets that are currently being sent out to dealers is the last. All of the bikes from here on out will be powered by their newer lean-burn engines or new fuel injected models. Reasons for this change are entirely related to environmental requirements that are being demanded worldwide. As a side note, the old Enfields have been known to sip gas, returning as much as 100 miles per gallon. It's the end of an era, but a good thing in the long run.

[Source: Royal Enfield]