A 1000cc Bullet is coming…

A 1,000 cc Bullet it’s coming but it won’t be made by Royal Enfield. Carberry Enfield, a custom motorcycle building outfit from Australia, which shut shop in that country, is planning to restart operations in India. A Bhilai based businessman Jaspreet Singh Bhatia, is said to have invested in the business.

The Carberry Enfield was originally built using a Royal Enfield Bullet, a custom built crank case, a modified frame and fuel tank to accommodate the 55 degree V-Twin engine and cast iron or aluminum (AVL) 500 cc barrels with hydraulic lifters in place of the original push rods. The finished motorcycle was said to push out about 50 Bhp.

Paul Carberry has now built a complete V-Twin engine with minimal parts sharing with the Royal Enfield Bullet 500. According to him, apart from the drive shaft and two of the four cams, every part in the new engine has been custom designed and built. Moreover, the new engine is fuel injection ready.

Currently, Paul Carberry, the man who built the 1,000 cc V-Twin Bullet by combining two 500 cc cast iron cylinder heads onto a custom built crankcase, is scouting for Indian suppliers. Once the suppliers are finalized and the prototypes of the motorcycle are homologated at ARAI, production can begin.

While timelines for the India-launch of the 1,000 cc Carberry Enfield motorcycles remain hazy, the first prototypes are likely to be up and running in 6-8 months. Don’t expect it to be large scale operation though. Carberry Enfield, even in Australia, was a small custom bike building operation and a similar enterprise is likely in India.

The 1000 cc Carberry Enfield bikes, which have a reputation for running well, are likely to cost about 7 lakh rupees in India. This is about half the price at which they were sold in Australia as both labour and parts are cheaper in India. Paul Carberry wants to use locally sourced parts to keep the cost of the bike and its upkeep, low.

There will be a few challenges though,

1. The 1,000 cc bikes that Paul Carberry plans to sell in India under the Carberry Enfield label need to pass the ARAI homologation. For a small outfit to do can be quite challenging.
2. Will these bikes, with the 1,000 cc V-Twin cast iron or AVL engine, pass the tightening emission norms? With the new V-Twin engine being fuel injection ready, tail pipe emissions are likely to be taken care of.

Via Overdrive

Images courtesy Fuelzine