Royal Enfield Bullet 350, 500 and Electra recalled to fix brake caliper bolt

Royal Enfield has just announced a recall for the Bullet 350, Bullet 500 and Electra models. This recall is meant to replace a faulty brake caliper bolt. The repair  and the recall will be carried at no cost to the customer. The recall covers motorcycles built between 20th March 2019 and 30th April 2019. It’s not known if these motorcycles feature ABS – a recently introduced safety feature in all Royal Enfields. We urge the owners of the motorcycles affected by this recall to immediately get their bikes fixed.

Meanwhile, Royal Enfield made the following statements in an offial press release,

This is because service investigations revealed that the torque maintained on brake calliper bolts, as supplied by the vendor, on a few of these motorcycles were not as per stringent Royal Enfield quality standards. Brake calliper bolt is an essential part of braking system securing the brake hose and brake calliper. This voluntary service action will be undertaken on close to 7,000 motorcycles that were retailed during the said period. All concerned customers are being called for a service intervention, and various stakeholders are being informed accordingly.

The Bullet 350 and Electra are among Royal Enfield’s better selling motorcycles, second only to the Classic range. The Bullet 350 and Electra use a 346cc, unit  construction four stroke petrol engine with 19.8 Bhp of peak power and 28 Nm of peak torque. The engine is paired with a 5 speed manual gearbox. It gets a carburetor for fueling. The Bullet 500 uses a bored out, 499cc version of the unit construction engine, and makes 24 Bhp-40.5 Nm. Fuel injection is standard, and so is a five speed manual gearbox. The Bullet 350 and Electra are priced at Rs. 1.21 lakhs and 1.35 lakhs while the Bullet 500 is a lot more pricier, at Rs. 1.88 lakhs.

Royal Enfield sells a slew of other motorcycles. The Classic 350 and 500 are two such sub-brands that have many models under them. These bikes have different styling and paint finishes but nearly the same mechanicals as the Bullet 350/500. Royal Enfield also sells an on-off road motorcycle with a 411cc, overhead camshaft driven engine called the Himalayan. The brand has introduced two new twin cylinder bikes – the Interceptor 650 and the Continental GT 650. Both bikes are among India’s cheapest high performance, twin cylinder motorcycles, and are also among the best built Royal Enfields. They are powered by a newly developed 647cc, twin cylinder engine that makes 47 Bhp-52 Nm. It’s paired to a 6 speed manual gearbox that gets a slipper clutch as standard.