My time machine: a 2006 Royal Enfield Bullet 500. (Photos by the author)

Why on earth did I recently pick up a 2006 ?iron barrel? Royal Enfield Bullet 500" In a word, nostalgia.

The last bike I had to kickstart was a used 1970s Honda Trail 70 that I got on my 10th birthday. It was loud and burned oil, and I terrorized the neighborhood?s backroads at a blistering 30 mph. That bike was life, and it made me feel like Evel Knievel. Some of my friends? parents thought I was a bad seed as a result, but I was just having fun and caught the adrenaline bug early (and some of the suit-wearing dads were probably jealous).

Look out world, here I come!

My first streetbike was a used 1989 Honda NT650 Hawk, which was fast in its day and a real performer, and I?ve craved that rush ever since. Fast forward to today, and I?m riding a supercharged Kawasaki Z H2 that doesn?t disappoint.
I guess I?m about to age myself, but it?s been 33 years since I last kickstarted a bike (at 15) and here I am kickstarting a streetbike in 2022 ? a new-to-me 2006 Royal Enfield Bullet 500. That sounds fairly new, but these bikes are anomalies as they?re basically 1955 designs. India had strict tariffs for decades that kept foreign competition out, so there wasn?t an urgency to update what became a timeless design. It?s like a Volkswagen Beetle on two wheels.

The first Royal Enfield Bullet was built in England in 1931. The last one was built in India in 2020.

The first Royal Enfield mot...