The History of the Marque

Mid 19th century England.

The firm of George Townsend & Co. opened its doors in the tiny village of Hunt End, near the Worcestershire town of Redditch. A firm specialising in sewing needles and machine parts.
In the first flush of enterprise, flitting from one opportunity to another, they chanced upon the pedal-cycle trade. Little did they know then that it was the beginning of the making of a legend.
Soon, George Townsend & Co. was manufacturing it's own brand of bicycles. And about this time its products began to sport the name 'Enfield' under the entity Enfield Manufacturing Company Limited. It became the 'Royal Enfield Manufacturing Company Limited' in 1893 and took on the trademark 'Made Like a Gun'.

The marque was born.

1851-1890 Evolution of Royal Enfield

Hunt End, England was a village of several small mills manufacturing needles and fish-hooks. It was here in 1851 that George Townsend put up his needle-making mill, which he named Givry Works. But it wasn’t until his passing away that his son, George Jr. and his half-brother brought into Givry Works one of the first 'boneshakers' a crude cycle. It had a backbone of iron, with wooden wheels, iron tyres and pedals of triangular pieces of wood! Though the bike was a source of some amusement, George and his team felt they could easily improve on it.
The earliest modern safety bicycle with two wheels of equal size had appeared in about 1880. All manufacturers were trying their hand at this new venture. So was George Townsend Jr. By luck, he chanced upon an invention in his neighborhood a saddle that only used one length of wire in the two springs and in the framework. This was adopted, patented and marketed as the 'Townsend Cyclists Saddle & Spring'. He had entered the bicycle parts trade!
From bicycle parts, Townsend slowly moved on to producing bicycles himself. He was also supplying a wide range of parts to other manufacturers - Givry Works was growing rapidly. Over the next three years he developed his own range of over two-dozen machines. Each machine, known locally as the 'Townsend cycle' was reputed for its sturdy frame, a character that all Enfield bikes would follow.

1891-1900 The Comming Into Being

A Little Trouble 1891

Townsend got himself into a bit of financial trouble in about 1890 and called in some financiers from Birmingham. Unfortunately, they didn’t quite see eye to eye. So Townsend parted ways with the financiers leaving the company to them. The financiers then brought in Albert Eadie and R.W. Smith. They took control of Townsend’s in November 1891. The following year the firm was re-christened ‘The Eadie Manufacturing Company Limited’. Soon after, Albert Eadie got a lucrative contract to supply precision rifle parts to the Royal Small Arms Factory in Enfield, Middlesex. To celebrate the contract, Eadie and Smith decided to call the first new design of bicycle, the ‘Enfield’.

Kick Starting Royal Enfield 1892

A new company was created to market these new design bicycles called ‘The Enfield Manufacturing Company Limited’. By October 1892, the Enfield bikes were announced to the public. The following year the word Royal (after the Royal Small Arms Company) was added and thus Royal Enfield began. Then in 1893 the Royal Enfield trademark ‘Made Like a Gun’ appeared. Britain was caught up in a patriotic fervor and the slogan caught the spirit of the time.
In 1899 the first mechanical vehicle was advertised by Enfield Cycle Company. It was available in both tricycle and quadricycle form, powered by a De Dion 1.5 hp engine. The high wheels, solid tyres, block chains and heavy cross frames had by then given way to Diamond frames, the Hyde Freewheel, Enfield 2 speed hub and the well known Eadie Coaster. Then came the ‘Riche Model’ with more refined fittings. By 1907, the cycle industry was still headquartered at Redditch, producing run-of-the-mill conventional cycles of the Roadster, Sports and Racing range.

Quadricycles 1897

In 1897, R. W. Smith built himself a quadricycle a simple bike with four wheels and a French engine placed under the saddle between the rear wheels. During the next two years several developments were made. About then, an Enfield quadricycle completed the 1,000-miles road trial of 1900 organised by the Automobile Club of Great Britain and Ireland. The Enfield vehicle was awarded the silver medal, although it had its share of troubles and breakdowns.

1900-1910 Motorcycles. The 1901 172cc motorcycle

Four Wheelers and Three 1904

Buoyed by success, Smith and Eadie decided to extend the range of quadricycles and tricycles to include motorcars. The first Royal Enfield cars were built in 1901 and were on the road in 1902. It was an 8hp, using a DE Dion engine. The body was made in Leicester and painted yellow hence the car was known as ‘The Yellow Car’. But this was just a temporary phase, a wild romance that was soon to die.

Motorcycle Craze 1909

It would be interesting to note here that motorcycling was thought to be a temporary enthusiasm that would soon fade out! A brief spin on a motorbike then took several hours of preparations - tuning the tiny water-cooled engine, getting the tyres pumped, the gears oiled and a supply of spare parts packed. In 1909, Royal Enfield took the biking world by surprise. At the motorcycle show that year, they displayed a small 21⁄4 hp V twin-engine machine built in the Swiss tradition, which ran very well. A slightly larger model was developed in 1911. A 23⁄4 hp, with all chain drive incorporating the well-known Enfield two-speed gear. This model stood up until 1914.

1911-1920 The Royal Enfield Bikes

Enfield and the Great War 1911

The First World War began in 1914. Royal Enfield was called on to supply motorcycles to the British War Department and even awarded a contract to build bikes for the Imperial Russian Government during the same period. The machine gun combination and the 6hp stretcher-carrying outfit were some of the models produced for the war purpose. Enfield started using its own engines - a 225cc two-stroke single and a 425cc V-twin about this time. Post-war, it produced a larger 976cc twin and continued to produce the two-speed 225L until 1929. In 1917, the officers of the Women’s Police Force were issued with a 21⁄4 RE 2 stroke.
Interestingly, the models of this period featured 600cc, inlet-over-exhaust, closed valve gear, hand-operated oil pump, two-speed countershaft gearbox and chain final drive. In the 1913-1914 Enfield V-Twin the lubricating oil was contained in a glass tank attached to the frame tube that ran from the seat to the rear of the engine. This worked perfectly and also had the added advantage of providing an instant visual check of oil levels. The 1915 make 675cc in-line 3-cylinder 2-stroke prototype was the worlds’ first with this configuration and engine type.

1921-1930 The Interwar Years

1924 The First Four-stroke

The interwar year was a period when the sidecar reached its zenith. In July 1925, the Royal Enfield V-Twin-engine Dairyman’s Outfit took part in the ACU Six Days’ Trial for Commercial Sidecars and obtained a Special Certificate of Merit for completing an arduous course without loss of marks. The year 1924 saw the launch of the first Enfield four-stroke 350cc single using a JAP engine.

The Depression 1928

In 1928, Royal Enfield adopted saddle tanks and center-spring girder front forks one of the first companies to do so. The bikes now with a modern appearance and comprehensive range, meant continuous sales even during the dark days of depression in Great Britain towards the end of 1930. In 1927 Royal Enfield produced a 488cc with a four-speed gearbox, a new 225cc side-valve bike in 1928, and a four-stroke single in 1931. Several machines were produced in the next decade, from a tiny two-stroke 146cc Cycar to an 1140cc V-twin in 1937. Can you even imagine that Royal Enfield’s range for 1930 consisted of 13 models!

1931-1940 Establishing Bullet

The Bullet Arrives 1933

In 1931 a four-valve, single-cylinder was introduced, and christened 'Bullet' in 1932. It had an inclined engine and an exposed valve gear. It was then that the first use was made of the now famous Bullet name. Longer stroke, four-valve head exposed valves and heavily finned crankcase were the features that ran from 1932 until the end of 1934.

The Second World War 1940

The most well known offering for the Second World War was no doubt the ‘Flying Flea’. Also known as the ‘Airborne’, this lightweight 125cc bike was capable of being dropped by parachute with airborne troops. The Flea was fitted into a steel tubular cage called the ‘Bird Cage’, which had a parachute attached to it. The cage aided in packing turning handlebars easily. The Enfield Cycle Company was called upon by the British authorities to also manufacture a variety of special instruments and apparatus to use against enemy forces. So it was not bikes alone during the war years.

1941-1950 Post War Bullets

Bigger and Better 1948

The 1939 Bullet 350 kick-started the post-war models. They used two rocker boxes for the first time. This enabled better gas flow and consequently higher volumetric efficiency. Royal Enfield’s own designed and manufactured telescopic front fork placed the Redditch marquee at the very forefront of motorcycle design. The biggest advancement introduced by the new Bullet was its swinging arm rear suspension system and hydraulic damper units themselves. In 1947 Enfield made a J2 - the first model with a telescopic front end, followed in 1948 by a 500cc twin (Enfield's 25bhp answer to the Triumph Speed Twin), which stayed in production until 1958. In 1950, several models were introduced: the 650cc Meteor twin; a 250cc Clipper; a short stroke 250cc Crusader; 250cc Trials; Super 5; Continental; 500 Sports Twin; Super Meteor; Constellation and the Interceptor.