2010 Royal Enfield Bullet Classic C5 (Video)

By Richard Backus

Motorcycle Classics’ editor-in-chief Richard Backus rides into the office on a brand new 2010 Royal Enfield Bullet Classic C5 500cc fuel-injected single.

From a distance, there’s not much to separate the 2010 Royal Enfield Bullet Classic C5 from the Royal Enfield Bullet Deluxe we tested in 2005. The visual checklist includes the signature vertical single cylinder engine, spoked wheels, a richly painted gas tank with rubber knee pad inserts, a sprung solo saddle, and the cool headlamp nacelle with its little marker lights on either side. But then you look a little closer, and the differences between this bike and any Enfield that came before start coming into focus.

While the C5’s DNA is obvious, riding the bike exposes an essential fact; for all its old-school Royal Enfield styling cues, this new bike is more revolution than evolution. Okay, so the frame is basically the same single downtube tubular affair as the old Bullets, but the drivetrain is so far ahead of any previous Enfield that it’s really an all new machine, a point proven over the course of a few days and some 200-plus miles in the saddle. See our full review below.