NEW OLD STOCK

Nostalgia isn’t always what it used to be once ina while, it gets better

- Kartik Ware

If two-wheeled nostalgia were poured out of a bottle, it'd take the form of a Bullet. It does seem like 350cc worth of long-stroke combustion-chamber volume beats the most like a human heart. And perhaps forms a bit of our general DNA, too, actually; given the Bullet name's 92-year existence, 69 of which it has spent in India, it's very likely that most of our population is simply genetically predisposed to falling for its loping charm. I myself am an example of said deep-rooted and persistent condition; two old cast-iron Bullets stand in my garage, one passed down from my father and the other from my father-in-law. Talk about being double tapped.

However, glancing at an indicated 100 kph in third gear on the new (ish) J-Series Bullet 350 on a dim early November morning down Mumbai roads, I couldn't help but think, 'My old Bullets would've sent their pushrods through their tanks by now.' I was on the way to meet a 1957 G2 Bullet owned by our friend, Shivdutt Halady, one of the many (wait for it) Royal Enfields in his expansive garage. Why, though? Well, because I've been dying to write this story since the new Bullet came out last year than our first For Old Times' Sake issue? Also, I stubbornly waited for the Bullet despite the Classic being with us for three years now. Same bike, really, but different vibes (heh), you see.