Royal Enfield Interceptor by Jim Reynolds

Jim Reynolds becomes infected by the Enfield Twin Bug, a bug so virulent that it has been known to force strong men to part with folding wodge. Has he been inoculated we ask?

A lot of motorcycles have a 'good' side to look at, personally I think the Interceptor looks good from either side.

A long time ago, when I was young, I knew a bloke who would stand for hours and explain why a 50cc engine was all you needed for a motorcycle. Those were the days when NSU's two-speed Quickly and Itom's rev-happy three-speeder were top dogs amongst the minis, so he was clearly a man with modest fun expectations. I don't think he got many invitations to parties. You only had to ride down the road on a wheezing 250 like my old BSA to realise that there was more to life than slowness, and when a Goldie roared past or a Vincent twin rumbled nearby, those with soul knew very well what was best. Being adequate is not the same as having fun, as the actress said to the midget.
Experience has proved me, and many thousands of enthusiastic riders, right. If you want to cover ground without unnecessary stress, a big motor is the best to carry you, and a passenger, to your destination still feeling fresh. I'm tempted to quote the old American saying that 'Ya cain't beat cubes', but readers in the grocery trade might think I'm advertising Oxo, so I won't. Hang on a minute, I just did. Do you think this word processor's been drinking again? (Possibly not the word processor but the wordsmith… TB)
Royal Enfield recognised the appeal of big motors when the 650 Thunderbird from Triumph and Golden Flash from BSA were launched in the late Forties and sold well. The Redditch company already had their sweet 500 Twin established, and with a swap to 350 Bullet dimensions of 70mm bore and 90mm stroke it grew up to become the 700cc Meteor, the biggest parallel twin on the market when it was launched late in 1953. Breathing through a single 27mm Amal, it produced 36bhp at a heady 6,000rpm, but its appeal was the spread of power and that ease of travel we mentioned earlier. From that strictly touring model - company photos showed it with panniers fitted, and optional sidecar gearing was listed - grew the twin carb Constellation of 1959, with a claimed 51bhp to propel it to 115mph with the company's own Airflow fairing fitted. That made it the fastest production British twin, an impressive achievement for a company with no active racing interest. But the development of the sporty Connie included retooling for stronger crankcases, dynamically balanced one-piece cranks in nodular iron and an uprated clutch operated by scissor action levers inside the primary chaincase.
In 1963 came the Interceptor, a bore of 71mm and stroke of 93mm making it 736cc, breathing through twin 30mm Amals and claiming 52.5bhp at 6,000 rpm. More significant was the claim that it would pull its 4.22 to 1 top gear down to a smidgeon under 20mph - a torquey, flexible, real rider's power unit. As with all the Enfield twins, oil was carried in a compartment within the crankcase castings, and bolted to the back of the Albion gearbox was a meaty alloy casting that butted up to the frame's swinging arm lugs to stiffen the whole assembly.

It was sold in America before being launched in the UK and the other side of the Atlantic is where you turn to find one today, because the 'ceptor is highly rated amongst the UK's Enfield folk and they don't stand around begging for a home.
Enter Graham Boffey, Worcestershire farmer, Royal Enfield Big Twin buff and a man with the history of the models strewn around one of his barns. He's been bringing them back from the distant American colonies for years, alive, wounded or dead and can illustrate any point he wants to make with a sample or two. Or more if you want to argue.
He picks up a Mark One crankcase and shows the two different filter hexagons, one much larger and butchered, the other in good condition. "One had an AF head, so they could find a spanner to fit it," he explains. "The other they attacked with a hammer and chisel to get it out; I've got loads like that. On the Mark Two the factory made them both with the AF size - they come back OK." The cases are painted a pale shade of khaki inside, apparently because the castings were prone to porosity and had to be sealed; dismantling and cleaning off engines about a third of a century old with sealant coat intact suggests that it works.

Boffey has an infectious enthusiasm for these beefy big twins, underrated bikes that have never approached the top of the classics hit parade. Perhaps because Royal Enfield weren't inclined to spend big bucks on publicity, preferring to present their products to the public through their achievements and acceptance by the mature and knowledgeable. Like Bob Currie's choice of a 500 Bullet with coil ignition for his personal transport, which he delighted in riding to the Velocette factory in Hall Green, parking outside one of the Goodmans' offices and starting first kick when he left. Every time. Lovely man, old Bob.
Or the cooperation in giving Syd Lawton, of the newly opened Lawton and Wilson in Southampton, an agency when other big-time manufacturers wouldn't.

Syd did really well for them on the sales side and then took them to wider press coverage by entering a Constellation for the Thruxton 500 Mile Production Machine Race with the great Bob McIntyre in the team. McIntyre had a great respect for ex Norton race team member Lawton and rode for no fee, just asking him to cover transport to the venue and accommodation, with the prize money his weekend earnings; the best they managed was second place.
Excuse me, but was a Royal Enfield ever a serious threat to the might of racing giants like AJS and Norton in the Fifties? Or to industry leader BSA, or that upstart Triumph intruder at Meriden? Well, Syd Lawton told me that when he was running the Constellations, Bob Mac was offered £100 by Stan Hailwood to let Mike on the Triumph T110 win the 1958 Thruxton race, a sum that would have bought quite a lot in those distant days. Apparently Bob told Hailwood Senior to take this money elsewhere before he expressed his opinion in a singularly Glasgow manner, then walked away. If you like irony, consider that the McIntyre Constellation was leading until it failed and the youthful Hailwood and Dan Shorey rode the Triumph to an historic victory.

Uncle Jimme's relaxed riding style suits the relaxed power delivery of Enfield's biggest twin.

Forgive a personal intrusion here, but Bob McIntyre was a hero of my youth. I never met him, but have talked to many people about the man and his achievements, and nobody who knew him had anything but good to say about him. To me he is pretty close to a saint.
Back to Graham Boffey and his love of Redditchware with more than one cylinder. His appreciation of a Worcestershire company who had put the wind up the big boys of the industry is catching, and he really got through to Adrian Craddock, a self-employed contractor with experience of restoring a range of British bikes and a broad-minded collection of classic two wheelers. Adrian already had a collection of eight scooters, particularly Lambrettas, plus a BSA Lightning, and when Graham showed him this rare 1965 police specification Interceptor the temptation was too much. "It was a total strip down and about five months' work," he remembers. "I'm like a bull at a gate when I'm restoring a bike and I find it very frustrating when other people don't get jobs done on time. Graham was very good - he looked after me like a baby."