In my own experience, glacially slow would be a better description but let's not split hairs.
And yet people – women even! – like Lois P, Steph J and Jacqui F have ridden the length of Africa, the Americas, Asia or just plain RTW on bikes with similar or even less performance than the REH. Could it be that, like others, they perceive motorcycle travel as a bit more than breaching the National Speed limit on a dual carriageway.
For a 410, the REH has one of the least impressive power-to-weight ratios since Fred Flintstone’s go-cart – or maybe some full-dress Harleys. This confounding equation – not helped by Enfield’s hitherto ‘always sick, never terminal’ reputation – causes some brains to short circuit and become defensive.
I see it with Honda’s NCs - written off by the mags but a silent bestseller.
Whether it’s a fluke, inspired design or just simple investment leading to improvement (as we’ve seen with Triumph, Ducati and KTM since the 80s), the REH’s torque, gearing, CoG, suspension, weight distribution, seat height, equipment, mpg and of course unnervingly irresistable rrp all add up. Who’d have thought.
It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but so far it works for me – and once again, after 40 years I find myself having had more bikes than birthdays ;-0
For me the test will be durability or reliability. Will it be clapped-out by 10k as I’d expect of some Chinese bikes (or last year’s XR400 - another dual carriageway turkey, wwit!).
Time will tell.
