1 Cylinder Motorcycle love fest

After learning how to ride a motorcycle In the Himalayas of Ladakh (Northern India0 on 1 lane curvy roads with huge trucks passing and constant blind turns on a Royal Enfield Bullet, I could never buy anything but a 1 cylinder motorcycle happily ever again. And I don't think I could ever be completely happy with anything but specifically Enfield.

People talk about the sound of Harley Davidsons. meh. They sound like bolts in a clothes dryer to me. The sound a Royal Enfield Bullet makes is unlike anything else. The put put put of each individual cylinder fire. For those not familiar, until some recent new models in the last couple years, Enfield made the same model Bullet motorcycle almost completely left unchanged (just updated with a few things ike fuel injection) since the 40's. They are the oldest motorcycle company still in business.

So Enfield Bullets are just super pure, simple machines. They say you can fix them with nothing but a wrench. The riding position is classic, not sport or laid back. And man are they a joy to ride. Just all in all a very pure experience.

Royal Enfield Bullet







But Enfields are really expensive to buy in the US - $5,000 and they're pretty unreliable so require a lot of time, love and maintenance which I'm not really into.

I saw a gorgeous motorcycle with a for sale sign on it while driving in SF one day, and enquired about it. Turns out it was a completely repainted original 1980's Yamaha SR400, a single cylinder motorcycle with looks not too dissimilar from the Enfield. I took it for a drive and wound up buying it. (Yamaha later started making this model again, as a specialty model, by hand in Japan, and they also cost $5,000 unfortunately)

Here's a picture of my SR400



I think it looked better than the original, with the plain metallic gray paint job and no logo. It was a great motorcycle. Exceptional ride, really fun, and a great feel and sound to the engine. Not as good as the enfield, in fact not close, I don't think anything can approach the purity of that motorcycle. But this is a good compromise. It didn't have fuel injection and had a kick start, so starting it was a very manly affair.

I wound up selling it because it put out quite a bit of smoke from the exhaust. Not more than you'd expect, I bought it from a good mechanic and had it checked out by a second mechanic and both. said it was in great shape. But pulling up next to a car and seeing them cough and roll up the windows bothered me. It also didn't get very good gas mileage anymore - something like 30mpg. But these single cylinder motorcycles should get around 90 or something there abouts. Maybe more I can't remember.

Here's more pictures of the new production Yamaha SR400. they kept everything the same as the original, but added fuel injection to make kick starting easier, and spoke wheels. So cool they didn't get rid of the kick start. I'll probably get one of these new models at some point despite preferring the Enfield simply because of the reliability. I don't like tinkering and troubleshooting, I want a car/motorcycle to just work.

 

f**k dude, if that is you on the track... You need to race @winders somewhere.

Oh yeah, the only tool a Harley needs is a hammer. I know...

 

Not me, just a google picture. I'm not really into racing and riding fast on motorcycles. I'm more into curvy mountain roads, and control, getting into a groove with the motorcycle and just feeling the glory.

 

One of my favorite bikes ever. Made it much faster and much better handling, thus spending about 3k to make it worth less than it was before the mods. Way more fun though. 1986 Yamaha SRX6. (Thus, senorx). Kickstart only. Only imported the one year, and they couldn't sell those. Once I raised the compression, I could've just left the key in it. No one else could start it. Kind of the motorcycle equivalent of a Miata. Like an old British single but reliable. Although I don't think anyone would've called it a secretary's bike.

 

hello,
i have a (tastefully modified, not running) SRX6 in my garage named Ira G. the clock reads 84,498.6 (which is more than likely too low, as the inner cable for the speedo is broken.). alas, in my dotage, i weigh more than when i bought him (NOS in 1989), which should make him easier to start. however, my knees are shot.
i should probably think about letting him go. but i said at one point that i wanted his tank as an urn for my ashes.
(you have no idea how much this machine is a joy to ride!)

 

I actually have a very good idea. Never should have sold it. There were a few black ones imported as well. But very few. The one that I let get away.

 

I didn’t know about this 1 cylinder. How does it sound and feel?

 

It's a thumper. Stock mine put out about 34 rwhp, by the time I was done it was 45. Not fast by any means, but quick and responsive. Smoother than one might think given that it is a single, but pretty vibey by modern standards. Sounds like a big single. Reasonably quiet stock though. I would say it feels torquey and lithe. Elemental. It is quite light and narrow, and with suspension upgrades handles very well. With an exhaust it was pretty obnoxious, used to set off car alarms just riding by.

 

I prefer the looks of vintage classic motorcycles that are more flat across horizontally but it’s cool to hear of another thumper out there.

 

Single cylinder is a special kind of raw connectedness.
I had a Honda SLR650 (same engine as XR650, but detuned) with some tweaks, it could do a wheelie with a single piston stroke.

 

Not a biker myself, but I've ridden pillion on my friend's Bullet (an original 50s model, imported from India) and also on his modern sports bike, Yamaha something. The Bullet is obviously much slower, has a proper sized comfy seat and square tyres so it has to stay relatively upright in the bends. Making the experience a whole lot nicer for the poor passenger.

When you kick-start that thing, it frightens the birds out of every nearby tree

 

Notwithstanding an occasional unexplainable interest in a FLHP Police Road King, I'd rather have a bent walking stick than a Harley, but I totally get the appeal of a classic single. Liking longer rides, my own sweet spot is the classic era twins, like, oh well, this 1975 BMW 750 that I stupidly let someone talk me out of. Classic era bikes get you most of the way to cool without causing you the ownership stress of a vintage era bike.



My current twin obsession is this 2007 Triumph Scrambler 900. Old enough to be carbureted and air-cooled.

 

How does a twin sound? Can you hear each cylinder fire?

 

This is my recently rebuilt 86 SRX600 - not my favorite bike for longer trips but it puts a smile on my face everytime.

 

What is that exhaust? The only one I could find was a Supertrapp for mine. Stunning bike.

 

I'm not sure sorry, it was on there when I acquired it.

 

hello,
my understanding is that once upon a time there was an Aussie fitting an HD pipe to the SRX. at least you get a spare when you buy the set.

 

Not nearly to the same extent as a single. With twins, it depends on the the firing sequence. The BMW's have a 360 degree crankshaft and you can still hear each cylinder at lower speeds. My Triumph scrambler (unlike a Triumph Bonneville) is a 270 degree crank, so it has the sonic character of a V-twin instead of a parallel. Parallel twins can have cranks of 180, 270, or 360 degrees. A 360 degree parallel twin (like the Bonnie) is closer to sounding like a single than my scrambler, which has a lope to it. In fact, it is an outlier, but you can do a "big bang" version of a 360 that is effectively two singles firing at the same time. Lots of options for configuring it.

 

Awesome post. Deserving of more than a "like."