Royal Enfield dealers head for the hills

Royal Enfield dealers from across the country hit the road for a hard day's ride around the Cotswold hills for their annual conference.

"Rather than sitting everyone in a conference room and showing them power point presentations and graphs, we thought we should make the most of the weather and get out to ride the product instead" explains sales director Ben Matthews.

Thirty machines, including a Bullet Classic sidecar outfit as support vehicle, travelled the 140 mile route, stopping for coffee at the Gloucestershire and Warwickshire steam railway, followed by lunch at the Watsonian factory, home to Royal Enfield in the UK.  In the afternoon the group rode to the market town of Witney, (now famous as the constituency of Prime Minister David Cameron), where they were given a private tour of the Wychwood brewery, famed for its craftily crafted Hobgoblin ale.

The day was rounded off with an informal dinner at which awards were presented to the best-performing dealerships, won for the ninth consecutive year by Haywards of Cambridge. Watsons Motor works of Leominster carried off Best New Dealer, while Berrybrook Motors of Exminster and 3X Motorcycles of Ringwood were both Highly Commended for the largest increase in sales.

For more information on the complete range of Royal Enfield motorcycles visit www.royal-enfield.com

Winner of unique Hobgoblin

Midlander Paul Maullin is the lucky winner of a unique ‘Hobgoblin Bullet’ motorcycle, commissioned from Royal Enfield UK by the Wychwood Brewery for a free to enter prize draw that attracted more than 56,000 entries.  Based on the 500cc Royal Enfield Classic, the petrol tank, mudgaurds, tool boxes and forks were painted the same blue that is found on the labels of bottles of Hobgoblin ale and a large Hobgoblin graphic is laquered onto the tank too. The standard seat is replaced with a two-tone item. Paul (pictured left) travelled down to the brewery in the Cotswold town of Witney to collect the exclusive machine from Chris Keating (right), senior brand manager at the Wychwood Brewery.
For more information visit http://www.royal-enfield.com/.

BEER BIKE UP FOR GRABS

Wychwood Brewery's Hobgoblin has teamed up with the classic British motorcycle brand Royal Enfield to create an exclusive ‘Hobgoblin Bullet' model.

The craftily crafted Hobgoblin beer brand features on the unique machine, which will be given away free in a prize draw.

Ian Ward, brand manager at Wychwood, said: "The Hobgoblin Bullet is a great ‘one off' with a unique blue paint job and legendary graphics of the Hobgoblin, there was no way we could put a price on it. So we've chosen to give it away to one lucky beer and bikes fan."

The Royal Enfield Hobgoblin Bullet is a 500cc single cylinder motorcycle, designed in a classic 1950's style but suitable for today's modern roads thanks to fuel injection, indicators and electric start. Look out for the bike at this year's Great British Beer Festival and the NEC Bike Show.

The prize draw will be open until November 30th 2010 and entrants can put themselves forward to win by texting HOBGOBLIN ENFIELD to 60300 or through the Wychwood website www.wychwood.co.uk. For information on Royal Enfield motorcycles go to www.royal-enfield.com.  Winners will be notified by post following the prize draw.

hundreds of Bullets fly at 2010 Open Weekend

Royal Enfield’s fleet of demonstrator bikes was kept busy at the company’s open weekend, when a record 319 test rides were taken – the largest number in the event’s 5-year history.  Cheltenham and Cotswold Advanced Motorcyclists guided riders through the country lanes surrounding the Watsonian Squire factory, home to Royal Enfield in the UK since 1999.

Visitors arrived on the widest variety of machines, including an Ariel 3 trike and Honda Silverwing sidecar outfit.  On Saturday a Norton Commando High Rider won the prize for Best Machine ridden to the event (judged and awarded by Real Classic magazine) and on Sunday the honours went to a pristine 1953 Royal Enfield Bullet.

Special thanks go to regular guests, including motorcycle adventurer and Royal Enfield expert Gordon May, who has just returned from riding a BSA Bantam overland to Egypt, and world sidecar champion passenger Stan Dibben. Jim Reynolds returned as master of ceremonies, while Frank and Rowena from Real Classic were kept busy talking to readers of their popular publication.  Freshly cooked food was provided once again by the Shipston-on-Stour Sea Scouts, who expanded their popular curry menu with a new chilli, while local Cotswold ice creams were available to cool down afterwards.  Wychwood Brewery, famous for Hobgoblin Ale, travelled from the other side of the Cotswolds in their 1951 Bedford dray, bringing taster packs of their cask ales.

No visit to the Watsonian Squire factory would be complete without a ride in a sidecar and the two demo outfits, a classic Royal Enfield/GP Manx combination and sporty Yamaha XXR1300 paired with a Squire ST3, were both in constant demand, with many passengers enjoying their first experience of a trip in a chair. See more pictures at  www.royal-enfield.com/opendaygallery.

Dates for the 2011 Open Weekend will be announced soon.  Call 01386 700907 or visit www.royal-enfield.com for details.

Woodsman in the Wychwood

The Wychwood brewery, located in Witney close to one of Britain's most ancient forests, hosted the UK launch of the new Woodsman model from Royal Enfield motorcycles. First produced in Britain in 1901, Royal Enfield have been manufactured in India since 1955, but remain popular in the UK and their importer's public relations agency is based in Witney. Although powered by a brand new electronically fuel-injected engine, the Woodsman will look familiar to riders who remember Royal Enfield from the Fifties and Sixties.

“We're delighted Wychwood brewery agreed to host the launch of our new bike” says Ben Matthews of Royal Enfield UK. “We felt their traditional brewing techniques reflected the heritage of our classic British designs and the journalists we invited were all keen to visit the home of Hobgoblin ale!”