Have you ever done that? As mentioned in one of my last entries, I bought a brand new Royal Enfield Meteor 350 (I thought, “With a name like that, it must be a great bike!”) in January. This was a bike I’d been lusting after since it was first introduced back in 2021. I was originally going to wait until some used ones came on the market (Never buy a new bike and pay full price, right?), but then I saw that a local Enfield dealer (there are two close by) was having a winter sale on a bright yellow Fireball, and the bike cost a fair bit less than it usually would have, and a lot less than it would have when prices went up a few weeks later.
I was really excited and pleased upon picking up the bike, as it was my first “new” motorcycle. After getting it registered I went on a bunch of short rides on local roads, although the cold winter days didn’t allow for any extended rides. The Meteor was an instant shot of meditation, or as my German friends would say, Entschleunigung (deceleration). I always returned home from these brief rides with a big, fat smile on my face, as the bike felt like the perfect combination of old and new. And being only a 350 with 20 odd horsepower didn’t bother me in the least. The sound, ride, torque and economy of the thing more than made up for any lack of speed or quickness. OK, so the bike was more of a cruiser than I had ever had before, but I didn’t care. Motorcycle-related bliss initially wiped out all the doubts and pains that would later emerge. And a friend’s comments and expression of surprise at seeing the bike went unheeded. I thought, “What do others know about the kind of bike I need?”
In April (after the wettest March in history in these parts) the weather warmed up and I joyfully began to take the Meteor on longer trips. It quickly became evident to me, however, that the bike was not what I had hoped it would be. With every additional kilometer the seating position felt more awkward, with my feet far forward of where they would usually be on the bikes I ride. This meant I couldn’t stand up to take the weight off my butt when trying to avoid the worst bumps, and the small roads I love to ride along have a lot of those. The rear suspension, although on its softest setting, felt exceptionally harsh, and my back began to get sore after an hour or two in the saddle.
So, what to do? Surely I could change this, couldn’t I? Move the foot pegs back, and get better rear shocks. But changing the pegs would also mean that the shifter and break pedal would have to be moved as well, surely no small undertaking, and something the boys at the TÜV (Germany’s vehicle inspection service) would frown on. And buying better shocks, judging from what I’ve read and seen on YouTube, doesn’t seem to bring much improvement. A conundrum indeed!
Keep riding and hope it gets better? I could, but my doubts about things actually getting better, about the bike feeling more comfortable, have, if anything, only gotten bigger the more I ride. Instead, I’ve quickly come to the conclusion that it just ain’t the right bike for me. Keeping it would probably mean riding less and also starting to like the bike less and less. Better to admit my mistake, i.e. cruisers, regardless of how mild they may be, are not my thing. And it’s better to sell the bike while the mileage, currently 1550 kms (960 miles), is low.
So I put the meteor on the market a couple of weeks ago, and now hope that someone takes advantage of a good price for a nearly new bike. So far, interest has been scant, which surprised me a bit at first. Although the bike is the least expensive of it’s kind in the Berlin area, and still has a guarantee until January of 2025, most folks seem to be willing to pay almost a 1000 euros more for a new one. I’ve been in this situation before, and I know the attraction of having a brand new bike, but Germans are usually bargain hunters, so I figured it would go quickly. Lots of people have looked at it online, and I’ve had a couple of calls, but nothing serious thus far. One guy offered a ridiculously low price. One problem is that in Germany (as opposed to England), Enfields are still thought to be of poor quality, while a second one is that having only 20 horsepower is way too little for many riders. I’ve found the quality to be excellent, however, and 20 horses, when properly put to use, are more than enough for most of the riding people will do on this bike.
Just have to be patient, I guess. And in the meantime, I’ve picked up something else. More on that later.
East Goes East 