Royal Enfield Woodsman (2008-current)

The antiquated push-road single struggles into life off the button, but then willingly thunders on to a refreshingly legal yet invigorating 70mph. The gearbox manages to be barely run-in sticky and old school sloppy all at once. And there’s no getting away from the fact that all Enfields, irrespective of being modernised in recent years with electric start, five-speed gearbox, disc front brake and modern switchgear, remain quirky, rolling antiques.  But accept all that, recalibrate your expectations, target a destination 30 rather than 300 miles away and you may find yourself revelling in all that metal, alloy, 65mph ‘rhummm-baaaa-ness’ and living out some kind of Heartbeat fantasy.  

There’s nothing special here. Basic, old fashioned teles and twin shocks and a meagre single front disc don’t add up to something to get excited about but the handling on those skinny tyres is more than OK and much lighter than its metal-ness suggests. The proof of the pudding is that, for what it is, the Woodsman all works together very nicely indeed.

The Royal Enfield Woodsman is a UK model adapted from the stock 500cc, all-alloy, five speed, electric-start Electra-X by importers Watsonian-Squire. Accordingly, it has a distinctive, ‘Scrambler-style’ high level exhaust; wide, braced trials style handlebars; a solo seat (with rack behind) and a fairly solid-looking bash plate. There are also ‘Clubman’ style semi-rearsets, plus, due to the new exhaust route, a new left-hand side-panel which doubles as a heat shield. It’s what you expect, and nothing more. Electronics? Sophistication? Dunno what you’re talking about…