THE name of Redditch has been honoured in the latest variant of the Royal Enfield Classic 350 motorcycle, now built in the Indian city of Chennai (formerly Madras).
The Royal Enfield Redditch Classic 350 is virtually identical to the model produced for decades in the borough and comes in three colour variations – Redditch Red, Redditch Green and Redditch Blue.
However, the classy colour scheme only extends to the fuel tank, with the rest being in a very smart gloss black.
The 350 single-cylinder engine will hold no surprises to anyone who worked at the Royal Enfield factory in Redditch, which closed in 1970, being as good as identical as the tough, no-nonsense model built in the town.
In fact such was the reputation for the ruggedness of the engine that it was just the machine India’s police and army wanted, resulting in the company forging links with the Madras Motor Company back in the 1950s.
Motorcyclenews.com quoted the President of Royal Enfield, Rudratej Singh, as saying: “The Classic is one of the most loved motorcycles from Royal Enfield.
“Looking back into our decades-old legacy, we have given the Classic a makeover taking cues from the motorcycles produced at Redditch, Royal Enfield’s birthplace in the UK.
“In 2017, we are bringing the Classic 350 in – Redditch Red, Redditch Green and Redditch Blue – that re-imagine shades from our 1950s motorcycles that first came out of the Royal Enfield plant in Redditch.”
In India the new Royal Enfield Redditch Classic 350 costs 1.46m lakh – that’s just £1,739 in Sterling – however the company only sells the Classic 500 in Britain, and the company says there are no plans to extend the Redditch colour schemes to those bikes.
