Royal Enfield Bullet 500 Twin Spark UCE

[AmBraCol]

I was told on another forum that the UCE bikes didn´t have carburetors... after inquiring as to any idea on customizing such a critter. My memory told me that they DID indeed have a carb fed Twin Spark UCE Bullet with front and rear drum brakes, and they didn´t sell all that well here, or anywhere is my guess. India loves their 350's and other markets prefer newer technology. So today I stopped in to chat with the local dealer, and found him gone. The head mechanic wasn´t there either. BUT there was a UCE Twin Spark Bullet 500 waiting its turn in line. Nice bike, good condition, less than 7,000 km on the dial. It's good to see they're still around.

 

[Eatmore Mudd]

Holy Grail Bikes Batman !!

I'd love to have one of those

 

[AmBraCol]

You and me both. Only lack parking space and money. The one my impractical dreamer side wants even more - a 50's era Royal Enfield from the same basic time period they were shipping bikes to India. I've seen exactly ONE advertised here, years ago. It was cool to see, would have loved to see it in person.

 

[AmBraCol]

I need to look around and see if I can find one of the Rumbler 350's to take pics of. They ran on carb power as well, but I don´t recall the other differences between them and the 500 cc version that I have.

 

[Eatmore Mudd]

Since Columbia gets the cool toys we can't get here I have to ask; are there any Thunderbirds or Machismo's there ?

 

[AmBraCol]

Since Columbia gets the cool toys we can't get here I have to ask; are there any Thunderbirds or Machismo's there ?

We got the Thunderbird, but badged as the Rumbler. Same bike, different nameplate. My guess is RE encountered some kind of trademark issue in markets outside the subcontinent. OK. I took a look and the Machismo appears to be an older engine bike. It was about in 2014 that Royal Enfield started getting serious about the Colombian market. Prior to that there was one dealer in the country and they were charging about triple the normal retail price and marketing the bikes to a completely different segment than later on. Apparently RE gave the dealer a chance to get on board with the new vision and it was off and running. I believe we now have dealerships in Bogotá (multiple) Medellin, Cali, Pereira, Manizales and Villavicencio. Probably others as well, but those are the ones I'm aware of. So the bikes are all UCE or newer technology, with a few of the older ones still around. I recall seeing folks offering 2010 model bikes for double what a new 2015 would cost, due to what they´d paid for them initially. Anyway, the Royal Enfield brand didn´t really take off here until the makeover from India took hold. They made a deal with a major holding company (I THINK that's the term) that manages a number of brands and they've been setting up a network that is supplying midsize bikes to the country. There really isn´t any serious competition in the 350-650 CC range here. There's a ton of brands/models in the 100-200 cc range and then the few 800 on up bikes that sell for the same as a decent automobile here. So Royal Enfield has really been selling like hotcakes to folks who don´t want a tiny bike and don´t want or can´t afford the larger displacement offerings. The original Himalayan REALLY did well for them here. I used to joke with the local dealer that he had a Himalayan dealership that sold the occasional Royal Enfield. But the Meteor 350 and other variants I believe have caught up with, if not surpassed, the Himalayan in popularity here.

 

[Richard.]

The UCE 350 bullets were the entry level models in the RE line up in India. They were referred to as the Standard Bullet. Being the cheapest model, it did not have the electric start, disc brake and had an AC powered headlight. They were only available in black color. It was only in 2021 RE had offered the disc brakes, electric start and fuel Injection on the UCE 350 Standard Bullet before it was discontinued to make way for the J series Bullet 350.

For a few years there was the UCE Bullet 500 model that was sold in India which had a carburettor and a TCI ignition module. The carburettor had a throttle position sensor, based on which the TCI unit would adjust the ignition timing.

Since the UCE engines were based on the older generation AVL engine Bullets, the wiring harness, alternator magnet and TCI ignition module from the AVL bullets is a direct bolt on for a carburettor conversion on the UCE bullets.

To do a carburettor conversion on the EFI Thunderbird / Rumbler 500 or the GT535, one can use the wiring harness from the UCE Thunderbird 350 if the factory gauges need to be retained.