The home of Vintage and Classic Motorcycles.....

Many thanks to Bill Rosen of Chicago for sending us this picture of his Rickman Enfield #1121RE. Here is his story....

"In 1971 (I was 17 at the time) I read a test on these bikes and wanted one. So, I found the sole North American distributors , Chariot Cycle Ltd. in Vancouver, Canada. When I contacted them I was told, that there were only 23 bikes shipped to them and to my great disappointment, they were all spoken for. He also mentioned that these bikes were not legal for import to the US, because they did not comply with US Department of Transportation regulations (so any of these that were brought into the states were smuggled in as parts, including this one).

For over 30 years, anytime I was looking through adverts, for bikes or parts, I always checked for Rickman Enfields for sale, I never saw one. Once, I saw one that had sold at auction and once I heard about another that was sold, but I was never able to find one currently for sale. Then, in 2001, I called a man in regards to some Dunstall Norton parts that he had posted for sale on a vintage road-racing website bulletin board and we talked for a long while. We discussed the parts, which he still had, then we talked about other parts and bikes that he had for sale. When he told me that he had a Matchless G80TCS Typhoon 600cc, I told him to consider it sold. We continued to talk and he then told me about the Rickman Enfield for sale, I WAS SHOCKED. After I regained my composure, we discussed the bike in depth. He told me that he was the second owner, the first being Bob Schantz, (which I have verified) of Domi-Racer / Accessory Mart (who had never driven it). So this man had purchased this bike, in 1990, with one half mile on it (from rolling around the factory). He had the Rickman shipped to California and then had it assembled and prepared for use. Over the next 19 years, he logged 550 miles on it. I then told him to disregard my comment on the Matchless and to consider the Enfield sold.

I purchased this bike from him in 2001, brought it to Chicago and as I mentioned it now has 1000 miles on it. The bike is in it's original state, other than exhaust pipes and footpegs and rearset controls. The Rickman Enfields came with a strange sort of compromised accomodation for standard front mounted footpegs. The footpeg mounts were welded to the exhaust pipes and for me, being 6'5", in an unaccpetable position. With the bike he also gave me a pair of pipes and a pair of Rickman rearsets, so I made use of them. This gives me a much improved riding position, then due to the fact that my lady sometimes rides on the back, I made the alloy plates and added the passenger pegs.

The Rickman Enfields, used 106 of the last 200 Royal Enfield Interceptor II 750 twin motors. Rickman took these motors and mated them to their current nickel plated chrome-manganese alloy road racing frames, employing the earlier touched on compromises (for street use), along with the 41mm Rickman forks, AP Racing disc brakes, magnesium hubs, Borrani rims, some Rickman made "gooseneck" clip on bars (as show in the pic), lights and mufflers.

The bike weighs 310 lbs. with a full tank of gas and is geared rather high, so as you may suspect it is still a rather respectable performer. With it's looks and the rather agressive exhaust note eminating from the straight pipes, it attracts a lot of attention wherever it goes.

So, the conclusion is, I was able to scratch a 30 year itch when I managed to acquire this bike. The affair is not over yet......."