Son finds dad’s Bullet motorcycle 25 years after it was stolen: Restores it to showroom condition

The Royal Enfield Bullet is an extremely popular motorcycle among bikers. It is an iconic model from the Indian motorcycle brand, and even today, there are several well-kept examples of the same. Royal Enfield recently launched the new generation Bullet 350. The older generation model has a huge fan base, and here we have a story of a son who found his dad’s Royal Enfield Bullet motorcycle 25 years after it was stolen. The motorcycle was later restored completely to its original condition.

The story is about a 1971 model Bullet motorcycle that belonged to Arun’s father. His father had bought this motorcycle a couple of years after graduating from college. His father was working as a banker in rural parts of Karnataka. As his work demanded a motorcycle to commute from one village to another, he bought the Bullet in 1971. He spent half of his banking career primarily using the Bullet. It should be noted that this was his father’s first motorcycle.

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In 1991, his father bought his first car – a Premier Padmini Economy. His father’s office had now offered him an MM 540 and an Ambassador for travel. His father was also transferred to Manipal, and the Bullet was rarely being used. His father was very attached to the motorcycle as this was his first motorcycle. When his father’s colleague noticed that the Bullet was not being used, he asked whether his father would be interested in selling it. He initially rejected the offer but, later on, sold it on the condition that the motorcycle would be sold back to him if he ever wanted to sell it.

His father later retired from service and settled in Bangalore. Here, he bought a Bajaj Chetak in 1997. Many vehicles came and went in their lives, but the Padmini and Chetak stayed. By now, Arun was starting to miss the Bullet. He started searching for the motorcycle but could not find much. As this was an old motorcycle, he couldn’t do much. Finally, he asked his father to call his old colleague to ask about the motorcycle. It was only then that they realized that the motorcycle got stolen from his house back in 1996, and he also misplaced the RC book.

Arun had lost all hope by now. In 2021, when he was searching for the Bullet, he found that the insurance of the same motorcycle was recently renewed. The bike was also registered under the name of a person from Mandya, near Mysore. After seeing this, he got in touch with an agent from RTO to get complete details about the current owner. Surprisingly, it had an insurance policy ID, which he shared with another person to get more details. He finally got the owner’s number and then when he contacted the current owner, he confirmed that he had the Bullet with him.

A stolen motorcycle was traced after 25 years. The current owner mentioned that the motorcycle was seized and parked at Hassan police station. In 2015, the department auctioned all these vehicles, and the Bullet was bought for Rs 1800 by a person from Mysore. It was this person who sold this motorcycle to the current owner. When Arun showed interest in buying the bike back, he asked for time, and in a week’s time, he agreed. The motorcycle was bought back, and his father’s happiness is quite visible in the pictures.

The motorcycle looked in good shape, but both father and son wanted the bike to look stock. The previous owner had installed a few accessories on it, and the bike needed some mechanical work too. The engine didn’t need any work. The clutch, gearbox, brakes, sprocket, condenser, tappet needed work. Parts like lights, keys, horns, meters, seat, crash guard, gear/brake levers, footrests, number plates, etc., were replaced. All the accessories were also removed. The bike was taken to a workshop that specializes in old Bullet motorcycles. It took almost a week to finish the work. The owner didn’t find much difficulty in finding parts for the bike as this workshop was also an authorized Royal Enfield service center. After a week, the motorcycle was completely restored and brought back home.

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Via: T-Bhp