Bullet Fanatic

Let’s test-drive a thought; let’s drive a Royal Enfield, the Bullet. Let’s ride through our love of roads or no roads: a gentle idling of the bike is thought-provoking enough. Like any other love, there is passion, sensuousness, a tactile closeness and a feel for the unsaid. Off we go, like a bullet traversing the air, the sound, a sputter, so familial, so conjuring. “This is no machine, it’s a companion,” says Balvinder Singh Oberoi (63). 

Being managing director of the oldest functional Royal Enfield dealer in India, Oberoi knows the journey he and his family have travelled since 1957. “For us it is not simply putting iron and steel together.” Oberoi is the third generation entrepreneur, whose predilection for RE, as he calls it, surpasses everything else, perhaps more than his life. Even when Bullet was banned in Punjab during terrorism days, he kept himself afloat through a few contracts with the police and Air Force. His dealership “Manmohan Auto Stores” — headquartered in Chandigarh’s Sector 27 — came into existence in 1957, two years after Royal Enfield started an assembling unit in Madras (Chennai). (See Bullet history).

“My late grandfather, Sardar Khajaan Singh, got dealership in Ambala. Then my father joined in. I was handed over the baton in 1983 after my graduation. My son is equally passionate about it. He will join me after his studies,” says Oberoi, his eyes aglow.

In 1972, the Oberois shifted to Chandigarh handing over Ambala dealership to a relative. “We sold around 120 bikes a year in 1981,” says Balvinder. In 1983, he joined his father. Sales in those years were on a decline after terrorism hit Punjab and pillion riding was banned in Chandigarh. “In the first year after I joined, we sold only 31 units. I was upset; the sale was too low to sustain ourselves. So we had to sell our Ambassador car. We had only one mechanic and a helper.” The family’s financial position went downhill.

“We took up a contract of repairing 120 motorcycles of Chandigarh Police to make a living. I was available 24x7 even if that meant repairing a bike at midnight,” recalls Balvinder. The contract later extended to the Air Force, leading to a mild financial recovery. 

Those days were very frustrating. “Once I told my father that we take up dealership of other new bikes. My father told me plainly that if I wanted to diversify, I could, but without using his name anywhere. I revolted, resisted, but finally gave up. My focus eventually became our own dealership,” Oberoi said.

Sales started picking up in 1987. They sold over 100 bikes a year. We bought a car and started repaying our debts. From 1996 to 2006, I was judged number one dealer across India by registering highest sales,” says Balvinder. In 2015-16, he sold around 4,000 bikes and this year, the sales are expected to register 4,800 units.

How about other high-end bicycles like Harley Davidson, Triump, DSK Benelli etc? He says rather patronizingly: “They have expanded the market.”

“Our company’s customers are more loyal than most other brands. They will always drive a RE. If they replace their old motorcycle, they will upgrade. They also act as our brand ambassadors.”

An RE owner will bring others to his showroom. “Driving a Bullet is like addiction. I have been riding it since 1968-69. I am 64 years old but I feel young while driving,” says JS Cheema, a retired DSP from Chandigarh Police. 

Sanjeev Kumar Sharma (52) is another passionate RE rider. “My father bought me a Bullet in 1976, the heavy metal. Then I bought my own in 1986 and then 1991. I bought two Bullets in 2016 and gifted to my two sons.”

Demonetization has had little impact on Enfield, the two-wheeler division of Eicher Motors. It reported 41% jump in total sales at 57,313 units in November. The manufacturer had sold 40,769 units in November 2015. Sales in the domestic market stood at 55,843 units as against 40,312 units in the same month last year, up 39%. Exports during the month jumped 222% to 1,470 units compared with 457 units in November. In 2015-16, Royal Enfield sold 498,791 motorcycles in the domestic market, 53% more than the previous year’s sale of 324,055 bikes.