Royal Enfield Custom

You don’t always need exotic underpinnings or titanium sidestands to take home a trophy at a bike show. ‘Rat Racer’ has just won its class at the Biker Fest in Udine, Italy, and it’s based on nothing more exotic than a Royal Enfield Bullet 350. The Bullet is a stone-age air-cooled thumper—cast iron—and one of the few motorcycles still in production with front drum brakes and a right-foot gear shift. But with an anemic 20hp available from the stock engine, those brakes will not be taxed too hard. It’ll be a fun machine to ride and it looks remarkably good—good enough to hold its own against some very expensive competition. So full credit goes to builders Michele Gamberini and Breska of Alambiccus Garage, who were assisted by renowned custom builder Roberto Totti. Totti has built more than one Enfield 350 in his time, and it looks like his advice was well-heeded.