Dec 29th, 2017, Aussie Biker

[xoxoxoBruce]

Solo back-to back transcontinental rides put Winifred Wells on the map but her full circuit of Australia confirmed her eminence among Australia’s moto pioneers. Winifred was 21, when on 26 December 1950 she embarked on her solo and epic journey from Perth to Sydney return across the unsealed and lonely roads of the Nullarbor.

Keep in mind, “unsealed and lonely roads” in putting it mildly. The route she took weren’t even roads yet.
They were bush tracks with nothing but sand for miles, no water, no food, no help.
She, and her life, were entirely in her own hands and the reliability of her bike.

She received a hero’s welcome when she arrived back in Perth after 5,500 miles in 21 days. She went on to achieve the “big-lap” of Australia alongside her father in 1952.

Back in England Royal Enfield heard about this and knew it was a great promotion chance.
They seized the chance by the horns and made Winifred Wells a poster girl for Enfield around the world.



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[sexobon]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

... The route she took weren’t even roads yet. They were bush tracks with nothing but sand for miles, ...

I bet she made time to stop and get a nice tan all over.

[Carruthers]

Royal Enfield. Now there's a name from the past.

I was never into motorcycles, but names like Royal Enfield, Triumph, Norton and BSA were, at one time, part of the landscape.
Most seem to have disappeared through ill-advised mergers, bankruptcy or desperate, but ultimately doomed, restructuring.
Survivors include Royal Enfield, which is now an Indian company with a factory in Chennai and Triumph which, as far as I can see, is the only household name which both survives and manufactures in the UK.

If you have £10,000 to £12,000* in loose change hiding down the back of the sofa, a brand new Triumph motorcycle can be yours.

www.triumphmotorcycles.co.uk

Wiki

*$13,500 to $16,200

[xoxoxoBruce]

Might have to check the sofa and the recliner...
But the modern Royal Enfield Bullet is more reasonable, although not much more technically advanced from what she rode.

[Diaphone Jim]

I rode and raced a BSA Gold Star in the 1960's. It was a 500cc single and would vibrate your arms to numbness at speed. Helmetless and in short sleeves on LA freeways, ah youth.
Hers was a 350, but certainly a handful, heavy and with crappy brakes, not to mention with the lack of real roads and no logistical support.
Neat post.

[Griff]

That there was a cool girl. Adventure today is more like crappy cell coverage.

[Carruthers]

New motorbike is a tribute to war heroes’ ‘Flying Flea’

A MOTORCYCLE ridden by British paratroopers behind enemy lines in the Second World War has been commemorated with a new limited edition bike.

Royal Enfield made the lightweight RE/WD 125 “Flying Fleas” which were parachuted down in protective cages.

Now the company has produced a motorcycle in tribute, the Classic 500 Pegasus, which was unveiled yesterday with an aerial display from the Red Devils parachute team.

The 10 paratroopers leapt from a C-47 Dakota above Imperial War Museum Duxford, near Cambridge.

The launch was attended by veterans including Fred Glover, 92, who was 17 when he joined the 9th Parachute Battalion.

He was wounded in a glider landing in Normandy and taken prisoner. But he escaped from a hospital.

He returned to the battalion and saw action during the Battle of the Bulge and the Rhine crossing.

Looking at the Dakota, Mr Glover said: “I wish I was in there.”

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[xoxoxoBruce]

So Royal Enfield is trying to make a few bucks on nostalgia by reminding us what they did during WW II, with a fat military contract, by taking a modern bike in no way related to the WW II Flea and slapping on some decals and canvas bags.

Oh, and making them exclusive by limiting the production to two colors and 1000 units. Unless of course some zombie virus causes a clamor of demand at which point they will announce a 2nd edition.

No reflection on Carruthers, and thanks to him for the information. I'm just wary of nostalgia driven campaigns because I remember the good old days and they weren't that great.

I'm sure Mr Glover has fond memories of the war 75 years ago as a kid, and probably nothing in the rest of his 93 years has pumped that kind of adrenaline again.