Golden Bullet
> Royal Enfield Bullet
Words by Roy Poynting
Photography by Terry Joslin
This bespoke Bullet was built in 1966, when the model was obsolete, to tackle the International Six Days Trial.
The 1967 International Six Days Trial at Zakopane could only be described as an embarrassing debacle for Great Britain’s National teams. Motor Cycle magazine’s report screamed; ‘ISDT; IT’S EAST GERMANY AGAIN – BRITAIN’S TROPHY TEAM THRASHED IN POLAND’, and that was certainly not overstating the case. Only two members of the National Trophy Team finished the event, putting GB second from bottom, while our two Silver Vase Teams finished in 16th and 21st places out of 23 entries.
Out of this carnage only three British riders won Gold Medals on British motorcycles – Johnny Giles (Triumph), Gordon Farley (Triumph) and a certain W Mills (Royal Enfield). The first two were household names and works riders, but who on earth was W Mills, and why was he riding a machine that had been out of production for years?
Well, to answer my second question first, the Royal Enfield Bullet was effectively brand-new, even though its design and tooling had been passed onto Indian manufacturers a decade earlier. Since 1962 Redditch had concentrated on its trendy twins and quarter-litre jobs, but that didn’t mean that nobody loved the big singles any more, and trials riders were especially fond of it. The Bullet had been instrumental in popularising rear suspension for off-road sport in the late-1940s, and had remained a popular choice for the admittedly diminishing number of four-stroke enthusiasts ever since.
But if you were such an enthusiast, and wanted a new Bullet, the only option was to make your own, and nobody was better qualified to do so than Welshman W (Billy) Mills. He was the workshop foreman at ‘The Automobile Palace’ in Llandindrod Wells – an emporium described by motorcycle photographer and off-road sport authority Don Morley as the Welsh equivalent of Comerfords – and had been responsible for preparing many machines which he and others rode in national and international events. He obviously had an affinity with Royal Enfields as he had successfully campaigned a 350cc Bullet for many years, and in the mid-1960s – with the Redditch factory on the ropes – Billy decided to apply his accumulated knowledge and skills for the final time, and he assembled the last long-distance trialler ever made with new factory-supplied parts.
Pillion loops betray the frame’s roadster origins.
We can be certain of that detail because, in a letter that came with the machine, his widow describes how he bought the special engine in Enfield’s closing-down sale. She suggests it was destined for a works scrambler but was never used, and that’s no surprise as – while Bullet scramblers were listed for a while in the sales brochures – they were never highly regarded, and even the factory didn’t seem very interested in them. For instance, the Rickman brothers were briefly supplied with them in pre-Metisse days, and their complaint that they had to return them for frame repairs every week was met by the suggestion they only enter scrambles fortnightly!
But while the Bullet might not have been up to the mark for top-class professional scramblers, it was about as good as the non-works rider could buy off the shelf for ISDT-type events, especially when put together by an expert like Billy Mills. His frame evidently came from a 350cc Bullet roadster, and it’s not known when it was made or if it had been used previously. No matter, it was common to both capacity classes and was little modified when used on the competition versions – so the licensing authorities accepted the Bullet as a new machine, and issued it with a nice fresh ‘D’ suffix registration.
I’m sure it was at least as good as new, and probably significantly better on account of its special motor and careful assembly. Billy Mills certainly didn’t stint on its preparation, and thoughtful little touches can be seen everywhere...
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Flexibility sums up the Enfield’s qualities.
