Howdy gents,

from Bruce in Calfornia. my old interceptor was the u.s.a model, not u.k. most definately the police. i traded my datsun for a '65 750 interceptor back in '74 i was only 18 years old but i have been riding a 250 ducati since the age of 14. in fact i even rode with Doug Mclure at laguna seca cycle ranch, back in oh...lets say it was 1969.

well anyway, laguna seca cycle ranch was one of Mclure's failure's, a place up by fort ord where us kids could ride. yes sir, it was kinda fun being the only kid in high school with a big 750. next best thing to a hog. but the girls realy went for my '63 turd-bird, not a bike. the royal enfield 750 was my first love. i found a spare engine, localy at Dave's Cycles for $200. the new motor was a '67. it had the duel point distributor not the world famouse lucas magneto. funny thing, the timing cover was so cumbersome on the enfield becuase the cams were chain driven not gear driven. thats the screw. one interesting feature was the magneto was chain driven also. its sprocket bolted to a tapered shaft, permits infinate adjustment of the ignition timing. i suppose it was desighned that way for this reason. her dual-piston powered oil pump. like a minature BMW motor complete with its own valves and conecting rods. (who builds this crap the enemy?) always worked for me. very interesting, funky to say the least. being a motorcycle powerplant, "the motorcycle powerplant", it was "old school" wet sump crankcase, air cooled cylinders, heads, generator, primary chain, dry clutch, much like a harly davidsen. with new inovations, it had a wet clutch and was dry sump "with an oil tank built into the crankcase" instead of under the seat. one feature was the fact that you can remove the left or right head and cylinder with out disturbing the other one. this is why the motor is so large compared to the norton 860 comando with 5 speed conventional primary starting, the norton is highly advanced by 1976. best of both worlds.

However that royal! enfield had one heck of a compressor under her tank. with hemisphereical heads and cylinders, the 750 interceptor is a true "hemi" very high compresion ratio of 12 to 1. better use union 76 leaded supreme so she wont knock. dont need that. i remember one day i'm trying a hill climb on her (dunlop street tires) and she veered off to the left into sticker bushes, underbrush, thorn thistles, wet leaves, decomposed logs, poisen ivy, schrub oaks and manzaneta bushes as far as the eye could see. i just kept the power on and held on for the ride. she charged upwards in 1st,2nd,even 3rd gears! just kept on lurching forward thru the thick rainforest lugging down full throttle (twin amals) as low as 500-1000 rpm. she was knockin' like crazy. i got to the top of that hill in no-time, and stopped to shut her down in a nice safe place, a clearing where no army jeep could possibly penitrate. as her all aluminum engine steamed andtinked away i lit a smoke off her right header pipe and drew the smoke deep into my lungs. as i exhaled i looked directly over head only to spy an unidentified flying saucer (UFO) performing aeroatic manuevers in the night sky. it flew westward, stopped, and disapeared in a north eastern direction. its beacon flashing red, white, and blue. you know i had one chore cleaning the mud off that bike the next morning. yes sir, that royal enfield 750 would sure lug down.

I always wanted to put a single mikuni on her, not bad eh? for the amals had two throttle and choke cables each. the screw again. i ran a duel cable throttle and it was always in need of constant attention. the cables were either out of sync or breaking. the choke lever was mounted on the left handle bar and could be used as a throttle also. this was high quality eguipment. her spun aluminum headset and gage cluster was a real eye catcher sporting smiths tachometer and speedometer and amp gage neutral light always looked like brand new even to this day 40 years later. her tank is seamless one-piece all aluminum and is!
a hot item in any chopper shop.

My favorite thing about the interceptor is the way the rear wheel is desighned so that you can remove the wheel from the bike on its center stand with out re-adjusting the brakes or chain becuase the sprocket is atached to the air-cooled brake drum. a royal enfield patent. just like her neutral finder. "man this bike is loaded" to attempt a re-start with out clicking thru all the gears, thats racing. or to coast in neutral at high speeds with the motor off "english spy stuff" i think in 5 years i got one flat tire. isnt the BSA 650 goldstar a much better machine. like the infamouse triumph boneville and norton comando. i would choose norton 860 comando 1st and the interceptor last. but you gotta hand it to them its a most versatile good natured all-round motor-cycle. can trail like a 500 single or cruise the interstate with the BMWs and Moto-Guzis. most definatly the police, "built like a gun". like rip corrivan and the royal enfield brigadeers.

Remember the movie "bye-bye birdie" with dick vandyke, bobbie rival, anne margaret and jean stapleton. well conrad birdie (bobbie rival) and his guitarist all ride up on the stage on royal enfield 750s. you bet. then conrad gets drunk and goes tearin' off on his. i still have my owners repair manuel and parts manuel two. i sold my bike to DICK'S ROYAL ENFIELD WEST in ontario ca. in 1978. i had a pleated leather seat cover made for it at leather bill's on perry lane in monterey calif. she had green ohio plates. if you have seen this motorcycle please call or write maybe i'll take her back. later days Bruce