Enfield Bullet 500 Classic Blake et Mortimer 2009 — Specifications

Forty-six motorcycles. No more than that. That's the production run Royal Enfield chose to mark the release of the nineteenth Blake and Mortimer album, "The Curse of the Thirty Deniers," where Professor Mortimer rides a Bullet through the backstreets of Athens for a chase scene that could almost have appeared in an advertisement. Except no one calculated their move: the coincidence between Jacobs' universe and the DNA of this machine is too precise to be artificial.

Let's go back to the basics. The Bullet 500 Classic is not a performance motorcycle, and it doesn's seek to be one. Its 499 cc single-cylinder engine, bored to 84 mm with a 90 mm stroke, produces 28 horsepower at 5,200 rpm and delivers 34.9 Nm of torque from 3,000 rpm. This torque, low and meaty, is the entire philosophy of the machine: it pulls without rushing, it rolls without fighting with the engine. The five-speed gearbox accompanies without characterful friction, the chain ensures transmission without surprises. Top speed is 130 km/h, which already represents the ambition of a lifetime for a motorcycle that weighs 187 kg dry, with a seat height of 820 mm. 35 mm telescopic fork at the front, two combined rear shock absorbers, a 280 mm disc pinched by a two-piston caliper at the front and a 152 mm drum at the rear: nothing but classic, nothing shameful. The 14.5-liter tank completes the picture of a motorcycle designed for leisurely riding, not for devouring kilometers in a hurry.

The problem is the price. Seven thousand five hundred euros for a 28-horsepower vintage single-cylinder in 2009 is a decision that only passion can justify. A Honda CB500 of the time turned two cylinders for less money and with much more versatility. A Kawasaki W650 played in the same retro register with more mechanical refinement. So why the Bullet? Because it is authentic in a way that its competitors cannot claim: the origins date back to the 1950s, the lineage is direct, the sound and vibrant character is real, not simulated. Tires in 90/90-18 at the front and 110/80-18 at the rear stick to the spirit of an era when people weren't trying to imitate the past because they were still in it.

This special edition adds a layer of meaning to all of this. The Blake and Mortimer badge on a machine that could have run in their 1950s adventures creates a rare narrative coherence. The target audience is clearly collectors and fans of Franco-Belgian comics as much as vintage motorcycle enthusiasts. It's not a machine for beginners, despite its modest power: the high seat, the weight and the mechanics require a minimum of experience. It’s not a machine for hurried globetrotters either. It’s a motorcycle of conviction, bought by those who don’t need to be told why.

A competition organized by the publisher Dargaud put one of these forty-six units up for grabs, accessible from the official series website starting November 13th. Winning the motorcycle or buying it amounts to the same thing: in either case, you leave with something that mass production cannot manufacture.