Royal Enfield Super 5

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The Royal Enfield 250cc unit construction range of Crusader models had been selling well to the ‘sixteener’ market, but 1962 was the next evolutionary step with the launch of the Super 5 or ‘Fiver’ as it became popularly known.

This was the first British production machine to be made with a 5-speed gearbox as standard. Two steps forward of the opposition, Royal Enfield also took one backward step with the fitment of leading link forks. There were also teething problems with the new gearbox which packed five gears into the space where four had previously been. The two gear clusters could be interchanged though and many 5-speeders were retrofitted with the more robust, thicker section cogs from the 4-speed unit which, although not quite as precise with its changes, was more durable and readily available.

There was nothing wrong with the leading link forks other than customer resistance, so when the Continental GT with its café racer styling was launched, it reverted to the conventional fork set-up, but retained the Super 5's gear set.

According to a dating letter on file, this rare survivor was supplied new to Handley of Birmingham on 22nd March 1962 and the frame and engine numbers on the V5C correspond to those on the copy of the Enfield Owners’ Club despatch records, making this a matching numbers machine.

Acquired by the Stondon Museum in 2006, the bike comes with an old MOT from 2004 which is presumably the last time it was on the road so the usual precautionary checks and recommissioning will be required before use. These sporting lightweights are now a rare sight indeed and this highly original example should amply reward the fettling now required to return it to the road.