India-based motorcycle maker Royal Enfield has announced a new all-electric model and a new sub-brand: Flying Flea. Due to begin deliveries in 2026, the urban-focused electric motorbikes are named after the lightweight gas-powered Enfield motorcycles delivered to British Army Red Berets by parachute (below) to battlefields during World War II. Troops nicknamed the lightweight bikes “Flying Flea” and the name stuck. Soldiers used the sprightly 4-horsepower two-stroke motorbikes to move around more quickly, speeding communications and intelligence work. The small motorbikes were toughened for such duty and have a following among collectors.
The WWII design actually came to Royal Enfield from a pre-war design by German motorcycle maker DKW through a circuitous series of events. Now, the model has returned as a fully electric lightweight motorcycle with an emphasis on gas-free urban riding.
Royal Enfield, founded in England in 1901, expanded with a factory in India while the country was under British imperial control. Cooperation continued with the Indian factory after India regained its independence in 1947. When the company folded in England in the 1970s, the brand re-centered in India. The simple, rugged, dependable and easily serviced 350 and 500cc single-cylinder “Bullet” motorcycle models, introduced in the 1950s, found a receptive market in India as the population rapidly expanded, and the company continued to produce the post-war designed Bullets into the 1980s. Today, India is the second largest domestic motorcycle market behind China, and Royal Enfield Bullet motorcycles, while currently not in production, are revered in much the same way as Jeeps in the U.S. or Range Rovers in Britain.
In the mid 1990’s, publicly traded vehicle and agricultural equipment maker Eicher Motors took over the brand, built a state-of the art factory in Chennai, India, and began producing thoroughly modernized but still familiar single-cylinder models with an eye on entering world markets. The brand remained on the fringes until 2018, when a new line of stylish, air-cooled but modern 650 twin-cylinder models (review below) debuted and found success in markets worldwide. Recently, a new gas-powered adventure motorcycle, the modernized Himalayan 450, also debuted and has proven popular. The company claims it now completes a motorcycle every 40 seconds every day versus making 1,000 per month before modernization.
Benji Roberts
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