“Breakaway” Royal Enfield fans have created their own South East Queensland club.
Mike Crawley says some members of the Royal Enfield Group (REG) were in the national Royal Enfield Club, but found it was “primarily focused on the southern states, so they “drifted into our own local group”.
“Most of us are of mature age, half the group retired or nearly retired, but we’ll accept anyone,” he says. “The name of the group gives us the acronym, Reg, a name that could fit any of us.”
Royal Enfield Continental GT cafe racerBut don’t expect REG to be a club tied up in red tape and officialdom. Mike says it’s just a contact register for riders to find each other when planning a ride or looking for others to ride with.
“It is not a club as such and consequently we have no formal structure,” he says. “We don’t have club insurance so we can’t involve ourselves in shows etc under the banner of REG. We are individuals who are responsible for ourselves alone. And since there is no structure there are no fees. You can, of course, belong to any other club while remaining on our list and joining in whenever you wish.”
Riders can contact Mike with ride suggestions and he emails the details to other 49 members. They also produce a newsletter of events.
At the moment, they only have three timetabled events:
First Wednesday of the month is a short mid-week Coffee Run which usually attracts 3-5 riders.
The second Wednesday o the month is dinner at the Holland Park Hotel with up to 16 members plus partners.
On the third Sunday of the month they go for a longer ride. This month they rode to Maleny which is where I met them.
Members come from around South East Queensland mainly riding Indian-made Bullets, older iron-barrel Classics and about half are current EFI models. There are also a few of old English Enfields in the pack.
In keeping with the steadfast bulletproof single-cylinder bikes, the pace is “gentlemanly”. I followed them in an orderly file at just under the speed limit through the lush green Woodford area.
“When we ride, we try to keep to B roads where possible and we ride at 85-95km/h,” says Mike. “While we love our Bullets we also accept their foibles.”
If you would like to know more about Royal Enfields and REG, contact Mike here.