I am buying a WD Royal Enfield 125 which is complete and which I have little doubt is an original and correct WD bike having all the right features of the WD model. However the frame number is 4169, referring to the tables in 'British Forces Motorcycles' shows the nearest to this being contract S1945 for 4000 machines frame numbers 4171 - 8170 (so starting just 2 frames after this bike) with corresponding serial numbers of 5111171 - 5115170. None of the other contracts come anywhere near to frame 4169. While I am happy that no one can say records from this period are always complete and accurate it does not help me identify the correct serial number for this bike. The bike currently has the serial number 5111196 painted on the tank which perhaps suggests a previous owner 'assumed' the last two digits of the frame number had been transposed and should have been 4196 which would put it comfortably into contract S1945 and while numbers can be miss stamped that is quite an assumption.
Can anyone else help with this or have any suggestions on where to look for other records which might help as I would very much like to allocate the correct serial number to this bike.
Have you tried the Royal Enfield Owners Club? The Club Chairman will look at your numbers for free (there is a charge for a DVLA approved Dating Certificate if a non-member) if you email him on graham.scarth.01(AT)gmail(DOT)com
There is also a Facebook group for the small 2-strokes at https://www.facebook.com/groups/1054499608445215
REgards, Mark
The Royal Enfield Owners Club has already advised you on this motorcycle. Let's resume...
Here are the facts:
- There is a frame number 4169 stamped on the right hand side of the headstock.
- The frame appears to be a military one, I would have to see the welds of the saddle mount to be sure that it is not a converted civilian frame.
- There is NO duplicated frame number on the engine.
- There is a true engine number V4169 on the engine.
Here's our conclusion:
- The Redditch factory dispatch records owned by the Club show that Model RE with frame number 4169 was a civilian machine sent to Kassam Kanji of Nairobi (Kenya) in July 1946. It is not impossible, but I would say very unlikely that the bike ever came back from Kenya.
- The fact that there is a true engine number V4169 but no duplicated frame number on the engine suggests that this was a spare engine from military contract S/1945.
- The frame is probably also a (military) spare frame (hence originally it did not have a frame number).
- Somebody put the spare engine in the spare frame, and created a WD/RE ("I've had this axe for fifty years. It's had three new heads and seven new handles.").
- But the builder made a mistake: he copied the true engine number on the frame instead of copying the frame number on the engine...
- And he must have had dyslexia, as he calculated the census number C5111196 based on frame number 4196 (which would indeed have been a WD/RE), not on frame number 4169...
The classic bike scene is a minefield:skull_and_crossbones: in this regard...My only advise is to do the homework before buying, not afterwards, if you're concerned about originality (or reality)...:relaxed: Ian
Ian,
I couldn't agree more which us exactly why I started this post, I now have the option of passing on the bike or purchasing it for what it is rather then what someone wanted to make it!! I have previously found a 'staff car' which turned out to be a post war car painted green and fitted with a fake army rebuild plate. In that case clearly a deliberate fake, the poor guy selling it had no idea believing for years that he had a genuine staff car.
Caveat emptor
