This is a long story, so please be patient. Once upon a time… In the early days of this very magazine, we featured lots of Royal Enfield singles. There were several reasons for this, all of them good reasons. Firstly, many readers rode them – and in those days we attended loads of events, talked with loads of readers, so we observed what folk rode and what they talked about. Also, we got on very well with the then RE importers, Watsonian Squire, up-country in Blockley, deep in the Cotswolds, and could borrow lots of nice new bikes. This is not the case today, sadly.
Of all the models I had the opportunity to ride, one of them really did stand out; the Woodsman, a slightly mysterious blend of stock roadster and trials bike. When I first saw one I was more bemused than anything (have you observed the line of the exhaust pipe yet?) but Ben at Watsonian assured me that I would love it. He was right. This was maybe 2006, and the Woodsman was based on the standard Bullet Electra X, complete with the non-unit leanburn engine and 5-speed gearbox. I was pretty familiar with the stock Electra X, not least because Rowena had ridden one all around the country, visiting every mainland RE dealer, and had enjoyed the bike so much that we bought that very one.
Which is why I didn't buy the very similar Woodsman, despite enjoying the riding experience rather more.
Slow forward (we are talking speeding Bullets here) to 2008, and IWoodsman – the bike featuring the first of the unit construction fuel injected Bullets. I'd earlier been loaned one of the very first EFI machines to land in the country, on condition that I didn't write about it – which of course I did not. A good relationship with the guys who provide the test bikes is a good thing and not to be messed with.
