I am sure Enfield Fury is a well known motorcycle among enthusiasts. But very few know the history behind its making. Before that we should know that Enfield India did nothing except assembling the bikes from CKD kits imported from Zundapp Germany after they closed down their factories in 1984. Therefore, Enfield Fury is nothing but Zundapp Kardan Sport 175 ( KS175). Bikes post 1989 were built using certain parts sourced locally. Zundapp is a great name in Europe and is equally famous such as BMW. In fact, BMW was asked by the German govt during the 40’s and 50’s to manufacture bikes with license from Zundapp. This was after both the manufacturers were asked to build 800cc twins / fours military motorcycles with specifications provided by the govt. Later, in testing the govt found that Zundapp machines were far superior.
The Zundapp name has won more than 8000 medals in racing primarily in GPs and endurance races. During the 60’s it set 14 world records on 50cc machines reaching 162kmph for runs upto 1000kms. It dominated the ISDT (International Six Day Trials) and broke 650cc machines using 100cc bikes. The Fury’s engine is derived from these machines but detuned to a great extent. Imagine, 125cc engines produced 28bhp in the 70’s. The KS 100/125/175 all share the same gearbox but in different capacities both air and liquid cooled. One great achievement to be noted is
that the KS175(Enfield Fury) won the 1997 Iron B Rally (USA) being the smallest capacity and the only 2-stroke machine to enter the race. The others were all high capacity machines with 2, 3 or 4 cylinders. The KS175 finished the race ahead of many high capacity machines. This race is open to all categories and should complete 17, 000km in 11days. Amazingly, this race was finished on a 1973 KS175 by a German gentleman by the name Martin Hildebrandt without even a single stop caused by machine failure. Such is quality of the components on these bikes, typical German engineering.
One main reason for its failure in India was Enfield with its ill equipped staff and lack of proper after sales service. Parts were very expensive, for example the Fury’s tachometer(without speedo) which is digitally governed(first time in India) costed Rs.1800, the disc brake pads(Rs.600), the magneto coil from Bosch - Rs.3800 or the piston from Mahle - Rs.2000 (all in 1987).
Even today, even you cannot get the bike serviced at a roadside mechanic, it is totally different from Indo-Jap bikes. Unless, you know someone with a workshop manual, it is not advisable.