A bobber to be ridden in the foothills of the Himalayas. That was the romantic yet improbable design brief the owner of this machine took to Reginald Hilts of Bull City Customs. His hometown lies in the stunning riding playground that is the state of Uttaranchal, also known as the land of the Gods, but his motorcycle dream was not for an appropriate, hill tackling scrambler but for a bobber with comparable capabilities. Luckily Reginald thrives on a challenge. Reginald formed Bull City Cycles in New Delhi in 2013, a fashion designer by trade he was looking to let loose his creativity on more rigid materials. His love of motorcycles was instilled in him by his father's ever changing garage of Japanese two wheelers but for Reginald the Royal Enfield Bullet is the machine of choice. The Enfield has had many different iterations over the years but the donor bike in this case was a 2004 350cc model with a 4 speed gear box and neutral shift, a favourite of Reginald's. "Personally I love this model. There are no battery concerns as this is based on a cdi ignition; less electrical points hanging out of the frame and no decompressors involving endless kicking." "The game changer in this build would be the chassis. We wanted the suspension to work like a dream. So with a lot of chopping and redesigning we managed to set the chassis design apart by reinventing it in a way which not only added length to the bike visually but also took away all that extra frame work you see around in almost every soft tail Royal Enfield bobber". The forks are telescopic inverted items from a KTM gripped by custom machined 9 inch triple trees and clip-on bars, the rear shocks are gas units with 80mm travel. An 18 inch front and 16 inch rear wheel were selected to achieve a proper bobber stance. With the chassis taken care of work could turn to the motor. A MM Pacco carburettor with 125 Main Jet & 25 Pilot Jet is tasked with getting the mixture right while a K&N air filter and customised free flow exhaust pipe with a hand crafted aluminium exhaust tail consume and expel the air and gasses. The 16 litre tank was fabricated from sheet metal along with the front and neat louvred rear mudguards. The intriguing gas cap is a Royal Enfield gear shifter sprocket which Reginald re-cast in aluminium and utilised more of his artistic flair. The handmade, sprung single seat covered with Buff leather ably absorbs those mountain road bumps that slip past the shocks. The grips and foot pegs were turned and knurled from aluminium on the lathe, whilst brake and clutch levers are aftermarket aluminium items. "There is a lot of aluminium cast custom deigned pieces like the sides of the petrol tank, custom made foot pegs and replaced Battery boxes. A small custom designed aluminium piece on the tail of rear mudguard was made by a close friend Mark who is a sculpture by profession. I am not a big fan of chrome, so all the white metal you see is brushed aluminium." "We just love the purity and quality of vintage machines. I love the idea of bringing these machines back to life with modern techniques and quality parts to create a reliable bike with character and soul." The bobber is now back in Uttaranchal enjoying blasts through the surrounding hills and no doubt turning many heads on its way. Bull City have created a machine with the capabilities to match its owner's riding habits with the visuals he craved, no matter how disparate they may have seemed. Perhaps bobbers are the ultimate Himalayan Mountain playthings? See more from Bull City at The Bike Shed Archive | Facebook | Instagram