Royal Enfield motorcycles were a favorite choice of café racers in the 1950s and ’60s. But like many other brands, the British company struggled to compete with the cheaper and more reliable Japanese bikes that arrived in the late 1960s, and it eventually shut its doors in 1971.

Sort of. In 1954, the Indian government had placed a huge order for Royal Enfield’s Bullet model to supply its border troops. To eliminate shipping costs, the company licensed the name and brand to a factory in India. Production there never ...