Nowadays, Royal Enfield offers up a parallel twin engine in their Continental GT and INT650 models, but back in the company’s heyday the p-twin of record was the Meteor (and its successor, the Super Meteor). It was introduced in the early 50s because the US market wanted bigger engines – RE responded with a 692cc OHV twin that was basically two Bullet 350 pistons in a stretched 500cc twin case.
Enfield advertised the Meteor as having “the world’s finest big twin,” and it was able to hit 94 miles per hour thanks an output of 36 hp through a 4-speed transmission. The later Super Meteor is an interesting footnote in motorcycling history as it was one of the earliest bikes to have ABS…as a test. In 1958, the Transport Research Laboratory (at the time, a government lab) tested Dunlop’s Maxaret ABS system (the world’s first commonly used system) and it was shown to improve braking distances, particularly on bad road surfaces. Duh. Despite that, RE’s Technical Director at the time wasn’t impressed enough to implement it in his bikes.
This example is claimed to have undergone a “museum quality restoration” that is “very close to original specifications.” Find this Meteor for sale in Minneapolis, Minnesota wth bidding up to $6,100 and the reserve not yet met here on eBay.