Ladakh Armour : Sump Guard for Royal Enfield Thunderbird Twinspark

                                   Royal Enfield Thunderbird Twinspark Sump Guard

The Ladakh season will kick off in a month or so and Bulleteers across India are feverishly preparing their steeds to conquer the rugged terrain that the northernmost mountains of India challenges them with.

Here’s an essential piece of Ladakh armour that Royal Enfield Thunderbird Twinspark owners should certainly look at for their own good.

The Royal Enfield Thunderbird Twinspark has an abysmal ground clearance of 135mm, a full 5 mm lesser than that of the Cast Iron/AVL engined Royal Enfields. This makes the Thunderbird Twinspark’s crankcase particularly susceptible to damage from rocks, flying stones and other debris.

Once your crankcase is hit with this assorted mixture of debris, you could be staring down at a distorted crankcase that suddenly starts leaking oil or worst still a cracked crankcase that will usually mean the end of you Ladakh sojourn. All this, in a desolate region where survival is the primary concern, leave alone finding someone to fix this mess. 

Kunal Bhaskaran, who owns a Royal Enfield Authorised Service Center in Pune has a solution in store that will protect your crankcase from damage. Kunal has designed a Sump Guard for the Royal Enfield Thunderbird Twinspark.

                                  Royal Enfield Thunderbird Twinspark Sump Guard

This vital piece of equipment is made of 2mm thick steel that can withstand the brutal impact caused by the toughest rocks that you might encounter on you Ladakh trip. The Sump Guard is designed in such a way that sits 25 mm from the engine’s crankcase. This space gives the sump guard a cushion to crumple in case of an extremely hard impact, thus making sure that the crankcase doesn’t bear the brunt of the impact. In other words the sump guard will act like a crumple zone in case of hard impacts while deflecting the little rocks and stones that will usually be thrown at the crankcase while riding in the inhospitable Ladhaki terrain.

I queried Kunal about whether the Engine Sump Guard will hit large speedbreakers or potholes that our Indian urbanscape is home to. This question was raised as I had my own doubts about the sump guard hitting speedbreakers and other obstacles in the cities. Kunal made it clear that the Sump Guard will not hit any speedbreaker as it still provides sufficient ground clearance of about 108mm. The sump guard has also been tested by a few Thunderbird Twinspark riders with stellar results. Meanwhile, Kunal is also making a batch of sump guards for the Cast Iron/AVL engines and these will be ready shortly. The sump guards can be shipped across India. All in all, the Sump Guard is an extremely useful addition for Bulleteers who are planning to ride out to Ladakh.

Kunal can be contacted from Monday through Saturday at his workshop phone: 09881341144. Bulleteers in Pune can ride down directly to Kunal’s workshop at:

Kunal Bike Works
Royal Enfield Authorised Service Workshop
Shop no. 6, Shraddha Terrace
Viman Nagar.
Pune-411014.