Jackie Shroff's buys a Royal Enfield Continental GT 650

Bollywood actor Jackie Shroff has just picked up a retro motorcycle. Brahma Motors of Pune delivered a spanking new Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 to the actor recently, in the Mister Clean paint scheme. Mister Clean refers to the full-chrome paint scheme on the Royal Enfield Continental GT 650, giving the motorcycle a very retro look. The Mister Clean paint scheme is also the most expensive trim level that the GT 650 comes in. It’s priced at Rs. 3.5 lakhs, on-road Pune. The Continental GT 650 is the most affordable cafe racer styled motorcycle sold in India.

Clip-on handlebars, a long, chiselled fuel tank, seat cowl and rear set footpegs are the key design highlights of the Continental GT 650. The motorcycle is aimed at those looking for a stylish, retro motorcycle mainly for weekend riding.

The ergonomics are quite aggressive, which makes commuting on the GT 650 suitable only for fit riders. The Continental GT 650 shares its mechanicals with the Interceptor 650, a slightly cheaper roadster-styled retro motorcycle that was launched along with the GT 650 about a year ago in the Indian market.

Both motorcycles share a newly developed 647cc, four stroke twin cylinder engine. The parallel twin gets a 270 degree firing order, and makes 47 Bhp of peak power and 52 Nm of peak torque. A slip assist clutch is standard, and the gearbox is a six speed unit. The engine is air-oil cooled, and gets four valve heads running a single overhead camshaft. Fuel injection is standard on this engine. Smooth, refined performance across the rev range and a flat torque curve with 80 % of the torque available right from 2,500 rpm are the stand out bits of this newly developed engine.

Royal Enfield could introduce this engine on more of its retro-range of mid-capacity motorcycles in the coming years. The Royal Enfield Himalayan is one such motorcycle while the Thunderbird 500 is also said to be waiting in the wings for the new engine. Early next year, the BS6 version of this engine will be available on the Interceptor and Continental GT 650. For now, the retro-motorcycle maker is working on upgrading the 350cc platform to meet Bharat Stage 6 norms. The BS6 compliant Bullet, Classic and Thunderbird range of motorcycles will move to a completely new platform. The engine is likely to get bigger and more powerful. Styling will change significantly, and so will many cycle parts. Royal Enfield is likely to discontinue the 500cc range of motorcycles when the BS6 norms come into place in April 2020.