Royal Enfield Thunderbird 500X BS6 to be launched soon: Here’s what it could look like

Royal Enfield, the largest motorcycle maker above 350cc segment in India is working to upgrade their current line-up of motorcycles. With the BS6 deadline coming up in April 2020, Royal Enfield has already started testing their new products on the roads. While the BS6 compliance would require the manufacturer to only upgrade the engine, Royal Enfield will also launch cosmetically updated versions of the products.

Royal Enfield will take the opportunity to update their products and launch the tweaked versions of the current products to keep them fresh in the market. Here is a speculative rendering image by Shoeb Kalania for IAB that shows how the upcoming Royal Enfield 500X BS6 version will look like. The rendered image is based on the test motorcycles that were caught testing on the public roads.

Since Royal Enfield has always been about offering vintage looks with modern technology. This has been the recipe of the manufacturer for years now and it is unlikely to change in the future too. With that, Royal Enfield will do minimal changes to the successful combination and will majorly keep the design unchanged in their latest version of the motorcycles.

As seen in the rendering image, the 2020 model of the ThunderbirdX will retain the round headlamp and the curvy design of the fuel tank. The bike gets a chrome lid and black paint on various parts that make it look quite sporty. It should be noted that a lot of parts seen in this rendering image are speculative. For example that chrome heat shield on the exhaust. Also, the 2020model is likely to get split seats replacing the current single piece option. Also, the grab rail of the bike can get a split design and the rear can feature a round tail lamp with low positioned blinkers. The registration plate can be moved for a better overall look.

Royal Enfield will continue to offer the conventional front forks, disc brakes for both the wheels, gas-charged twin shocks at the rear and dual-channel ABS as standard with the Thunderbird 500X. However, the engine will be tweaked to meet the new emission regulations. To make it cleaner, Royal Enfield will use the fuel injection system with an oxygen sensor to ensure better emission levels. However, the engine power and torque output will remain unchanged from the current version. The 499cc single-cylinder engine that powers a lot of Royal Enfield motorcycles produces a maximum of 27.57 PS at 5,250 rpm and 41.3 Nm at 4,000 rpm. The smaller 346cc single-cylinder engine produces a maximum of 20.07 PS at 5,250 rpm and peak torque of 28 Nm at 4,000 rpm.