Royal Enfield Interceptor & Continental GT 650: 10 things you don’t know about the hot, new motorcycles

The wait is finally over and the 650 Twins have been launched in India by Royal Enfield. The much awaited motorcycles have been launched at a mouth watering starting price of just Rs. 2.50 lakh. Both the bikes have an attractive design and thumpy engines. Going by the reactions we have received till now, Royal Enfield clearly a pair of winners in their hands. Let’s now take you through 10 facts about the 650 twins which you would not be aware of. Planning to get one, better go though these facts before you make up you mind

 

Tons of accessory and customization available

Royal Enfield has been developing the 650 Twins since a long time. According Siddhartha Lal, CEO, Eicher Group (Parent Company of Royal Enfield), the company had been developing exclusive accessories for the 650 twins along with the R&D process of the bikes. This means that you will get a plethora of options to customize your ride, the way you want.

Cheapest 500cc plus bike in India

The biggest shocker Royal Enfield has given is the excellent pricing of the bike. The pan India ex showroom price for the base Interceptor 650 is Rs. 2.50 lakh while for base variant of Continental GT 650, it is Rs. 2.65 lakh. For this, you get a twin cylinder 650 cc bike with dual ABS and a host of other things. The nearest double cylinder bike in terms of price is Kawasaki Ninja 300 at Rs. 2.98 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). Talking of direct competition, the Harley-Davidson Street 750 gives it a fight but at a hefty sum of Rs 5.31 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi).

No 650 Himalayan or other bike for now

The platform on which the 650 twins are based has been made from scratch with inputs from Harris Performance, UK. The 648 cc engine too is a completely new unit, not used by the company before. There were many speculations that Royal Enfield will move some of its popular bikes to the same platform but Siddhartha Lal has confirmed that there are no such plans as of now. Those of you who wanted a more powerful Himalayan, it seems that is not going to happen anytime soon.

Deliveries starts Nov end

Royal Enfield dealers had already started taking bookings for the 650 twins since some time. However, deliveries will only commence by the end of November this year. Also, full scale deliveries will begin only by January as the manufacturing plant is not running at its full capacity currently. So if are planning to get one or already have booked one, you might have to wait a bit before you lay hands on these beauties.

3 year/40,000 km warranty

Royal Enfield is taking no chances with the 650 twins and is focusing more on customers than ever before. Therefore, the company is offering a 3 year time warranty or 40,000 distance warranty, which ever comes first. 3 year cover is a decent amount of time and it means that you’ll save a lot on your purchase after a year also.

Lowest price in Karnatak/Kerela

The 650 twins already have been priced excellently by Royal Enfield. However, some states offer an even lower price than the pan India quote issued by the company. The pan India prices for the Interceptor 650 begin at Rs. 2.50 lakh while for Kerala and Karnataka, the ex-showroom prices are Rs. 2.33 lakh. The Continental GT 650 on the other hand starts at Rs. 2.65 lakh (pan India) while in the two southern states it begins at Rs. 2.49 Lakh. This is because both these states have high registration/RTO charges and because of that, the on road price of the bike was getting much higher. So Royal Enfield has lowered the prices on their part for the bikes .

Highly trained staff to cater the buyers

Both the bikes are a completely new type of bikes for not only us but for the company also. The company has not sold such advanced and high powered bike in the country before and that’s the reason that it has done its homework well. By homework, we mean that the company has trained a large number of dealership staff so that they can connect and talk with the customers in a more engaging manner. Also, since both of them are high displacement motorcycles and will pull a more enthusiastic crowd, the staff would be able to meet their questions with satisfactory answers.

Lots of firsts for RE

Seems like Royal Enfield had been saving up its R&D department all these years for the 650 twins. We hadn’t really seen any big innovation or technological/mechanical advancement by the company since a long time but that has all changed with the launch of the 650 twins. They bring in many features which are a first for the company in India. The 647 engine displacement is a first and highest in India for the company, as is the use of twin cylinder instead of one. The twin exhaust are also a first and the slipper clutch too is worth mentioning.

No difference between Indian and International versions

India will get the same versions of the Royal Enfield twins as the ones that are sold abroad. There will be absolutely no cost cutting for the Indian market despite the much lower price tag at which these bikes sell in India compared to their prices in international markets. This is actually a great step taken by the company as till now, Indian models were sold with less features and equipment than their foreign counterparts. The lack of ABS on the Royal Enfield bikes is a big example of that, as until recently, the Indian versions lacked ABS whereas the once exported to international markets were ABS equipped.

The fastest production Royal Enfields ever built in India

Though the company has made many fast bikes, including the one that attempted a world record run at the Bonneville salt flats. That bike too, interestingly, was a Continental GT 650, although heavily modified. However, the 650 twins are the fastest production bike made by the company yet. The bike can reach speeds which are more than the 160 kmph mark. The 647 cc engine can rev up to over 7,000 rpm, which means that both the bikes are able to hit the 161 Kmph mark without much hiccup. This is a welcome change from the other Royal Enfield bikes that are infamous for their weak higher end grunt.