Royal Enfield 650 Twins launched- Becomes more affordable than Kawasaki Ninja 300In the state of California USA, a British company owned by an Indian launched its first true middleweight motorcycle, in more than 4 decades. If that isn’t a headline, then I don’t know what is. Anyways, the Royal Enfield twins have been launched in the USA with a price tag of $5,799 (Rs 4.21 lakh) for the Interceptor 650 and $5,999 (Rs 4.36 lakh) for Continental GT 650.
Now the interesting thing is that the RE Classic 500 Chrome, retails in the USA at the same price of Continental GT650. While its ex-showroom price in India is around Rs 2 lakh. So there is a good chance that the Indian variant of the Royal Enfield will be just as cheap if not less. The actual price difference between both bikes is mind-boggling. The Classic ABS retails at around $5500, which is only $300 dollars or Rs 22,000 cheap than the Interceptor 650. If this calculation holds true then the upcoming Royal Enfield will become the most selling 650 cc motorcycle on Indian roads.
Now the US spec 650 motor churns around 47 HP while the Europe version gets 42 HP model due to A2 license restrictions. The top Speed of the bike is easily over 160 km/h and the bike can effortlessly cruise at around 120-130 km/h. Mileage figure of 25 km/l is certified in a WMTC test cycle. With a 12-liter tank capacity of GT 650, you will easily get over 250 km range in a full tank. Royal Enfield is offering a 3-year and unlimited miles warranty in the USA while the Indian version of the bike will get 3-year and 40,000 km warranty.
Both bikes are available in three variants. The variants for the Interceptor include the standard- Rs 4.21 lakh ($5999), the Custom- Rs 4.36 lakh ($6249), and the Chrome- Rs 4.72 lakh ($6749).
Same variants are for the Continental GT 650, Standard- Rs 4.36 lakh ($5799), Custom- Rs 4.54 lakh ($5999), and Chrome- Rs 4.90 lakh ($6499).
If the bike can lock the 650 twins within a Rs 3 lakh ex-showroom bracket, then they will become the most value for money Motorcycle in India beating the likes of Ninja 300 and Duke 390 by a long margin.
The Indian launch of these bikes is yet to take place. The Company’s CEO has confirmed that the bikes will be available in Indian showroom by the end of this year. We can expect the bike’s launch to take somewhere around November as it is during that time when Rider Mania takes place. Although we're still a little bit jealous that the USA got the taste of an Indian motorcycle before Indian, we're hopeful that the company must be planning something really special with the bike’s launch here. We can’t wait to get our hands on these machines when they come to India.
Are you ready for the 650 twins? let us know in the comments below and stay tuned to BikesMedia.
By: Yetnesh Dubey
