Is the Royal Enfield Thunderbird 500 X Worth the Extra Cash?

How does the Royal Enfield Thunderbird 500 X differ from the old Thunderbird? We take them for a ride to find out.

How different is the Royal Enfield Thunderbird 500 X compared to the regular Thunderbird? 

(Photo: The Quint)

Video Editor: Kunal Mehra
Cameraperson: Abhishek Ranjan Chaudhary

The Royal Enfield Thunderbird 500 X is priced about Rs 7,000 more than the regular Thunderbird. What do you get for that extra cash? We took both bikes out for a ride to find out.

Straight up, there are visual differences. The Thunderbird 500 X comes with a matte black finish all around, especially for the engine and silencer, while the regular Thunderbird gets a lot of chrome. The 500 X is available in a choice of four bright colours – orange, red, blue and white.

The handlebar on the Thunderbird 500 X is a little shorter and straighter. It’s also finished in matte black and makes for much easier riding in the city.

The seat is a single-piece unit, with a much slimmer pillion seat. The backrest on the regular Thunderbird makes way for a pair of sleek grab rails on the Thunderbird X.

As far as the engine goes, there is no major difference. The Thunderbird 500 X is a fuel-injected, single-cylinder bike that puts out 27.5 bhp of power and 41 Nm of torque, with a five-speed transmission. The gearshifts feel a little better on this variant.

The Thunderbird 500 X gets alloy wheels and tubeless tyres – the first on any Royal Enfield bike so far. This will make a huge difference for those who like long-distance touring, as they are much easier to fix.

Braking hasn't improved much. It gets front and rear disc brakes, but still no ABS. Other smaller differences you will notice is that the hazard lamp switch on the earlier Thunderbird has now been removed on the X.

The Thunderbird 500 X feels quite nimble to ride, but the vibrations creep in at higher rpm. It's not as pronounced as in the Classic 500, but it's not as refined as the Himalayan, which is probably the smoothest from the Royal Enfield stable now in terms of vibrations.

Watch the video to see if it’s worth Rs 1.98 lakh.

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