Royal Enfield Delays India Launch of 650 Twin Bikes – Here’s Why

Royal Enfield 650 bikes were showcased at Rider Mania in Goa late last year.

The Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 is built on the GT 535 chassis.

(Photo Courtesy: Royal Enfield)

Royal Enfield fans, your wait to see the launch of Continental and Interceptor 650 is going to be longer than you imagined. This has been confirmed by the company’s president, who claims the company is still working on the parallel twin engines for the bike. He was quoted in this report by Autocar Professional.

This update means that Royal Enfield will delay its global launch, which in turn delays its Indian debut. Earlier, it was expected that Royal Enfield will launch the 650 twins in Europe by July-August and then roll out in India around the festive period. That looks unlikely to happen now.

The bikes, which are the first from the Royal Enfield stable in the 650 cc segment, were first showcased at EICMA last year and Rider Mania in India this year.

It looks as if the company isn’t satisfied with the quality of the engine units and they are making sure everything is in the right place. After all, there’s a lot at stake for the India-based motorcycle giant.

We are working on the final stages of the parallel-twins on the Interceptor and Continental GT. After that, we will also be building capacities, because we do not want to be in a situation where we have good order books but we don’t have deliveries. We are in the final stages of development and building additional capacities.

<a href="http://www.autocarpro.in/interview/rudratej-singh-protect-share-grow-expand-29948">Rudratej Singh, President, Royal Enfield</a>

What makes these motorcycles special? It’s the heart – a parallel-twin cylinder, 648 cc air/oil cooled engine, with electronic fuel injection and twin exhausts. It sports a single overhead camshaft with four valves per cylinder.

These are the 650cc bikes from Royal Enfield. (Photo Courtesy: Royal Enfield)

The 650 cc engine puts out 47 bhp of power and 52 Nm of torque. It also sports an all-new six-speed gearbox and a slip-assist clutch. Many expect RE to price the bikes aggressively, with Rs 3 lakh to Rs 3.5 lakh likely to be its targeted bracket, an area where no other 650 cc motorcycle exists at the moment.

Royal Enfield CEO Siddhartha Lal said the point of going for a 650 cc motorcycle as opposed to a 750 that was widely speculated, was to keep its pricing accessible and stay away from a crowded market space.

Royal Enfield seems to have learned a few lessons from the launch of its Himalayan in 2016, and is hence delaying the launch of the 650 twins. An undercooked engine with lacklustre build quality played spoilsport to the company’s ambitions with India’s most-affordable adventure bike.

The company sure doesn’t want that to happen with the 650 Twins, and we’re glad RE is taking it seriously.