[The BULK]

Originally Posted by jerry can

Will be available in three seat configurations!

The one in the center looks good.
With the pricing of 2.16l ex-showroom Mumbai,and considering Bangalore On road should be a whopping approximate of 2.5l upwards On road thereabouts. I hope the performance and reliability issues are done away with.
Otherwise, this pricing is going to literally burn a hole on all enthusiastic pockets.

Cheers!!
The BULK

[ebonho]

I like the yellow one in the newpaper cutting.

I think of the 3 sear configurations, the one in the middle is closest to what I would expect an old school cafe racer to look like.

But 130 kmph? The original cafe racers from the 50s and 60s must be turning in their mechanical graves man ......

RE it seems has made up its mind about the "more performance" conundrum.

Leave it to the customer.

[Roomy]

Originally Posted by Aditya

These prices have been provided to us in the press release. Just confirming, these are on-road prices for the Continental GT.

Cheers.

Originally Posted by The BULK

The one in the center looks good.
With the pricing of 2.16l ex-showroom Mumbai,and considering Bangalore On road should be a whopping approximate of 2.5l upwards On road thereabouts.

The BULK

There you go!! They are on road prices mentioned here. I expect the Bangalore price to be on the lower side on 2.25L.
I don't have a clue why most of the pics are on the Red GT while the yellow one looks absolute dapper!!

[eltoro]

I received a call from the RE dealer in Mumbai (would not want to specify which one) yesterday stating that the bike will be available for viewing today. He called me back today morning confirming the same but as of now TDs are not possible as the bike is not registered. I have an offline agreement with him to switch my current booking of the Thunderbird 500 (which I never intended to buy) and get the delivery of the Continental GT about 2-3 months later.

I had a chance to feel the bike in flesh last week during the Bombay Burnup and has posted my experience about the quality not being that great considering that the on-road price was being cited as close to INR 2.5 lakhs.

But the surprise that RE has pulled off in managing the cost with all the same components as that of the export model has changed the game completely. As a customer I would not mind paying a few thousand rupees over the price of a Thunderbird 500 and probably also live with the niggles provided that this bike has enough finesse in terms of handling and riding comfort. I will be able to TD the bike next week and will then decide on going ahead with the booking or cancelling it.

Another spoiler is that the Triumph launch has been confirmed for tomorrow and if the Bonnie is launched for close to INR 6 lakhs on-road Bombay then its going to be bye bye Continental GT for sure even if I have to wait for some more time to muster the resources (CASH) for buying it.

Indian bikers are going to be spoilt for choice and I am lovin' it.

PS: The Yellow Continental GT is a looker and way better than the Red one but the dealerships have no clue as to when it will be up for deliveries. As per them only red Continental GTs have been manufactured till now. I guess there may be some truth as there was no evidence of a Yellow Continental GTs existence till the launch yesterday. A very well kept secret indeed.

[ku69rd]

Originally Posted by ebonho

But 130 kmph? The original cafe racers from the 50s and 60s must be turning in their mechanical graves man ......

Bro,
In all fairness to RE, Mr Lal has made it very clear that this bike is for fun and not for track burners. This will be a unique bike and am sure people who would buy it will be least interested in turning up in tracks for some speed testing. Am not quite sure how comfortable it will be for highway travel as well.

Remember the Triumph Thruxton, has a similar stance and with its power of 69 PS it does not exactly scorch the tracks even though it has a 865 CC motors.

This should be a bike for the posers who like to revel in the 60s and 70s arena.

[himanshugoswami]

one qustion

Are the Pirellis tubeless or tube type?

IMHO this bike is not going to do well in india because we Indians like flashy stuff (hence the long waiting for TB and Classic)- this bike is neither here nor there in terms of styling, even though it has pretty impressive hardware.

the question is is the whole greater than the sum of the parts?

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by ku69rd

Bro,
In all fairness to RE, Mr Lal has made it very clear that this bike is for fun and not for track burners. This will be a unique bike and am sure people who would buy it will be least interested in turning up in tracks for some speed testing. Am not quite sure how comfortable it will be for highway travel as well.

Remember the Triumph Thruxton, has a similar stance and with its power of 69 PS it does not exactly scorch the tracks even though it has a 865 CC motors.

This should be a bike for the posers who like to revel in the 60s and 70s arena.

The original cafe racers were not made as track bikes either. They were built with just one goal in mind. To be fast.

I am actually not overly bothered about whether they want to call it a cafe racer or a grand tourer or whatever.

As far back as nearly 15 years ago, even without implementing the full Egli formula, the Lightning 535 was perceptibly faster than the Std 500.

Now they make a 535 cc version of the 500 cc UCE engine, from what I hear they have also worked on the mapping, the fueling, the timing, as well as the crank.

These are not small changes. The least one would expect from a bike with such improvements(?) from the factory would be to have a bike that is perceptibly quicker and faster than the normal 500 UCEs.

Do you think 130 kmph is perceptibly faster than a 15 year old Lightning 535 or Std 500, leave alone the 3 year old C5 and the 1 year old TBTS500?

Sid Lal came in with a lot of enthu in 2004 to the Goa RM on the as yet unlaunched Lean Burn 500. Now that was a proper leap. We all believed with him at the helm, things were going to improve big time.

Now 10 years on I feel that somewhere along the way Sid lost the plot. As a biker and an enthusiast. And the businessman took over.

[ku69rd]

Originally Posted by ebonho

Do you think 130 kmph is perceptibly faster than a 15 year old Lightning 535 or Std 500, leave alone the 3 year old C5 and the 1 year old TBTS500?

Now 10 years on I feel that somewhere along the way Sid lost the plot. As a biker and an enthusiast. And the businessman took over.

Doc,
Agree to your view when you talk about 130 Kays and being limited at that. Am sure they can put in slightly more performance but how would the Push rods take that sorta beating without giving way? The V Twins which HD put out also have a similar issue with their 883 CC topping out at 170s or 180s.
So considering that, I would say for a single cylinder to give you 130 kays is not mind boggling performance but a decent one. My grouse would be how much of torque would it be able to shell out.How quickly does it reach those 100s and be comfortable at it.

Yes the lightning 535 did perform well but then we all know the niggles its engine carried.

On Sid losing the plot, personally felt that he is losing his charisma and is being sucked into the numbers game.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by ku69rd

Doc,
Agree to your view when you talk about 130 Kays and being limited at that. Am sure they can put in slightly more performance but how would the Push rods take that sorta beating without giving way? The V Twins which HD put out also have a similar issue with their 883 CC topping out at 170s or 180s.
So considering that, I would say for a single cylinder to give you 130 kays is not mind boggling performance but a decent one. My grouse would be how much of torque would it be able to shell out.How quickly does it reach those 100s and be comfortable at it.

Yes the lightning 535 did perform well but then we all know the niggles its engine carried.

On Sid losing the plot, personally felt that he is losing his charisma and is being sucked into the numbers game.

We were dying to get a 535 version of the LB. We never got that. Then they killed the LB, which most senior Bulleteers will tell you was the best of the lot.

Now we have the UCE engines. Bikes that do not even feel like Bulllets anymore. You talk of the Harleys. At least the Harleys still feel like Harleys. Feel is all important when owning and riding these bikes. Because there is no performance. So at least don't take the feel away as well!

So when I heard 535 and crank re-worked and all that jazz, I honestly secretly was rooting for an RE to be able to actually finally do the ton, straight from the factory.

Instead it does 130.

Now all I want are those rear shocks before some number crunching boffin makes them turn to Endurance .....

Its not that Sid has lost his drive. Its more the guys behind him who have. Growing the company is great. But not at the cost of the legacy they are custodians of. Which every Bulleteer has equal right to as well, as unpaid ambassadors of the marque for decades now. Loyalists most of them.

[ku69rd]

Originally Posted by ebonho

Now we have the UCE engines. Bikes that do not even feel like Bulllets anymore. You talk of the Harleys. At least the Harleys still feel like Harleys. Feel is all important when owning and riding these bikes.Which every Bulleteer has equal right to as well, as unpaid ambassadors of the marque for decades now. Loyalists most of them.

+1 to what you have mentioned. Its more of the Emotional side of rational thought that I see in this reply.

Honestly I had stayed away from RE Stable just because of their performance. But the UCE Bikes did feel more like a Jap bikes than any British feel to it. They only have their external shell aping the Good old RE.

Regarding the GT, yes am heading this weekend to a showroom in Bangy to measure the Rear Suspensions, Steel Braided Break Lines for the initial switch.
Might consider opening up the engine if the 535 has a considerable difference.

Suppose this short video goes out for all the die hard bulleteer who have been their unpaid ambassadors.

_

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by ebonho

Sid Lal came in with a lot of enthu in 2004 to the Goa RM on the as yet unlaunched Lean Burn 500.

Was this motorcycle known as the Hurricane? I recall Autocar carrying out a ride report. It looked like a chrome edition Machismo 500.

[tharian]

Originally Posted by ku69rd

Suppose this short video goes out for all the die hard bulleteer who have been their unpaid ambassadors.

OT:
Two things I appreciate the Brits for making my life so much more interesting -
Pink Floyd and the Enfield.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

Was this motorcycle known as the Hurricane? I recall Autocar carrying out a ride report. It looked like a chrome edition Machismo 500.

No, it was a LB500 engine in a standard body (I don't recall, but I think it was white). Most of us who got to ride it up the steep sand slopes of Arambol were blown away by the torque, and started daydreaming of owning one soon. Those were good days. The community was still small, and tightly close knit across cities, unlike today. There were 20 such test bikes with the motor fitted to Thunderbird bodies that were sold to "special" guys, one of them a close friend of mine (who now rides a 390 ), a couple of years before the Machismo 500 was officially launched. The "Hurricane" you speak of was a concept bike designed by some guy in Mumbai I think. And much later to the time span I amm speaking about. Nothing to do with RE.

[BikerSG]

2.09 on road price in Chennai.

[tharian]

Like always, it will be most expensive in Blore.
2,19,000 on road, 30k more than TB500 which I feel is reasonable .

5k is the booking amount, fully refundable and 2-3 months is the waiting for now.
The normal type mirror , something like the TB mirrors are standard and so is the seat shown in the pictures. The other type of seat is basically a double seat which looks like the RX100 seat with a cover on the rear that can be removed., like Man of Steel had mentioned, they are essentially the same. This is of course is extra along with the upswept exhaust that is shown in the picture.
The bike will come stock with an exhaust similar to the TB.
Good news being, discs, shocks and tires remain the same as what it was.

There were few dimples already on tank which seems it was factory finish.

Big question being, at just few thousands more than the 390, what would make a buyer go for this and for me,a Enfield loyalist, is it worth an upgrade from my CI500 or rather wait for the 390 Adventure.