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-   -   The Twin-Cylinder 750cc Royal Enfield (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motorbikes/162312-twin-cylinder-750cc-royal-enfield-8.html)

Not a 750, but a twin 650cc is slated for the 2nd quarter of 2017. It will be the interceptor or a new Continental and later on another chassis.
750cc it seems goes into another tax bracket and raises the price significantly.

I still dont understand why they are making a cafe racer when we dont have a 2km stretch anywhere in the country that we could call a 'Cafe street.'
All that they need to do is open their eyes and follow what they only acknowledge- the awareness of highway touring in India because of Harley Davidson.
WE need a good 6-speed 600 or 750 with relaxed seating, a good suspension- some lessons they can take from the Himalayan-
A resaonable 300Km fuel tank-
I have yet to see a single happy faced owner of a Himalayan at a workshop- narrating a good experience- and the same issues about- neutral- average- poor pick up- and most important that RE seems to have forgotten that for most Indians- we have a transport leg of a minimum of 1200-1600km till we hit the Himalayas-
Where then the bike cribs for power.
IF they continue with this myopic view, then a cafe racer in India will be sold with us being told to ride to Manali in that posture and enjoy the bars there.
I dread to think- how they are throwing away all the good will built by their social teams and the riding team and the super experiences of tours of parts of India.

Quite honestly, nobody complained about lack of power on the Continental GT, what people actually complained is of the vibration that makes sustainable triple digit speeds not so pleasant. So RE would be better off, to build something more relaxing for the modern Indian highway - which needs a higher cruising speed and really good tyres and brakes (for that odd cow on the road) :D

Although I like the direction RE is going in by diversifying into other categories (cafe, adventure..etc) they need to seriously look into some better solutions for metallurgy. The Himalayan is so needlessly bloated for a 400cc bike @190kilos. Weight on paper is one thing but this bike does not hide it well (too much weight up top) at all. Just tipping it by 15 degrees makes ones knees give up and it begins to tip over ( made worse with luggage) and even two of us struggled to lift it back up ! Well, its an adventure bike all right. Not the sort of adventure some of us would like to endure though.

And I cant begin to imagine what this new 750 engine might add to that weight. 250?!! 270?!!! Its ok on a low cruiser with low CG but not on a high heeled off-roader. Definitely not!

Exactly what I had in my mind ever since I saw the erstwhile Brazilian edition of yamaha fazor250 and honda tiger250, before the current crop of 250cc set there rubber in India, same as the likes of yamaha RD350.

An upright and relaxed rider position with a wind-shield to sustain good triple digit speed and off course good rubber and great brakes with reliable mechanical's would simply be more enduring and enticing for the kind of road and hindrances that bog-down a great trip.

I suspect that the idea of a twin cylinder RE is to break into export markets as the priority.

It was only by coming to India that I truly came to understand that it is more than just an old British bike that India still makes, it is part of the cultural fabric of India. I loved to see these guys on meticulously maintained cast iron Bullets and hear the mighty Enfield thump echoing off the walls of every crowded street in the part of Delhi I stayed in. That area was where many Hindus and Sikhs from the west of Punjab came to settle after partition, and I could see the particular passion Punjabi guys seem to have for "the buult". I also met a retired Indian Navy officer who owns a hotel in South Andaman, he had ridden many miles on the Bullet all over India as a younger man, and had a son about my age (39) who owned a flawless and quite wonderful black '76 Bullet which I admired and chatted to him about at some length.

I totally understand why many Indians would prefer a recreation of the Interceptor to a parallel twin Continental. It fits better with how India experiences RE. When I got to ride the Bullet in India, I felt such immediate happiness that I would probably not choose any other bike in the world over a 500 Bullet to ride in India. They don't even look quite right to me without a saree guard now! An Interceptor would feel so much more "right" than a Continental to me in India, bowling along a sunny highway dodging wandering cows and 3 wheelers, engine rumbling along at 2000rpm in top gear with your lady riding behind - THAT is Enfield. A naked bike in a racier style doesn't really fit.

Enfield has sold quite a number of Continental GTs here in the UK. It is more common to see than an Indian built Bullet despite being available for much less time - this is the same in a lot of the world. That racier style, especially with an air cooled parallel twin, is how the world thinks of 'cool British bikes'. The British makers produced many singles like the Bullet, Goldstar etc... but the cream of the crop were the twins. RE must make the twin cylinder Continental if they want to continue to build on their overseas successes, but they must also make the Interceptor if they want to retain their special place in India, but look to the future.

There is a lot of talk of Harley on here, but Enfield need to be looking at Triumph as well.

If they can make twins that have enough puff to keep up with the fairly asthmatic Harley 750/883 range, but styled more like the old skool Triumph twins (which would be much more in keeping with RE heritage) and undercut both on price, then they could be onto a real winner.

I'm quite excited to see what they come out with. If it's 2xHimalayan engines bolted together and de-stroked to 650cc and only in a Continental style, then I will be a bit disappointed. The 40-45bhp that would produce is a little bit short of where they need to be aiming in my view. The Street 750 has only got 53bhp at a fairly high 8000rpm. If they can squeeze 55bhp from their 650cc twin, put it into a 'standard' style frame with twin front discs and better shocks, stick an Interceptor badge on it and sell it for 10-20% less than a HD Street 750 then it's game on!

Your post is spot on, both from an emotive as well as from a cold hearted business logic point of view. Im at least glad that RE is not sitting back like other manufacturers (a certain ex partner of Honda comes to mind who can produce a bike for a dakar race but cant deliver on any of their showcased big bikes to us consumers) who are just being content with updating their current range of mass market bikes. Although none of the current bullets compares to the VFM my Duke offers me I would still dearly love to go back to proudly owning a bull at a point in time and if the specs you outlined are met then definitely its game on...

Royal enfield India has always been a slow learner, but it's the sheer cult that has kept company growing by leaps and bounds over the last 7-8 years, precisely after launching the classic series. Personally I hate the 18 inch rim at back and most other models in front too, which lowers the stance. This of course is my opinion.
I'm sure most of us know about the gentleman in US, Aniket Wardhan who has been building Musket VTwins based on the 350 and 500 engines. He has meticulously worked on this and nearly perfected the VTwins that he builts. They just need to get him on board and start producing the twin cylinder motors. Here's the link to his website:
http://www.musketvtwin.com/

SPOT ON Rob! I grew up in India, spent almost 2 decades in the US and am back this side of the world. Bought a Continental GT two years ago, but that didn't quite work out where I live now (Bhutan and Sikkim). The sportier stance was OK riding in plains, but not the best for our steep, twisty, gravel-filled mountain roads, especially with that bad turning radius. But in the big cities of North America, as well as Southeast Asia, they seem to be quite at home and very popular as well. You're right, I saw as many, if not more Continental GTs in New York last time I was there than Classic or Bullets. Saw the same in Bangkok when I was there last month - so many more Royal Enfields on the streets than last year, half are Continental GTs. Classic, Bullet, Thunderbirds, cast iron 350s - I find all of these way more at home over here.

Like you mentioned I'm hoping (praying!) RE puts the new twin engine into a modern Interceptor as well as a cafe racer.

And yes, RE should be looking closer at Triumph than Harley. Looks, heritage, etc. RE and Triumph are in the same playing field.

EXACTLY! I've been following Aniket and his Musket V-Twin for 7-8 years now. One man show, building such cool bikes, gotten on the Jay Leno Show, even had well-known custom builder, Max Hazan, create a new custom bike based on his engine. Harshman Rai, where are you? Pls tell Siddarth Lal to get him on board like yesterday! Him and Chumma Gee (Summanth Janardhan) with his Ace fireball kit adding much-ended oomph to old cast-iron RE engines, says he's now building kits for new EFI engines as well.

Hand built, no less :thumbs up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYzuqAX2A3A

Fast-forward to 20:00 for a real "makes-you-wonder" statement...
.

So is it launching on 17th or not?:deadhorse

Ok, here it is... the first exclusive pictures of the Continental GT 750 twin on Indian soil !!!

Features a matte black twin exhausts this time, not the chrome units from the previous spy shots in Spain.

I am still hoping for a new retro styled motorcycle, and not the CGT... Lets see.

Attachment 1621349

A profile photo would have cleared many doubts and given many some solace :)

I really wish so too. But this is what we got... there is a minute long video of the Conti twin available, but that is mostly of following the Conti from behind only.

But I did a quick comparison with the current 535cc Continental GT, and here is what I found. I still choose to believe that we would get a new motorcycle (or at least a face-lifted Conti GT) with many changes, based on my inferences below:

The grab rail is an optional accessory for the currently available Continental GT. From the picture, the handlebar height seems to be the same as well. The angle of the levers is interesting, maybe that's the way the test rider prefers it? It will put a lot of pressure on the wrists though.