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-   -   The Royal Enfield Interceptor & Continental 650. EDIT: Launched @ Rs 2.50 - 2.65 lakhs (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motorbikes/192178-royal-enfield-interceptor-continental-650-edit-launched-rs-2-50-2-65-lakhs-3.html)

https://youtu.be/g6C01Sedtwo

Checkout the video at 1:50 and you can hear how the twin sounds

Sweet! I can see a ton of cool customs based on these two coming our way as soon as they hit the markets :D !

One question lingers on my mind: will those tubeless Pirelli Sportscomp tires make it on to the India-spec bikes? I really hope so, for that'll most certainly make touring more convenient.

Looks like one of the positioning statement is "Fun to ride". They have been stressing a lot on this, in entire video. In fact at 3:29 Minutes, Sid went so far to say that "this is the most fun bike to ride in the world":Shockked:

Well, these bikes definitely look promising and can sell better than Himalayan and Continental GT (single), if priced right.:thumbs up

So finally RE has taken the wraps off their biggest stride since the UCE engine Classic series, and I believe, if they get the pricing right, they have hit the nail on the head.
The timing is just perfect, with the increasing disposable incomes, increase in leisure biking culture and above all the huge base of almost 600,000 Riders being added to the RE family annually, quite a few of whom would look to upgrade after a year or two. The Bajaj - triumph bikes are not expected before 2021, Mahindra's experiments with BSA & Jawa don't seem to be any closer to conclusion, and Harley seems to be consistently out pricing themselves with yearly price hikes. RE will have a good head start over others in the nascent middleweight twins segment in India
The 'Ravishing Red' Interceptor looks stunning

The interceptor and the new continental no doubt look fantastic. I have already started saving up for either one depending on price and availability by late next year. However Siddharth Lal did tell that they wont be coming to India first and they will concentrate on more mature markets first. If that is the case then it would be a huge missed opportunity for RE as 96% of their customers like me are in India and some of us are looking to upgrade to a bigger engine. The test for RE would be to make sure the twins would be niggle free from day one and are reliable as any other middle weight out there, hope these doesn't turn out to be another Himalayan episode.

Edit - The above interceptor and this continental I think look the best with the chrome and the blacked out assents looking stunning.clap:

The answer to this is in your own paragraph.

For a change, it is better that RE 'tests' its products on the Europeans first as they are generally more demanding and do not tolerate unreliability like us Indians, who are treated like garbage by providing half baked products and let us do all the R&D/Testing for them. It is a lesson well learnt for RE with the Continental GT 535 and then the Himalayan. They've invested huge money on the new engine and they cannot afford to go wrong this time.

Exactly their view, but in the back of my mind I am always worried about RE that they are somewhere missing out on the quality and the relaibility part of their vehicles. They claim to have tested their bikes in all parts of the world for a huge number of miles but when it comes into the hands of the customers it's a different story.

What's to stop them from exporting better quality bikes to their foreign markets and then compromising in their Indian offerings all in the name of price sensitivity. I hear that's what they did with the Himalayan and that's what they have been doing with the classics. Had a friend check out a classic 500 in UK and he was of the opinion that the fit, finish, the welds and the look of the engine and the paint job was more refined and polished than the Indian version.

I sincerely hope that RE launches it abroad, fixes niggles that shouldn't have been there in the first place and then launches the same niggle free bikes here rather than passing off export reject peices to our gullible public.

Few more pictures courtesy OD Twitter

On a lighter note, they've hit the nail on the head with that seat too! 1 whole, single seat for both rider and pillion, rather than a split, ladder like arrangement is quite a rarity in the bikes available today :)

Cheers,
Vikram

Isn't it looks too similar to triump Bonneville.. Which is not a bad thing anywayz.

Probably wait for 2-3 years for initial issues to sort out before putting my hard earned money..

While everybody, including me, is drooling over these twins, what impressed me the most is the weight. RE's website lists out the specs

Continental GT 650: 198 kg
Interceptor: 200 kg

Roughly what the 500 weighs! That's impressive

I noticed in the specs (on the RE website) that the tyres seem to be a bit too thin for a bike with this much power.

100/90-18 front and 130/70-18 rear. One would have expected at least 120 front and 160 / 150 rear?

Finally they are out ATM the interceptor looks nice and closer to their own GT in quality maybe a notch above.

The design appear weak and crude in that exposed fat tubular frame running to tail against the seat and the air filter box. A case of form over function perhaps, the Filter-box appears to be designed to fit into the void, maybe it is the worst part.

All in all looks good that Cafe racer is pretty close to Norton and Moto Guzzi designs launched a while back, quality and maturity of design and precision tooling in both it superior.

Will certainly wait out for two more years after the launch to get my hands on, not trusting RE blindly this time.lol:



OK I just saw this video and find it interesting that RE understands what they are making and happily I agree that this is what I want but niggle free.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...&v=SynLT1HDji0

Aren't most "oil cooled" engines predominently air cooled engines with oil cooling assistance? Still far off from liquid cooling tech. I don't think there is a single bike on sale above 200cc without oil cooling. Generally refered to as air cooling itself.

Average person differentiates between just liquid cooling and air cooled. Oil cooling assistance is a given in non-commuter spec bikes.

Honestly it's scary if the product development head felt the need to correct him. Indicates he probably thinks there is a vast difference between the two and that oil cooling is something unique to the bike.

Looks like I am only one who's still wondering what's special with this bike!! I don't find anything great about the looks, and everytime I see the interceptor, it reminds me of the Yamaha rx100. And wouldn't the windblast be too high for this to be doing any high speeds which this may be capable of?

Plus, I again don't have any special tuck for the brand. A colleague of mine bought a brand new classic 350 1-2 months back - I have already heard the bike being broken down 3-4 times.