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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-38.html)

Folks from the remaining states would be like, now instead of paying highertax to the government, we will be paying higher ex showroom to RE lol:

Its a welcome move though considering folks of selective states have to pay much more for cars/bikes and plus for fuel compared to others.

In a state like Delhi fuel prices should be bought on track prior to banning cars from the streets :OT

Royal Enfield wants to be communistic here, by putting in additional effort to support the states where the Governments collects additional taxes :D

Phenomenal pricing - which is not too far off from what the Classic 500 with ABS costs.

More trouble coming RE's way - as the Pegasus owners would have started discussing in their Whatsapp groups already, about how RE has cheated them... All over again lol:

They could have their bookings converted, get initial batch delivery - all at no extra costs, with this pricing! But no, they wanted unique stickers. :Frustrati

I'll be in tears for days and months, if I were in their place!

Superb pricing, must compliment RE for pricing it realistically and not going overboard with the 'premiumness' that seems to be floating around the Indian market.
I really like the looks of the Interceptor, seems just right.
One of the reasons for me to consider the Interceptor is the low seat height, my current ride is a 200NS and my wife who is 'vertically' challenged refuses to sit on it thanks to the stepped pillion seat. Will defo take a test ride along with her.

Kudos RE and Sid Lal.

Here's the official pricelist.

Nopes. This is only for Bangalore / Kerala and was floating around from morning (See previous pages).

Only Bangalore / Kerala gets 2.33L starting price.

With this introductory pricing Royal Enfield has officially pulled the rug from under the competitors' feet. Now the other manufacturers will be scrambling for cover and devising new ways to entice customers.
The common argument for the average Joe who intends to buy a retro looking motorcycle today will be that for 2.34 lacs ex-showroom he is getting a 650 cc motorcycle. So, as I said earlier it will be Price to CC ratio that will be the operative word in any argument about the worth of a motorcycle hereinafter. For the prospective motorcycle buyer 650 cc for 2.3 lacs is a lot of motorcycle for not such a lot of money as compared to the (now seemingly pricey) offerings from other brands in the market today - specs, refinement, driveability and BHP be damned !

The question is whether Royal Enfield can sustain this kind of fantastic pricing a couple of years down the line? Only if they persevere with this line of pricing will there be any decent numbers, and it may lead to a price correction from other manufacturers for their own products, which is good news for buyers.

The reviews talk about a step up in quality and refinement. Well, that remains to be seen in real world conditions and the owners' review, a year or two down the line would put any doubts to rest about the quality, reliability and refinement of the latest Royal Enfield products.

All eyes would be on Jawa now for their unveil tomorrow, though it is highly debatable whether they would be able to (proportionately) match the kind of prices RE has unveiled. Simply put, it is almost as if Royal Enfield has done a 'Jio' to other motorcycle manufacturers in the country. :)

Cheers !

With this RE price, probably Dead-on-Arrival. Unless of course Jawa is aiming at CL350 - but why would anyone even consider it now, I wonder. Maybe a few nostalgia takers, some die hard Mahindra fanboys.

I think RE just hit this out of the park, just like the JTPs did for cars. I was getting really sick of this premium-ness competition amongst manufacturers who kept taking their numbers higher and higher. It’s time we had some realistically priced vehicles, and for that, thank you RE. I still won’t buy until a few thousand have beta tested it, but what a start!

RE have just disrupted the motorcycle market. I told here once how would it be if RE started making 650cc's to challenge Harley's. Well, HD better run. I so want the Interceptor 650.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKVT5dGHpnM

When the highly probable scenario of the Interceptor overtaking the Bajaj Dominar on the sales chart happens, I would like to see how the Bajaj marketing team would feel. They certainly cannot call the new twins an elephant anymore. All that they have at hand now is digital instrumentation and LED lighting to claim superiority.
Bajaj marketing team would have been shook, as if a lone wild elephant had charged into their office premises this evening lol:

This elephant has totally ignored Bajaj. Seems like its sights are set on the imports only.

Bajaj could have saved on the marketing cost targeting RE and given us better VFM bikes.

Let the 650 twins hit our roads first.. a lot of its success would depend whether they manage to "stand out".

Coz if they don't, the common customer would still see more value in a 350 Classic which would cost half and still turn heads with an exhaust modifcation.

The Dominar is hard to distinguish in the crowd unless looked hard, even to someone like me... the main reason why its not selling as well as it should

I went for the launch event at St Mary' Motors in Cochin today, it was quite the experience. I will have details and photos tomorrow. Suffice to say, RE has completely knocked it out of the park with this pricing and the perceived quality of the bikes.

There was a young, short gentleman who was trying out the GT650 for size and I was surprised to see that his feet were almost flat on the ground. I also felt (visually at least) that the GT seat might be a little more comfortable than the Interceptor's. I couldnt check out the GT650 myself due to the stream of customers and restricted myself to the Interceptor 650 instead which appears to be very comfortable!

The Bajaj Dominar marketing team still hasnt come back from the celebration party they they went to after the launch of their advertisement (in which they made fun of Avenger owners as well). Thats why they dont know that the Dominar is already languishing near the bottom of the sales charts even before the launch of the Interceptor and GT650s :D:D

So some more highlights from the longishh speech from Rudy and Sid - 120 dealers have the demo bikes already. Test rides from tomorrow at these dealers. Inventory of parts necessary already available. Extensively tested - warranty and RSA also show the confidence RE has in the products. RE is now ranked 2nd in India in dealer as well as customer satisfaction (don't ask me how).

About the launch event that I attended then. Mostly a smallish crowd of 50 people - most whom I knew from the RE fanboy days. So pretty much people who have or had an association with RE (at least where I went). A showroom manager of Triumph showed up as well - not sure if he works for Triumph currently tho. :)

The bikes themselves then -
1. GT looks smashing! Interceptor less so but is a good looking bike.
2. Proper big bike feel - these are actually bigger than the Classics.
3. Very well finished though typical RE feel with the aluminium finish on the engine and gearbox casings etc. It still needs work to get to the Triumph league but hey - 1/3rd the price!!
4. Interceptor is really comfy - familiar posture for RE guys.
5. GT has ditched the last gen handlebars and the new bars are clipons but raised. Your wrists and back won't hurt as much - more practical now with the longer seat as standard. 2 up is now truly possible on the GT now esp those who would like to have that one bike which looks the part and carries the lady along! And in formals, I felt I could still ride it to work without much hassle. Unlike the earlier GT I meant.
6. Interceptor had surprisingly rearset foot pegs than what we see in current set of RE. Let's see how it is on those tours but they seemed adjustable (nyone else thought so too??) the way they were bolted on. Didn't take the pic unfortunately.
7. No more thump - it's a familiar twin engine note very similar to Bonnie. And then no vibes - i mean really. We revved the bikes, both of them and no vibes!! The video won't attach - some issue with MP4 files?
8. 650cc and 47bhp - truly relaxed and with that 6 speed box, Bonnie T100 is probably dead. No wonder every international bike maker of repute is trying up with a local biggie to produce smaller capacity bikes! RE has done way more - a truly big bike at the price of a small(ish) capacity one (think how stupid BMW probably feels now with what they did with GS310 price points)

All in all, I never thought I would want an RE again or get myself into the showroom again for a product launch by them. They proved me wrong and I walked out truly excited, impressed. Am sure there are tons of erstwhile RE owners who would feel that way. And that's without even bringing the price into the equation. Time to invest in the Eicher stock while it's back at 25k then. clap:

I attended the launch at the Goa dealer. The Superbikers Club and HOG Members were there at the launch.