[petrolveins]

The bikes are well thought out right from the word go, partly because this is personally a great test on Sid Lal's visionary thinking as the coming decade is probably his last chance before he hand his boots professionally. (conjecture).

Partly also, he needs to provide an upgrade option for the existing RE customers without which the RE brand success can never be a long lasting one. This explains the pricing strategy as well.

I feel he succeeded exceptionally on all the counts and more. The passion he exudes in interviews is contagious. This decade I'm confident that RE would make its mark internationally.

The pricing particularly is a hard knock on other brands who are charging premium without the commensurate value just for the sake of it. (Subjective observation). Aspirational Brand at affordable cost (Jockey inner wear brand as an example).

Personally, I think the bikes would be a sleeper hit as they are a perfect blend of city and high way usage and taken into account the cult status of the bikes in India..

Time will tell if the success can be replicated internally as well where I think the odds are stacked in favour of the RE given the acute lacunae of competitors in the target segment.

A well managed media engagement (online, print etc.) through out patiently over the last one year.

Disclosure: Shareholder of its parent. (sometimes, betting on the jockey pays off in the long term).

[SnS_12]

Originally Posted by Nilesh5417

4. The engine won't start if the stand is down - i never imagined i would see this on a RE in this lifetime.

I guess its the side stand. Even that would be an issue if you want the engine running to do some diagnostics and the bike only has a side stand and no main? Paddock stand will have to come to the rescue?

Originally Posted by ku69rd

The twins run on fully Synthetic oil which means a replacement window of 10000 kms or one year. Does take it 3.3-3.4 liters of oil at each replacement. Complete Capacity is 3.9 liters.

So guess estimating the costs to be around 5 to 7K for alternate services.

That’s a lot of oil. My Busa requires around 3.1 literes at every replacement plus a litre more added for the oil filter. So the oil cost is going to be expensive and would depend on the type and brand you prefer.

[r_nairtvm]

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

This post will be contain more photographs and the corresponding observations as compared to the previous post. Finally around 21:00, the truck with the bikes arrived and the patient crowd burst out into loud shouts of joy. Ive never seen people more happy to see a truck in my life!


Ive run into the 30 picture limit for a post, so onwards onto the next post.

Lovely report Neil.

Overall looks a nice package. I am rooting for it and hope it copied some of the quality of the original they used as the template . Even if 50-60% of the quality/build quality is there, I will put down my money on it

By the way any idea whats the kerb weight of it ?

Best Regards & Ride Safe

Ram

[ku69rd]

Originally Posted by r_nairtvm

it

By the way any idea whats the kerb weight of it ?

202 Kilos Dry weight with the fuel in it might tilt the scales to 210ish

[Engine_Roars]

Originally Posted by aravind.anand

While it is ok to be more careful while spending our hard earned cash on something that is yet to be proven, it is certainly not right to judge an all new product like this.

Whats worse still, we do not even know the reason behind why the new Classic was there - maybe an after-market horn or exhaust or seat causing some trouble? It might even be a puncture.

I understand where you are coming from but Sir I have a fair share of bike riding under my belt to differentiate between a puncture shop and a mechanic . This skepticism is a not just because of one bad product, it is because what I have been seeing with number of products from their stable. I totally agree we should not judge a new product, but we should be allowed to judge a company who has been around since several decades now.

[Sutripta]

How hard is the clutch? (Compared to say the 350 Thunderbird)

Regards
Sutripta

[ku69rd]

Originally Posted by Sutripta

How hard is the clutch? (Compared to say the 350 Thunderbird)

Regards
Sutripta

HOnestly not much of difference between the two. But this was at standstill. Need to check how well it will be for frequent usage.

[ArizonaJim]

Originally Posted by SnS_12

I guess its the side stand. Even that would be an issue if you want the engine running to do some diagnostics and the bike only has a side stand and no main? Paddock stand will have to come to the rescue?
...

There are several photos of both the Interceptor and the Continental on the official Royal Enfield web site that clearly show both motorcycles resting on their center stand.
This leads me to believe they both will come with one.

As for the non-starting issue with the motorcycle resting on the side stand, it is due to the presence of a switch on the stand which prevents the motorcycle from running when the side stand is deployed.

This is a safety feature of the Royal Enfield 500 UCE singles imported into the United States and it has been since the motorcycles were first imported in 2009.

The side stand switch has caused some problems on these US imports, the most common being the activation of the switch when the sidestand was moved because of bumps in the tarmac. This can cause a temporary mis-fire of the engine while riding.

Although it introduces the possibility of riding off with the side stand still down, some people in the US have disconnected the switch.
I am one of them.

Once the switch is disconnected, the motorcycle can be started and allowed to run while the bike is resting on the side stand.

As I mentioned, this side stand switch is a safety feature.
Riding off with the sidestand still deployed can result in an accident if the end of the stand hits the road during a left hand turn or when riding off of a surface to a lower surface such as will happen if one rides off of a sidewalk curb onto the street.
When riding off of a curb, as the front wheel drops to the lower surface the sidestand will hit the higher ground under the motorcycle and this can throw the motorcycle down on its right side.

Getting back to the Interceptor and the Continental, the presence of both the sidestand and the centerstand is one more + that the new Royal Enfield has over the Triumph Bonneville. The Triumph Bonneville's imported into the US don't have a centerstand.

[aravind.anand]

Originally Posted by ArizonaJim

Getting back to the Interceptor and the Continental, the presence of both the sidestand and the centerstand is one more + that the new Royal Enfield has over the Triumph Bonneville. The Triumph Bonneville's imported into the US don't have a centerstand.

At ;east the center stand is an optional accessory that the owner can get, the Bonneville's biggest shortcoming is the lack of the 6th gear - and alas, one cannot even get that sorted easily. The Royal Enfield twins will definitely feel calmer to ride at highway speeds because of this, despite the relatively smaller engine they have.

[sprocket]

Why is the GT more expensive? Is there any additional hardware?

[Hammer & Anvil]

Lots of readers took the ktm390 comment seriously, but how many 390s are selling a month really.
500 in July 2018 and declining every month thereafter.
It's going to open the touring market but one thing I would agree to, the fuel average.... 20 kmpl at 100+ will get on the rumor mills and start to affect sales.

Originally Posted by r_nairtvm

By the way any idea whats the kerb weight of it ?

202kg

[PrasannaDhana]

Guys, on a different thought, if those Pegasus owners got their cash back, it would have been a wonderful stroke of luck to put it back on the 650 twin! What an upgrade for an extra 15k!!
One extra cylinder, 20 extra horses, absolutely classic looks and better bragging rights!

[desideep]

IT has been an amazing week for me. I have been waiting so long for the Interceptor to be launched. But the wait is not over for me yet. I am living in Australia and the motorcycle is still to be launched here.

The only problem that I have is that my right leg does not have enough mobility anymore, so I cannot bend it enough to ride a sports bike. I had taken my Motorcycle License test here on a DUKE 390 and I was struggling to bend my right leg enough to be comfortable.

I can see that few BHPIANS in this thread have booked the bike I may need their help to see how is the overall sitting position and try to bring the Footpegs and Levers forward a bit so that I can get a positioning like the good old Bullet.

Great to see some really good looking Motorcycles being launched.

[gthang]

Originally Posted by ArizonaJim

As for the non-starting issue with the motorcycle resting on the side stand, it is due to the presence of a switch on the stand which prevents the motorcycle from running when the side stand is deployed.

As I mentioned, this side stand switch is a safety feature.

Isn't the Side stand kill switch supposed to work only when a gear is engaged?

Most bikes allow running in neutral.

Cheers

Ride Safe

[Nilesh5417]

Seems like my view on this feature was misinterpreted - i meant its a good to have feature, a simple one yet i never expected to see it on RE. Was pleasantly surprised to find that the twins are moving RE away from the Bullet tag and associated perceptions. A slow process that RE started with Himalayan but it misfired. Am happy they stuck to basics on the twins - engine, ride quality, reliability and didnt go for radical transformations or electronic wizardry. Simple "big" bikes that work, work well all the time and a reasonably priced was the goal and thankfully they stuck to the objective.

So with the twins, i hope they find the success they are looking for. RE might have the British heritage but its definitely desi at the core so i feel pretty good about what they have achieved. And their plans for where they want to be 10yrs from now seem to be backed up by some real ground work.

Originally Posted by gthang

Isn't the Side stand kill switch supposed to work only when a gear is engaged?

Most bikes allow running in neutral.

Cheers

Ride Safe

Yep - you will be able to fire the engine up and then it cuts off when you engage the gear.

Edit: On a side note, i hope the prices of used REs come down to some realistic levels now! Am eyeing the BS4 Himalayan and will probably get one in 6mths but the prices people quote for decently maintained ones are