[Hammer & Anvil]

More troubles for RE?
Display/Show on 22nd September
Bookings delayed to end-November. It seems that the engineering just can get the right parts to ensure a trouble free ownership experience.
They just bought themselves 2 full months and their premier event, Rider Mania, will go by without a bike in parking lots.
Amazing to watch RE at work.

[Roy.S]

Originally Posted by Hammer & Anvil

More troubles for RE?
Display/Show on 22nd September
Bookings delayed to end-November. It seems that the engineering just can get the right parts to ensure a trouble free ownership experience.
They just bought themselves 2 full months and their premier event, Rider Mania, will go by without a bike in parking lots.
Amazing to watch RE at work.

For me, personally, the biggest problem is that I'd like to wait for a year after the launch to actually buy this machine. We all know how RE treats it's customers like beta testers.
The bike looks decent and seems to be ideal for midlife crisis types like me. However, looking at their timelines I'll probably be a senior citizen by the time they beat the kinks out of the twins and finally launch them.
The initial media blitz was way too premature but on the brighter side they seem to be serious about launching a finished product and not repeating the Himalayan fiasco.

[Hammer & Anvil]

Just posting a news clip that's hit the tickets now.
Confirmed now...

https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/te...r-2829731.html

[timuseravan]

The media blitz and leaks were definitely premature but I for one would prefer RE to take all the time they need to release a trouble-free bike. RE cannot really afford a Himalayan-like launch fiasco.

[21Archer84]

Came across this short film featuring The interceptor custom. Would be interesting to see if the custom bikes would be available for India as well.

https://youtu.be/y_4dvuXTxYc

[aravind.anand]

Originally Posted by 21Archer84

Came across this short film featuring The interceptor custom. Would be interesting to see if the custom bikes would be available for India as well.

We can actually take it for granted that none of these customs will ever hit our showrooms. The effort and the money required to homologate such custom vehicles keeps manufacturers away from such attempts. Also, the demand for these kind of customs (if at all they are road legal) is also not expected to be much for the manufacturers to spend their effort.

[pedrolourenco]

The delay is just ridiculous. Initially for many years there were rumors of a V-Twin which never materialized. Then came the parallel twins which were launched in Europe. I can't understand why it's so difficult for them to launch the bikes here. It really looks like Maruti and Enfield are competing to see who can delay the launch of the Jimmy and Interceptor respectively for a longer time.

[B O V]

Originally Posted by 21Archer84

Came across this short film featuring The interceptor custom.

Originally Posted by aravind.anand

We can actually take it for granted that none of these customs will ever hit our showrooms

Many manufacturers pass their motorcycles onto custom builders pre launch, to have em at it and see what they make( under strict guidelines ofcourse), promotion activities! Since they first plan to launch it in europe/uk this does make sense.

Yamahas got their Yard Built projects which are similar, so do Harley, Kawa, Indian Etc

Old empire motorcycles is a pretty famous custom house based out of the UK, Since the rules western countries with regard to road legality of motorcycles is quite different from those of our own, these customs do find plenty of owners to commission them.

Originally Posted by pedrolourenco

The delay is just ridiculous. Initially for many years there were rumors

I'm glad, let them take their time, they can't afford to make any blunders. They are known for testing the first lot of motorcycles on their customers themselves

[neil.jericho]

Originally Posted by B O V

Old empire motorcycles is a pretty famous custom house based out of the UK, Since the rules western countries with regard to road legality of motorcycles is quite different from those of our own, these customs do find plenty of owners to commission them.

To my understanding (and I could be wrong), vehicles in the UK need to pass the MOT certifcation test, which I believe is not that difficult. As you rightly pointed out, this has given rise to a healthy customization culture in the UK.

More details can be found here - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOT_test.

Originally Posted by B O V

I'm glad, let them take their time, they can't afford to make any blunders. They are known for testing the first lot of motorcycles on their customers themselves

Scenario 1 : Royal Enfield rushes through with development and testing of the twins to release them to the eagerly waiting market.
Potential Customers : These Royal Enfield guys are ruffians of the highest order. They havent even tested their bikes properly and it keeps breaking down. I should know, I got 2 whatsapp forwards about it today! Bah humbug!


Scenario 2 : Royal Enfield finally realizes the error of its ways and prefers to be safe rather than sorry in development and testing. Release date not in line with customer expectations.
Potential Customers : Whats taking them so long! I would have bought it had they released the bike 3 months ago! Now I dont want it!

[R-Six]

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

Scenario 1

Scenario 2

Both the scenarios are pretty much true for all the manufacturers in the market. And I guess it is justified to an extent as well. When you tease the prospects with bits and pieces of the bike every now and then but never actually launch it in the market.

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to the launch. Already a fan of the exhaust notes I have been listening to on some of the videos shared online. Also, the finishing on the twin exhausts. They look really neat and classy to me.

Ride Safe,
R-Six

[aravind.anand]

Latest spy images of the bike, from Bangalore this time. Compared it with the previously released spy images, and could find only two key differences, one is the exhaust, looks leaner and slightly less bulky when compared with the Interceptor images released earlier, and the suspension springs are different. They are more tightly wound towards the bottom now, while it was an evenly spread-out coil earlier.

The bike looks quite average from the rear. Positive way to look at it - no unwanted attention when the bike is parked and away from eye sight





Also, another article in which a German dealer shares his first impressions. Considering that he is a dealer, his praises need to be taken with a pinch of salt though.

"I loved them straight away," he said, in his mail to IAB. "The design is for the Retro bike lover exactly like it should be. In Italy, we were allowed to sit on the motorcycle to have a look and feeling. Sitting on it made me feel at home and I knew I will like the bike."

Michael further added, "It's well worth the wait. I talked to one of the Royal Enfield managers, and he told me that he rode it in India for tests. After some modifications to the very early models, they said that the motorcycles should run very smooth and accelerate perfectly."

He even got an opportunity to hear the exhaust note of the new Royal Enfield 650s. Speaking about the NVH levels from the new 648 cc parallel twin cylinder, SOHC, air-cooled, fuel injected motor, Michael said, "It felt smooth with almost no noises that you might have heard on the Royal Enfield Classic 500 or the Himalayan. I was very impressed and had Goosebumps when revving the engine. We will get aftermarket mufflers, like the ones in the pictures but the strict emission controls will be a costlier upgrade."

Link to the First impressions article - https://indianautosblog.com/2018/09/...-gt-650-314349

Link to the article from where I took these images - https://indianautosblog.com/2018/09/...n-india-314344

[bsenroy]

Royal Enfield has started sending out invites to the inaugural ride of the #Twins

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Caught on test again -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whrSVEyUAY0

[AbhiIyengar]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Caught on test again -

Interesting to note how much time RE is investing to test (and re-test) the twins. I hope this delay translates to greater reliability for the eventual owners!

[man_of_steel]

Originally Posted by AbhiIyengar

Interesting to note how much time RE is investing to test (and re-test) the twins. I hope this delay translates to greater reliability for the eventual owners!

I remember myself praising RE for the extensive tests they were doing for Himalayan (Including the tests in the Himalayas) somewhere in this very forum.