[sprocket]

Originally Posted by aravind.anand

- This particular bike had some issue with the gear lever and changing gears was definitely not a pleasant experience - I notified this with the dealership after the test ride.

Originally Posted by tharian

-The gearshifts are something which I felt the same on a brand new GT as well as this. Neutral to first was clunky, almost 50% of a HD clunk. Rest of the upshifts were smooth. The annoying part was the downshifts. At times, it just did not shift. If I rev match while downshifting, it never shifted.

Originally Posted by sprocket

Took a test drive of both the 650's. Some observations:

• Position - found the GT to be nicer. Of course extra effort on wrist.
• Clutch - Found the Interceptor's to be butter smooth, but the one on GT to be notchier and requiring more effort.

Not just you. I had a similar experience as well and noticed other youtube videos indicating the same.

Have never heard anyone complain about the Interceptor though. Might be an issue with GT lever positioning resulting in stiffer shifts.

Should we start a vote?

[aravind.anand]

Originally Posted by sprocket

Not just you. I had a similar experience as well and noticed other Youtube videos indicating the same.

Have never heard anyone complain about the Interceptor though. Might be an issue with GT lever positioning resulting in stiffer shifts.

Should we start a vote?

Interesting to see that I am not alone. The Interceptor's gear shift lever is linked to the transmission through linkages like in the other conventional setups, but in case of the Continental GT 650, the gear shift lever is directly connected to the transmission. Maybe, due to this the CGT 650 is losing any advantage of effort amplification that the Interceptor enjoys?

But I think the sample size is still very minuscule to request for a poll.

Conventional linkage setup on the Interceptor 650



Gear shift lever being connected to the transmission directly on the Continental GT 650

[rednikhil]

Excellent review, CrazyDriver, beats the "official reviews" of most auto magazines!
A query for owners/ prospective owners; has anyone replaced/ thought of replacing the spoked rims with alloys, and taken the tubes out of the tubeless tyres? What are the reliable alloy options?

[Funny]

Originally Posted by rednikhil

A query for owners/ prospective owners; has anyone replaced/ thought of replacing the spoked rims with alloys, and taken the tubes out of the tubeless tyres? What are the reliable alloy options?

I thought about the same for a while and then dropped the idea due to lack of options. I do not think there is any direct fit alloy available for this bike yet, but hopefully it should be available in the aftermarket in few months after we see more of these bikes on our roads. There are expensive options like sealing the spoke wheels which is not really a safe proposition unless the spoke rims are designed to be fitted with tubeless tyres. Another cheaper option is to fill the tubes with tyre sealant, but after doing some research about the sealants I am not too convinced about it as mostly people are against such products unless you are in a extreme emergency and there's no tyre repair shops on your route. This is the only issue which is bothering me from the time I have made the booking. RE could launch Thunderbird(X) with alloys but did not consider the same for the twins even as an option for those who are willing to pay for it.

[raghu_gg]

Originally Posted by tharian

-The rear is not suitable for a tall pillion for long, for short people, it is fine, but the seat is short in length. They should have made straight pipes for the Interceptor, or lessened the angle of the up-swept exhaust.

-There is a light thud sound from the handle cone at times.

-The gearshifts are something which I felt the same on a brand new GT as well as this. Neutral to first was clunky, almost 50% of a HD clunk. Rest of the upshifts were smooth. The annoying part was the downshifts. At times, it just did not shift. If I rev match while downshifting, it never shifted. If I downshift quickly, at times it did not fall into the gear I thought it was. I had to release the clutch lever a bit and then there was light clunk from the gearbox and it fell into gear. This was especially during crawling speeds. At one time I had to come to a complete stop on the highway and I tried downshifting while slowing down and it did not shift. I ended up stopped in the middle of the road and had to release the clutch a bit each time I shifted and finally came to first. Thankfully there was no traffic behind me.
Towards the end, I started shifting down in quick succession without leaving the clutch and that seemed to work right.

The gearing is long from what I felt, which makes you down shift in slow speeds, to avoid jerking. And 6th gear at high rpms don't feel like the top gear either. It is good at the same times and annoying otherwise because of searching for another gear.

Like on the GT, I didn't feel like pushing this. On an empty stretch, I did open up from slow speed and it was quite quick in that.

Overall, if not for the price, the bike would not have felt worth it.
I would still wait it out for a purchase.

I have the same problem on the gear shifts, From 1st to 2nd is a problem, But then on its fine. Down shift misses the shifts a lot.

The seat is really bothering me, Need to find a quick solution, May be over cousioning it might help. Need to see that.

Has any one tried the mod on Footpegs, Any suggestion is a huge welcome. At traffic signals this is becoming a nuisance when the jeans get stuck to the bottom pin of the peg.

Has anyone tried the LED headlight swap, Default feels too boring, and Halogen also does not help the battery.

[Sabby-069]

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[LazyGunner]

What's with the new rumor of Himalayan 650 launch by mid/end of this year? I thought SidLal made it quite clear during the twins launch that a bigger Himalayan is coming but not in immediate future? (a time frame of 2 years was mentioned in my discussion with a few friends, but can't remember if SidLal said that).
Here are the links from different portals. And pretty much all the other websites lead to either of the below two.

https://news.maxabout.com/bikes/roya...-launch-india/

https://gaadiwaadi.com/royal-enfield...aunch-in-june/

Having to choose between Himalayan and INT650, heart says a 650 Himalayan is so tempting and sounds worth waiting few more months for. RE has been so unpredictable and rampant with the latest tweak-launches (Rear disc classics, signals edition, TB-X, and now gearing up for the 'Trials'). You never know if a worthy upgrade to the fantastic Himalayan is brewing already.

But the brain says - its not as easy as adding rear discs, it needs a new chassis, a lot of R&D, tweaking the new twin engine(?), so many kms of testing. Given that there are no spy shots so far, is it safe to assume that the Himalayan is not getting any bigger till 2020-2021?

P.S: Apologies if it is off-topic but my decision of buying INT might be affected with these rumors, so posting it here.

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by LazyGunner

What's with the new rumor of Himalayan 650 launch by mid/end of this year?

I would not be surprised at all if this was a planted rumour to go up against the much awaited real launch of the 390 adv later this year which is a direct rival to the H650.

[ku69rd]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

I would not be surprised at all if this was a planted rumour to go up against the much awaited real launch of the 390 adv later this year which is a direct rival to the H650.

+1 to what you said Ramana. It could be very well a good planted rumor to keep prospective buyers away from Duke 390 Adventure

Originally Posted by LazyGunner

P.S: Apologies if it is off-topic but my decision of buying INT might be affected with these rumors, so posting it here.

Honestly am skeptical of the H650 coming so soon. They need to get the Twins truly off and resume BAU in their operations. More importantly they need to focus on the UCE Platform which will get redundant with the oncoming BS6 norms. The UCE platform is their bread and butter and with Jawa snapping at their toes, they need to be equal to the task if not better it.
So in all likelihood H650 will be a good couple of years away. The existing Himalayan Chassis can no way be used for the Twin and will need heavy modifications. Once done they would need to test it for dynamics as the engine will be quite ready and tested.

PS: The Existing Twins Engine is BS4 ready and needs further work to make it BS6 compliant?

[Funny]

Royal Enfield 650 Twins | Honest User Review | First Ride Impressions | Mojoshifts

OT:
This review video seems to be shot at the same location as CrAzY dRiVeR's review. Was this part of the same review as the OP or was it just shot at the same location. I spotted the same tiny fella (at 1:40) in the video who is there in 2nd image of this review as well, coincidence?

Edit: After careful observation the pup seems to be a different one.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by Funny

This review video seems to be shot at the same location as CrAzY dRiVeR's review. Was this part of the same review as the OP or was it just shot at the same location. I spotted the same tiny fella (at 1:40) in the video who is there in 2nd image of this review as well, coincidence?

Same location. Glad the little fellas are ok and as curious with visitors as ever!

Wasn't able to go watch the sunrise afterwards, you just reminded me of what I've been missing for the past couple of weeks. Will squeeze in a visit to the schedule next weekend. This time with some rainwear pants. Wet mud + curious puppies = BAD for jeans.

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Was a happy family of six healthy pups and the mother around - very friendly and playful with the visitors there. Everytime i kneel down to take a shot of the bike, two will try to climb my jeans.

I keep visiting the place just to watch the sunrise in silence. Will see if they're ok, update some pics if and when possible.

[cags]

Originally Posted by raghu_gg

I have the same problem on the gear shifts, From 1st to 2nd is a problem, But then on its fine. Down shift misses the shifts a lot.



The seat is really bothering me, Need to find a quick solution, May be over cousioning it might help. Need to see that.



Has any one tried the mod on Footpegs, Any suggestion is a huge welcome. At traffic signals this is becoming a nuisance when the jeans get stuck to the bottom pin of the peg.



Has anyone tried the LED headlight swap, Default feels too boring, and Halogen also does not help the battery.

Headlight modification for continental GT 650 posted in YouTube

https://youtu.be/rR1Xdx2Aqrg

[raghu_gg]

Originally Posted by cags

Headlight modification for continental GT 650 posted in YouTube

https://Youtu.be/rR1Xdx2Aqrg

Thanks mate for the video. I think the 7" ones can be replaced. Waiting for my 1st service to get over and then might import one of the Cree lights for the Mod.

Regards
Raghu

[schitre05]

The deliveries seem to have dried up. The local dealers are clueless of the schedule or when they are going to receive the next lot of bikes. Even the company showroom at Navi Mumbai claims a waiting period of 6 months now. They have no idea when the custom colour deliveries would start.

[HandfulOfHell]

Originally Posted by schitre05

The deliveries seem to have dried up. The local dealers are clueless of the schedule or when they are going to receive the next lot of bikes. Even the company showroom at Navi Mumbai claims a waiting period of 6 months now. They have no idea when the custom colour deliveries would start.

I am conjecturing here but I think RE has good real world feedback on shortcomings of the twins from users now. Some will need extensive work like the foot-peg positioning on the INT while others could be handled by simple design changes like the need for a heat shield to protect the pillion's shoes, better seat padding in general, etc.

Given how much is riding on the success of these bikes for RE, I won't be surprised if the company is trying to iron out some of these easily fixable flaws as deliveries progress. Could this be the reason for intermittent delivery outages? Any views?