Its been a week and few hundred km, of which 60 were on the super GMC/Goa University roads, and the balance '00s in Mumbai traffic, doing the diligent running in, old school types, varying rpm every so often.
First impression, its small for a 650. Amazingly compact. Small. All thru the test rides, I kept wondering- with my height, most, if not all, bikes are tall and big, so how is this feeling like a reduction photocopy of other 650s? More on this later.
Keeping Indian anthropometric data in mind, the seat height continues to be in the RE family range, 805mm- give or take a few mm. This makes it just right for almost all desi men, and allows a possible reduction by 10-odd mm for ladies to make this just physically right for the Indian populace.
The stance is a mild lean forward, when you get on it, and thats when it hits you- this is exactly like a RX-100 or a RD-350, depending on what you can remember from the mid-80s, in terms of height and lean and forward reach.
The single stab- and instant crank and no whirr-whine like the other REs that you could hear or dread- hearing the starter crank till the 'Bendix' withdrew from the spinning engine.
A cold bike starts with a 1800rpm idle till the cat-con heats up- I assume that is what it does to heat the catalytic convertor quickly to get to its operating temp, thereby starting to make a proper job of the emission control. My bike settles to about 1000, and its unobtrusive, unstrained and easy noise with a healthy engine almost reminiscent of old Japanese 750s, heavy bass filled engine but muted exhaust sounds. Not loud, but low grumble and some sounds like chains and gears from within that disappear the instant the hand touches the throttle and gives it that hair width twist. Light as a feather.
First gear engages with a positive note and there is this lack of vague lever feel, or the random play that my TB and Classic gear shifters have, that you keep pressing down on the gear lever, keep pressing- till it finally clunks into first- None of that here, just as slick as a gear on any european or Japanese bike. Just a tough ' boot, and click' kind of engagement.
When you release the clutch, all that 'idle, twist and watch it rev' becomes funnily meaningless as the seemingly free revving engine, now is not. It is purposeful, and it a torque machine. The bike moves with the climbing rpm meter needle, and I find that for the first time a generation of Indian riders will start to pay attention to the fact that 2400-2700 is the low end cruise rpm, and that when you want to hustle and move it, about 6500 is great news and for dragging the bike at traffic lights, you can upshift at 6000-6500 and that with a pillion, will really tell you how much of the torque is actually being put down on the road.
One can easily put down to 100 in just about 3rd.
Here is where the surprise set in, the brakes. Simply amazing bite- probably a combination of the rotor, pads and the Pirellis. Unlike the MRFs that come on the other REs and tires that last for 25000-35000km, these are suddenly a new 'item' and am sure I am going to find a bunch of riders riding the bike like a RX-100 on steroids. The brakes are simply something that is well engineered. I have not had the opportunity to ride fast and test the ABS, maybe after the running in I will. Least to say, the brakes +tires were good enough that whatever I could dare try on a new bike, the bike stopped within my expectation- much to my surprise. So thats taken care of, good.
If you hustle the bike, you can easily touch redline in 1st and 2nd- and make it move. And that brings me to the question of the size. Its almost the same size as the ER-6N and the Twin from Triumph- except that these, especially the Triumph seems to have a much much lower seat height making it a more comfortable ride than the RE650, as the seating posture is a RE Thunderbird type- as opposed to the Rx-100 lean forward.
So what have I not liked- and maybe that is the design which I will have to accept or work on, or simply replace.
The forward lean, and the flat bench seat. The handlebar needs a riser, or it needs a Harley SuperLow type, upswept, handlebar and the seat needs a step up for the pillion to make it comfortable for the pillion. So a slight dip for the rider in the seat, and good 25mm height raise for the pillion. This will prevent helmet-banging for my pillion and the rage that ensues later.
Riders footpegs- are these too out... or what? They are so annoyingly placed. How the hell did rider pants and jeans or trousers not snag in them at signals? Boot laces? There is something that is wrong with the placement of the riders footpeg. And what is more annoying is that not one journalist or reviewer talks about this? Was everyone 6' tall or they rode to Goa in Shorts? So when you ride the bike, be very careful of these obtrusive pegs, lest you snag your pants and have to really jiggle your ankles to free the pant/boot before you tip over.
Having dealt with these ergonomic issues, back to the bike and everytime you sense a feeling of calm, you will be between 3000 and 4000... everytime you feel your bottom is being moved, fast, you will be around 5000, and a feeling of power envelopes you at about 6000- 'now I have broken free and its time to shift.'
The bikes keeps asking for the next gear the minute you cross 3500, and unless you are racing someone, you feel- lets go to the next gear- except in 6th, when @3000 you would be a shade lesser than 80, @4000 you would be dot at 100 and then you have 2000 more clicks to see what you want to do
The wheel base dimensions and seating position, though almost identical to the ER6N- the bike is far far more nimble than the Kawasaki and the Triumph twin too. You can weave in traffic, and when at a signal light, you can win the 'Nokia Snake' game weaving around in 1st gear.
To cover the last point- 650cc, and oil cooled- so whats going to burn? The last two days and over 300+ km in city, from Powai to Currey Road, and in morning time Airoli and Mahape traffic, no heat to burn the ankles, calves, thighs- funnily at about 60-70kmph, there is warm draft of air that rises to the underside of the thighs.... its just warm. It not hot, its just there- and if you speed drops or rises, the draft is dissipated... so god knows how that works. But 300km hard core city traffic and we are doing fine.
Between some random refill and top ups, we have done 210km in about 7.5L in the city.... earlier greed to refuel got me 25, so I am guessing that the bike in city will settle around 25-26 and possibly about 27-29 on the highway. Whatever little open road I got to do, even with this 'running in' bogey in my mind, I still did occasionally touch 100 easy and I think that about 110-115 will be the easy spot for the bike.
Would it help reach Goa faster, yes, because the pickup is much better than stock RE bikes, the brakes are better so your sustained running will be better and therefore your average per hour, will be much better.
For the elders, many of whom are my friends now,and who worry about all the power- the sweet spot is 70kmph at a lazy 2750rpm- where the bike, the engine, the chassis, exhaust- no one seems to be doing anything. Its just a superb spot to plant your bike vitals and head to the hills. Make that the Aravalli hills.
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Here is the Friday-Saturday update and with a few pointers from the powers that be.
The
fuel economy- 230KM dot in 10L of city riding. That's the fuel economy. On highways, some steady 100kmph@4000 will probably get you about 26-27, and then spirited riding will get it down to 23 from experience, but that is speculative and a number to verify further down. The city average is what I can confirm this afternoon to you riders.
The straight line hold, as someone has asked below, is superb and the torque makes short work of the concrete/asphalt edges. The Himalayan has a 21" to get out of trouble, this one has a nice thick sidewall/good rubber and torque to push itself over these infernal edges.
The seat in all this riding felt hard and probably the top layer is soft, just enough that it feels very comfortable for the over 2 hour commute during office hours from Powai to Nariman Point. The step up will be needed for the pillion and the look a the GT Seat, well that's not enough. I have mentioned this earlier too, just reiterating.
They forgot an O ring on the side panel where it locks into the frame and the owners manual is missing. Therefore tire pressure is at best unknown. Amazing. But it's ok, as it would be too much to expect RE to get everything perfect. The bike is wonderful, so for a week this didnt bother me, but the rattle from somewhere, made me search and search till it located the missing 'O' ring and well, maybe in the first service i will get that sorted out.
I faced a few questions on heat. My suspicion is- lower compression ratio to ease out the stress on the engine and that coincides with the lower output numbers that had many wondering why this was just a little better than the Duke 390. So that's it, I guess for the heat. Large capacity oil tank for heat dissipation, oil cooler, large engine find for surface area cooling all in tandem help. Today's non-stop morning ride with the son as simply superb.
The son rode the bike for the first time and his comments were- 'the pick up is silky smooth, and the brakes are amazing. Straight line accelerating is very balanced and all the way from standstill to triple digit speeds, the bike feels unstrained and just calm.' Along with the long story I have written above you can either figure out the prose or in summary read the sons concise note.
Footpeg -ok, here is the grouse. See images. I am 5'4" and the son is 5'10" the mess is the location and design of the foot pegs and it's very very puzzling that not one of the test riders complained. Chalo, I leave it you to be careful of your inseam and shoe laces when you ride.
Bottom line, you cannot but come away from a test ride feeling, that RE has finally brought out a product that is a stunner. Ergonomics which can be fixed, aside, this bike has already brought down prices of other bikes. That should give you even more confidence that RE has actually got it right, first time, this time.