1500Km + done, and this would be the second chapter in my reviews of my 650. I will cover the good and then attack the bad.
The bike did its first outing with my Harley friends and as expected, we maintained a good distance while outbound to Igatpuri and we were comfortable doing between 70-80 in the morning chill. Weather indicators showed 13C, and that had absolutely no effect on the starting- well, 13C is hardly a number for a bike to be worried about, but with our 90%+ humidity, for the riders, the chill was in strength.
The strength of the engine was evident from the word Go, where the bike was always first off the block against all the bigger bikes and had no problem keeping up with them all the way to the 80s mark. the straight line speed was thena reflection of the power/ or lack thereof, when the momentum of the bigger bikes would carry them over the bridges and flyovers while we would need to build up speed or drop to 5th to maintain the speed. Do remember this is not a comparison to the other bikes, but to use them as a reference point.
To elaborate, a CBR650 from Honda would whoop the big boys and stay ahead- to do the same here, you would have to flog the RE.
The first long uphill of almost 10-12Km from Latifwadi had sparse traffic, not to mention two super bike casualties just the previous weekend and hence power with caution on the way up. The RE performed very well, and I was extremely happy with the 'pick and run' at the drop of a gear to move ahead of slow moving trucks and the odd spirited weekend warrior in some i20 or a white Fortuner with black as asphalt tinted glasses. Zero problem keeping up with the herd and every step of the way, the brakes just kept inspiring more and more confidence in the ride. So while powering around the bends, you could come in wide watching around the corner and be sure that if there was a kasara-taxi with 15 people in a EECO, you could haul the bike down, correct the exit route and continue with the pick.
The ghats were consistent from 3500 to 4500rpm, and that afforded just enough power at all times to make the whole ascend a good first uphill.
The stability, engine smoothness and all other performance points- brakes, feedback, rear wheel chatter over rough patches- all ok.
Downhill was the next game. Though the foot pegs have the scrapers at the end to indicate possible 'end of lean ablility' I couldnt bring the bike to lean that much and we felt, that we had enough speed and lean to keep up with the reference crowd. A dear friend M Dubey, has two clips and the links are shared below of two sections in the ghats. You may notice that the lean angles are quite shallow, but we were at 80+ and I was absolutely comfortable holding my position between two bikes, one of whom can be seen scraping his pegs. A more aggressive rider on the 650 could power his way thru them by leaning much much more, am sure so that should bring delight to the few among you that want to see this bike really rock.
We held the bike tight between 3rd and 4th most of the time and the bike was simply in its element. WE were firmly planted in a chain of bikes and we were the confident little 650 and there was no issue that we can keep up with almost anyone south of some aggressive sports bikes- and as a bike from teh RE lineage, we are good to go.
The earlier review was a 23KMPL average and that remained steady across 4 odd fuel tanks where we kept refilling between 9 and 9.6L of fuel making a city range of about 220-odd Km. So what did we run on the highway?
We averaged 80-90-100 on the way out and then the return was almost 100+ at all times, with a consistent 115 being the sweet spot in 6th. Beyond 115, till 120 we could kind of slip up and down depending on the terrain, but above 120- you always felt that the bike could go and climb but ypou felt as if you were thrashing it now. Zero vibrations in the engine all across this 3500-5000 rpm and if you were to drop a gear to prep for an overtake, you would just be sure that the engine was ready, and you just had to focus on your line. What an amazing ride.
The fuel average for the full ride was an astonishing 273Km in 10.6L. I would hazard a guess that should anyone have held 100@ 4000, the bike could easily get you about a range of 300-odd. Its a good guess.
We remain impressed with the brakes, the engine and the stability and now the highway average.
With the Fatboy and the TB350 in the garage (the son has the Himalayan now), we badly needed a bike for the city commute, the usual weekend 110-150km radius trips, basically something quick and for 3L- this is simply brilliant.
No noises , no squeaks, nothing coming loose. The clunking in the front seems to be part fork and part brake rotor. its kind of difficult to isolate to where or who could be making that sound- BUT, that is evident if you keep getting into an OCD situation with it and at every signal you stop, jam the brakes and keep trying to find where the sound by rocking the bike and pushing on the front steering by standing on it- in regular riding from 2kmph to 120 kmph, there is no sound, or sensation of a broken bearing or play in the stem. It was something that was evident in the Himalayan, so trust me, I will keep a close watch on it given that the same guys are building this bike too. Should there be a change in this area, I will update you folks.
NOW the BAD.
This is nothing but a Conti 535 chassis. So what has RE done for 3 years with this bike? Probably only the engine and the tooling and metallurgy of the parts and sourcing- took them three years. In some earlier post, probably after the RE2017 when the bike was first showcased on some Team BHP thread i commented that this was nothing but an old chassis from RE and some people pounded me- giving me an education on half cradle full duplex, trellis and spine and the whole chassis lexicon- humbug I tell you. Take a Conti 535 friend and make him sit on the bike- and the first thing he will grimace about is the absolutely idiotic rider footpeg location. The need of the hour has always been a powerful bike that could ride the highways and cover distances with ease. The company managed one half of that need with this engine but have really murdered the ergonomics by not taking into account any feedback from the Conti owners about the footpegs. The location is bad and now the infernal scraper pegs - everything is wrong. Riders will fall and hurt themselves by snagging their shoelaces and their pant cuffs in that ridiculous footpeg.
https://twitter.com/thereallyslimkd/...14012135124992
(Not sure if tweet links work, hence adding an image )
This bike is the cafe racer with a handle bar for an Interceptor. That is all that there is to it. The reason to be super annoyed is what follows. My wife who has done Rajasthan and Sikkim+ Bhutan along with RE Rides community refused to sit on the bike on its maiden double-seat ride after 22km. I was like 'what the hell?' and she said, you try and see if you fit- the seat ends 3 or 4: before the end bar, eating up whats precious comfort seating space and the end drops off like a cliff and is soft as jello, making the pillion sink into that gap beween the end of the seat and the rounded end bar.
Ridiculous that they did testing for 3 years and no one told them that this is a messed up design. I spoke to one of their design staff and TOLD him, " You have never sat pillion on this bike, na? I know because you wont fit on it. So how did you approve this crap?" The pillion foot pegs are even more ridiculous as the ankles of the pillion as so far behind and so high that one would have to be a gymnast to survive a 100km plus ride with your legs placed as they are on the bike.
My wife and I have been to the last 4 Rider Mania events and 2 RE Rides (rajasthan and Bhutan) and what a shame that I would have to borrow the Himalayan back from my son for the next ride, whether to Goa or to Coastal India. Anyone wanting to do pillion riding- you should be warned- a) you cannot b) your pillion is young and more flexible than a contortionist.
What was RE thinking when they made this bike? Many told, actually chastised my for buying this bike so early, but i was reasonably assured that it was a 'good one to buy' and so I did. Now i find myself in this soup, where none of what i thought I could acheive with the bike can be done.
3 day joy ride to Goa and back. Same day Pune and back. Both NO. I am possibly lucky that I have the need for a quick city bike coming from the weekend with the Harley, that I would retain this bike- and as soon as this week ends I will start a R&D function- seat upgrade/modify to lengthen and raise to allow some modicum of comfort to the pillion, and more tech-challenged footpeg relocation solution like the Motowerk ones on the Ninja 650 (as an example).
The engine and performance I love, the ergonomics I detest, to put it mildly. So my feel is that the company is still so far removed from reality, that just like giving owners manuals 12 days after bike delivery, they are going to bring out a Himalayan 650 or a Classic 650 in a year of two and are going to do it, but just shoe-horning the engine into whatever kind of chassis is lying around the factory. Sustained 6th gear riding in the UK offices being poorly geared bikes for Indian roads and then the poor employees in the India offices dont dare critique the big office boys, and then nonsense like this comes out in th final product.
I cannot believe there is a single person in the RE company whos legs dont get caught in the pegs. So either they are 6'2" or they ride in shorts.
Skinny legs Himalayan with a poor side stand design that even today remains unaltered, this is the DNA of RE, and the footpegs are a living example of this. The brilliant engine is a sign of their change. God knows, this is a battle and in the absence of a competitor with a good x-country bike, this Interceptor will rule.
Footpegs and Pillion Seat- anyone who did not give this feedback should be sacked. If it wasnt accepted, that is another story.