Used Royal Enfield Interceptor 650: Ownership experience

Picked up the INT650 as a daily commuter and was planning only some fun cosmetic mods at first only to soon realize that there are far more important issues to be ironed out first.

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Picked up a pre-owned Ravishing Red Interceptor 650 a few weeks back. Picked up the INT650 as a daily commuter and was planning only some fun cosmetic mods at first only to soon realize that there are far more important issues to be ironed out first. Don't get me wrong, the INT650 is a brilliant VFM motorcycle with a brilliant engine and frame, unfortunately cant say the same about the suspension and other bits of the motorcycle.

Below are some of the mods and repairs I have done so far. Some might be already discussed in this mega thread, pardon my excitement.

1. Royal Enfield Touring seat

Switched to this the first day of ownership. This is the new touring seat for the INT and is much firmer and thicker (read higher) than the stock one. It held up real good till about 150 km in a go and am yet to put some serious miles on it. One thing I like was there were no pressure points that were created and the foam density feels just perfect as of now.

2. PoweRage long Exhaust

Quite simply wanted some drama while puttering around. Went for PoweRage as I liked the bassy sound and feels like the quieter one of the lot. It is sufficiently loud while throttling and has a deep growl to it. Loved it! The build quality and finish is superb. Also, it doesn't get too hot and burn everything in the path like the stock exhaust. With DB killer it is real quiet and has a shreiky sound while throttling it out (sounds very similar to a T120 with the cat removed). Feels perfect for the city with overenthusiastic cops. BMC air filter and an ECU flash in the pipeline.

Was able to hold the exhaust like this after a 20 kms city run. Wouldn't have dared to do this on the stock one.

3. Headlight

Mine is a BS4 with diffused headlight lens and was pathetic. I was expecting a brilliant throw like that of the Classic 350/500s. Had one H4 LED bulb lying around and gave it a try. I never thought LEDs would work well with the diffused lens but there is an improvement in the throw. So keeping the setup for now!

4. Front end/suspension

Okay, this is going to be a long one. Right from the moment I took a test ride of this particular bike before buying, something felt very very wrong with the front end of the bike along with a prominent wobble from the front end which translated to a tankslapper when you take the hands off the bar even for a second! Also, the action of the front suspension was very weird with the front end bottoming out every now and then (I am at my prime of bellyfat and weighs 90Kilos)!

Lets talk about the suspension first. The problem with the front suspension is that there is too much of static sag for its travel and the fork is working overtime in the upper part of the stroke and bottoms out at the slightest hint of undulation. The travel is only 110mm and the sag itself comes to a good portion of it (exact figure later). There seems to be a problem with the damping as well, especially the rebound, and that will be addressed in the future. Coming back to the sag, I was surprised to see that RE has used 2W (weight) fork oil which is kind of softest of the soft. So the first thing I set out to do was to order Marsh Auto preload adjuster (as recommended by neil.jericho) and upgrade the fork oil to LiquiMoly 7.5W. However, last minute stock mess up ensured that 7.5W was out of stock and I had to try out 10W!

While dismantling, thoroughly inspected the wheel bearings and cone set to rule them out as possible culprit of the wobbling. Both were in good condition and were regreased and put back.

Good to see tapered bearings being used.

The internals were cleaned and fork oil was replaced with 10W and it made quite a noticeable difference. The static sag was reduced and the suspension was now working happily in the middle part of the stroke and I haven't experience any bottoming out since then. Also, the front end dive was considerably reduced. However, now the suspension is on the firmer side (not bone jarring!) and I reckon 7.5W would be the best of both worlds. At this point of time, the preload adjusters were still in transit and I think the adjuster is not a must have if you are upgrading to 10W, but installed it anyway once I received it.

This is the stock fork cap and adjuster side by side. The length of both are same when the adjuster is dialed out completely (The smaller washer at the inside of the adjuster goes inside the stock spacer tube).

You will need to raise the stock handlebar at least by an inch to fit the preload adjusters.

Still in the rough tuning and research stage and I don't have the sag numbers yet (Wobbling issue has taken the front seat now). Will get my hands on a stock INT650 and check the sag and also post the current sag with the setup I have.

Now to the wobbling part. My bike used to have a violent headshake whenever hands were taken off the bars at any speed and wobbling was also felt while cornering. While changing out the front fork oil noticed that both front and rear wheels were having a noticeable bends. So, both the rims were straightened and trued to the best and tires were reseated and noticed that the wobbling while cornering and the headshake at speed till 80kmph has vanished but the issue persisted at speeds north of that. Tires are having quite a bit of wear (8k in the ODO) and that could be a culprit, but have ridden bikes with tires worn down to the belt and also which has bend alloys like a snake but never experienced this violent headshake. So, the root of the problem has to be got to. Playing around with the wheels, fork internals, tyre pressure and all sorts of things has to be done.

5.Valvetrain

Wanted to check where the valve clearances were at since there was an audible valve clatter when the engine was hot. And almost shockingly, the intake side was almost at double and exhaust was at triple the recommended clearances. Dialed everything into the recommended values and there was an obvious difference in the throttle crispiness at low speeds. The valve train did quieten down but is still slightly audible when the engine is heated up. Just for research purpose, probably I can dial in the valve a bit more than the recommended setting without overtightening it and see if it quietens down the head.

6. Brakes

The rear brake is a dud and doesn't have any feel to it. Bleeding didn't improve it much, will look into it later as its not used frequently. Front brakes were spongy and I wanted to have better bite and adjustable levers for it. Was looking at Frando and Brembo RCS15 for it, but didn't quite wanted to spend that much. Then saw one current gen D390 and thought why not go for that brilliant master cylinder with lever combo. This would probably be the best ever Rs3000 spent on the bike! The initial bite and progression of the brake is just stupendous. Although I wish the adjustability range of the lever could have been wider, it turned out to be a brilliant upgrade.

The KTM Part number for the Front Master cylinder and lever combo is 36JP0017. You will have to get the Banjo bolt from KTM as well, don't have the part number for that though. I also got the clutch adjustable lever as well, this will need the lever holder to be changed as well. I got the RC390's holder which does not have the mirror mount so either I will have to get the RE bar end mirrors (which I was planning anyway) or get the D390's holder. But TBH, I have no problem with the clutch pull or the lever and I kind of love the adjuster mechanism of the stock one so, MIGHT just powder coat the stock clutch lever to black and leave it at it.

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