Royal Enfield? Developing new and bigger bikes? It sounds mad, but it’s true.
Details are sketchy, but last week New Delhi TV reported the factory is working on a 750cc – 1000cc bike that will challenge Harley-Davidson’s foray into the Asian markets, as well as boost sales globally.
Royal Enfield CEO Dr. Venki Padmanabhan confirmed part of that rumour at the New York International Motorcycle Show this weekend, telling Royal Enfield blogger David Blasco to expect a new parallel twin in the future. He says it will remind riders of the old Royal Enfield Meteor, but with fuel injection … and without oil leaks.
That’s a big step forward for the Indian manufacturer best known for cranking out single-cylinder bikes that look (and run) like something from the 1950s.
But there’s more; Royal Enfield USA president Kevin Mahoney also told Blasco to expect a new adventure bike from Royal Enfield in the future. There’s no word on whether it will be a single or a twin, but Mahoney said the bike would be able to run on gasoline, kerosene, and diesel, a feature adventure riders have wanted for a long time now.
If you’re worried that Royal Enfield is going to lose its old-fashioned appeal with all these developments, have no fear. They also announced the return of a kickstart lever to their C5-based motorcycles at the New York show (bikes sold in India never lost that feature).
Take a look at the power of the 500cc Royal Enfields put out and its no surprise they’re making a larger displacement bike.
27 horsepower and 30 ft torque? My 250cc Kymco Venox does about the same (a little shy in torque) at a lot less bang for your buck, even the new CBR-250R will do about the same and include fuel injection as well… It will be interesting to see what kind of power the new model will have.
“Easy to fix”. By the looks of things, they’d better be!
Agricultural isn’t as bad as you make it out to be. Simple to build, easy to fix and great mileage. Besides the high price tag is mostly outside of India. Personally I wish Harley never stopped making the WL.lol
I saw these things at the bike show last weekend. Agricultural would be too good a word to describe them. Comparitively, a Harley uses leading edge technology.
Top of the line model was $8800 or something equally ridiculous. Fortunately for them, they have a large home market.
With the number of V-twin specials made by hone-builders out of Enfield singles you’d think that would be an option for a bigger R-E. Though with the right styling a new Meteor or Interceptor would be pretty nifty.