The Flying Flea is back, but not as a specific Royal Enfield model. Instead, the Flying Flea name is now spun off into its own brand, using a historic (if somewhat off) name to headline the company’s new electric motorcycle plans.
Perhaps it is best to let Royal Enfield explain it in their own words. As per their PR:
Marking a major milestone in the company’s 123+ years of history, Royal Enfield proudly enters the EV space by announcing the launch of its completely new electric vehicle brand, Flying Flea. The expression of Royal Enfield’s commitment to keep moving forever forward, this new brand of electric vehicles continues a legacy of innovation and builds a unique, and exciting range of urban and city+ motorcycles for the global electric motorcycle marketplace and beyond.
This new Flying Flea brand takes inspiration from the original Royal Enfield Flying Flea motorcycle of the 1940s, a landmark in automotive engineering and design. Though it was purpose-built for use during WWII when these amazing machines were airdropped via parachute to provide lightweight, easy-to-use all-terrain mobility, it was later embraced by civilians too for city exploration purposes. This lightness, agility and adaptability returns with the Flying Flea brand and its upcoming range of electric vehicles.
If you want to see more about the original Flying Flea, see here. But moving ahead, there will be two machines built under the Flying Flea name, the C6 street retro and the S6 scrambler. While we fully expected a Royal Enfield electric motorcycle to launch at EICMA this year, we now see the company saying they will debut in 2026.
Well, we’ve heard that before. The greatly drawn-out electrification program at RE is a bit of a joke. For nearly a decade, we’ve been told their EVs are just around the corner. And yet, Royal Enfield’s PR says they’re working very, very hard to get these machines to market. Their CEO says they’ve been toiling and spending money for years on this project, with more than 200 engineers across India and in the UK; they’ve also started working on a new EV plant in the city of Chennai, and invested in Stark Future (Spanish battery bike manufacturer), presumably to benefit from their R&D.
We’ll see where that all leads. But for now, we do have the images in this article presented as a sort of idea where the Flying Flea is headed, with an old-fashioned girder fork (just like the original bike from the 1940s). Cruise control and lean angle-sensitive ABS will be standard, along with a twist-and-go auto transmission. The PR says the machine will be capable of highway speeds, too, and will recharge from a standard wall plug. No word on recharge times or battery range or a lot of other important stuff, though, so we’ll just have to keep waiting.
