Café racing, Bullet style
CONTINENTAL GT Royal Enfield has dug into the 1960s to invoke the glory days of British-made bikes. Will it work? We take a look
Tinker, tailor, soldier, spy. Throw in the milkman and the local goon, and the friendly neighbourhood Spiderman, and virtually everyone and his brother in India owns a Bullet or one of its siblings. So it was perhaps time that Royal Enfield brought something new to the field, and it did so in style a couple of days ago, when it launched the Continental GT, a café-racer, in India.
Unveiling the bike, Royal Enfield CEO Sidhartha Lal said the GT looked
to bring fun back into biking. We got to ride it in the conditions that
it was designed for — twisty, turny, narrow roads with scant traffic and
scanter regard for traffic laws. Here is what we found.
THE LOOKS Without doubt, it is a showstopper. The colour alone would have done it — what is called Ferrari red in auto slang — but the styling and sound are right up there. There is a yellow variant that brings even more dash. The Continental GT is modelled on its iconic namesake that was a Royal Enfield bestseller back in the 1960s, and the café racer seat borrowed from the original only makes it stand out more. RE does have an optional double-seat, but more about that later.
THE PERFORMANCE The engine is a 535-cc single-cylinder unit
construction engine, basically a re-bored version of the existing 500-cc
that does service on the Bullets. But it has been extensively remapped
to bring a racer-like performance to it. The power output is up by a
marginal 2 BHP, and the torque by 4 Nm, but it is the delivery that is
completely new: it runs gear-to-gear, at high RPM and takes off, from
the word go with wheelies at the drop of a hat — very un-Bullet like
behaviour. This bike loves to be pushed, so we spent a full day racing
and exploring its limits.
THE HANDLING With Paioli twin gas-charged rear shockers and massive 41-mm forks up front, the springs are good, and suitably stiff for great handling at high speeds. Brembo disc brakes at both ends ensure that it stops when you want it too. We did feel the rear brake could have been stiffer, but other bikers on the run did not find anything remiss.
The long seat, the pushed back foot pegs and controls, the long
tank and the crouched rider position all fall together to give the bike
an aggressive feel. If you choose to be a family man and put a double
seat on this bike, you would probably be doing great disservice all
round — to yourself, to the bike and the family too. Just a feeling. THE
RIDE, AND THE VERDICT The 250-km hair-raising ride behind us, let us
analyse: great take-off, excellent cornering, confident balance, sure
braking, all-round, a great bike. But… It has a top-speed of just over
120 kph. The company says café racing is all about the fun of riding,
about finding your limits, about riding skills rather than super-bikes
with power, torque and top-speeds that will never be fully used (in
Indian conditions). We can buy some of that. With the GT you do get to
fully utilise all that is on offer. But will it satisfy your adrenaline
thirst? We feel it may fall short by 5-10%. Do explore the bike, though,
and decide for yourself. It is great, and value for money.
NAME RAHUL SINGH 2
PGDM 1SEM
THE HANDLING With Paioli twin gas-charged rear shockers and massive 41-mm forks up front, the springs are good, and suitably stiff for great handling at high speeds. Brembo disc brakes at both ends ensure that it stops when you want it too. We did feel the rear brake could have been stiffer, but other bikers on the run did not find anything remiss.
The long seat, the pushed back foot pegs and controls, the long
tank and the crouched rider position all fall together to give the bike
an aggressive feel. If you choose to be a family man and put a double
seat on this bike, you would probably be doing great disservice all
round — to yourself, to the bike and the family too. Just a feeling. THE
RIDE, AND THE VERDICT The 250-km hair-raising ride behind us, let us
analyse: great take-off, excellent cornering, confident balance, sure
braking, all-round, a great bike. But… It has a top-speed of just over
120 kph. The company says café racing is all about the fun of riding,
about finding your limits, about riding skills rather than super-bikes
with power, torque and top-speeds that will never be fully used (in
Indian conditions). We can buy some of that. With the GT you do get to
fully utilise all that is on offer. But will it satisfy your adrenaline
thirst? We feel it may fall short by 5-10%. Do explore the bike, though,
and decide for yourself. It is great, and value for money.NAME RAHUL SINGH 2
PGDM 1SEM
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