Author: Vikas Singh
With the launch of the Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 the company had stepped into the middle weight category of cafe racers which is fiercely contested in the International market. In the Indian market its main competition is with the Triumph Thruxton 1200 R. Continental GT 650 can be an alternate to the expensive Triumph Thruxton which is out of reach for most of the bikers who want to own a café racer that is powerful yet affordable.
The Triumph Thruxton 1200 R is a beautiful combination of classic retro styling and modern technology. It’s loaded with top notch equipment and immaculate fit and finish. It sports a powerful Liquid cooled, 8 valve, SOHC, 270° crank angle parallel twin, six speed engine with three riding modes, road, rain and sport. The engine churns out a massive 112Nm of torque at 4,950 rpm and 97 PS/ 96 bhp (72 kW) of power at 6,750 rpm. The motorcycle is equipped with clip-on bars, fully adjustable suspension, Ride by wire, Multipoint Sequential Electronic Fuel Injection, traction control, and torque-assist clutch which translate into a smooth ride. It weighs at 203 kg and has a fuel tank capacity of 14.5 liters.
Thruxton gets a Showa 43mm USD big piston forks, fully adjustable front suspension with 120mm travel and fully adjustable Ohlins twin shocks with piggyback reservoir rear suspension with 120mm rear wheel travel. Front brake is taken care of by twin 310mm Brembo floating discs, Brembo 4-piston radial monobloc calipers with ABS and rear brake is Single 220mm disc, Nissin 2-piston floating caliper. It sports a LCD multi-functional instrument display with analogue speedometer, analogue tachometer, gear position indicator, fuel gauge, range to empty indication,service indicator, clock, trip computer, scroll and mode buttons on handlebars,heated grip ready, fuel consumption display, traction control status and throttle mode display. It is available in four colors in India the Crystal Whit, Diablo Red, Silver Ice and Matt.
The Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 on the other hand is a fantastic motorcycle as well. The retro design is inspired from Royal Enfield’s cafe racer of the 1950s and 19660s. Like Triumph Thruxton the RE Continental GT 650 is a good amalgamation of the retro looks and a modern engine. The continental GT 650 sports a 648 cc parallel, twin cylinder, single overhead cam, fuel injected, air-oil cooled engine that churns out a good 47bhp of peak power @ 7250 rpm and 52nm of torque at 5250 rpm. It’s mated with a six speed gearbox with Digital spark ignition – TCI.
The motorbike weighs 198 kg with a fuel tank capacity of 12.50 liters. It gets 320 mm single disc front brake and 240 mm single disc rear brake with Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) and 41 mm front telescopic forks front suspension with 110 mm travel and twin coil-over shocks, piggy-back reservoir,5-stage adjustment rear suspension 88 mm travel. The Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 sports a very basic instrument display that consists of a twin-pod cluster with speedo and tachometer. It displays speed, Rpm, odometer, digital fuel gauge and twin tripmeters with warning lamps at the bottom of the tachometer which is nothing as compared to the LCD multi-functional instrument display of the Thruxton. The Continental GT 650 is available in five colours, the Ice queen, Black Magic, Dr Mayhem, Mister Clean and Ventura Blue.
The Thruxton is equipped with a very powerful and efficient engine, finest of the equipment and the fit and finish is simply world class which is not the case with the Continental GT 650 though the fit and finish is good but not at par with the Thruxton. But all those goodies that Thruxton is equipped with come at a price that is more than 4 times higher than the Continental GT 650. The Triumph Thruxton 1200 R costs a whooping Rs. 12.16 Lacs Ex Showroom while the Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 retails at Rs. 2.75 Lacs. Price is what that changes the game in the favor of the Continental GT 650 and makes it very attractive and a worthy alternate as well as competitor of Thruxton in the Indian market.
Continental GT 650 is powerful, good looking, equipped with decent enough equipment, fit and finish is good and way better than its predecessor the Royal Enfield Continental GT 535, it rides and handles extremely well and above all is very affordable. The wide spread dealer network of Royal Enfield in India and the low maintenance cost of the motorcycle that makes it a very attractive proposition.
