Royal Enfield Continental GT hits the road!

Royal Enfield’s cafe racer pretty much captured the public’s imagination ever since it was first put on display at the 2010 Auto Expo in Delhi. Shown again at the 2012 Expo, this retro sport bike has been the subject of many-a-debate and speculation and has also served as inspiration for a lot of DIY cafe racer conversions of other Royal Enfield bikes created by enthusiastic owners.

Three years after it was first shown, the cafe racer has become reality and has even hit the road with none other than CEO of Eicher Motor’s Ltd, Siddhartha Lal, in the saddle. The avid biker took a pre-production model of this new bike, now christened the Continental GT, out for a spin from Goa all the way to Mangalore via a very scenic coastal route which passed through Gokarna as well. Also Read: Royal Enfield's second new plant starts operation

The one of a kind, the red, low-slung, racer attracted a crowd of curious onlookers every time Siddharth stopped along the route and a surprising number of these were bikers who seemed to know a lot about the bike.The Continental GT is not some Bullet modified to look like a cafe racer, but rather something purposeful built new from the ground up. Royal Enfield’s traditional single downtube chassis with the engine as a stressed member has been ditched in favour of a double downtube cradle setup. 

And speaking of the engine, the Classic 500’s 499cc UCE mill has been rebored for an increased capacity of 535cc, along with a remapped ECU and a lighter flywheel, which should make it the fastest and the most powerful Royal Enfield motorcycle in the market, when it goes into production. The bike also features cutting edge Pailoi-developed suspension at the rear and Pirelli tyres for unmatched handling. Stopping power comes via a fully-floating Brembo disc at the front and a ByBre disc at the back - some very serious kit indeed. Truly stunning in every way, the Continental GT is set to become Royal Enfield’s flagship model when it launches later this year.