Royal Enfield Bear 650 Unveiled: New Interceptor-based Scrambler

Quick News Highlights:

- The Royal Enfield Bear 650 has been unveiled

- It is available in 5 beautiful, retro-themed colour options

- It is based on the Interceptor 650 and is powered by the same in-line twin engine

Royal Enfield has unveiled a new scrambler called the Bear 650. It is based on the Interceptor 650 and is available in five colour options: Boardwalk White, Petrol Green, Wild Honey, Golden Shadow, and Two Four Nine. 

The name “Bear 650” is an homage to Eddie Mulder’s championship run in the Big Bear Run in 1960. The Big Bear Run is a race across the Mojave Desert in California and Mulder became the youngest champion while riding the Royal Enfield Fury in that year. 

The Royal Enfield Bear 650 gets beautiful retro styling with a round headlight and retro-style mirrors. The colour schemes with the simplistic graphics (the chequered flags on the tank and the side panel especially) complement the overall styling superbly. Since it is based on the Interceptor 650, design similarities that stand out are the round headlight and the teardrop-shaped fuel tank.

On the Bear 650, the braced handlebar is wider, the single-piece seat is flatter, the middle section has the round racing number seen in scramblers of the 60s and 70s and the tail section is completely redesigned as well. The 2-in-1 exhaust system with the blacked-out heat shields give the bike quite a rugged look. 

The scrambler is powered by the same 648cc, inline twin-cylinder engine producing 47.4PS at 7,150rpm and 56.5Nm at 5,150rpm found in the Interceptor 650 and the Continental GT 650. The motor produces about 8% more torque than the Interceptor. It is paired to a 6-speed gearbox. Instead of the telescopic fork on the Interceptor, the Bear has a 43mm inverted fork with 130mm wheel travel while at the rear, it gets twin shock absorbers with 115mm wheel travel (both front and rear units from Showa). Stopping the bike is a 320mm front disc brake and 270mm rear disc brake with switchable dual-channel ABS as standard. 

The Interceptor-based scrambler comes fitted with a 100-section front tyre with a 19-inch wheel and a 140-section rear tyre with a 17-inch wheel (MRF Nylorex units at both ends). The scrambler has a wheelbase of 1,460mm, ground clearance of 184mm, kerb weight of 216kg (quite heavy for a scrambler, on paper), and a fuel tank capacity of 13.7 litres. 

Even though it’s a retro scrambler, the features list is very modern as the Bear 650 has all-LED lighting and the round TFT instrument console from the Himalayan 450 and the Guerrilla 450. The console has Bluetooth connectivity for call and SMS alerts, music controls, and Google Maps navigation. A USB charging port is also available. 

The Bear 650 is about to be launched on November 5, 2024 at EICMA. Currently, on the manufacturer’s USA website, the starting price for the Bear 650 is listed as 6,849 USD (Rs 5,75,856 approximately). In India, we expect the bike to be priced around the Rs 3.5 lakh (ex-showroom) mark when the prices are announced in a week. Its only rival will be the Moto Morini Seiemmezzo 6 ½.