Is This The New Royal Enfield Classic 650?

According to a report from Autocar Professional, the upcoming Royal Enfield motorcycle will feature an 834cc liquid-cooled DOHC, V-twin engine. Producing around 80-90PS, the powerplant was reportedly developed in collaboration with Polaris back when the brand had a joint venture. As per the publication, the production version is a year away.

Royal Enfield was reportedly working on a new platform to introduce higher capacity motorcycles by 2020-21. Putting two and two together, this motorcycle might as well be based on the same platform, codenamed ‘K’.

It is fairly certain that the motor will be BSVI-compliant, and will help Royal Enfield compete better internationally. Speaking of which, the upcoming Royal Enfield will rival some of the mainstream Harley-Davidson and Triumph motorcycles.

Royal Enfield has sent out a teaser on its social media platforms with the tagline “6.11.2018, LIVE from #EICMA2018. Block your dates!”

From the silhouette, we first figured this could be a teaser of something akin to a Classic 650. However, going by what Royal Enfield already has in store in the 650 platform (a classic bike and a cafe racer), it leaves space for only two more types of motorcycles: a bobber and a scrambler. And this silhouette definitely leans more towards the former!

The headlight gets semi-circular LED DRLs, but it is uncertain whether the main unit is halogen or LED. It does get a curvy nacelle that’s eerily reminiscent of the Indian Scout Bobber. Interestingly, the fuel tank comes with a mixture of the new logo’s font with the old one’s layout, presumably to show the brand’s heritage. Handlebars seem to be flat and wide, and the single seat is nicely sculpted a la the Triumph Bonneville Bobber. Even the front fender looks like a chopped unit, further reinforcing our belief of the bike being a bobber.

The double cradle frame is slightly visible behind the veil, and so is the oil cooler. Coming to the wheels, the one up front looks slightly larger than the rear. It is possible that the front end is running on a 19-incher and the rear an 18-inch unit, in line with the bobber tradition. The exhaust system is quite long, just like the Classic’s.

The powertrain is likely to be the same as the upcoming 650 twins. The 648cc parallel twin air- and oil-cooled engine punches out 47.6PS at 7250rpm and 52Nm at 5250rpm. It works alongside a 6-speed transmission with slip-assist clutch.

There’s also a possibility of the teaser being just a one-off custom, but considering the fact that a number of customs are already out, it seems unlikely that Royal Enfield would tease that. Is it a concept or is it a production bobber? We will know for sure in less than two weeks’ time.