ZigOpinion: Is The Royal Enfield Super Meteor 650 Pricey Or Not?

At Rs 3.49 lakh (ex-showroom), Royal Enfield’s Super Meteor 650 has certainly taken over from the Continental GT 650 as its flagship and most expensive product. The cruiser format hasn’t seen much activity in the mid-displacement space for ages and the Super Meteor 650 certainly plugs the gap left behind by the Harley-Davidson Street 750. 

However, you might wonder: is it pricey? At least, when compared to its 650cc brothers, it certainly is. So, how do you make sense of the premium?

Premium Components

Royal Enfield has pulled out all the stops when it comes to making the Super Meteor 650 as fancy as it could on a neat budget. No wonder then it is the first bike from the heritage manufacturer to get an LED headlight, USD fork and lovely billet aluminium parts. In fact, those headlight mounts, triple clamps, handlebar risers and headlight nacelle carry this brilliant brushed aluminium finish, almost similar in quality to what you find on Triumph’s Bonneville series of bikes. 

And then there are the switches. While the rotary dials and knobs are like the ones you find on the J-platform bikes like the Meteor 350, Classic 350 and Hunter 350, the aluminium housing elevates the touch and feel experience.

Speaking of which, even the levers get span adjustability. And this too has been done tastefully. Royal Enfield has sort of adopted Brembo’s MCS lever-adjustment system. Hence, there’s no tacky toggle or regular round knob.

Lastly, look at the engine, the casing to be more precise. No longer does it get the pseudo-chrome treatment like on the Interceptor and Continental GT 650. Rather, this black anodised finish adds that classy touch while being easy to maintain in the long run; no longer suffering from the pitting effect.

Yet Pricey!

Obviously, Royal Enfield feels the Super Meteor 650 to be its star product, and hence, the pricing strategy is in accordance to that. And it becomes all the more obvious when you compare the prices with the other 650s.

The price difference between the cruiser and the other two 650s is anywhere between Rs 65,000 and Rs 40,000, give or take. And that is asking a lot more for a single-minded approach when factoring in the super versatile Interceptor. 

Also, the cruiser fanaticism in general has declined massively in the past few years. Harley-Davidson is forced to reinvent itself and the way it makes its cruisers. And with the company no longer playing in the 500-800cc space, the Super Meteor 650 will work well in developed markets where cruisers are still popular, like America. 

In the Indian context, Royal Enfield recognises this niche space and hence is leveraging a bit of its rich brand value to justify the premium asking price. So, ultimately it is pricey and justifying its priceyness is tough.

This pricing does serve another purpose, though. Future products on this platform like the Classic 650, Bullet 650, Scrambler 650 and others, are likely to be priced lower than the Super Meteor 650. Considering this is supposed to be one of the more premium products of the family, this might just be the most extreme pricing that we might witness on the 650s. 

But what else are you going to do if you want a 650cc cruiser? Pay double the amount and get the Kawasaki Vulcan S, which is perhaps one of the most dullest big bikes in the market? I think not.