Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 10,000km Long-term Review: 2 Likes And 2 Dislikes

The Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 in its Mister Clean avatar is a gorgeous motorcycle, and even though it packs the performance of a racer, it didn’t entirely ride like one. So, we decided to fix that, and especially after the boys were raving about their track experience with the GT-R650 race bike, I made up my mind to make our long-termer closer to the race bike. Here’s what I liked and disliked about the motorcycle after making the changes:

LIKES

Retro Racer Looks

The first step towards building the racer was giving it the old-school cafe racer looks. And for that, we got in touch with Pune-based Autologue Designs. The Reck 2.0 fairing gives the GT a proper retro racer look, but installing this requires some serious skills. And considering you are putting down Rs 22,400 (incl of taxes, shipping extra) for the fairing kit, which is not less by any means, it is definitely recommended to not do a DiY job. 

The Reck 2.0 fairing gives the GT a proper retro racer look, but installing this requires some serious skills. The harness of the fairing rests on the chassis of the bike, so fitting it required not just removing the headlight from the stock braces but also removing the fuel tank itself. Also, to accommodate for the increased length because of the fairing, the headlight now sits on a new extended brace. Thanks to the fairing, the indicators had to be repositioned, and so were the clip-on handlebars

However, once you do put down the moolah, the Conti immediately becomes a conversation piece. Heck, I myself couldn’t park the bike anywhere and not look back at it a few times just to admire how pretty it looks.

Race Bike Ergonomics

To accommodate the fairing, the clip-ons were dropped by over four inches and the stock mirrors were swapped with RE’s official bar-end mirrors. This gave the bike a super-committed riding posture, something you’d happily want on a race bike. I loved it during my weekend rides to Lavasa and Lonavala because it gave better leverage around corners and kept the soft front suspension loaded. This meant better stability at high speeds than the stock bike and also improved cornering confidence.

While I loved it during the days I actually felt like attacking corners, it wasn’t entirely glorious on an everyday basis…

Cons

Too Committed For Everyday Riding

Yes, the lowered bars are fun around corners or short rides. But commutes and long rides are a harrowing experience. Since the tank’s profile isn’t entirely conducive for straddling the bike, my body weight ended up falling on my hands. Hence, when going over bad roads or even braking hard, my wrists took the major brunt of the beating.

Also, I have to lean forward a lot more to reach the clip-ons, so after every long ride, I end up with a really sore back. And I’m 5’11”. Anyone shorter or taller is probably going to have a tougher time. Also, if I have had more saddle time, things would have probably been better.

Fairing Quality

Going fast on smooth roads with this fairing on is a great experience, since now you can tuck behind the fairing and avoid windblast at high speeds. But when we first installed the fairing, we encountered squeaks and a lot of rattles, even on slightest bumps, which was irritating. Autologue proactively fixed the issue, first with an upgraded brace that is now on sale, and then by adding rubber and foam spacers to dampen the vibrations.

But with just 8000km on the odo, the cone set needed replacement. While the cone set issue was resolved, the Royal Enfield mechanics ended up messing up the setting of the fairing brace. Since the latter’s technicians aren’t still used to handling a fairing setup, they didn’t end up putting it back up neatly. Hopefully, once the official fairing goes on sale, they would be better trained. However, at the current moment, they don’t possess the right skills and hence, didn’t put back the fairing the right way. So, the squeaky noises were back.

And that wasn’t the end of it. The stock CEAT ZOOM Cruze tyres were spent in the next 500km, and unsurprisingly, there weren’t any good 18-inch alternatives in the market…until the new 2023 version arrived.

So, the next step to making it closer to the race bike would have been swapping the stock 18-inch rims with 17-inch units and using stickier tyres. Unfortunately, Royal Enfield took Mister Clean back, so, this is the end of the journey for our long-termer.

So, even though I couldn’t build the retro racer I dreamt of, RE is taking care of that with the upcoming road-legal version of the Continental GT-R650. And now, with the 2023 Royal Enfield Continental GT650 coming with Vredestein Centauro ST tyres, we hope the grip levels and the ride experience improves, especially since the rear is a radial unit. But we’ll reserve our judgement till we ride the bike. And even though I had my share of issues with Mister Clean, I am definitely going to miss its smooth, torquey engine and the charming looks.