Royal Enfield Continental GT 650

A café racer is one of the most gorgeous forms of motorcycle. It exudes the timelessness of old-school classic motorcycles with committed riding ergonomics. The Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 nails the café racer design notion with a very classy-looking form. 

Many of the elements of the Continental GT 650 have been shared with the Interceptor 650, on which it is based. These elements include the rounded LED headlamp, orange turn indicators, trapezoidal side body panels, chopped-styled front and rear fenders, tail lamp, instrument console, and tubular pillion grab rail.

However, besides these elements, there are some other things that give the Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 its personality. Take, for instance, the fuel tank, which is the biggest differentiator. This long and slim fuel tank has squared knee recesses. The Continental GT 650 also gets clip-on handlebars, which are positioned lower for a sporty riding posture. 

Making the riding posture feel even more committed are the rear-set foot pegs, which give the Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 the riding stance of a sports bike. The Continental GT 650 also gets a different seat, which has a humped design towards the rear. Royal Enfield also offers the option of a single seat with a curved cowl at the back, which makes its café racer personality feel even more authentic. 

The dual-pod analogue instrument console of the Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 has been shared with the Interceptor 650. It gets a dual pod design with an analogue speedometer and an analogue tachometer, with a small rectangular LCD panel for fuel gauge, odometer, trip meters, and service due indicator within the left analogue pod.

The Slipstream Blue and Apex Grey colour options of the Continental GT 650 have a blacked-out theme for the alloy wheels, dual exhaust pipes, engine, and rearview mirrors. On the other hand, the remaining colour choices of the Continental GT 650 have chrome finish for the spoke wheels, exhaust pipes, engine, and rearview mirrors.

Sharing its steel tubular double cradle frame with the Royal Enfield Interceptor 650, the Continental GT 650 café racer has a suspension setup comprising a conventional telescopic fork at the front and dual coil springs with preload adjustability at the rear. The committed riding ergonomics does give the Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 a sporty character, but the seating posture is not so comfortable for long-distance riding. 

The Continental GT 650 gets a 320mm disc at the front and a 240mm disc at the rear for braking. While the Slipstream Blue and Apex Grey colour options have tubeless tyres with alloy wheels, the rest of the colour options have tube-type tyres with spoke wheels. The standard tyre sizes offered in this café racer are 100/90-18 front and 130/70-18 rear.

The Continental GT 650 debuted with a four-stroke, air-cooled, inline-twin, 648cc engine, which it shares with the Interceptor 650 and is currently the biggest and most powerful motorcycle engine made by Royal Enfield. This inline-twin engine is paired with a 6-speed transmission and churns out a maximum power output of 46.8 bhp and a peak torque output of 52.3 Nm. 

Despite being a modern-day middleweight motorcycle, the Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 misses out on new-age electronic riding aids and gets only a dual-channel ABS as the standard safety feature.

The breed of authentic British café racers has become very rare, and the Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 is successfully carrying forward the tradition with its typical café racer stance, styling and riding posture. The inline-twin 648cc engine has proven its mettle in all these years, being a perfect match to the Continental GT 650’s overall personality.