Monday, December 10, 2012

Royal Enfield Cafe Racer will boast a bigger motor

Royal Enfield's racy looking new Cafe Racer will pack a little extra power: 535cc displacement in its single-cylinder motor, just up from the 500cc found in other Royal Enfield Bullet motorcycles sold in the U.S.

The slightly-bigger-is-better motor was reported in the BikeAdvice.in email newsletter and is repeated in the Royal Enfield Buzz Blog.

The Buzz Blog notes that the 535cc displacement has been seen before. The Lightning model, sold in the India home market, had 535cc in its iron barrel motor.

That displacement can be achieved by converting to a wider piston, so many hobbyists around the world have brought their own Bullets up to that size. No one who went to all that trouble would admit that the 7 percent increase in displacement accomplishes little, but the honest consensus seems to be that this improvement alone is more "aspirational" than actual.

The new Cafe Racer, of course, will use Royal Enfield's more up-to-date Unit Constructed Engine, which starts with more power than the iron barrel motor, and includes fuel injection and electronic ignition. The Cafe Racer also gets an improved frame, front and rear disc brakes and front forks.

Put them all together and you have something.

The Buzz Blog reports that the Cafe Racer (a pre-production unit) will next be seen at the Long Beach International Motorcycle Show in Long Beach, Calif. Dec. 7-9.

4 comments:

  1. 30 hp vs. 27... that's a better than 10% bump! (Woo hoo!)

    I like the idea of the larger fuel tank, and it'll be a bit lighter, too. (375 lbs vs. 412, it seems.)

    Looks like a fun bike, but the form sacrifices some function. (In other words, I wouldn't want to add hard luggage to it.)

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  2. Anonymous12/12/2012

    You still can, you might just have to get a little clever. As a young guy though, I do hope they have some dual seat option and some passenger pegs. This is the sort of bike you don't want to have to ride alone if you can help it!

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  3. Anonymous12/12/2012

    On the contrary, it's the sort of bike that's 100% intended for riding alone.

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  4. I would not mind owning one. A larger engine is definitely fitting for this type of bike...a racer!!! I am interested in the technical specs in terms of output etc..cannot wait

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