Royal Enfield GT 535 set the café style

In my book, the Royal Enfield Continental GT 535 was perfect. 

 Royal Enfield dealer Baxter Cycle, in far-off Marne, Iowa (far-off for me, anyway) deserves applause for the wonderful advertisements it posts for Royal Enfields in its inventory. 

Its website entries are pure poetry for fans of Royal Enfields, particularly for fans of Royal Enfields the factory no longer bothers to tout (it has new motorcycles to market). 

I personally admire the Royal Enfield Continental GT 535. Introduced in 2014, it was a single-cylinder café racer true to the look of Royal Enfield's original Continental GT 250 of the 1960s. 

But Baxter tells it best: 

"First year GT and what a ground-breaking bike it was!  RE’s first all-new bike since 1970, the little GT proved that Royal Enfield was prepared to mature, but never grow up. 

"At its heart, the 535cc overhead valve motor pumped out a healthy 27-ish HP – not really race ready, but good for a solid 70 mph all day long.  Brembo brakes and Paoli suspension gave a gleam of class, the all new chassis was developed by Harris Performance and the styling was totally on point.

"This one was bought new here in 2014 and still wears its vintage (and sought after) first-year-only old-school Royal Enfield badging. 

"It is nearly stock with a few tasty exceptions: 7″ headlight conversion, up-tilted megaphone muffler (sounds soooo good!), and aluminum bar end mirrors.  It has also been fitted with a capacitor ignition so no need for a battery. Just kick and go! 

"The tank shows a few small scratches (likely from a jacket zipper while racing from café to café), but overall it is in excellent shape. Just serviced and ready to ride!"

That line about genuine café racing is the clincher. I'm sold! (Although, living in Florida, I can't say I'll be right over to see it.)

There are seven photos on Baxter's website, one of which shows mileage to be under 19,000.

But what a great description.

I hadn't realized this was the first new model Royal Enfield India introduced outside India (there were some made-in-India Royal Enfields over the decades that we didn't get in the U.S.).

I also hadn't realized that the 2014 GT 535 was the last with the time-honored Royal Enfield decal on the tank. The new logo has the tail of the "R" wrap around to form the "O" in Royal Enfield, a design some criticized as "the trunk of an elephant."

Modern Royal Enfield logo has wrap-around "RO"

Its look is more "India" than "UK," perhaps a step away from Royal Enfield's roots in Britain. Not inappropriate, and customers, if they even noticed, didn't seem to care.

The Continental GT 535 lasted only through 2018. Royal Enfield's current Continental GT 650 twin  quickly came along to up the excitement.

But the Baxter ad perfectly captured the appeal of the simpler, single-cylinder GT 535, with its then new Unit Construction Engine. I'll always be a fan.

Did Royal Enfield prototype go racing?

Did a prototype Royal Enfield café racer go racing? 
The answer may be in a book. 

I was in for a surprise. 

I did my recent blog item about the Royal Enfield Interceptor Series II Sports Prototype of the late 1960s believing that it was just a last-ditch styling exercise before Royal Enfield went out of business in the UK. 

Shiny fenders, full instruments and lights, and even a horn, suggested this café racer was speed for the street, not the track. If the Sports Prototype had been produced it would have been a very early lookalike for today's Royal Enfield Continental GT 650.

But maybe the Sports Prototype was something else again.

"Wasn’t this the production racer that Royal Enfield did?" Allan Hitchcock replied when I asked him about the bike. 

"I think either Richard Stevens or Ray Knight rode," he wrote in an email. "I don’t know a lot about it but I think there is a decent article in Andrew Stait’s Interceptor book." 

What?? Did the Sports Prototype go racing? 

Photographs show that the Interceptor Series II Sports Prototype was a dead ringer for the Production Racer photographed at track events. 

In his 2005 book "The Mighty Interceptor, Royal Enfield Interceptor 1962-1970," author Andrew Stait includes the racing recollections of riders Richard Stevens and Ray Knight.

Stevens was on the development staff at Royal Enfield. Knight was a successful winner in Production Racing events.

Photos in the book show the Royal Enfield Interceptor Series II Production Racer wearing the same road going equipment as seen on the Sports Prototype café racer. The rear-set bits might vary (hard to tell) but the rear bum and its piping and other details look near identical.

The Royal Enfield Interceptor Series II Sports Prototype.

Could it be the same bike?

The Royal Enfield Interceptor Series II Production Racer.

Bob Murdoch, Royal Enfield Owners Club (UK) archivist, provided the photos of the Series II Sports Prototype. I asked him about the resemblance to the Production Racer.

"It's quite possible that it's the same racer, or perhaps parts of it used on the racer. Bear in mind that Enfield Precision at Upper Westwood was a very small hand-to-mouth concern, and nothing would have been wasted or cast aside if it was suitable for use on another bike. Competition machines were often sold to employees, used as staff transport, or detuned and sold to the public."

One common element, the connection to designer Reg Thomas, is absolutely clear.

Richard Stevens writes: "Chris Ludgate, the development engineer and myself managed to convince Reg Thomas, chief designer of the Series II bike, to use one of the Interceptors in Production Racing to further develop the machine at racing conditions."

Stevens and Knight took the Royal Enfield Production Racer to Snetterton Circuit, a one-time RAF base converted to racing in the 1950s.

"The test would have just the opposition to give some answer to the question of how good Reg Thomas's new beast is," Knight wrote.

The exciting full story (and much more) is in the book, but it's fair to say the Interceptor Series II Production Racer had a good day.

Stevens recalls that "winning Club level races and the Bantam Racing Club Production was pretty pleasing for me and the management and staff at the factory."

Royal Enfield production, though, was at its end in Britain, "with the factory closure and the racer being sold off," Stevens concludes.

Does the motorcycle still exist somewhere? If so, it has quite a history.

Royal Enfield designed a big GT long ago

 

Royal Enfield imagined a twin-cylinder café racer long ago.  

About half a century before Royal Enfield of India introduced its Continental GT 650 parallel twin to the world in 2018, Royal Enfield of the UK considered producing a nearly identical looking motorcycle using a powerful 750cc parallel twin motor. 

It didn't happen. The big parallel-twin café racer of about 1968 was only a prototype. As designed it had dropped handlebars, serious rear-sets, tank indented for your knees, and a single seat, with racing "bum." 

 It looked a lot like the  Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 you find at your dealer today. 

Photographs of the prototype and other period Royal Enfield designs were added recently to the Royal Enfield Owners Club (UK) website. The original photos were collected by Reg Thomas, long-time Royal Enfield employee in the UK and eventually head of design for the company. 

"We're finally adding some of the archive material to our website," REOC archivist Bob Murdoch told me. 

"The club joined forces with Allan Hitchcock (of Hitchcocks Motorcycles) and bought the Reg Thomas Collection at auction several years ago. Allan took most of the manufacturing drawings, and we had the more historic material. It makes sense that Reg kept photos, drawings, test data and memos on projects that we know he was directly responsible for." 

What if Royal Enfield had produced a big-twin Continental GT in 1970? 

Bob explained who Reg Thomas was. 

"Reg joined the factory as a draftsman in 1945, possibly straight from college. Back then the title of draftsman usually involved a lot of design work too, at which Reg very soon proved himself. His notebooks record his work on military projects and improvements on the RE 125, but his schematic drawings of a new 500cc twin of 1946 are a work of art...

"It would seem that Reg was promoted to chief draftsman (designer) in the early 1960s and head of design at the Upper Westwood factory (now EPE, Enfield Precision Engineering) where he further improved the 750 into the Series II Interceptor." 

If produced, the big-twin prototype would have been powered by that Series II Royal Enfield Interceptor motor, a wet-sump design that was then the company's latest and biggest motor.

Royal Enfield might have been called it the Interceptor Series II Sport.

Or, perhaps the motorcycle would have inherited the "Continental GT" name from the little 250cc Royal Enfield café racer Royal Enfield had produced, the very first "factory" café racer ever.

The little 250cc Royal Enfield Continental GT of 1966.

Whatever you called it, the Series II Sports Prototype was a dedicated café racer, a form of motorcycle invented in Britain and at the time peculiar to Britain. And that was never going to work, not in 1968.

Why? In the late 1960s the British motorcycle industry's biggest market was the United States. In that era Americans were not café racers. They preferred to sit up tall, behind raised handlebars.

The situation would have been analogous to that of the single-cylinder, 535cc Continental GT introduced by Royal Enfield of India in 2013. Brits and (by then) Americans loved the spritely new café racer that harkened back to the era of Mods and Rockers in Britain.

Royal Enfield produced the 535cc Continental GT for 2014.

But Royal Enfield fans in India, the brand's modern day biggest market, didn't care for it. In India, a single-cylinder Royal Enfield meant, and still means, a sit-up-tall Bullet. The 535cc café racer lasted  only a few years.

Its replacement, the Royal Enfield Continental GT 650, finally proves the concept of a powerful twin-cylinder café racer.

That 1968 prototype belongs in a museum somewhere. I wonder if it still exists?

BUT WAIT, there's more. Royal Enfield fielded an Interceptor Series II Production Racer in the UK back in the day. It's a dead ringer for the Series II Sports Prototype. Could they have been the same motorcycle? Here's the story.

Café racer silhouette of today's Royal Enfield Continental GT 650.

Royal Enfield's Ice Queen 650 twin fired his imagination

Woman on Ice Queen white Continental GT 650 leads cafe racers 
in Royal Enfield video "A Ton of Fun." Watch it on YouTube.

"I'd love to know who the 'Ice Queen' color of the new 650 GTs is named after. In my mind's eye I have some unapproachably lovely blonde gal in the Accounts Receivable Office that everyone just stares at longingly from the water cooler..."

That is the question posed on this blog by a Royal Enfield enthusiast who signs himself "Bilgemaster," and who obviously has an active imagination.

Model names help humanize motorcycles. We naturally attach mental images to the words that designate them.

Turns out, there might indeed be an Ice Queen connection to a woman. Or maybe not. The story turns out to be less random and more human than you might expect.

It all goes back to Paul Ventura, a member of the Royal Enfield strategy team on the 650 twins. He picked the names for the paint schemes, some of them referring to co-workers. He never named one of the variations for himself.

Sadly, he was killed in a motorcycle accident in 2018, at the age of 42. Royal Enfield re-named the lovely light blue GT 650s "Ventura Blue" in his memory. You can read the story of Ventura Blue here.

But what about the others?

Mark Wells is head of global product strategy and industrial design for Royal Enfield. He was there during development when names were attached to proposed paint jobs for Royal Enfield's INT 650 and Continental GT 650. He was kind enough to tell me the story in an email.

"As with any design process, we always start with a broad range of proposals and then go through a process of elimination to narrow them down to the selected colors that we will go to production with. Typically the presentation slides are labelled something like A1, A2, B1, B2 etc. But (as is often the case) this leads to discussions like:

I really like A3.

Which one was that again?

The red and black one.

Which? The one with the horizontal split?

No that's A5, the one with the diagonal split.

"...and so on. So one day Paul Ventura said I've had enough; I'm going to give all the ones we like names so we know which one is which. In the usual manner, I think initially there were some rude names suggested and vetoed. A few got named after people working on the project so:

"Ravishing Red was named after Ravi Karin who was working with Paul as a product manager.

"Baker Express was named after Mike Baker who was the lead chassis engineer on the twins project.

"Mark Three black was named after me (Mark).

"Shiny Hiney (which later got changed to Glitter and Dust) was named after Ben Hine the other lead chassis designer on the project.

"Dr. Mayhem was allegedly after our concept engineer Ed Cobb (although later Paul denied this!) 

"Others got names that Paul just made up. 

"Orange Crush (after the drink).

"Silver Spectre (was a twist on a comic character).

"Sea Nymph (which we later changed to Ventura Blue in honor of Paul).

"Black Magic (which was inspired by the old JPS F1 Lotus cars).

"Mister Clean Paul said was after a TV advert that aired when he was a kid growing up in the States. 

We may never know if there was a real inspiration for "Ice Queen."
But the woman in "A Ton of Fun" clearly knew how to ride.

"This leaves Ice Queen. Paul always laughed off the question with a cheeky smile (in a way only Paul could) when it was asked who this was named after. I suspect it wasn't named after anyone and he just liked to keep people guessing, but we'll never know now.

"These really were never intended as market names for the colors but they just stuck. As you know after Paul passed away we decided to rename the Sea Nymph blue. A few different people independently came to me with the idea of renaming it Ventura Blue and when I proposed it to Sid and Rudy they both wholeheartedly supported it. I'm grateful for that, it makes me smile every time I see it. We all still miss Paul every single day."

Royal Enfield 650 twins sparkle someone else's eyes

It's hard to ignore Royal Enfield's new 650 twins.

I'm sitting at the Royal Enfield Himalayan launch event, salivating over a different Royal Enfield. To my surprise, Royal Enfield had brought the new 650 twins, not yet introduced to the United States.

Sexy, sleek and presumably faster than the trials-style Himalayan, the Continental GT 650 cafe racer and INT650 Interceptor can't help drawing attention.

I'd seen them at the Long Beach International Motorcycle Show, but they were on pedestals there, giving off a definite "look but don't touch" vibe. At the Himalayan launch the new twins sat the floor near the bar. They seemed approachable and, when others tried swinging a leg over them I wasn't too shy to try myself.

Of course they felt great, although sitting on a motorcycle inside a banquet hall is bound to feel a bit foolish.

Sleek and sexy looking Royal Enfield 650 twins.

Still, if anything, they were more attractive when seen at ground level than they had been on the show floor.

I can't say they felt light. I'll call them substantial, like my own iron barrel Royal Enfield Bullet. But with much more power they certainly promise to turn frisky on the road.

While the Himalayan certainly impresses — one moto-journalist present called it "the perfect going to college motorcycle" — the 650 twins looked like more ultimate joy.

My college room mate, back in the day, had a gorgeous Triumph Bonneville and a very pretty girl friend. The guy, the girl and the British motorcycle made an impressive sight on a Spring day. That was long ago.

Last I heard, he had married the girl. That guy and that girl grew up and moved along.

But it looks to me as though Royal Enfield is bringing back that motorcycle, at least. Is there one in your plans for next Spring?

Original Royal Enfield Continental GT restoration

It's going to take awhile but this Royal Enfield Continental GT will look great.

This original Royal Enfield Continental GT needs a little work, but it's hard not to envy the fellow who now owns it.

"I have acquired my father's RE Continental GT 250, complete with fairing kit and has only seen the road for three years until laid up in 1970!" he wrote.

The owner is member "cb1rocket," writing on the UK-based Bike Chat Forums (BCF). His real name is Greg and he lives in the UK.

I wrote to ask him about it.

"It is indeed a rare machine, maybe a little more common here in the UK but none the less my father wants the machine done up and restored. It is a very time consuming matter for me; I'm into more modern bikes and this is something that has made my mind blow! A lot of research is needed and I have to determine as to why it won't start, which was the main reason for being sat for so long!" he responded.

"I was expecting the worst, a seized engine that wouldn't turn over, however that wasn't the case. Now my mission is on to get a spark out of the ignition circuit and hopefully a running machine prior to strip down and repaint...

"The history on the machine is quite very well intact: my father bought this new in 1967 and rode it until it sadly stopped running. Work took over all his time and unfortunately it was partly stripped and that's how it was left — for the next 44 years until it starts to see attention again!"

I hope he gets it sorted out. It will be great to see this machine back on the road with the new Royal Enfield Continental GTs about.

Royal Enfield Continental GT takes on the competiton

MotorcycleUSA.com compared the Royal Enfield Continental GT to Japanese competitors.

Hold your fire; the Royal Enfield Continental GT "lost" the comparison test with the Yamaha SR400 and Suzuki TU250X conducted by Adam Waheed on MotorcycleUSA.com

It's a thorough test, complete with individual videos of the three motorcycles and charts showing torque and horsepower curves. The Continental GT was rated high on looks, character and handling and nicked for fit-and-finish issues, an imperfect transmission and an occasional stall. It also carried the highest price of the three.

Thorough as it is, the article won't change anyone's mind. You won't be surprised to learn that Yamaha and Suzuki offered Japanese quality, better fuel economy and lower prices. In fact, the two Japanese motorcycles were so consistent they tied for first place.

"Affordable urban transportation" is the phrase used for the Suzuki. Be still, my heart.

For me — and likely for you if you are reading my blog — the Royal Enfield emerged the clear winner.

Do just one thing: start the video  that covers the Royal Enfield Continental GT. Watch and listen just until the Continental GT runs.

Hear THAT? The sound tells you everything you need to know. Go on to watch the videos for the Yamaha and Suzuki if you want. They sound exactly as you know they will, because if you've lived in the United States you've listened to thousands of Japanese motorcycles going by.

They sound OK. Their motors are running, always a good thing.

The Royal Enfield Continental GT sounds tremendous.

Try it:

Aftermarket exhaust for Royal Enfield Continental GT

New  muffler looks great and sounds great on the Royal Enfield Continental GT.

Clever "Before" and "After" videos show what an aftermarket exhaust can do for the look and sound of Royal Enfield's new Continental GT.

Carpy's Cafe Racers in Anaheim, Calif. posted the two videos to show off its new stainless steel exhaust system for the Continental GT.

Of course the small print specifies that this system is "not for use on public roads." Ahem. So, remember, that, OK? I know. It's so easy to forget!

Especially when you click on these two videos. The difference is dramatic.
Carpy is a Southern California customizer who loves cafe racers but, for the sake of price and parts availability, works with modern "metric" motorcycles rather than costly vintage British bikes. Not that he doesn't love the old Brits:

"But my bread and butter has been the good old CB750 Honda," he writes. "I know to some purist it’s not their cup of tea, and I totally understand this, but what I do with the stock bike is give it a slight British styling that Honda should of brought out back in the day.

"We enjoy designing many parts and now I am getting into the Brit stuff once more and the Royal Enfield is a fun and affordable bike to have these days."

Rider pushed his Royal Enfield GT flat out in relay run

Tom Bray tells the inspiring story of riding his leg of the Royal Enfield "Top to Tip" run in the August/September issue of The Gun, the magazine of the Royal Enfield Owners Club in the UK.

Bray was one of the riders who reenacted the 1964 launch of the original Continental GT aboard new Royal Enfield Continental GTs May 10-11. It was a relay run from John O'Groats across Britain to Lands End. That's 900 miles in under 24 hours.

Royal Enfield Owners Club

Bray mounted his Continental GT at Lydford on Fosse and rode the final — and fastest — roads to Lands End. Told the bikes were now 50 minutes behind schedule he determined to at least gain time on the GT said to be 10 minutes behind him.

"The poor little bike was absolutely flat out all the way with me laying flat on the tank, elbows tucked in, my chin on the Sat Nav and the throttle wound as far back as it would go!" he writes.

But not far enough. He began to realize that the wire powering the heated grips had twisted around so much that it was tight, restricting the throttle opening. Bray refused to slow down to fix this.

What he did do, in the face of cold and wet weather, was twist the throttle until the electrical cable broke. Bray averaged 65 mph for his leg, and his was the first of the Continental GTs to arrive at Land's End.

His is typical of the stories you'll find in The Gun. Editor Robin Gillingham provides his own pleasant touches to a magazine that is, ultimately, reassuring to a foreign reader. Through good luck and adversity, you surmise, there will always be people who appreciate Royal Enfields.

Even the charming Chapter Reports repeatedly introduce us to people who "press on regardless" not only on vintage British motorcycles but through vintage British weather. Their reward, usually, is just satisfaction and a pint "of the dark stuff" at day's end.

You can join the Royal Enfield Owners Club UK online. There's a considerable discount if instead of a printed magazine you take it as an emailed pdf. That's how I get it.

#489686957 / gettyimages.com

Tom Bray on May 11, 2014 in Land's End, England.

Considering a Royal Enfield Continental GT? Read this

Royal Enfield 535 GT takes an in-depth look at Royal Enfield's cafe racer.

Continental GT owner Mike O'Reirdan pointed me toward a "wonderful new site on the GT. The guy has put a lot of work into it."

The guy is Stephen Feber, who writes that he built the Royal Enfield 535 GT website "for an number of reasons." Such thoroughness makes this a good site to consult if you are considering purchasing a Continental GT.

Feber's "reasons" really strike home. For one, he wants to correct the reviews that have appeared.

"While some of the reviews have been good and accurate there have been some very strange remarks about the bike — the gear change is notchy (it isn't), vibration is excessive (it isn't — but you can feel the engine working) paint finish is poor (it's good). Some reviews have found the ride too soft and some too hard."

Thoroughness is not surprising in Feber, who served as Curator of the Future at the London Transport Museum for its Sense and the City exhibition. He is owner of Stephen Feber Ltd., which develops social enterprises from an idea to the finished project. As such, he thinks about things such as sustainable transport and "resilient design." He also designs and develops museums and exhibitions.

In the end, Feber likes the Continental GT for solid reasons. Based in the UK, he has done more than 2,400 miles on his GT, including a 500-mile two-day trip. He "went the Long Way Round in most cases," and so rode about seven hours each day. A pleasant pace.

The Continental GT is not fast, but he has an answer to that:

"Speed is an essential part of motorcycling but I ask how much speed you need to have fun?"

Still, after his trip, he concluded "it could use more top end power." He has entitled one page of his site "Tuning for Speed."

Other pages cover Frame, Wheels, Suspension, Quality, Induction and Fuel, Maintenance and Improvement.

All in all, it's a deeper dive into the Continental GT than you will get in any magazine review.

Royal Enfield Continental GT needs a flyscreen; maybe

Yes, something is missing from the new Royal Enfield Continental GT.

The stunning similarity in design inspiration of the new Royal Enfield Continental GT and the original, 1965 Continental GT is instantly apparent.

Seeing the Royal Enfield cafe racers, new and old, displayed together during the press launch in the UK, my reaction was that only one thing was missing from the new one.

The flyscreen.

It had been that flyscreen, along with clip-ons, rear sets and cranked exhaust pipe, that had made the original the idol of teenagers in 1965 — when I, too was a teenager.

Now Dart Flyscreens Ltd. of London has gone to the trouble to create a flyscreen for the new Continental GT.

The Dart flyscreen on the new Continental GT.

"The original 1960s Continental came with a flyscreen as standard," Dart's website reasons. "What better partner for your modern Continental GT than a Dart flyscreen? In the same way that the modern bike uses up to date technology whilst retaining its period charm, the Dart’s top quality injection-moulded polycarbonate screen and laser-cut fittings serve to enhance an already handsome bike."

The website quotes a price of $124.95, including delivery, in standard or dark tint.

Just right? Or maybe a bit too small?

How easy is it to fit? According to the FAQ "you'll need a couple of spanners or Allen keys, 20 minutes and that's it. The screen uses the standard headlamp brackets and if it's carefully fitted, you won't even need to readjust the headlamp."

Maybe for you. It might take me longer. But is it worth it? Again, from the FAQ:

The rider's view.

"When you're riding a naked bike, your body provides a big target for wind blast. Flyscreens work by taking most of the wind from this area, giving your body an easier time. You still get wind around the helmet area (but that's why you bought the bike, yes?), but you don't get the fatigue in the same way."

OK. Sounds good. But, oddly, although I think it's a clever idea, I'm not personally crazy about the way the flyscreen looks on the new bike in Dart's photos.

Best looking angle is head-on.

With its hunched, shoulders forward stance, the new Continental GT seems to overpower the little plastic plate.

A seemingly larger, more curvaceous Italian flyscreen is listed for the Continental GT by NfieldGear at $139.95. Some might prefer it.

NfieldGear flyscreen differs in shape.

But you know what I would really like? Here's a photo of an original 1960s Continental GT fitted with the then optional Speedflow fairing, with transparent nose.

The original Continental GT with Avon Speedflow fairing.

Gimmie one of those and I will feel like a teenager again.

Video captures thrill of Royal Enfield's Top-to-Tip run

New video captures Royal Enfields racing across Britain.

You'll wish you were along for the ride as you watch Royal Enfield's short, punchy video of the Top-to-Tip ride, posted recently by rider Matt Kimberley.

New Royal Enfield Continental GTs set off May 10 from the top of Britain to repeat a 50-year-old publicity stunt: running all the way to Lands End in under 24 hours.

The original 250cc Continental GT did it in 1964. Could the new machines match that performance?

They did, but this video captures the excitement of the effort. It's beautifully photographed and well worth a few moments to watch.

I confirmed with Kimberley that he was one of the relay riders aboard one of the Continental GTs on the run. He replied:

"Yes: the legs between Penkridge, Silverstone and Shepton Mallet. 'My' bike was the first to finish — because I skipped lunch!"

Hardly the most impressive shot but I couldn't help noticing the big American car looming behind a rider at one point in the video. See if you can spot it.

Royal Enfield Continental GT: ready for twin power?

What's that empty mount doing on the left side of the new Royal Enfield Continental GT?

There's something funny about the new Royal Enfield Continental GT. I didn't spot it until it was pointed out in a YouTube review by PowerDrift.

The PowerDrift riders evaluate the Continental GT from the point of view of The Enthusiast, The Tourer and The Racer. It's a lengthy review filled with stirring footage of the Continental GT posing, rambling over rocks, and cornering at full lean as if on a race course.

The overall verdict is positive of course, but the riders gather at the close and agree that the Continental GT's shortcoming is its engine — there needs to be more of it. The 535cc single is not enough.

"We are all happy; it's just the engine," one reviewer says.

"But there's another way to look at it," another says. The rest of the bike is up to more power. And there is a suspicious mount on the left-hand side that could be used for a second exhaust.

In other words, Royal Enfield is already accommodating a twin.

Maybe so. Either that or it's for the sari guard.

Check out the PowerDrift video.

Royal Enfield's Continetal GT easily does the ton: in km/h

The Royal Enfield Continental GT's speedometer makes it easy to do 100.

When Mike O'Reirdan of New Jersey picked up his new Royal Enfield Continental GT on March 22, his first reaction was that "it looks absolutely beautiful, and very very evocative of its 1960s namesake."

But then he noticed something:

"There are, however, a few oddities which I thought might need a bit of explanation. The most noticeable is that it is supplied with a kilometers-per-hour speedo with a subsidiary scale in miles per hour. I do have to wonder if that even conforms to U.S. law.

"Of course it does make you feel you are going faster since those kilometers slip by faster than miles!"

Others had noticed too, and Classic Motorworks, the U.S. importer, asked for and got this brisk explanation from M.Govindaraju at Royal Enfield in India:

"Law allows both but not specifically told which should be on top."

That appears to be correct. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 101, Table 1, providing for speedometers, requires that speed be listed in miles per hour. But kilometers per hour may be listed as well and there is no indication which must be dominant.

 "If the speedometer is graduated in miles per hour and in kilometers per hour, the identification must be 'MPH and km/h' in any combination of upper and lowercase letters."

I'm with Mike. It's odd but, on the other hand, it was the one no-cost way to make the Royal Enfield Continental GT seem faster than it really is.

Royal Enfield Continental GT is a 'brilliant' buy

Mike O'Reirdan modified his Royal Enfield Continental GT. No mud flaps!
(Photo by Manoj Bankal)

The new Royal Enfield Continental GT cafe racer is in the United States, and Mike O'Reirdan of New Jersey has had his long enough to learn what he likes about it, and even modify what he didn't. He offered these impressions and photos:

"OK, well now I have had it for a bit, I am beginning to feel that not only did I make a good decision in buying the GT, it was a brilliant one.

"The bike itself as standard comes pretty well equipped: great brakes, Brembos, excellent tires, Pirellis, nice shocks, Paioli, and a superb frame as designed by Harris in the UK.

"There are some downsides but to be honest they are both easily and inexpensively remedied.

Motor cover plate from Hitchcocks celebrates how special the GT is.
(Photo by Manoj Bankal)

"The silencer as stock is dreadful; I describe it as sounding like a farting hamster, but that took 10 minutes' work and one week's wait to fix. I bought a Motad from Hitchcocks in the UK and now it sounds like a real 'big single,' which it is. That was probably the biggest change I made.

A bike for a sunny weekend.

"I have removed the black flap extensions to the mudguards. I removed the air brake that is the rear number plate mount.

"Out of sight I installed a  Power Commander and K&N air filter to match the Motad. The engine starts very easily on the button, but the kick start is curiously set up so that it does not engage early on and as such it is hard to start in the traditional manner.

"It handles well. As I went out to the Meeting of the Nortons recently, I was on some nice twisty roads and although I am still running it in, it was an enjoyable ride. Going around bends it feels rock solid.

"When I arrived, they asked me to park the GT in the middle line with all the nice old bikes. They were not all British, but all were interesting one way or another. Obviously the GT has all the right lines, and next to Commandos, a Gold Star, BSAs and lots of others, it holds its own.

Royal Enfield Continental GT is all business from this view.
(Photo by Manoj Bankal)

"The GT is not a bike I would ride to work — I take it out to the bike club and out on a nice sunny weekend — but it is a very nice bike. At $5,999, people cannot believe what you get for the money and I do think that given decent marketing, it should sell very well.

Hitchcocks heel guards now grace Mike's bike.
(Photo by Manoj Bankal)

"A little more power probably will not go amiss and I am going in search of that. I am told that Hitchcocks have some tuning parts in the offing and there are some quite competent Enfield tuners in the U.S. I am lucky to have Leon Stanley of Cycle Icons just down the road in Trenton."

Royal Enfield Continental GTs dash Top-to-Tip

The last of six Royal Enfield Continental GTs departs John O'Groats.

The Royal Enfield Top-to-Tip photograph I like best is a frame capture from a video posted on Facebook by The Cabin at John O'Groats (aka Geoff's Burger Van). Here's a link to the video, which really does capture the historic moment as the motorcycles are flagged off.

In 1964 Royal Enfield introduced its 250cc Continental GT cafe racer to the world with a 1,000 mile "reliability test" race from the top of Britain to its bottom tip. Fifty years on, Royal Enfield recreated its 24-hour end-to-end dash this weekend with a half dozen new 535cc Continental GTs.

In 1964 it was a publicity stunt. This time the Top-to-Tip run was for charity. Five teams of six riders who bid for their places began their relay race at 10 p.m. Saturday, May 10 to benefit Riders for Health.

David Dixon finished the 1964 run at Land's End; right, the 2014 route map.

The first leg of the original gallop from John O'Groats at the island's north end to Lands End in the southwest of England was ridden by Royal Enfield test rider Brian Crow. He told author Gordon May that he started with his rear wheel immersed in the North Sea; "there was no start and finish line in those days."

"The Royal Enfield Continental GT proved absolutely reliable throughout," Royal Enfield later boasted in one advertisement. Along the way, racer John Cooper had even made "eight quick laps at Silverstone."

The ad didn't mention that the 1964 Continental GT used wasn't stock.

“The engine was assembled very carefully in the competition shop so that it ran perfectly. They used a titanium con rod so that it would stand up to the thrashing it was about to get,” Crow told May.

After 50 years, better (but more crowded) roads likely eased the way. Appropriately, John Cooper, now 76, even took a new Continental GT on a lap of honor at Silverstone Sunday.

Elapsed time in 1964 was 22 hours 20 minutes. The best 2014 time was 20 hours 57 minutes. According to rider Sam Manicom's account, only two of the six 2014 Continental GTs came in under the 24-hour target, but all six finished the run.

#489686855 / gettyimages.com

CEO of Royal Enfield Siddhartha Lal, center, with Royal Enfield riders Tom Bray, left and Dan Cartwright in Land's End, England after the successful Top to Tip ride.

Royal Enfield Continental GT, the perfect cafe racer?

English designer Charlie Trelogan wrote "How to Build a Cafe Racer" on the BikeExif.com blog. He established basic guidelines for the ideal cafe racer and illustrated how these lines worked to turn a Honda motorcycle into a cafe racer.

I thought it would be fun to superimpose the lines he drew onto the new Royal Enfield Continental GT, to see how well it does in comparison.

You'll have to read the original article to learn the justifications Trelogan provided for the lines he drew. But just looking at them surely provides some idea.

How does the Royal Enfield do, all told? Very well, but not perfectly.

The Foundation.

The Foundation, a straight line (bumps and bends are distracting) above two equal size wheels.

The Cut Off Points.

The Cut Off Points run through the wheel center lines. No bodywork should extend past them.

The Height Limit.

The Height Limit. Low and lean. Nothing should extend above the top of the tank.

The Bone Line.

The Bone Line. Widest part of the bike. Best if it runs through the center of the headlamp.

Visual Weight.

Visual Weight. The mass of the bike is here, ideally topped by the tank. Peak of the tank should fall right on the center line of the cylinder.

The Swoop.

The Swoop ties the seat and the tank together.

Main Angles.

Main Angles. Straight, not spaghetti.

Secondary Angles.

Secondary Angles. Your eye likes things to line up.

Fork Distance.

Fork Distance. Tuck in that wheel. Makes it look mean.

Evaluated this way, the Continental GT looks a bit too long. To achieve the rough, tough look of the ideal cafe racer it should be more tucked in and less open around the motor. Note the Visual Weight illustration: cladding behind the motor (where the tool boxes would be on a Bullet) creates mass where openness is wanted.

Ironically, while working for Tata in India Trelogan built his own design based on the Royal Enfield Bullet 350!

The designer crafts his own Royal Enfield.

Looking at it tells us where he might have taken the Continental GT.

Royal Enfield Continental GT makes an impression

What's it like to ride the new Royal Enfield Continental GT? "Fun!"

The Real Rider First Impression:
David Garcia and his Continental GT
By Jeff Azcona of Royal Enfield of Fort Worth.

We had the unique opportunity to interview a customer who jumped off a 500 Bullet to the new Continental GT. It’s interesting to hear the differences between the two models straight from the source.

David Garcia explained to us how light and responsive the GT is, packed with the newest technology, “it’s a completely different bike from the other RE models.”

He goes on to explain how “the GT still has the retro look and feel while offering more confidence in the corners and at highway speeds.”

David has a pretty simple method for picking his motorcycles and cars: “It’s more fun to drive a slow vehicle fast than drive a fast vehicle slow.”

He is the perfect candidate for the Royal Enfield motorcycles; David finds the simple things in life, the things that slow you down in a culture that is moving so fast.

“You can see the world with only 22 horsepower.”

I think David is in good shape with the Continental GT packing 29 hp, especially with it only weighing 403 pounds. When we asked David to describe the new 2014 Continental GT in one word, his word of choice was “fun!”

If you ready to experience the “fun” David is experiencing, call us immediately!

(Jeff's office phone is 817-834-1392. He was kind enough to write this Guest Post for RoyalEnfields.com )

Royal Enfield Continental GT has classic look

Royal Enfield Continental GTs of 2014 and 1965 share a moment at Brooklands.

The look of the new Royal Enfield Continental GT cafe racer was clearly inspired by the original Contiental GT, built by Royal Enfield in 1965, in Redditch, England.

There was British input into that decision, from Mark Wells of Xenophya Design, widely credited with design of the new Continental GT. There's even a short YouTube video of him explaining how he shaped the new bike's fuel tank.

But there's more to the visual similarity than that, so I was interested to read "Royal Enfield: The Next Chapter," by author Steve Wilson in Classic Bike UK.

It's an earlier article, written before the new Continental GT was revealed. Wilson quotes Xenophya's Wells discussing the appearance of the UCE motor that powers all Royal Enfields.

Turns out that the 250cc Crusader motor used in the original Continental GT back in the day was the model for the look of today's Royal Enfield power plant. Here's Wells talking:

The unit constructed motor of 2014, left, and 1965, right.

"The new engine had to be less Japanese-looking. We bought an old G2 Bullet, and since the new one was a unit, I got old 250 unit Crusader cases from Hitchcocks, and we introduced the Crusader's winged motif; I replicated the points cover with it for the starter motor."

It's an interesting example of how the world turns, isn't it?

Wilson's article was pointed out to me by reader Beau Lethbridge, who found something else interesting in it:. Wilson hints that there would soon be a parallel twin Royal Enfield motor from the factory in India — with two side-by-side 350cc cylinders, like the Royal Enfield Constellation made in the 1960s in Redditch,

"Sources very close to the factory confirmed to me a long-held Royal Enfield rumor. A twin-cylinder model, which has been under development for several years, is nearing finalization and the firm hope to release it before the end of 2015."

That hint is now two years old — and it was "a long-held Royal Enfield rumor" even then. If it's true, that "2015" time table has probably slipped a little.