Royal Enfield GT-R650 Cup Bike: Photo Gallery

A detailed list of all the mods made to the retro race bike

In September this year, Royal Enfield announced its intent to enter the Indian motorcycle racing scenario with the GT Cup. It’s the motorcycle brand’s one-make race series, and it chose the Continental GT 650 for the purpose. Today, our team is at the Kari Motor Speedway (Coimbatore), set to have a go at the race bike. Here’s what it looks like. 

Bringing the old-school charm back, the GT-R650 gets a custom-made round half fairing bolted with a transparent visor. A custom belly pan has also been added for better aerodynamics. 

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The rear subframe, too, has been chopped off for weight reduction. 

It uses the same analogue console (with digital inset) as the stock bike. 

The GT-R650 is powered by the same 648cc parallel-twin air-and-oil-cooled motor. While the stock bike makes 47.6PS and 52Nm, the GT-R650 is said to have a 12 percent bump, which should give it a 5PS advantage. All thanks to the custom stainless steel exhaust. 

Overall, the builders have managed to shed about 24kg of the total mass. However, the GT-R650 is still quite hefty at 174kg. 

Adding to the race-ready stance are the lowered clip-on handlebars and the rear-set footpegs. The left switch cube is completely eliminated as it would’ve served no purpose on the race bike. 

The most expensive aftermarket add-on has to be the adjustable front and rear suspension setup. 

It uses the same 320mm front and 240mm rear disc brakes with ByBre callipers. 

The spoke wheels are now wrapped in a soft-compound JK Tyre rubber, which should offer a lot more grip than the Ceat tyres on the stock bike. 

With all the new bits and bobs, the GT-R650 Cup bike should surely be a whole lot of fun to blaze the race track. Keep watching this space for our experience of the red beast.