Royal Enfield Continental GT Road Test Review: The 21st Century Cafe Racer

The pros: Cafe racer styling, excellent ergonomics, powerful engine. Bike rides on Pirelli Sport Demon tyres and braking is done Brembo brakes.

The cons: It vibrates badly at high speed, rear brake sometime locks suddenly

The crux: Continental GT is meant for those people who love cruising and would settle for a leisure ride rather than it expecting it to be a performer.

Rating

The apt phrase ‘Old is Gold’ stands true in many cases, but Royal Enfield should adopt this phrase as their tag line as their bikes always have that classic panache associated with them. The phrase became more evident when they recently re-introduced their iconic Café Racer, the Continental GT. The company started selling the Continental GT as the first factory made Café Racer in 1965. The racer was an instant hit among British bike enthusiasts, but due to the economical crisis the company was forced to stopped its production. But now, Royal Enfield is doing well under its new leadership, so they decided to bring back their Café Racer. Time has largely changed in last 48 years, which is why Royal Enfield also introduced some big changes to the second generation Continental GT. The new GT has the same typical Café Racer silhouette, but it now features a larger 535cc engine, new suspension, brakes and tyres, in fact the chassis too has undergone some change so as to make it contemporary. 

 

 

After its global debut in London, Royal Enfield recently launched the bike in India. The launch event called as "Goa Burn Up"  provided journalists like us to experience the bike on scenic roads of Goa. Royal Enfield Continental GT is being marketed as the best Royal Enfield bike ever, so let’s finds out is that really true or is it just a marketing gimmick?

 

Styling-

 

 

The Continental GT is definitely a looker; Royal Enfield has followed the typical Café Racer styling and made it similar to its iconic predecessor, the 1965 GT 250. However, there are an array of changes that have been made to make it contemporary. The bike is completely different from what RE fans used to see in the brand and it now boasts compact dimensions and particular but simplistic design. By 'particular' I mean that it is a Café Racer in every aspect, and one can recognize it from miles. When I first saw the motorcycle, the jaw dropping stance of it stunned me. From the round headlamp to the classic tail lamp, everything has been designed aesthetically, which cumulatively make the bike a perfect blend of heritage, retro styling and modern engineering.

 

 

Starting from the front, the Continental GT has an impressive fascia, its round headlamp, with a stylish mud guard, small bar-end anti glare mirrors, provides it a macho image. Moving to the side, long but sleek fuel tank with visible knee recesses, exposed frame with small side panels and the chrome studded massive engine make it look like a bike from 60’s, which is a good thing. The rear is rather simple with tiny turn indicators and a retro styled tail light. However the icing on the cake is the modern bits on the bike, be it the large Brembo calipers, shiny Paoli shock absorber and the Pirelli tyres, each of them increases the beauty of the bike. The Café Racer, which we had with us, was a single seat one, and with it the bike was looking stunning. But there are two other seating options available, a single seat for two and one with seat cowl that could be utilized to cover the second seat when not required. 

 

 

Once after getting on the bike, you see a beautifully designed instrument cluster, which looks even better in the night with its illuminating effect. The fuel tank with a nicely done chrome fuel cap, which has been designed in Monza style looks really attractive. And for the first time in any RE bike, the GT 535 gets clip on bars with twin triple clamps and fork brace, which not only add it to its handling but also add tones of style to it. The bike comes in two color options, Red and Yellow, and believe me it looks stunning in both shades. Though there are a few fit and finish issues here and there, but in front of its sheer excellence in terms of styling those can go pass as unnoticed.

 

 

Switch Gear and Ergonomics -

 

 

The Continental GT uses the standard RE switch gear, which is also being used in the Thunderbird. The quality of the switches is good, and these are easy to use. The instrument cluster is also taken from the Thunderbird with a few changes, like the casing is a bit different to gel up with the rest of the design. The twin pod instrument cluster features the speedometer in one dial and tachometer in the other; the speedometer also features a small rectangular LCD display, which compromises of the odometer and fuel gauge. The other tell-tale lights are given in the tachometer dial. However, the LCD display shows lesser information in comparison to the Thunderbird, like clock, distance to empty, average and other info are missing.

 

 

When it comes to ergonomics, the Continental GT in our opinion is best RE product ever. Be it the positioning of the foot pegs, handle bars, control switches, unique bar-end mirrors everything make riding easier for you. The Café Racer allows one to sit in a lean forward position, which is quite sporty and helps to control the bike better. Again the cleverly designed knee recesses on the fuel tank gives perfect grip to your thighs, which is a virtue while riding enthusiastically. In the single seat option, the seat is big but narrow, which provides adequate comfort on longer rides. On the whole, I liked its ergonomics and experience that it helps the rider in all the possible ways.

 

 

Engine and Performance-

 

The Continental GT gets its power from a tweaked 535cc engine as the company has worked hard on this engine to meet the European emission standards. With the slight increase in bore of the engine, precisely 3mm, it now has 87mm x 90mm bore and stroke, close to an all square lay out. But that is not all, RE has worked on other parts as well like the connecting rod, piston head and bottom end. We got to know that RE has redesigned the ignition system while the fueling has been designed by Keihin. The uprated valves, valve springs and tuned inlets make this engine achieve incredible figures for a big pushrod single. The engine churns out a maximum power output of 29.1bhp at 5100rpm with a peak torque of 44Nm at 4000rpm. The rev limiter is around 5400rpm, which is quite good for this bike. Okay after this technical chit chat let me share my experience with the mean machine.

 

 

The moment I fired the engine I got to know that it is a beast thumping right there; the typical RE thump was there but with a refined grunt. Push the throttle and strong vibes shake the bike, which is an effect of the longer stroke, but the vibes mitigate as soon as you slot it into gear. The Continental GT uses the standard 5-speed gearbox, but it is in a better sync this time though the famous clunky sound is still there. There is a lot of torque to use, which I liked. It is pretty fast, and I enjoyed riding it, but once you reach three digit speeds, the vibes return and with the increasing speeds the vibes also increase drastically. However, I must say that the performance of the bike in higher revs in much better than the other RE’s and the machine does well till it hits the 5000rpm mark. I rode the bike mostly in between 80 to 120kmph, and managed to a top speed of 135kmph, but it gives its best around 100 kmph speed and 4000rpm.

 

 

Royal Enfield has made this engine brilliantly, but the machine needs something more powerful. However, according to RE, GT is not meant for those who like a super fast bike but for those people who love cruising and would settle for a leisure ride rather than it being performance based. If so, the Continental GT does it job brilliantly.

 

Ride and Handling-

 

 

When Royal Enfield announced that the new GT 535 will be the best RE in production, I never thought that they were also claiming the same about the way it handles. But what makes it to achieve the tag, is its handling. Bolted on an agile double cradle tubular frame, which has been designed by the Harris Performance, the GT 535 is the best RE ever. I loved the chassis, and it is precisely what the company has been looking for all these years, their old single down tube with stressed engine chassis always failed to impress me, even though I am a big time RE enthusiast. The advanced chassis is further equipped with some of the best equipments including Brembo brakes, Paoli suspension, light weight Aluminium wire spoke wheels and Pirelli Sport Demon tyres.

 

With the lean forward seating position, the rider sits in a sporty manner, and the precisely crafted clip-on handle bars allow him to control the bike even better. The rear set foot pegs help to lean the bike without touching the road, and now one can do knee downs on a RE bike, excited?? In Goa, the roads which mostly offer Ghat sections featured a number of hair pins that allowed us to throw the bike at turns to so to interpret its handling characteristics. The 18-inch wheels along with the Sport Demon tyres, front sporting a 100/90-18 56H unit while on the rear is a 130/70-18 63H tyre, provide the much needed grip, so one can push it hard on both wet and dry surfaces.

 

 

The Continental GT has got a Gabriel 41mm section telescopic forks at the front which are quite good and gulp the potholes with ease, while at the rear a twin Paioli gas charged shock absorbers with piggyback preload adjusters. The front suspension a bit softer, while the rear one is a bit firm. The firm rear suspension with all new rectangular swingarm makes this bike stable on high speeds, and there is no fish tailing at all.  Braking has always been an issue with RE bikes, but this time around they blessed their flagship machine with a 300mm dia Brembo unit with twin-piston calipers at the front, while the rear gets a smaller 240mm dia disc brake with single pot caliper. The front brake provides a progressive bite, but the rear brake doesn’t give that kind of a feedback and sometime it locks suddenly (a common problem with low-end bikes).

 

 

On the whole, I loved the way the Continental GT has been designed; I liked all the cycling parts, the suspension unit and the way it handles. Ride and handling of the bike makes it a perfect leisure bike and I would surely love to take it to some hill station to ride it again on those hair pin turns.

 

 

Verdict-

 

 

There was a question in my mind that who will buy this bike as the target group is not that big in India. I approached Siddharth Lal, CEO, Eicher Group (Parent Company of Royal Enfield), and he told me that there is a niche in India at the moment, but they want to create a culture of motorcycling with this bike. They are not following any trend, in fact they want to start a trend. He strongly feels that motorcycling is not just about high powered bikes, which cost insane. There is a space, where they can cultivate all new riding enthusiasts as they are doing it since their inception and I also second him on this.

 

 

This bike is something, which typical RE fans won’t like to own, they might appreciate the efforts but they will still continue to ride their Bullets. The newer generation will still go for way ‘cooler’ Japanese machines, atleast they think so. So, who will buy this machine, and who should buy, a person who uses his car or bike for regular commuting and needs a bike to roam around the city or to travel to nearby places on weekends, this machine is so cool as it has that leisure bike element. But it is not for big rides as it is not a cruiser, go for some Harley or the Thunderbird. Another group would be the next gen bikers as Siddharth said they are trying to bring a change in country’s motorcycling culture. So, for now, this bike depends on that niche only, which was waiting for the bike for last two years and now when RE has launched it on a feel good price of Rs. 2.05 lakh on-road Delhi, they should grab it.