Well it was as near to a perfect day as it could be today. I woke up and remembered that I'd promised to take my son Tim over to the Royal Enfield dealership to test ride the new 650 twins, as Tim wants to buy a new bike. We'd had a look at them at the "Moto Expo" show a couple of months ago, and both agreed that they looked the goods, and for less than $10K (AUD, or say, $7100 USD) "Ride away, no more to pay", you can't complain about the price.
I had a healthy egg, bacon and cheese "Banjo" for breakfast with my coffee, then off we went.
Terry's breakfast banjo by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
There are two new models, the Interceptor and the Continental GT. Both have the same spec 650 twin engine which is tuned for "mild", rather than "wild", but is a lovely smooth torquey lump, which has enough power to get you out of trouble, but not enough to get you into trouble, especially, if like my son Tim, you're new to riding. The salesman, Andrew was keen to come for a ride with me, so we both jumped on a bike each, and took off. Andrew told me afterwards that he hadn't ridden one yet, and he was just as impressed as I was.
My first ride was on the Continental GT. I found it easy to ride, the riding position is "1970's cafe Racer", i.e., sporty but not stupidly uncomfortable, with a nice comfy seat, and footpegs in the right position. The Brembo brakes were great, the suspension nice and compliant, the frame (made by Harris Performance in England, now owned by Royal Enfield) was as stiff as you'd expect from a quality manufacturer. I loved it.
Terry's perfect Saturday 16 Feb 2019 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
We did a 10 mile circuit that involved some city streets, some freeway, and some country backroads with heaps of tight bends. It did everything perfectly, no doubt helped by the Pirelli Phantom tyres that Pirelli have apparently re-released just for the new RE 650's. I then jumped on the Interceptor, and we did it all again. To me, the Interceptor is the pick of the two, nice upright riding position which makes it easier for me to look around in traffic, and I think it'd be slightly comfier on a long ride, but really, they're both great bikes.
Terry's perfect Saturday 16 Feb 2019 1 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
While Tim was happy for me to do the test riding around busy Melbourne streets, he was happy to take my word for it, and before we left he put down a deposit on a black and gold Continental GT.
Terry's perfect Saturday 16 Feb 2019 2 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
Looking at all the RE single cylinder bikes (I was hoping that they'd have an original RE Continental GT 535 single to take for a ride, but now that they're out of production, they're pretty hard to find) I had a hankering for a ride on a big single, so Tim and I drove over to the storage place and dragged my 1983 Honda XR500RE back home.
The old XR hasn't seen daylight in 4 years, the front tyre had gone flat, but the big ticket items I need to fix are the leaking engine seals, and fuel tap. The fuel in the tank has leaked past the knackered petcock and washed thru the engine and dumped watered down engine oil out of the engine breather, I just hope the engine hasn't seized over the time it's been in storage, stinking up the 20 foot shipping container it's been living in. I guess I better go out and start doing something, it's cooled down somewhat now.
Terry's perfect Saturday 16 Feb 2019 4 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
