BHPian ishan0278 recently shared this with other enthusiasts: The heart wants what it wants. I have always wanted one Classic Motorcycle in the garage as they have a charm which is seemingly impossible to replace. My first bike was an Avenger 200 DTS-I which I’d spent a better part of my life using and then I graduated to a couple of motorcycles which was a handful. My transition went like Bajaj Avenger 200 Dts-i to a Dominar 400 First gen to a Yamaha R3 ABS which was soon accompanied by an XPulse 200 Fi BS4. Then life got busy and I couldn’t spend time with these ones, and I ended up getting the garage clean. KTM Adv 390X came home in between and it kind of did what the XPulse and R3 did which was Offroad Fun, Touring Fun and High Speeds to chew down km’s. Soon I decided to end that partnership as some major reliability concerns plagued that ownership. So that was that. But then a bug of owning a pristine classic motorcycle tingled me and I was back on the hunt. I had always wanted to own the 650 Twins since they were launched. I got to test ride these bikes at a RE Showroom back in 2018 and I was hooked. circa 2018. I truly believe that we have been seen quite a lot of pivotal motorcycles in the past 2 decades like the RE Twins, KTM Duke 390, Yamaha and Kawasaki 300 Twins, Xpulse and Himalayan’s. Also, how the experience of owning a Royal Enfield had changed really, made me tap into it. The 650’s were very pivotal to motorcycle experiences in our country and opened quite a lot of horizons for motorcyclists like the customizability. I still remember drooling over the Baker Express initial lot of Interceptors. I was surprised at how the vibrations were gone and how the entire motorcycle behaviour was miles ahead for what they were doing till then. So, the dream was set and one day the stars aligned. I was still on the fence about owning a classic/cruiser/old school bike but then I took the plunge and booked on the phone an interceptor 650 canyon red which was supposed to twin with Airavat (which is my Red Petrol Thar 4×4). But fate had more beautiful plans. I happened to be near the showroom one day and thought I’ll just take the Test Ride again as it had been quite a while, I saw a classic 650 parked in brunting thorp blue and I just went to quickly sit on the bike and was immediately lovestruck. I had loved the details about the classic 650 since it came out, it’s one of those rare OEM Projects where the designers and engineers are given full budgets to go polish it to perfection and me being a motorcycle designer myself understood and appreciated of how every corner had been thought through and was beautiful. I loved the position on how I sat on it and the way it fit me. That is when the booking pivoted from Interceptor 650 to Classic 650 and the deal was set. Now I have an eye for colours and since I had seen the Classic 500’s with the Teal and upswept exhaust, I had a very peculiar soft corner for the Teal. So, I took my bet and booked the Teal. It took them 15 days to get the bike, when I saw mine at PDI I was enthralled. It was just pristinely perfect. The more I delved into the bike the more beautiful details it revealed. I was so amazed to see the details RE design guys had put into the product. The 648 cm3 marking on the block. How the Casting Piece is piece of art which holds the engine. The luggage Rack/ Seat Holder which provides exciting usability. The horizontally packaged rear brake master cylinder. The colour matched Oil cooler Guard which I personally like. Now after long came the time for Delivery. All my Team BHP friends’ gang was there including rhik94, turbonath, grease_monkey, astro_adi7, adsc0230 and some close friends with their families. I was so happy to see all the kids having a gala at the showroom and with ‘Abhyant’. Amongst all these excited closed ones I had a mesmerising delivery experience. Special thanks to E City Motors for the Dcor. Some photos of the Delivery Event. @turbonath had got his interceptor 650 “Nemo” and we had our 650 Twin inline 4 moment. Soon after that the Puja was done at my favourite hanuman temple. I just couldn’t stop admiring this beau of a motorcycle. Running in started with the ritual of taking it to good old Narsapura CCD along with rhik94 and some friends. That’s when I got to ride this bike at a stretch and understood how different it is from whatever I’ve ridden so far. Even though its bulky while standing still, when it’s on the move, its agile and planted. The induction noise of the 650’s adds to a very satisfying experience even with stock pipes. The way it turns for what it is, is a very pleasant surprise. I have honestly loved the suspension unlike the reviews. Some photos from the First running in ride. So, after the first running in ride, we were 185 km on the Odo. Second round of running in started with an early morning run at Kanakpura Road, it was a proper chilled winter morning and had a lovely cruise time with the bike, managed to capture some stills on the way. I also got to do 2 tank ups which made me discover the Fuel efficiency on this which turned out to be 22 on an average. The Third and Final running was to a beautiful temple near kanakpura accompanied with a friend Bhairava_22 and her pets. It started with 395.4 Km’s on the Odo and ended at the Royal Enfield Service Station with 530 km’s on the Odo. My key issues at the first service were: 1. Tappet Noise when the engine is heated up. 2. Exhaust alignment different between LH and RH which was very casually addressed as “this is normal sir”. So, I Will be aligning it myself. I opted for the Ceramic coat package which costed me Rs.2800 for 2 times in coating, I opted for this as my OCD for maintaining this chrome is going to be tough and the RE guys did a satisfactory job doing it. There were some machine buff marks which are on the casing which they have called me again to get it buffed. Also, finally the accessories which I ordered came in stock and were installed promptly by the PDI Guys. After the first service there was supposed to be a run and so it happened. Along with some of my colleagues we did a small breakfast ride to “Sangama Kanakpura”. Continue reading BHPian ishan0278’s ownership report for more insights and information.
