Royal Enfield Continental GT

Royal Enfield offer superbly crafted after market bar-end mounted mirrors for the GT, which we recommend for their solid construction and functional value, despite their really petite size.

 

The Royal Enfield Continental GT fuel-tank is tastefully adorned with a classic font company logo, and equipped with a beautifully sculpted, flip-to-open filler cap. There’s a single saddle (dual seat available as optional), with smart red stitching and humped tail section. Those with a keen eye will admire the GT’s alloy wheel rims. The GT comes with a flowing, chromed exhaust, and sporty looking exposed drive chain.

 

 

The Continental GT deploys a 535cc, four-stroke, single-cylinder Royal Enfield powerplant. It’s a button or kick-started engine, the air-cooled, long-stroke unit beating out a soft, yet evocative and crisp bark that will have riders blip the throttle more than usual, to extract little extra soundtrack. The GT outputs 29.1bhp at 5100rpm of peak power, while making 4.49kgm of torque at 4000rpm. Clutch action isn’t as positive as we’d like, although the GT does provide a smooth shifting, five-speed gearbox, operated in the universal, one-down and four-up pattern, with shift lever located to the left of the engine.

 

The GT is quick, not quick enough for a 500 perhaps, yet providing enough oomph for the sporty classic it is, capable of cruising at 100kph comfortably, tachometer hovering at 3500rpm, as the big-single fires away with a steady rhythm. Pushed hard to its limit, the GT achieved an indicated 140kph on flat road in fifth, even racing to 150kph down a slight gradient with the throttle pinned open, surprising us to hold such high speeds over prolonged durations without much protest, other than a lot of vibes. The Continental GT powerplant feels unmistakably Royal Enfield, with tangible improvements, a relatively rev happy nature and improved top-end performance, thanks to lightened engine internals. 

 

 

The Continental GT seat is supportive, roomy and wide enough. It’s a reasonably comfortable bike, only not quite as relaxed to ride as traditional Royal Enfield models like the Electra and Bullet. The footrests aren’t placed overly far behind though, and the light lean into its clip-on bars isn’t so pronounced as to make riders uncomfortable. This is clearly the sportiest riding position on offer with a present day Royal Enfield. The GT comes with a twin downtube steel frame, perfected by Harris Engineering, while providing top class, adjustable gas charged suspension at rear by Paioli.

 

 

 

The Royal Enfield Continental GT comes with elliptical section steel swingarm, and single disc brakes front (300mm, float mounted, dual piston caliper) and rear (240mm). There’s enough stopping power, with a nice progressive feel at the lever, undoubtedly helped by steel braided brake hoses. The GT motorcycle is easily the best handling Royal Enfield we’ve ridden to date. Fuel economy should range somewhere between 25-30kpl.

 

The Continental GT has just been launched in Goa, prices at Rs 205,000 (on-road, Delhi).