The upcoming Royal Enfield Shotgun has been spied testing with a new headlight visor, it looks quite small though
Royal Enfield is gearing up to launch its first middle-weight roadster, the Shotgun, and ahead of the launch, the bike has been spied testing with a new headlight visor. It looks like detachable unit fastened by a couple of clamps on either side.
It gets a matte black finish just like the rest of the body parts but looks quite small through. It would have been better if Royal Enfield opted for an integrated unit like what’s seen on the Harley-Davidson Street 750. The visor simply doesn’t gel with the overall headlight design.
We believe the addition of the visor would either be for a new variant of the Shotgun or an optional accessory. But, there are also possibilities of the bike turning out to be the upcoming Thunderbird X 650.
Interestingly, the bike gets regular RVMs instead of the bar-end ones seen earlier. The test mule sports alloy wheels which get a dual-tone finish and an overlapping flower petal-like design.
Royal Enfield is currently developing 3 new cruisers on the platform and powertrain of the Interceptor 650 and Continental GT 650. They include the Super Meteor, Thunderbird X 650, and the now-spied Shotgun.
While all the 3 are cruisers, they get different design for differentiation. The Shotgun’s design has been inspired from the SG650 concept showcased at the EICMA show last year. It features a Scram 411-like front headlight design along with USD forks up front.
The driver and pillion seat are separate and are pinned directly on to the chassis. The bike features conventional mudguards and doesn’t have too many body panels. The twin-pod instrument console has been borrowed from the Meteor 350.
The front rake angle seems to be too much and this won’t be an easily flickable bike in the city traffic. The tear-drop shaped tank looks big though. The test mule features a large crash guard.
The 650 cc oil-cooled parallel-twin short-stroke engine exerts 47 HP and 52 Nm and comes mated to a 6-speed gearbox. Royal Enfield is also gearing up to launch the much-awaited Hunter 350 coming 4th August.
Reports say Hunter will become the cheapest bike in Royal Enfield’s portfolio commanding an ex-showroom price somewhere between Rs. 1.3 to 1.4 lakhs, that’s lower than the price of the current cheapest Royal Enfield Bullet series by around Rs. 10,000/-.
