Royal Enfield’s highly awaited and their first ever performance Café Racer motorcycle, was spotted testing recently in Karnataka. This bike will called the Continental GT, has been quite a hit at the 2012 Indian Auto Expo where it was showcased last year with the public has showing quite an interest in it. The iconic Indian lifestyle bike manufacturer is expected to launch this motorcycle later this year. The Continental GT being spotted testing in the open gives us a clue that the launch is not very far.
The Royal Enfield Continental GT is expected to be the most powerful, fastest, lightest as well as the most expensive bike from their portfolio when it is launched. The Continental GT will boast a 535cc fuel-injected single-cylinder engine producing about 36 BHP of power and 45 Nm of torque. This engine will be based on the EFI 500cc engine used by the company which will have a larger bore to make the additional 35cc. It will have a lighter flywheel, tweaked exhaust and a remapped ECU to make it more responsive.
The Royal Enfield Continental GT will be quite light, almost 15 kgs lighter than the new Thunderbird 500. As can be seen from the picture of the bike being tested, the bike will sport cropped front mudguard, an elongated fuel tank with recesses for the riders knees, forward placed clip-on handle bars and the foot rests and controls placed further back for a sporty riding position. The seat is flat and wide with room for two. The wheels are spoke rims sporting large grippy Pirelli tyres.
The Continental GT will boast of a Brembo full-floating disc at the front and ByBre disc brake on the rear wheel. The rear suspension is developed by Piaoli. The Café Racer will use a special new double down-tube tubular frame which is the first for Royal Enfield in more than half a century. The retro bike will cost upwards of Rs. 2 lakhs when it is launched in the country.
Source – NDTV
