QUICKSPIN Stunning image of the Royal Enfield Continental GT being given its head on the Brooklands banking by the editor. It couldn't hae been a more eclectic venue than Brooklands to launch the first all-new Royal Enfield in six decades! ROYAL ENFIELD CONTINENTAL GT CULTURE CAFE ON TWO-WHEELS Straight modern blast from the past seems an anachronism but it best illustrates how well Royal Enfield has conjured up its first all-new motorcycle in over 60 years! Adil Jal Darukhanawala swings a leg aboard one of the very first of these biggest of big Indian singles to put the spanking new and absolutely smashing Continental GT through its paces at Brooklands, the spiritual home of British motorsport and beyond. Say hello to a delightfully modern take to classic motorcycling charmingly packed with useable performance for the now and here. PHOTOGRAPHY : KUNAL KHADSE t couldn’t have happened any other soaking up the power pulses from a underway, led from the front by Sid way I thought for here I was hustling large single-cylinder thumper with who had no hesitation in pulling in the the biggest bore single ever made by probably the best handling right brains to help him on his quest to IRoyal Enfield on the cobbly B-roads characteristics ever for a bike which turn the firm around. from London on to the hallowed banked made its name with the simple circuit at Brooklands for a press statement of intent: “Built like a Gun.” Understanding the conference to herald the first genuinely The sort of launch that Royal Redditch heritage all-new motorcycle to sport the Royal Enfield did was right in character for a While there were tremendous learnings Enfield badge. It was different to begin bike that was in the making for over a coming its way, the most important with but just so very apt for a new decade but no one quite knew that! Let aspect which dawned on Sid and his machine that combines character traits me explain. Ever since Siddhartha Lal band was that they had a brand that from over half a century ago, with was pitched in at the deep end to head had character aplenty but more than handling and performance for the Royal Enfield after Eicher bought it that the brand also incidentally happens present in a contemporary form that is over, the biggest objective was not just to be the oldest British motorcycle delightful, very useable and highly ensuring the marque’s survival but the marque yet in existence in the world! enjoyable. If I have given the game and way to do it. So while we have seen the This heritage and legacy is something the objective away right at the very start quintessential Bullet get better which has been an ongoing one even it was unintentional because this is metallurgy, more efficient after Royal Enfield ceased to exist as an what the new Continental GT will do for manufacturing processes, improved entity in the UK in 1967 but the Indian not just an Indian but a global audience build quality, and a subtle shift away arm soldiered on. Triumph may be back which for the most part will be all new from the dudhwala mentality, we could on the scene but this is an all-new entity as well as spanning the genre from read that with every passing phase with no connect to the old firm except classic oldies to BABs (born again (both successful as well as awful as Sid bearing the original firm’s logo and with bikers), from the young hot shots to the and his team are the first to admit) the bikes that are well, very much commuter-inclined, from those who company was learning. From an old contemporary ‘Japanese’ in character love motorcycling for the joy of being management to a completely new and configuration. There are attempts one with the machine and delight in younger lot the transformation as to revive Norton but yet again these are 3 3 201 201 CTOBER CTOBER O O 36 WWW.ZIGWHEELS.COM WWW.ZIGWHEELS.COM 37 QUICKSPIN contrived and this is exactly where Royal Enfield has that vital edge. In fact if one has to make a comparison then it is only Harley-Davidson which comes close to rivalling Royal Enfield, both having started in the early years of the last century, the British marque was rolling out bikes a year earlier than its Yankee rival. Also Harley-Davidson has stayed true to its trademark vee-twin engine layout and continues in this vein to this day while having dabbled with small singles and twins over its 110 year plus history. Now if you are wondering whether Enfield India as well as Royal Enfield also did other bikes then yes it did! Scooters small 125s, 150s, 175s, 200s and also 35cc, 50cc and 75cc mofas, mopeds, and scooters to boot, with such evocative names as Crusader, Prince, Mini-Bullet, Mofa, Fantabulous, Zundapp, et al. So the model mix was heady but inconsistent before the Eicher era but once Sid and his team got to grips it has been the push-rod Royal Enfield's version of the classic 'feather bed' frame (above) espoused by Norton has been created by Harris Performance, chassis purveyors to the Grand Prix racing single cylinder Bullet engine set. This is at the heart of the Continental GT's brilliant road manners and contributes to the poise and pleasure whatever the set of tarmac the bike heads out onto. which has predominated their State-of-the-heart on two wheels and in the air come together at Brooklands! With the supersonic Concorde as the backdrop, the 1965 Continental GT meets its authentic 2013 successor which is absolutely the right bike at the right time at the right price and with the right performance - heady indeed we say! thoughts and redoubled their efforts to take this unit further. firm began to learn more and started getting more relevant and more about its place in history, along sides that the firm began to Making ‘Built like a Gun” its relevance among British think about moving away from relevant in the Indian motorcycling and also its place in the classic bike config. There context the Indian psyche. From one-off came in the Thunderbird cruiser, The team had to battle massive nostalgic Brits taking to the obviously Harley was the adversity because to begin with it Bullet to a gradually increasing inspiration, and this suddenly just didn’t have the wherewithal bunch of bikers who thrived on opened up a whole new vista for to take on the engineering unhurried classic motorcycling, bike and its users who craved the challenges mandated by the the Bullet started making inroads long distance biking bug. From emission regulations. So while in the minds of European, here on we had a five-speed lean burn engine tech was the American, Australian and gearbox and lest I forget one of “easier” approach to keeping the Japanese bikers while continuing the most important character old single relevant, the to stay relevant in India. detail change to date – the move manufacturing process was also From lean burn engine away from the right foot gear being given a once over. The tech to just about make the shift to the universal left-foot latter took more time but what engine emission norms for Euro gear actuation. This helped open was important was while the III and then on to thinking about a new and larger enthusiast base basic building blocks were being newer better versions of the for Royal Enfield and when the strengthened, simultaneously the original aggregates, the Bullet firm began to dabble with more 3 201 CTOBER O 38 WWW.ZIGWHEELS.COM QUICKSPIN QUICKSPIN Great set of gear and here the pseudo Smiths concentric-type dial faces of the speedo and rev counter dominate as do the superbly crafted triple IT IS A THOUGHT PROCESS THAT MARRIES clamps and clip-on handlebars. SOME OF THE BEST LOVED DESIGN CUES OF BRITISH SINGLES AND RACE BIKES OF THE 1960S, PACKAGES THE WHOLE MECHANICAL MILIEU INTO ONE DEVILISHLY HANDSOME MOTORCYCLE WITH THE RIGHT PROPORTIONS engineering challenges, the move crankshaft completely machined to incorporate the gearbox within from a solid billet. The engines the engine casings resulted in the were powerful and reliable and UCE or unit construction engine. for small runs the precision The internals were revised to the approach from Egli was the way extent the reciprocating masses to go. In fact, to give due credit could be without much to Royal Enfield, Sid and his differentiation barring better team played host to Fritz Egli material and machining to give who visited India and helped good balance and friction share his thoughts on how to go reduction. Electronic fuel about nostalgia motorcycling. injection was inevitable given Just as important as the even stricter emissions and performance hop-up was Egli’s suddenly we had a better Bullet, bid to tame the headshake and a more in sync with character the wooliness of the standard British machine but conjured up Bullet chassis which at anything in India. The Bullet Classic as above 90km/h was a handful. It Good equipment abounds all over the Continental GT as this pic illustrates: a single this bike was badged has been pot Brembo with Paioli piggyback gas-charged shock absorbers for preload and a wasn’t just about suspension one of the big block-busters for rectangular section swingarm. componentry which could only Royal Enfield and along with it go a bit but not completely came the move to an all-new eradicate the shortcomings of the state-of-the-art manufacturing chassis.