Royal Enfield Classic 650 first ride review: Best of the 650s?

It was the Classic 350 that handed Royal Enfield the keys to the kingdom. It was with this bike that the company became the behemoth it is today. Now matter what the brand comes up with, what audience it’s trying to reach, the Classic is a model that will be a pillar in the foundation of its success story. With so many offshoots with the 650 engine being made, a bigger Classic 650 was long overdue. But the wait is finally over and the Classic 650 Twin is no longer a distant dream. Has the wait been worth it though and does the bike have enough going on for it to have an identity of its own in a now crowded, six model line up?

Royal Enfield Classic 650 design

The Classic's design is timeless. Right from the beginning to today, the lines, the shapes, the curves have stayed more or less unchanged and with good reason. Trying to meddle with such an iconic design would be as good as heresy and Royal Enfield is well aware of this fact. Which is why, the design of the new 650 is quintessentially ‘Classic’. You will not mistake this for anything else but a Royal Enfield. That being said, it has grown. Substantially. Everything feels larger and there’s just more. More length, more width and most importantly, a lot more weight. What all this means is that you don’t need to worry about getting one and having someone mistake it for a 350 and that’s a good thing. When sitting on the bike you look at a much wider housing for the instrumentation under which is a chunky triple-clamp that’s holding on to a properly wide, old school handlebar that bends towards you at the grips. It retains all the iconic elements that make the Classic design tick and I feel, purely based on looks, without a shadow of doubt, it’s the most desirable 650 in the line-up. There are four colours to choose from – Vallam Red, Bruntingthorpe Blue, Teal and Black Chrome. Each looks stellar and the attention to detail with each colourway is amazing.

Royal Enfield Classic 650 engine and performance

Powering the bigger Classic is the familiar 648cc, air/oil-cooled twin-cylinder engine. Outputs are the same 46.4bhp at 7250rpm and 52.3Nm at 5650rpm. I’m not going to bore you with how this engine performs for a sixth time, but what I will tell you is that the ‘vibe’ (for lack of a better word) of the engine matches the characteristics of the Classic very, very well. The oodles of torque, and the very pronounced mid-range from the engine makes the Classic 650 an effortless machine to ride. We were riding in the serpentine hills of Coonoor and if you want to ride in a sedate, ‘enjoy the scenery, feel the wind in your hair’ manner, all you had to do was stick the bike in fourth and just roll on and off. At the same time, when you want to be more engaged in the ride, the engine is playful enough to let you do that effortlessly as well.

The six-speed gearbox is slick and precise and the slip-and assist clutch translates to a relatively easy to operate clutch lever as well. In terms of refinement, the twin has come a long way since its inception and the bike is vibration-free in all the conditions you’ll be realistically using it at. It’s only when you’re riding aggressively, shifting at higher rpm, is when the vibrations start creeping in, especially around the seat. But then again, this is a Classic and it’s best enjoyed at 6/10th rather than 10/10ths. Adding to the joy of riding is the raspy and characterful exhaust note that comes from the 270 degree crank engine out from the period correct pea-shooter twin exhausts.

Royal Enfield Classic 650 chassis, ride and handling

Underpinning the new Classic 650 is the same main frame that does duties in the Super Meteor 650 and the Shotgun 650. But unlike those, the frame on the Classic 650, is suspended off of a 43mm telescopic fork at the front and the same twin-shock setup at the rear. The ergonomic triangle is also dramatically different from the Super Meteor. Here you’re seated upright with your legs in a very neutral position, just a little ahead of your hips, while your arms reach out to the aforementioned wide, old-school roadster style handlebar. The tune for the suspension has also been worked on. The Shotgun and the Super Meteor had pretty stiff tunes for the suspension and that meant riding on bad roads was quite the challenge. In that regard, the Classic 650 betters the ride quality by a fair margin. The suspension tune is inherently on the stiffer side, but it feels more plush here. A caveat here is that we were riding in Tamil Nadu where the roads are better than back home, so a detailed report on the ride and handling will be compiled once we ride the bike in more varied conditions. The setup isn’t nearly as good as the Himalayan 450 and when the roads have ripples and minor undulations, the suspension feels busy. But overall, it's better. Even mid corner bumps are dealt with more composure.

Coming to the handling, this 243kg behemoth is the heaviest Royal Enfield in the brands portfolio and it doesn’t hide its weight at standstill or at slow speeds. But pick up the pace and things get much better. The 19-inch front wheel and the 18-inch rear wheel setup continues and that does mean that steering is not the sharpest. But, show it a set of corners and you can have plenty of fun with the Classic 650. Once you understand that you need to muscle it a little, the bike tips in nicely and holds the line well. The only real complaint when riding hard is the handlebar design. While aesthetically very pleasing, the bend towards you means that counter steering feels a little awkward. But again, I had to remind myself that this is a Classic and not the Interceptor or the Continental GT.

Braking comes courtesy of a 320mm disc at the front and a 300mm disc at the rear and both are chomped onto by twin-piston, RE badged, ByBre callipers. Braking performance is ample and like the Super Meteor, the rear feels much sharper than the front and you need more effort to engage the front. But use both and you can get this tank to stop quite well.

Royal Enfield Classic 650 verdict

We were all under the assumption that the Classic 650, when launched, would be the most expensive bike in the 650 range. But much to our surprise, with a price that ranges from ₹3.37-₹3.5 lakh, ex-showroom, it’s more expensive than only the Interceptor and the Continental GT. This in my opinion is a great move and I feel like the Classic 650 certainly has the merit to become the best-selling 650 of the lot. There are no variants and all features (LED lighting, adjustable levers and Tripper Pod) are standard. The difference in prices are for the colourways. The Classic 650 oozes class and is the kind of bike you’d buy for the living room. It rides better than the Shotgun and Super Meteor and is something I can actually see people living with on a daily basis. It’s a very capable tourer, is relatively fun in the corners, and again, it’s so beautiful. This one, I can’t wait to spend more time with.