SINCE it was revealed to the world in 2017, riders across the world have been crying out for a café racer version of Royal Enfield’s 650cc twins. Those cries might be about to be answered, as a Royal Enfield Continental GT-R 650 is spotted on the road.
The bike looks set to be joining an exciting roster of new models in the Royal Enfield range very soon, seeing it join the new Hunter 350, Meteor 350, Scram 411, and incoming Shotgun 650 in the coming months.
Naturally, the GT-R 650 is a slightly racier version of the current Interceptor 650, wearing proper clip-on bars, and a neat café racer fairing that extends to just below the level of the fuel tank. Styling tweaks aside, the new machine looks to get a slight uplift in spec too. The test bike seen in the original images shows adjustable rear suspension, with adjusters mounted on the rear of the piggyback rear shock absorbers. The stock Interceptor and Continental GT both get non-adjustable rear shocks, and if there is adjustability at the back, it makes sense to have some on the front also. That said, the higher-spec shocks could simply be fitted to allow the test riders to dial in the correct settings for the new machine, or even an option Royal Enfield is looking to sell post-sale. Only time will tell.
New Royal Enfield Continental GT-R 650 Café Racer spotted!
This isn’t the first faired café racer version of the GT we’ve seen either, at the beginning of this year we reported on an Indian firm called MK Designs which had created a bolt-on kit that transformed your Continental or Interceptor GT into a part-faired or fully-faired machine. That kit was a snip at $460 (although the website is now down), but not the most aesthetically pleasing thing we’ve seen on two wheels!
