First Ride Review | Continental GT - A Cafe Racer by Royal Enfield

Cafe Racer:

Royal Enfield is taking us back in 60's era with their all old continental GT cafe racer. It seems the age of rockers(Subculture) is back in action with an old style, sporty seating and

just perfect handling. Continental GT Cafe racer is one of the finest work of art made out of metal with a sporty yet clean and unobstructive design. You can feel RE has given all their effort with heart and soul building this motorcycle.

Styling:

The oldie classic look is beautifully mixed up with clip-on handle bars mounted on front fork with rear view mirrors at the end. These mirrors are really more stylish and way better than the stocked ones. RE continues to go with their trademark round headlight with a 55w lamp. Low profile fuel tank has recesses to tuck in your knees. 

GT goes with a slim single with a bum stopper and finely curved red coloured plastic at the end, Just the frame tail coming out behind seat looks a bit odd. The tail of motorcycle (Tail-lamp and smaller side-lamps) looks a bit out of place as the assembly is comparatively little bigger on front side. 

Analog Cluster with dual pods gel in smoothly with the typical 60's look. Despite of all the effort put by RE, there are minor hitches in the motorcycle like welding joints and rusting of frame. Talking about frame, chassis of Continental GT is not like its other RE mates, it is twin tube chassis. But it could have been more stiffer and robust; the plate is missing between two tubes at the front. Coming down to exhaust, the thump is not that loud like its other RE mates. The motorcycle that we got to ride had a custom fitted exhaust. At exhaust end also, ugly welding joints a little bit eye sore.

 Rear brake oil containers are placed very oddly below the seat. RE has used pirelli 18" sport demon tyres with alluminium spokes in conti GT which looks exceptionally well.

So, the crux is, you have a dynamically designed motorcycle with a combo of retro and modern styling.Now its your soul opinion whether you want it in your garage or not...

Engine/Performance:

Continental GT is built on a 535cc single cylinder engine mated with a 5 speed gearbox having 44Nm healthy torque at 4000rpm producing 29BHP at 5100rpm. Reportedly, the racer whacks at 140kmph max. GT has very quick acceleration and still a decent stability without too much vibrations till 80-100kmph, though the vibrations start kicking in after 110kmph. You can cruise down at 100-120kmph comfortably (Not for too long) .So, we can say it is the fastest RE right now.

Handling/Riding Comfort:

The forward seating position of GT attracts you to hop onto it and twist your wrist, but it a bit uncomfortable for riding for longer times. You can feel load on elbows and back.

The size of motorcycle is a little small compared to its other stablemates that makes it easier to handle at dead speeds. The ride is very much stable at low speeds, but the bike feels too heavy and riding gets uncomfortably bouncy.So, the verdict goes against GT here. Its a NO NO for longer rides.