Royal Enfield fans have been begging Royal Enfield to make a more off-road focused version on the 650cc platform and they have listened and finally unveiled the Interceptor Bear 650. Its a great take on the Scrambler segment of motorcycles and is the fifth motorcycle featuring the 650cc parallel twin engine.
While the Bear 650 is based on the interceptor, there are a lot of changes done to the motorcycle. The engine remains the same but things like the suspension, tyres, engine tune and wheel sizes have been changed in order to make it quite a bit more capable off-road. Here is everything you need to know about the new Scrambler from Royal Enfield.
Royal Enfield Bear 650: Design
The Bear 650 carries familiar design to other Royal Enfield motorcycles. The tank is the same as the regular Interceptor, but there is a lot more off-road stuff. The headlights is all LED just like other Royal Enfield’s and there is a round-shaped taillight and LED indicators as well. The central battery cover has a new oval shaped cover which harks back to the racing bikes. The exhaust is a two-to-one unit and the seat is also different than the regular Interceptor.
Another addition on the Bear 650 is the new instrument cluster. Unlike other Royal Enfield 650cc motorcycles, the Bear 650 gets the same gauge cluster as the Himalayan 450 which means that there is a singular digital pod which shows all the details of the motorcycle and also has a full map functionality.
Royal Enfield Bear 650: Off-Road Goodies
Since, the Bear 650 is made to go off-road, there are a lot of changes made to it. The most notable change is the longer travel suspension. It features new Showa shocks up front with 130 mm travel up front and the rear has 115 mm twin shocks. Royal Enfield has also stiffened the chassis and there are new MRF Nylorex block pattern tyres which are wrapped around spoked wheels, but they are not tubeless. The front wheel measures 19-inches and the rear is 17-inches to give the Bear 650 more of a Scrambler squat. Ground clearance of the Bear 650 now stands at 184 mm which is quite respectable for a bike of this category.
Royal Enfield Bear 650: Engine
The Royal Enfield Bear 650 has the same 649cc parallel twin engine but RE has fettled with the tuning of this motorcycle. It gets the same 47 bhp at 7250 rpms but torque has increased and it now has 56.5 Nm of torque at 5150 rpms rather than the usual 52 Nm that we have seen in other bikes. We assume that Royal Enfield has also fettled with the powerband and it should have a better power band with more torque throughout the rev range for optimal off-road performance.
Royal Enfield Bear 650: Launch and Pricing
Royal Enfield has just unveiled the motorcycle and other details have been reserved for its official launch on November 5, 2024. It will get five colour options and we assume that this would be the most expensive motorcycle in the 650 range.
