Royal Enfield Classic 500 Review

Royal Enfield Ride report:


I was one of the privilege to test ride the classic 500. By now everyone would have seen the pics of the bike, so I will straight away go the performance side.



When you throw your leg on the bike, the first thing you note is the reduced saddle height. The bike now suites anyone above 5 feet. Turn on the ignition, you hear a slight hum of the EFI doing a self check. The bike comes with a traditional kick lever. I also found a choke sitting there, not sure why its required on an FI bike. The bike comes to life with the push of the starter better. The starter motor feels solid than its predecessors. Pull the clutch and shift the gear, you here a thud, the gear box inherits its ancestral properties. Open the throttle a bit and release the clutch, the bikes pulls forward with its massive torque. Torque is something that mesmerizes you in every gear. Along with torque we get a crisp throttle response. This is something that was very much missing in the 500LB and the UCE350, esp in the highways. When cruising on the highway on the 500lb, the overtaking power comes after a sharp lag. i.e say when overtaking a 13 wheeler, we pull the left and open the throttle, the rush in power comes after say 1 sec. Similarly, after a short fully opened throttle, when we close the throttle the power rush is felt for a while, this becomes a bot scary in the curvy narrow ghats. The EFI gives a solid Fix.

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Another sharp improvement is felt on the road grip. The front brakes are the best, ever since the disc is introduced on these legends. The front comes with 18" - Zapper FS and the rear has the grippy MRF Zapper Q. I tried locking the breaks in the wet on a (bloo)muddy Bangalore roads. The front gripped so well and there was not even a slight indication of skid. The 2nd time when I tried doing it, the pillion was almost on my seat and even them the tires didnt lock. Thats a great improvement compared to the ThunderBird UCE. In the nights, the halogen head lights illuminate the whole road and its safe to cruise at 100s at night.

Coming to sound effects, the after market off road silencer give a beautiful thump. You would love to hear the thump all day long on a highway. The engine clatter is reduced but its still present. The Clatter on the bike which had the After market exhaust was less.

The mileage of the bikes is claimed as 35kmpl, not on std riding conditions, but on real riding conditions.

All in all, This is a great bike to own, has its royal classic look, combined with the new technologies. I would say, this is the first ever right step by the Eicher Royal Enfield motors.

Specs:


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