This Bear is Royal and Friendly

The first ride of the Royal Enfield Bear 650, spanning eight hours, was held in California. Here is our first impression

- Aspi Bhathena

THE FIRST TIME I swung my leg over the Royal Enfield 650 Interceptor and the Continental GT 650 was in Santa Cruz, California, in 2018 and now, six years later, I am back in Palm Springs, California, to ride the Royal Enfield 650 Bear, a scrambler version of the 650 Interceptor. The aforementioned 650 twins have made a name for themselves as the flagship models by Royal Enfield. The scrambler gets its name from the famous Bear Run races that were held in the deserts of California. In fact, Royal Enfield had invited Eddie Mulder from Lancaster, California, who, at the age of 16 in January 1960, had won the Bear Race against bigger names in racing riding a Royal Enfield.

We have seen quite a few iterations of the Royal Enfield 650 already and this 650 scrambler now joins the list. It is an Interceptor scrambler and thus has the same chassis that has been strengthened. The rake angle has been changed and the rear subframe has been changed to accommodate the seat; otherwise, it remains the same as the GT and Interceptor's frame. The front suspension set-up is now upside down 43-millimetre Showa with 130 mm of travel and the rear suspension remains a twin shock set-up, but the length of the rear shocks has increased by one inch and the rear wheel travel is now 115 mm and these are also made by Showa. The front wheel is now 100/90/19 and the rear 140/80/17. The front braking is taken care of by a 320-mm disc with ABS and the rear brake is a 270mm disc with ABS.

The engine remains the same as that in the Interceptor and the GT with the same amount of power but the torque has gone up by five Nm. The only change is a twointo-one exhaust system which should be much lighter compared to the two-into-two on the Interceptor.