Royal Enfield has another new model on offer, the Shotgun 650 for 2024. Powered by the familiar 648cc parallel twin making a claimed 47 horsepower, we can expect the bike available in 2024 in the U.S. market priced in the neighborhood of $7,000 (no official pricing has been announced, but we expect it will have a similar MSRP to the current Super Meteor).
Royal Enfield is on a roll, of sorts, with attractive, traditional styling and very reasonable pricing. The new Shotgun is, according to Royal Enfield, more nimble than the Super Meteor with different wheel sizes and suspension (including longer shock bodies that raise the rear end).
When the bike goes on sale worldwide next year, it should be available in four color schemes, including Stencil White, Plasma Blue, Green Drill and Sheetmetal Grey.
Particularly with younger riders, pricing is critically important, and Royal Enfield may rightly feel it can grab some decent market share in the United States with several new models.
Nice. Mono shock works better which is why superbikes use them. Cheaper too!
Looks good. I know the motor is good too from the reviews. I had a TU250 and it did most things the average rider needs.
I have looked at the Royal Enfield when they were released here in the US. Nice looking “standard” motorcycles, even liked the new 350’s when announced. But near me the only dealer is a Harley dealer and asks $ 2000.00 for “freight and setup”. Ridiculous. Won’t buy at that premium.
My bought-new ’21 Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 now has 8K miles and has been very reliable. Fuel mileage was in mid-60s for about 2000 miles, very much better than the late-1960s Brit bikes, but then as the engine wore in the mileage went into the low 70s and has remained there. Only gripe is that the suspension is near rigid (I’m very light) and OEM seat is a plank. A seat upgrade and IKON shocks have helped a lot. Finish of my bike is today as good as when I bought it 12/’20. Not a hint of an oil leak.
Like Harley Davidson in the early 1980s, Royal Enfield in the period starting around 2015 made the decision that quality was “Job 1” and the current bikes from both makers reflect this decision.
My RE 650 is my 86th bike in my 87 years, so I do have some basis for my positive sentiments.
Reespect, Ralph! I’m 76 in a couple of days but don’t have your bike history by a long way!
Also, thanks for the comments on the Interceptor’s suspension. That bike is not really in my sights but the inability of makers to provide decent suspension is very annoying. Many’s the machine I’ve tried to upgrade to something that will deal with our rotten roads, but only with limited success. Longer travel seems to be the only answer.
Nick, UK
Cycle World actually preferred the Royal Enfield 650 to a Kawasaki W800. Nah, no freakin’ way.
It likely doesn’t have a 19″ front, in part because they sell like crap. I have a 17 Guzzi Roamer, it has a 19 and sold in appallingly small numbers. In fact you can’t buy one in the US any more, but the much less attractive Bobber with a 16 does ok. Aside from the Sportster I can’t think of many bikes that have/had a 19.
I will say, the Shotgun looks much better visually than the Super Meteor.
PS. If you ever get a chance to pick up a Roamer do it, a super fun, highly over looked bike. Check out he review here on MD, Dick had high praise.
I like what RE have done with the 650 twin platform. There seems to be a style of bike available for almost everyone at a competitive price point. They have moved up market while maintaining a budget friendly lineup. But RE’s intent is not to simply be the largest motorcycle manufacturer in India, but a dominant maker with worldwide distribution. Their new water-cooled singles (and I’m sure water-cooled multi-cylinder) engines are their future, so enjoy the air cooled bikes while you can still get them.
I’m amazed how RE have gone from a punch-line of almost every motorcycle joke, to a recognized leader in quality motorcycles. Good for them and I look forward to seeing their future designs.
A punch-line of almost every motorcycle joke? Really? Wondering if you could share a joke or two, I’ve never heard one of them.
Oh no…pissed off a RE fanboy. Tell ya what Literal Jabe, while you are cooling off research the term “figure of speech”. While you are doing that I’ll be laughing at my RE Joke Book from 10 years ago.
So how about one of those jokes….
I read an article a decade or so ago written by a guy who rode cross country on an old school RE. The guy had a good attitude about riding a bike that was basically from an older time. He dutifully checked the oil and adjusted the valves and made the journey just fine.
The problem with today’s rider is that very few of them have a good attitude about checking oil and adjusting valves during a journey. I think Gary is pointing out that zen about motorcycle maintenance has turned into zeal about making jokes about people who have to do it. About half of the crowd here are all about shaft drive so they don’t have to deal with something so vulgar as a motorcycle chain.
Ride the above RE across country and you might want to tend the chain at the end of it if you encountered a lot of rain on your trip. RE has come a long way if you measure with that sort of yard stick.
It does kind of make me wonder if adjusting the valves on the above RE is as easy as adjusting them on an old school RE. It would be an interesting thing to look in to.
I was going to ignore this because you are obviously a troll…and then I remembered a specific example…one that is captured right here on MD. On January 1, 2016 RE announced the “all new” 410 Himalayan and included a promotional video. It was covered on MD https://www.motorcycledaily.com/2016/01/royal-enfield-himalayan-breaks-cover/
Not only did the bike “break cover” but the bike also BROKE in the promotion video that was released by RE. The company even admitted to the foot peg breaking off the bike. http://www.autoevolution.com/news/siddhartha-lal-of-royal-enfield-clarifies-the-broken-peg-issue-104023.html#comid73088
Those “classic” RE’s were garbage…and the company has come a long way. But to not acknowledge their past makes you look foolish.
I was just last week reading a test of the new 450 Himalayan written from the factory press launch and one if the ” cons” by the reviewer at the conclusion of the article was that several of the bikes at the press launch broke down from electrical issues.
I guess if you’re new into motorcycling, based on recent successes you would never know that the Indian Enfield was a running joke in the industry for quite some time. Putting the words “Enfield” and “Joke” into your favorite search engine returns plenty of results.
https://www.royalenfields.com/2009/08/royal-enfields-inspire-gentle-jokes.html?m=1
https://www.revzilla.com/common-tread/royal-enfield-overcoming-past-perceptions-to-build-a-new-reality-of-reliability
RE has a very spotty past. Used to be the most unreliable bike you could buy and would have issues straight out of the gate. I understand the latest RE’s are more reliable, but the their past record of unreliability still stays with many riders. For a few dollars more you could have a proven bike from Japan that has more performance and provide you with the confidence needed to venture out beyond you’re own city.
Wow! That’s surprising given how well RE seems to be doing. RE has never really been on my radar. The only blip I had from them was a guy from Corsica that I know had one when he lived in India for a few years. He loved the thing. He had a photo of it on his wall. He bought an R1200S when he moved to The States.
If you are not aware. In nearly all of India you never exceed about 35 miles per hour. And that was true for the area where the guy lived and worked. Motorcycles made for India will see a lot of bad roads. But they won’t see anything like the every day speeds we ride at.
I gave a real Indian guy from the same area a ride to buy his first car after immigrating to The States. He insisted on taking back roads home because he was afraid of the speed on the highway. He got over that pretty quickly. But, there you go.
Completely lacking sparkle – why so much black-on-black? There are plenty of areas on the bike for chrome and polish.
It is cool. India or China or whatewer.
Are those 19 inch wheels front and rear? It’s so rare for OEMs to acknowledge the existence of the dirt track community. Those guys still dig old parallel twins. Some young guy could buy a 19 equipped bike like this one and ride it to school all week, spoon on a set of dirt track tires, lose some of the excess equipment and race a little dirt track on the weekend. Put it back together on Sunday night and bang! You’re Clark Kent again on Monday morning. It already has rubber pegs so your steel shoe doesn’t slide off all the time. Bob’s your Uncle.
Excuse me while I start genuflectin’ in an India direction for a few I’m not worthies. Er…unless I’m wrong about the wheel sizes. Then never mind.
18″ front, 17″ rear, per their website. The fork a little shorter, the rear shock lengthened a bit, vs. their Super Meteor that this Shotgun was sorta derived from. Looks comfortable.
Oh. Well there you go. The street bike industry is always eager to disappoint.
I suppose that’s why none of the bikes named Scrambler have 19s either. If you tried to race them in an actual scrambles event, a dirt track race with at least one right turn and a jump that more often than not has a flat landing, they would all probably break in practice or be lucky to finish their first heat race before parts started falling off.
I think the Triumph Scrambler 900 has at least a 19″ on the front and a 17″ rear.
I think its tank is way too dinky for the real world I ride in and unlike its 1200cc brother Scrambler the wheels are tubed spokes. On top of all that I am too weak to lift and carry it… 😉 Happy Gnu Year!
ORT
I rode mine 3 days straight at 70 to 80 mph the whole time, overloaded with luggage and got 150 miles each tank, including the reserve. Good enough for range, and long enough for a rest break.
Did carry 1 gallon extra fuel just in case.
Reginald, is this the Triumph Scrambler 900 you own or a variant of the RE 650 series, please? Either way, the extra gallon of gas makes sense. The Triumph Scramblers are great looking motorbikes!
Thank you.
ORT
ORT – 2008, or 2009 Triumph Scrambler .
Thanks Reginald!
I think that is the first gen Scrambler which had a much larger tank that the liquid cooled 900cc models that came out in 2017.
My 2007 Sportster holds 4.5 US gallons and your Triumph Scrambler holds 4.4 US gallons vs the new models 3.2 US gallons. The air-cooled Scramblers are great looking motorbikes too with greater fuel capacity!
Thank you!
ORT
” The street bike industry is always eager to disappoint.”
They have zero history in dirt track and built a street bike with no pretensions of being anything else. Who’s disappointed?
What is a “scrambles” event? The Peoria TT (squarely a dirt track event) is the only race most are aware of that fits your description.
Well Dave. There are national events and there are local events. Just where do you suppose the guys riding Peoria came from?
I know that there are a lot of areas that have awful motorcycle culture. And it’s not your fault if you grew up in one. But please believe me when I tell you that there are places that are blessed to have thriving Moto cultures. In those areas any schmoe can set up a bike, show up, suit up and ride a TT on a track the the normals will never know about. The same goes for Enduro events, observed trials, hare scrambles, ice races, supermoto… You name it. I’ve ridden all of them, some of the internationally. How do you know you don’t like the event or the people if you don’t try? You meet a lot of fantastic people. Guaranteed.
The point I am making is that the Peoria TT is the only visible event that fits the description you’ve provided. Neat race but hardly something big enough to compel a motorcycle manufacturer to deliver bikes for. Most dirt track racing at the club level is done on converted dirt bikes these days, isn’t that correct?
I live in a region where there is as strong a moto culture as anywhere in the US and these niches, while all participated, are still rare.
It’s the “normals” that buy motorcycles from dealerships. That’s who the manufacturers must concentrate on if they wish to continue to exist.
I agree on the splayed mufflers, they should be tucked in neat and tidy. This unit certainly reminds me of the current Triumph Bobber but not as nice. The Shotgun name will undoubtedly incur the wrath of liberal leftists and the Karen’s of the world. I like where RE is going and the 650 platform, it is visually pleasing although slightly underpowered. If the price is right Triumph will lose sales to RE, if not then like the Kawasaki W650/800 it’ll be failure too.
Please don’t introduce politics. Stick to discussing motorcycles.
It’s lighter than a 883 Sportster with the same power. It should do fine for its intended market and performance target.
Little things make a difference . Splayed out mufflers never look right on any brand motorcycle .
Agreed, though these don’t look so bad as they did on the gawky Sport/Classics by Ducati. Those bikes still command a premium despite being dropped by the maker years ago. Far too ‘sensible’ for modern Ducatisti!
Yes, questionable choice. Because, well, see above. That and a 2 into 1 system would probably make better power.
Perhaps those splayed mufflers are part of the individuality and customization they mention in the video?
It appears to have passenger pegs………..why??
Comes with removable passenger seat.