[bsenroy]

Yet another slice-and-dice job from Royal Enfield (While we wait for the Twins, seven months after their 'unveiling').

The bike will use the classic 500 platform and includes an upswept silencer and a single seat up top followed by a luggage rack in place of the rear seat.

also seems to have knobblier rear tyres.



More Info here.

[timuseravan]

Looks like a minimum effort job

Scrambler is certainly missing from RE lineup right now. Why not do it right the first time? Maybe something like this:

[Red Liner]

RE will never learn. There is no pride in their work and development. Its just about getting something done and moving on.

Look at Triumph. Look at their motorcycles. Look at how the brand has evolved with the times. A true British marque.

They are sitting on so much cash profits, they can just drive their product development onto another level by just completely overhauling their product lineup.

[BoltThrower]

The new RE ethos seem to be to make their bikes look like a certain genre of motorcycle (ADV, scrambler, cafe racer) while doing exactly zilch to make them perform like motorcycles of the genre they've decided to copy and debase. A wannabe 180 kg scrambler made with RE parts pushing out 40 nm? I won't want to be caught dead in the wilderness with that disaster waiting to happen.These superficial/aesthetic mods are to be expected of a chop-shop, not a mainstream manufacturer claiming a hundred years of heritage.

[vishy76]

I think RE should stop doing these mod jobs and solely concentrate on improving their product lineup. As mentioned already, they are milking customers with cash cows. The Classic 350 costs 1.7+ lakhs and yet manages to do 50K units a month

I think RE is only interested in the number of customers rather than customer satisfaction. Shoddy build, poor A.S.S and the likes are things they never want to sort out.

People will continue to buy them though. There's no question. Even if this Scrambler is priced optimistically, customers will line up with cheque books in hand. That's how it is. Most (not all) RE owners don't accept the issues prevalent in their bikes, RE doesn't bother and the same vicious cycle continues.

[Shumi_21]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

RE will never learn. Look at Triumph. Look at their motorcycles. Look at how the brand has evolved with the times. A true British marque.

Totally agree. I can barely take my eyes off the Street Triples! But I think you are setting way too high standards for Royal Enfield to match

Especially when the company itself is looking to go up against customiser chop shops as rightly pointed out by @BoltThrower.

Originally Posted by BoltThrower

These superficial/aesthetic mods are to be expected of a chop-shop, not a mainstream manufacturer claiming a hundred years of heritage.

The first step was the Thunderbird X and now it's this "scrambler". Let's see how this one pans out.

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by Shumi_21

Totally agree. I can barely take my eyes off the Street Triples! But I think you are setting way too high standards for Royal Enfield to match

Especially when the company itself is looking to go up against customiser chop shops as rightly pointed out by @BoltThrower.

Unless you have high ideals, how will you ever hope to improve? Just by moving to the UK, and hobnobbing with all the presstitutes there is not going to change the DNA of the company.

Eicher, the parent company has more or less failed at all its ventures if I am not mistaken (Polaris being the most recent) except for this. And the only reason this bike is surviving the test of time is because of its "appeal" which is some hysterical imaginary induced hallucination. This bike is probably the biggest mushroom ever found.

These guys are still selling motorcycles that were sub-par in comparison to their direct rivals when introduced, the Yezdi series and the RD 350. And this is still selling today. Are you kidding me?

The CEO dresses SWAG, and talks well, and matches the retro appeal for the international and domestic audience with his dressing style. He has also done a good job at creating the RE Mania (or hysterical imaginary induced hallucination). He is not tackling the root DNA of RE which is to throw away all the rubbish that they have.

Put a motorcycle out that is AT PAR with the current technological era of motorcycles. Be an engineering giant. Be proud of your work. Else, its just disrepute to our country and race.

[raghu.t.k]

They want to maintain their margins, in-spite of increasing demand.

I currently have a CL500 which I wanted to replace it with a Black Stealth model, but wanted the rear disc brake and the ABS feature also, given that its mandatory from next year. So sent them a mail checking if the ABS model is available for sale, if not when will they start the sale of this model.

The response I got was :

The current braking system meets the requirement in all respects including regulations.

ABS will be planned for introduction as and when regulation comes into effect or a need is felt.

I think they currently export this abroad, so why not give at least an option to Indians to buy the same!! Even otherwise why don't they be proactive in introducing such features at least as an option

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by raghu.t.k

I think they currently export this abroad, so why not give at least an option to Indians to buy the same!! Even otherwise why don't they be proactive in introducing such features at least as an option

Not justifying Royal Enfield, but most of these companies are not ethical when it comes to safety. A very similar statement was provided officially by Yamaha as well, with regards to no ABS provided on bikes like the FZ25.

April 2019 is the earliest we can hope for - since the regulations will force all of them to introduce ABS.

[timuseravan]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Not justifying Royal Enfield, but most of these companies are not ethical when it comes to safety. A very similar statement was provided officially by Yamaha as well, with regards to no ABS provided on bikes like the FZ25.

April 2019 is the earliest we can hope for - since the regulations will force all of them to introduce ABS.

True but I absolutely do not understand why even an option is not provided.
RE already has wait times for all their bikes. They can make the ABS variants only on booking. Its 0 risk and more money for them.

[PrideRed]

What next? another legendary version of the past era- A moped. I would not be surprised if RE launches a 350cc moped

[BoltThrower]

Originally Posted by PrideRed

What next? another legendary version of the past era- A moped. I would not be surprised if RE launches a 350cc moped lol

Don't send that picture to RE otherwise they'll release a new Red Classic 500 with India Post badges lol

[the_skyliner]

That does not look like a Scrambler at all! RE can sell almost anything and people will line up to buy it with 6 months waiting period. Cult following helps businesses stay lazy.

The only "RE" thing I am buying is their stocks.

[shortbread]

I can understand where all this hate for RE is coming from. I am not really a 'Bullet fan' and have never owned an RE product. Yet I empathise with where the company stands.

The rewards Eicher is reaping of the Royal Enfield franchise is a direct result of sticking by this brand for so long. Before this spectacular success the company was barely surviving making a handful of bikes while the Japanese 100 cc's were running amok in the market. For decades RE had no real R&D culture because they simply could not afford to do so. Apart from boring a 350cc mill to a 500cc one, fulfilling emission requirements and some engineering improvements made by AVL; RE had absolutely no development expertise.

No one in Eicher could have envisaged the kind of success this company has. At best they would have seen small incremental volumes due to a burgeoning Indian economy and some niche sales abroad. That's it!

With the change in gear position and the introduction of the Classic series and it's runaway success, RE has garnered unimaginable success. All of a sudden this forgettable motorcycle maker is now fighting for volumes alongside utilitarian bike models priced at a third of what RE charges nowadays. The fact of the matter is the success has taken RE by surprise.

RE then did exactly what any diligent business would do, cater to the demand. They opened a new factory, started offering new colours options, increased production volumes etc.... It was very much the right thing to do. Even now RE has space for more volumes despite the rapid strides made.

But developing new models, engines, platform is a whole different kettle of fish. Coming back to the first point RE has no experience in this department and are basically starting from scratch. Hero is also stuck in a similar predicament.

First of all, RE has to develop bigger bikes and that itself brings in additional complications. Then it cannot do simple mainstream approach and has to retain it's own design & brand principles. All the classic RE models have high margins because the engineering/licensing costs have been recovered long back. Now any newly developed product would mean more costs and lower margins. All this has to be done while keeping costs under check, pricing bikes above a certain price is too risky irrespective of how good they are. RE is in very unfamiliar territory now.

Even once the R&D is over, production and quality standards are another hurdle. RE only has expertise in making one type of bike basically. With the Himalyan, RE has found out how difficult it is getting it right the first time. Rest assured after burning their fingers once, RE's new model development cycle is going to take a lot longer.

So what does RE do while all this is taking time? Sit idle. No, it cannot! It's simply doing what it does best, repackage and sell what it sells best, the old and popular war horse Bullets in various guises. In the mean time they are also trying hard to gain an international footprint and develop export markets than simply rely on the domestic one.

I do not think RE is complacent, but it is not a race that it can win by rapid product development and launches. I am hopeful the company turns into an international player, it has the right foundation to do so. But I am also aware it is going to be a long hard grind RE and believe Mr. Siddartha Lal is well aware of this as well.

[timuseravan]

I think you have got it wrong - it is not RE hate but actually RE love. We have so much more expectations from them then say a Hero. Hero releases "color variants" as new bikes all the time but it passes without almost any notice.
Scrambler is an exciting new product - I don't want RE to half-ass it by doing some cosmetic changes to a Classic.
I want an actual good new product - maybe based on Himalayan chassis.