[TusharK]

According to a media report, Royal Enfield is planning lighter, affordable bikes aimed at young riders and women. These could be sold under the Explorer brand.



The roadster styled bikes (codenamed J1C) could be launched in Q1 2020. These bikes are expected to have a lower seating position and could be lighter than the Bullet.

It is believed that the new lighter bikes will open up a new market for Royal Enfield, especially in Goa, Chandigarh, Maharashtra, Kerala and Karnataka and get more women riders to the brand.

Following the launch of the J1C, Royal Enfield is expected to introduce the new generation Thunderbird. The new model is rumoured to be called Meteor. BS6 versions of the Classic and Bullet will also be introduced next year.

Source

Link to Team-BHP News

[bigron]

Great news!!
The female of the species will also be living dangerously now if they opt for one.

Also a lighter more affordable bike they say. I wonder what they plan to remove. Maybe the handle bar or seats.

This I got to see.

[srini1785]

Originally Posted by TusharK

According to a media report, Royal Enfield is planning lighter, affordable bikes aimed at young riders and women. These could be sold under the Explorer brand.

Whoever is advising RE on market research needs a reality check.

Generations of human kind failed to find out exactly what a woman wants.

Hope that they don't get one of these aimed at women.

Originally Posted by TusharK

It is believed that the new lighter bikes will open up a new market for Royal Enfield, especially in Goa, Chandigarh, Maharashtra, Kerala and Karnataka and get more women riders to the brand.

Ahh yes. hallelujah. Enlightened at last. These are already RE strongholds. So the idea is to make the RE riding husbands convince their womenfolk to buy.

Originally Posted by TusharK

The new model is rumoured to be called Meteor.

So one more retro bike with the new 650 cc engine. Interesting experiment.

[ashwinprakas]

Doubt if a motorcycle would still hold the same appeal if the market openly classifies it as a watered down version for women, I'm guessing at best it'd boost the sales of the existing models.

As for the current model, I feel that it is best suited for first time learners irrespective of gender, enough torque to launch even on tricky inclines without loosing balance, gear ratios paced in such a way that no matter what gear you're riding in it effectively becomes the right one, drop friendly as that front gate sized crash guard would ensure the motorcycle remains safe etc.. etc...

Though some might argue about the 180kgs weight I'd say its a good thing, presents a practical means for one to improve their core strength during testing times, plus accentuates the feeling of accomplishment, and is practically cross wind resistant.

What more can you ask for? (Cough! Part Quality)

Cheers,
A.P.

[greenhorn]

I think this quote from Ferrari is pretty relevant

“A female that wants a sports car wants to drive a sports car…The mistake that automotive [companies] do and that we’re trying not to do is design a car for ladies. I design a car that delivers emotion then male and female have exactly the same need,”

“If you create a female car in the sports car - I’m not talking about a general car, maybe that’s different - but in the sports world if I create a Ferrari which is a little bit less powerful and aggressive then all the males will not buy it. They will not buy a female car. And the females won’t buy it because why should they be discriminated [against]? Why should they have a less powerful car?”

Source: https://www.arabianbusiness.com/tran...istake-ferrari
While Women are a large and very attractive market segment, designing, and more importantly sending out a message that a model is "women specific" is positioning suicide. It's like what tata did with the nano. Desigining an economy car is one thing, but shouting from the rooftops that this is a car for people who can't afford a car otherwise - while it may have made boosted the public image of certain people in the tata group, but from a marketing perspective is stupid. You are effectively telling women that hey, we are going to make a woman's bike because riding a man's bike is not up to you. It's pretty condescending - they will manage to turn off both men AND women from that brand/product.

[Shumi_21]

Originally Posted by bigron

I wonder what they plan to remove.

They will just remove the macho manliness that all RE bikes seem to have infused in them! That alone will drop a 100kg

On a serious note, would be interesting to know a female biker's perspective on this.

[bigron]

Originally Posted by Shumi_21

They will just remove the macho manliness that all RE bikes seem to have infused in them! That alone will drop a 100kg .

If they remove that they have no. Bike left to sell.

[abhishek46]

Wasn't the explorer, a luna (moped) with full pants?

What's the benefit of using an erstwhile flop brand name?

A light & small Enfield! Who in the world wants one?

[Thermodynamics]

Wonder how would that feminine bullet look like.

An erstwhile spotting

Originally Posted by grplr02

Older Pink Bullet in Defense Colony, New Delhi, Jan. 2011

On a serious note, I guess, they are going by the success of KTM-125 twins.

[Sutripta]

Contrary view - Bikes need to be built to human scale. This restriction does not apply to cars. (I know people are immediately going to rub my nose in the Honda Gold Wing!) And the physical human scale differs between men and women. A bike 'designed for women' need not necessarily mean a watered down version of a (mens) bike.

Unfortunately the target market (women) is so small that it would not make sense to do a cleansheet design. So we are likely to land up with an 'adapted' for women, which is likely to mean a watered down version of an existing bike.

For those familiar with the hills of the NE - ever wondered about the popularity of the Bajaj Avenger in those parts?

Extending the brand without diluting it might be difficult in REs case. Good decision not to use even 'mini bullet' for this new line. Crusader might work though.

Regards
Sutripta

[shaikhmimran]

Frankly, I am happy that RE will make motorcycles which are lighter and more easy to ride/control.
I believe it will be a much needed upgrade to the current line up as the bikes specially the Himalayan is anemic. A bit of weightloss won't hurt and would make spirited riding possible for everyone.
However, RE is making the same mistake that Tata did with the Nano. It's poor product positioning. Instead of saying that the product is for women or newbies, they can simply launch a product which is lighter, easy to ride or control and relatively maintenance free. The targeted audience (male & female) will find the product with a little bit of prodding.

[srini1785]

Its not something new to attempt to design for women. In the bicycles world, when the whole world was riding Hercules cycles like this :



They also came up with a lady version of it :



However i don't recall this being such a huge hit in terms of sales volumes even among women who preferred to ride pillion. Even in the motorcycles world, the original vespa was marketed directly at women.




The paradox being that D'Ascanio who designed the original Vespa was an aeronautical engineer who just hated motorcycles. So every exposed part of the bike like engines , carbs etc were covered through aerodynamically designed side panels and a cooling fan was added which was a remnant of the Aeroplane / helli propeller.

If RE wants to really target the women then they need not look beyond Activa / Sccoty pep type gearless designs which are as much liked by the ladies as they are by men. It is here that RE would encounter a problem. RE has always lacked the design prowess like say Honda or Yamaha or even TVS.

We are just jumping too much ahead now. Let's just wait and watch.

[aashishnb]

How about a RE bike with a automatic / semi-automatic transmission - 'paddle shifters' to give a context. One gets the best of both worlds - a full blown bike with big tyres instead of scooter AND remove the pain of clutch, which is very important in city riding conditions.

If anyone remembers, Honda tried something half way with the 'Street' - with clutchless rotary gears, which was an ease to ride but failed miserably - my take it failed as it looked like the M50/M80 (poor cousins of the scooter).

But again, perhaps this is wishful thinking - looking at history, maybe some Jap brand could achieve this within a reasonable weight & the bike dimensions, etc. RE's R&D, while decent, may not want to spend a lot of money on something like this.

[Latheesh]

Modern version of Enfield Mini 200 would be nice. We had one in our lab and had some fun 20 years ago!

https://youtu.be/06TQADqwsuU

[KPR]

Before RE Honda came pretty close by launching Navi. An upgraded Navi in India with powerful engine + gearless setup will be more fun for both sex. Dio was a dud about 6-7 years back. Now it's most sought by youngsters. One day Navi will have it's share too. So whatever RE try to do by targeting women will be market for Honda Navi I think. Given traffic conditions anyone will prefer gearless over geared ones.