26th February 2020, 17:54
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| My Black Widow - The Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 Brief background about my personal life. If you want to go straight to the ownership experience I suggest you skip this one. I am 22 and I've never owned a motorcycle till now, I was always a Car guy and not a Motorcycle guy, my love for motorcycles started when I had visited the Indian Superbike Festival which is held in Pune when I saw a 2006 Honda CBR600RR. I loved it so much that i couldn't stop looking at it even though there were a lot newer and powerful motorcycles out there, but this one had unknowingly started my obsession of motorcycles! This was about 6 years ago and what followed was Youtube videos and attending every motorcycle event to glance at the beauties. I had promised my dad that if I get good marks in my 12th exams he is going to buy me a motorcycle, the results came turns out I didn't pass my exams and failed in Maths and Physics. This happened for two long years which were the most depressing days of my life, but the only things that kept me happy were my family, cars and motorcycles! Alas, i changed my stream and I haven't looked back! My father is an automobile engineer in Dubai and is at a respectable post. He was the one who was always supportive of my choices and never let me not have fun! If I didn't have such cool parents I would've stuck in that phase forever.  First Crush! My Side Chick I would like to say that only upgrade to a big capacity motorycle if you've ridden enough motorcycles and have a bit of a sane mentality because power can be addictive and addictions are not good. I used to ride a Honda Dio which had served me well since I was 17 and still is. I have tried to keep her as well maintained as possible and tried to avoid getting scratches but this is India so scratches on your prized possessions are a given, people here don't respect other people's possessions but this is a rant for later. The Honda Dio was bought only because we already had an Activa at home like every household and we wanted something else. The engine is the same but the Dio is lighter because it comes with a fibre body which has it's advantages and disadvantages, scratches on fibre don't just scratch the surface but pierce into the body. The most annoying part of the Dio was the suspension, it was too stiff and you could feel every bump and rut on the road but this meant the the Dio actually handles well considering it's just a commuter scooter. I have taken her on rides to Lonavla and Mahabaleshwar because why not? As far as her position in our home is concerned, sadly she'll be sold in the future in addition to the Activa to make way for an electric scooter. Till then, she'll always be taken care of.  Buying Decision. A Royal Enfield was never in my list of considerations with the list of motorcycles I shortlisted. My father had capped a budget of 1.5 lakhs and that meant I had to shortlist 150-200cc motorcycles. 1. Hero Xpulse 200 The Hero Xpulse is a really good motorcycle, I considered it because it perfectly fit my 6'3 frame. Long story short the Hero dealers are pathetic and I never got to ride the motorcycle for more than 300m. 2.TVS Apache 200 Another good motorcycle from an Indian motorcycle manufacturer but test rides were limited to less than a km. I really couldn't test the motorcycle to be able to make a decision. This was the situation with every test ride so i am just going to list them out. 3.Bajaj Pulsar NS200 4.Suzuki Gixxer 150 5.Yamaha FZ25 After going to all the showrooms my dad and me both realised that the dealers here are nothing to write about and we were not sure how the after sales would be so we decided to postpone the purchase till I completed my FYBcom. Fast forward to November 2019 I was doing well in my studies and the motorcycle purchase was back into consideration, till then I had made a decision on the Xpluse 200 but my Dad out of nowhere adviced me to look at the Royal Enfield Twins, mind you I was a fan but I never shortlisted them because of the budget cap. One day, visited the Royal Enfield Wakdewadi Showroom(It was the 1st time I had ever been to a Royal Enfield showroom!) and had a decent experience. Mainly, I got to ride both the twins back to back without a Pillion which was a positive for me. The Continental GT obviously tugged to my heart and surprised me! This was no Royal Enfield, this was more like a Honda or a Triumph in terms of the riding experience. At that point, I knew what I wanted but the pricing was a worry for me, it was way over the budget and will be expensive to maintain than the 200cc motorcycles. I went home called my dad told him everything about the motorcycle and the pricing and he said, "Book the Continental GT if you are going to pay me back the full amount I paid after you get a job.'' For a brief moment I even considered a Jawa 42 because i was into retro motorcycles but the waiting period put me off, I thought about it and I ofcourse said Yes but I was confused as to how he was open to spending more and that too on a Royal Enfield, turns out my Dad's friend who is an avid motorcycle rider in Dubai(Yep, where temperatures go above 45 degrees) advised him to look at these. Next day on the 28th of November, visited the showroom and booked the Continental GT in Dr. Mayhem Grey! Price Details. Ex-Showroom Price: 2,79,330 Insurance: 21074 RTO: 34776 On-Road Price: 3,35,180 After one month of waiting and bugging the salesman on the status of the motorcycle on the 29th of December I get a call that the motorcycle is coming to the showroom from their lot and that I can start the payment procedure after I have a look at the motorcycle.  Just arrived fresh from the lot.  Accessories fitted. 1. Small Engine Guard 2. Sumpguard 3. Short Flyscreen 4. Fork Gaiters D-Day. RTO clearance and billing took a 4 days and the day finally arrived. I arrived at the showroom at exactly 4pm and the motorcycle was still not ready as the accessories were still getting fitted.  Last inspections and accessories getting fitted before the delivery. The Chrome Continental GT650 looks sweet in the background but the fingerprints on the tank don't make me regret my choice of colour.  At exactly 6pm Black Widow was ready to be delivered and I was never this excited in all my life! Look at me grinning like a kid in a candy store!  Last edited by CarManMotorcycl : 27th February 2020 at 23:15. |
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26th February 2020, 19:43
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| BHPian Join Date: Dec 2019 Location: Pune
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| re: My Black Widow - The Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 Likes: 1. The looks, this one turns heads everywhere you go unlike the Interceptor. 2. The engine is a gem. It is the best thing in this motorcycle 3. Vibrations are at a minimum considering Royal Enfield are known for them. 4. The fueling is precise and there is no jerkiness in the way it rides. 5. The gearbox is butter smooth and is at par if not better than the Japanese motorcycles. 6. Excellent braking from the Bybre system. Dislikes.: 1. Handling is not confident inspiring at times. 2. Power loss at lower rpms in a traffic jam. 3. Committed riding position. 4. Tubed rims which are always at the back of your mind. 5. The chrome finishing on the engine is not good at all. 6. The stock seat is not for long rides. The Looks. I have always liked the styling of the 535 GT but the 650 with it's twin exhaust pipes and longer wheelbase looked a lot proportionate. The 70's styling is coming back with every motorcycle manufacturer launching there rendition of modern retros and how! The advantage of modern retro motorcycles is their design will never age and that is also the case with the Continental GT. The Chiseled tank is my favourite part of the motorcycle, it is minimalistic yet so sexy. So far, whenever and wherever I've parked my Continental GT the only question people ask is if it is a Jawa because of the twin exhausts and then I've to say it's a Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 and they're shocked that Royal Enfield produces a 'Big Bike'. The Continental GT650 is a blank canvas in the sense that you could do so much to it cosmetically and mechanically(we will get to that later) to change the whole design of the motorcycle that you wouldn't be able to recognise some of the creations the custom shops have done to it! Looks are subjective but to me this is the sexiest motorcycles around under 5 lakhs! Yes I am biased!  The side profile looks absolutely wonderful and the AEW exhausts which are smaller than the stock exhausts suit the Continental GT. Our Hyundai Eon in back looking at my Black Widow with jealousy!  In my opinion this is the best angle to look at. The large disc brakes and the black spoke rims accentuates the beauty of the Continental GT.  The short fly screen is only cosmetic and not really useful at minimising wind blast. It hides all the ugly bits behind it though. I like it.  The AEW exhausts have reduced the bulk of the rear and looks a lot better than the stock exhausts.  The only thing I dislike are the taillamps and the indicators which look like they are carried straight from a Hero Honda Splendour  . The sexy rear without the mudflap and ugly saree guard. The taillamps and indicators will be changed in the near future for a better look.  The beautiful tank. This paint scheme is my most favourite one among the others, although I love the chrome one too.  The Oil Cooled 648cc Parallel Twin engine with a 270° firing order. The chrome finish on the engine case is unsatisfactory.  The view of the cockpit from the rider's view. Simple and minimalistic instrument cluster for that retro look.  Pirelli Phantom Sportscomp tubeless tyres for the motorcycle, 100/90-18 at the front and 130/70-18 at the rear. These are bias play tyres, prone to punctures because of the soft compound of the tyre.  The logo and the triple clamp looks good, finishing of the paint here could've been better though.  Slight discolouration due to the keychain.  The rear tyre is a 130/70-18 and they look a bit puny compared to the rest of the motorcycle. The same tyres are used in the Triumph Street Twin albeit with a thicker profile.  The Continental GT 650 at night  Went on a city ride late night with my friend who owns a BMW G310R. Everytime I meet him I always take the mickey out of him for paying that much for a 310cc motorcycle for just the badge! Last edited by CarManMotorcycl : 27th February 2020 at 19:08. |
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27th February 2020, 20:23
| #3 |
| BHPian Join Date: Dec 2019 Location: Pune
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| re: My Black Widow - The Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 Engine. Highways. Without a good heart you'd not be really happy and annoyed at life, this will happen with your machines and you. The best thing in the Continental GT is the 648cc Parallel Twin engine which also does duty in the Interceptor 650. The torque from the powerplant is linear with no real surprises till the redline and it bounces of the rev limiter at about 7500 rpm. The power really tapers off between 6500 rpm to 7000 rpm so it really isn't necessary to redline the engine. 100 kmph comes up at about 5000 rpm and then you realise that you have still one more gear to go at that point you upshift to 6th and the engine stays at 4500 rpm @100kmph and at 5000 rpm you're at 120kmph. In the sixth gear the engine feels butter smooth when it is between 90-120kmph, above 120kmph(I don't condone riding above these speeds at all) the vibrations creep in. I have heard from many riders that the 650 Twins don't vibrate at all but that is not completely true, the Continental GT does vibrate but not at the level where your hand starts to get numb after every ride. City Riding The Continental GT is not for everyone if city riding is what they are going to do. Firstly the Continental GT weighs more than 200 kgs with all the fluids, secondly due to the two exhaust pipes you will have to watch out while filtering. If you're willing to do city riding everyday it will be difficult at first but as you get used to the motorcycle you'll be filtering like there is no tomorrow, that is what happened to me. Traffic jams is a prime foe of the Continental GT, the engine due to being not water cooled heats up and if you're not experienced to heat like I am then you're in for a treat! Power loss is also evident when you're stuck in a traffic jam for a substantial time due to the heating up of the engine, the motorcycle struggles to move under 2000rpm and you'd have to slip the clutch to extract torque to get moving(Please share your experience if this happens with you).  Handling and Ride Quality My experience has been a mixed bag with respect to the handling of the Continental GT. The tyres are good at gripping the road but the front suspension fails to give me front end feel because it is too soft. The rear actually comes stiff three notches more than the Interceptor from the factory, but that doesn't equate to better handling. The stiff rear and soft front actually make the motorcycle a bit unstable in the corners. You will not feel as confident when cornering because the motorcycle bobs up and down and that is a bit unsettling. I know you must be a bit shocked considering the Continental GT is the sportier of the two but that is not the case. Where it makes up for this is the ride quality. The Continental GT soaks every bump and rut without transferring it to the rider. Brakes Brakes are the most important thing in a motorcycle and a car, the good thing is the 650 Twins have one of the best braking systems fitted to them. The Continental GT brakes are one of the best I have experienced South of 5 lakhs and they do a bloody good job of stopping that 200kgs+ behemoth. I had a couple of heart in my moments where a car just entered the highway without even looking and I was doing triple digit speeds, the Continental GT stopped without hesitation with equal bite throughout. The other good part is the ABS is not intrusive at all which is a plus point if you are into cornering and you like to brake a bit later than usual. Fueling and Gearbox People overlook this part a lot, fueling should be precise and to the point. The Continental GT's fueling is like a train changing tracks without any jerks. Long time ago, I had ridden the Harley Davidson Street Rod and I was having a tough time in the traffic because the fuelling wasn't good and the motorcycle gave me a lot jerks while riding at single digit speeds. The 6 speed gearbox of the Continental GT is the smoothest I have ever experienced and is in the league of the Hondas and Yamahas easily! At first I was having difficulty in finding neutral and would have the false neutrals occasionally, but now after 2000 kms the gearshifts are smooth like butter and has never given me false neutrals.  Fit and Finish Considering the price at which the Continental GT sells I feel the fit and finish is good and not great. It is not in the league of the Triumphs and i don't expect her to be. One thing is evident that the fit and finish is better than the other Royal Enfield Models by miles. There are some ugly welds here and there but they are not in your face.  The rider's triangle. I am 6'3 and a bit chubbier and I have even customised the seat so the seat height is a bit taller than stock. Some rides I did after got the motorcycle! Pratapgarh      Is it worth going to Pratapgarh? The ride to Pratapgarh was actually decided the night before at 11 pm because as they say you get cravings for a type of food, my brother and me got a craving for a one day ride!  So we decided we will be going to Pratapgarh since we had not visited this one. If you're going to ride, the roads are good and there are very less potholes which are not deep and you can easily maintain a respectable speed. The only bad patch we encountered was 4-5 kms before Pratapgarh with roads nearly washed out in some places due to the rains but other than that we had a lot of fun cornering the motorcycles! If you are going to be driving, beware! As time passes by traffic on this route increases so I would always suggest to start your journey early to avoid traffic. The other disadvantage is there are not many parking spaces at Pratapgarh so you might encounter some parking problems, no such thing with motorcycles. The conclusion is Pratapgarh is certainly crowded and there is nothing out of the ordinary but you'll certainly enjoy the journey.Mumbai  The ride to Mumbai was really boring as you're just riding on straight roads! The ghats after Lonavala make things a bit interesting but your fun is short-lived as the boring straight roads start again, that is why you only see one picture that is how bored I was! Last edited by CarManMotorcycl : 27th February 2020 at 23:30. |
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27th February 2020, 22:11
| #4 |
| BHPian Join Date: Dec 2019 Location: Pune
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| re: My Black Widow - The Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 Till now i have done more than 2000 kms so i have gone through only the 1st service which comes up at 45 days/500kms. I gave my Black Widow for servicing at Brahma Motors Wakdewadi and I had a nice experience. I don't know if it was because I was just standing beside the Motorcycle or because it was a Continental GT so you never know!  This is how much it costed me, absolutely cheap considering the engine capacity. Mods Done The Continental GT has it's fair share of negatives which can be corrected. Till now i have only done two mods and one mod was more of a want. 1. The Black Widow's stock mirrors were not good, they vibrated a lot so you couldn't see what was going on behind you so they were the first things to go off her. I would not recommend the Bar end mirrors from Royal Enfield because they're ridiculously priced and they're just plain mirrors.  These are one of the best mirrors for the price. The main thing is they're wide angle so you can see pretty much the whole world behind you. The quality of the metal is also good. Absolutely recommend. 2. The stock seats which came were not good if you rode over an hour. Your bottom would start paining and become numb and it would become uncomfortable. So I went to Pawar seats and got the seats done and the comfort it offers is really good!   3. The stock exhausts already sound good but I wanted the Continental GT to sound a bit louder than stock so I opted for the AEW TE101 Mild Steel Chrome exhausts. The exhausts have baffles if you want your motorcycle to sounds a bit louder. I removed the baffles and the Black Widow actually sounds like a Harley Davidson V-Twin(Street Rod and V-Rod) on the move!  Mods planned for the near future 1. One of the main negatives of the Continental GT is the soft front suspension and I want to change that. I was told the spring itself is actually stiff but the fork oil is used is of a lower grade. Right now the fork oil used is a 2W grade, I plan to do a change to 5W or 7.5W. I am ready to sacrifice a bit of comfort for good handling. 2. I really want to change the Tail lights because they don't suit the Continental GT and the indicators because they are lifted straight from a Hero Honda Splendor! LED for the brightness and life they offer. 3. Would look at the S&S big bore kit, but this will be a long wait till I do this as I'll be needing a lot of time to spare to do this upgrade! 4. Ceramic Coating or Paint Protection Film, I am not sure what I should go with since I get differing views. Please suggest! I would like to thank my Dad who without any hesitation paid for my Black Widow and I must be one of the luckiest one to be have such a family who are supportive of my love for motorcycles and cars! I will never sell my Black Widow ever and will just be adding to my garage if life goes well. This is my 1st ownership thread so if you've anything, criticisms are welcome! I have not gone into much details because the review posted by CrAzY dRiVeR is one of the best for that. I'll be trying to keep an update log on my Continental GT whenever possible. FIN. Last edited by Aditya : 29th February 2020 at 06:20. Reason: Formatting |
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28th February 2020, 07:21
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28th February 2020, 09:15
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28th February 2020, 09:48
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| Re: My Black Widow - The Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 Congrats on RE twins, wish you a long ownership with it. Quote:
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28th February 2020, 10:34
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28th February 2020, 11:12
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28th February 2020, 13:31
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28th February 2020, 14:49
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28th February 2020, 16:11
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28th February 2020, 16:15
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28th February 2020, 20:45
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28th February 2020, 23:28
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