[happymover]

One year with Continental GT650

Last month, I happen to complete one year of ownership of Continental GT 650(Apex Grey). Currently the bike Odo is at 5600 Kms. It has completed all 3 free services. Owning the bike has been mixed feelings. While I have been delighted with the looks and performance of the bike, there are certain dislikes.

2023 RE Continental GT 650:

Why Continental GT ?

In 2017-18, I was looking for a logical upgrade from pulsar 200 DTSI and thought 650 twins were the ones within my budget. However I was not happy with tubed tyre set-up & overdone chrome. Meanwhile I had to get rid of my ageing SX4 & buy a new car as well. I postponed the bike purchase plan. Later I travelled to US for work, Covid happened and I moved to new house. Thought of buying the bike came up again in 2023 when RE was testing the upgraded 650 twins. I test rode Interceptor & GT(both old ones) back-to-back couple of times. I liked the committed riding stance of GT compared to the laidback one in interceptor. This along with the good looks, I made up my mind and booked apex Grey GT through RE app. Though the delivery was delayed, I was happy to get my GT in June 2023.

PDI in dealer stockyard, Acclaim Motors Yelahanka:


Pooja on delivered day:


Bike with touring seat, Large Engine gaurd and sump gaurd:


After PPF and Ceramic coating:

Ownership Experience:

After a week of delivery, I got the PPF done (before going to 1st service). Initially I took time to get used to the weight of the bike. In fact I have dropped it couple of times during push pull movement with only hand. Gradually I have learnt how to handle the bike. Bike has been primarly used for office commute which is 20 Kms round trip on a route with very less traffic. Bike is definetly pain to ride in B2B traffic due to weight and handle bar positioning and I completely avoid it. Surprisingly, I felt it comfortable on highways. I have done couple of day rides(around 250 KMs) with wife as pillion. Also have done 3 solo trips of Bangalore-Davangere(280 KMs).

First trip to Davangere:


Bike is definitely fast for me and performance is more than asked for. Being in my 40s, I have not dared to cross 130 KMPH on it, nor will I ever. Braking is good and I am yet to encounter any panic breaking scenarios. I am getting around 22 KMPL of mileage in city and around 25 KMPL (100 KMPH speed) on highways. Servicing at Acclaim Motors, Yelahanka has been satisfactory so far. The bike has been trouble free so far.

More trips to Davangere:

Dislikes:

Most of my dislikes towards the bike are related to its limitations to do highway trips. Please do not get me wrong here. I am very well aware that this bike is not touring friendly. But I still feel there is a scope to make it a better bike.

1. Handle Bar Height - There is a feel of pressure on wrists after sometime. Well, I have accustomed to it, RE could have placed handlebar couple of inches higher without compromising on the looks. I tried to order zana handlebars but their customer care was not sure if it fits the updated GT's switchgears.

2. Fuel Tank Capacity - It is 10 liters and there is no problem in city usage. But when travelling on highways, I really need to plan fuel stops after 150-160 kms, which I really hate. A bigger 15 liter tank would have been good. (Fun Fact:- My previous ride Pulsar 200 DTSI used to accomodate 20 litres and I had done Bangalore-Ooty-Banglore round trip without any refueling.)

3. Headlight - The new LED headlight is good but not really useful for those night highways rides. I dont have any plans to upgrade the same as of now.

Modifications:

I am not much into modifications. The biggest mod I have done is to install bar end mirrors. Got a aftermarket set from amazon & installed them myself. Also I removed saree gaurd and pillion handle bar. I am trying out a new solution for handle bar height and will update on the same here.

Bar End Mirrors:






Overall I am contented with owning GT650 and looking forward to more rides.
Thank you all for reading. Cheers !!

Parting Shots:

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[bijims]

Nice review and great pictures of your ride. Wishing you many great rides ahead!

[doomketu]

I have not seen GT's in this color yet. Wow it looks good. Thank you for posting your review. The shots taken of the bike, coupled with the background is just fantastic. Especially the windmills. Reminds me of Southern tamil nadu ( aralvaimozhi) where this is how the landscape is.

[raiuday]

Congratulations and wishing you many happy miles with the GT. Happened to ride one for the first time in 2019 in Ice Queen colour and I was so much impressed with the torque back then, coming from a Cbr 250. That was my introduction to the 650 twins and thought to get one as soon as RE comes up with alloys in the Ice Queen colour scheme.

Long story short, they took over 4 years and the twins finally have alloys and happened to see one on display at PVR Cinemas - Inorbit Mall in Hyderabad. It stood out and felt so close to a Norton motorcycle in that glazing colour. IMHO, it’s the best paint scheme among the INT and GT black versions.

The tank capacity in itself is 12.7l however the usable range without drying out the tank would be 10l.

How are the Vredesteins holding up grip wise in dry and wet, and what’s the tyre life post 5k plus kms?

[V.Max]

Great lil review! Btw, could you share some insights on engine heat?

[happymover]

First of all many thanks to moderators and GTO for approving my write-up. Today is one of the happiest day for me since my post made it to Homepage . This will definitely encourage me to write more.

Originally Posted by bijims

Nice review and great pictures of your ride. Wishing you many great rides ahead!

Thank you for your wishes.

Originally Posted by doomketu

I have not seen GT's in this color yet. Wow it looks good. Thank you for posting your review. The shots taken of the bike, coupled with the background is just fantastic. Especially the windmills. Reminds me of Southern tamil nadu ( aralvaimozhi) where this is how the landscape is.

Thank you for your appreciation. I had booked the bike without seeing the color in actual. I found the color to be unique and quite liked it. The windmill picture location is Chitradurga Bye-pass on NH4.

Originally Posted by raiuday

How are the Vredesteins holding up grip wise in dry and wet, and what’s the tyre life post 5k plus kms?

While I am not a corner carver, the grip is quite good on both dry and wet tar surfaces. I do not feel confident on concrete surfaces, especially the ones in office parking lots, when turning. The tyres are still good post 5K and I feel they would have long life.

Originally Posted by V.Max

Great lil review! Btw, could you share some insights on engine heat?

Thank you. Engine heat is there and will be felt in long B2B traffic rides. On long highway rides, it does not bother much. Since my usage is either short city rides or long highway rides, I am not much bothered with it.

[R-Six]

Congratulations happymover on your new ride! The grey color looks really good. I'm seeing a GT in this shade for the first time.

I own the GT 535 so it is always a great feeling to see someone picking up this one instead of the Interceptor among the twins.

Originally Posted by happymover

The tyres are still good post 5K and I feel they would have long life.

Do they still comes with Pirelli Sport Demon? If yes, It might last for another 5K. But keep checking from time to time.

Also, how is the weight? Manageable at parking speeds or moving the bike around? That was one thing I struggled initially, especially with the clip-ons. I see that the GT650 has a bit more relaxed posture even with clip-ons compared to the 535. I feel the fuel tank on my bike is a bit more longer, making the reach to the clip-ons even difficult.

Anyway, happy riding!

Cheers,
R-Six

[happymover]

Originally Posted by R-Six

Do they still comes with Pirelli Sport Demon? If yes, It might last for another 5K. But keep checking from time to time.

Also, how is the weight? Manageable at parking speeds or moving the bike around?

Thank you R-Six for the wishes.
GT comes with vredestein tyres. They still look good after 5K.
Initially weight of the bike did bother me. Now I have adapted myself.

I am planning a mod to raise handler bar couple of inches and have sourced the parts for the same. I will keep this thread updated of the same.

[R-Six]

Originally Posted by happymover

I am planning a mod to raise handler bar couple of inches and have sourced the parts for the same. I will keep this thread updated of the same.

I'm running a custom handlebar set up on my GT as well. Changed it to the current set up after using the clip-ons for a few years.

Cross posting it from an older thread just to give you an idea of how my set up looks:

Originally Posted by R-Six

So, I had moved to the Himalayan handlebar set up early this year and was not really happy with it. The overall feel of the bike was good, but the thunderbird handlebar mount I had used was not something that inspired a lot of confidence. Lately, there was some movement around the mount (to and fro rocking movement at hard breaking) that was bothering me quite a bit. It was due to the mess that the mech had made while drilling the holes.

I was also thinking that I should revert to the clip-on set up for winter rides. I was planning to get that set up back when the bike was due to for its next service. But all this plan changed when I chanced upon the custom handlebar riser set up a Bangalore based fabricator had designed specifically for the GT 535 listed on Amazon. But it was out of stock at that time. Reached out to the seller (Viv Design) through FB and got to know that he might make the next lot sometime later if he has enough prospects. All the excitement I had after seeing the product listing went in vain. He promised me to inform me once the next slot is ready. But since we do not have too many GT owners, I was not really expecting any good news any time soon.

But I was in for a surprise when Viv Designs reached out to me on FB to confirm that the next lot is ready and wanted to see if I'm still interested. I told him yes without a second thought. The custom handlebar set up is almost a copy of the handlebar riser designed by UK based Hitchcock Motorcycles.

Since I ordered directly through FB and made the payment through G-Pay, it cost me 5900+480 (shipping to Ahmedabad). It was listed on Amazon for 6300+shipping.

Link to the listing on Amazon if someone wants to take a look: Viv Designs Aluminium Handlebar Raisers for Royal Enfield Continental GT 535


Here are some pictures of the new set up.
Attachment 1946675

Attachment 1946676

Attachment 1946674

Attachment 1946677

Hope this helps.

Ride Safe,
R-Six

[ss11011988]

Congrats OP on the acquisition, wishing you many happy and trouble-free miles with the GT650. That shade looks beautiful. I was always drawn to the 650cc engine for the sheer aural pleasure and the relentless pull it provides through. Please do post your short-term and long-term ownership reviews of the bike, when time and situation permit. I feel the 650cc platform would the perfect upgrade for me, coming from a Thunderbird 350, however I would like to know more on the reliability aspects of the bike (engine reliability, parts reliability etc) as the TB350 was more of a drama queen requiring consistent pampering and upkeep. I know that tank range is a concern, but then again, we don't buy 650cc for mileage, do we?

Cheers,
NI

[happymover]

Originally Posted by ss11011988

I feel the 650cc platform would the perfect upgrade for me, coming from a Thunderbird 350, however I would like to know more on the reliability aspects of the bike (engine reliability, parts reliability etc) as the TB350 was more of a drama queen requiring consistent pampering and upkeep.

Thank you NI for the wishes !!
I will definitely keep updating my ownership in this thread.
Modern REs are fairly reliable when compared to previous RE models & RE is spawning multiple flavors of bikes using the same 650 engine and there should be a RE650 bike for everyone going forward.

[happymover]

What do most of the 40+ years old bored men with motorcycles desire to do ?
Well, there are hardly many things. Right ?

It all started when during our office breaks, my colleague and friend Bhaskar who owns Meteor 350, started to speak about a place called "Meghamalai" in TN and a plan to motorcycle to the place from Bangalore. Mind you, he is very soft spoken, articulative but his gleaming eyes behind those glasses, convincingly supplement his words. Looking at his eyes, I was intrigued, amazed, mesmerized and was almost hypnotized. Though I had heard/read a bit about this place, I started yearning to visit this seemingly breathtaking place called Meghamalai.

We were joined by a bit younger, bit more adventurous friend, Sunil who owns Interceptor 650. True to his entrepreneurial instincts, Sunil was adamant that we will take lesser known routes and will not stick to just highways. He suggested that we take a route which cuts through - Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve, Aniamalai Tiger reserve, briefly touching Munnar and then reaching our destination Meghamalai, which also happens to be a tiger reserve. Yours truly was thrilled with this proposition with a little bit of apprehension. On the other hand, Bhaskar, who has a conservative approach in doing things, was in a denial mode over this "risky" route.

Precursor Trip - Dandiganahalli Dam

To conclude on the plan we thought of meeting over a small ride. Also, since this was our first trip together, a small precursor trip would help to understand our riding dynamics as well. So one fine Sunday morning, 3 of us visited "Dandiganahalli Dam".

Myself, Sunil & Bhaskar

2 Bikes ride to Meghamalai

We finalized that we will complete this trip in 3 days, between Sep 14th - 16th and booked the stays for 2 nights. Our plan was to do a round-trip, rather than going & coming back on the same route, which we partly regretted post trip because of the road conditions at certain parts. One week before the trip, Sunil opted out sighting work commitments. This was the first time for Bhaskar to ride for so long and so far in a given day, while I have done Bangalore-Goa round trip twice. Needless to say both of us were thrilled for this ride and were looking forward to it.

Following is the actual timeline of the trip.

Day 1, Sep 14th - Bengaluru to Munnar Outskirts (500 KMs):-

First Leg => Bengaluru -> Kanakapura -> Malavalli -> Chamarajanagara (200 Kms, 6:30am to 10am)
Second Leg => Chamarajanagara -> Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve -> Palladam -> Udumalaipettai (190 Kms, 11am to 3:30pm )
Third Leg => Udumalaipettai -> Anaimalai Tiger Reserve -> Marayoor (50 Kms, 4:30pm to 6:15pm)
Fourth Leg => Marayoor -> Munnar -> The Hosteller Munnar (60 Kms, 6:45pm to 8:30pm )
Stay: The Hosteller, Munnar


Just before Chamarajanagara

We started ride from Hebbala, Bengaluru at 6:45 am and experienced weekend morning traffic till we reached kanakapura via outer ring road.
After riding for 2 hours(covering 100 Kms), we took a tea break at Halagur. Reached Chamarajanagar at around 10 am and stopped at a decently looking hotel near bus stand. The breakfast was below average. In the hindsight, we should have had breakfast before tea break itself where there were many good restaurants on the way. We filled our bikes and started second leg for the day which turned out to be a difficult one. The road was above average with potholes here and there, but we enjoyed scenic nature till Sathyamangalam forest.

Yours truly, Sathyamangalam forest in the backdrop


Bhaskar

From here we started to descend towards TN. Once we entered TN road quality improved. But, since we were crossing lot of villages and small towns, there was lot of traffic and too many speed breakers. This coupled with heat literally tired us. While Bhaskar had nothing to complain with his bike, my bum was paining, thanks to the "touring" seat on my GT650. We took a hydration break at around 1:30pm and reached Udumalaipettai at around 3:30pm and searched for a decent place to have lunch. We had a good lunch at "Hotel Sri", Udumalaipettai.

Simple Anna-Sambar meal with some dal, veggies and egg burji .

After lunch we started third leg at around 4:30pm and reached Anaimalai Tiger Reserve Check post, entering Kerala. Just before this, I had refilled my GT650. We parked our bikes and bought entrance tickets. The guards were friendly and informed us the gate timings though we did not enquire. We started to ascend the twisty ghat road which was average with considerable traffic. I enjoyed riding on this scenic road.

Anaimalai Forest


Anaimalai ghat Road

We reached Maryoor at around 6:45pm and decided to take Tea break for the evening. Needless to say we were already tired wanting to crash asap. It was getting dark and we started towards Munnar. Since it was dark and had started to drizzle we missed the scenic views of tea plantations enroute. We reached Munnar at around 7:45pm but were surprised to learn that our stay was 20 Kms further of Munnar towards Poppara. It was lapse on my part in not verifying the exact location while booking. Also, during our tea break at Marayoor, the network was bad, hence could not turn on the google maps. Anyways, we had to ride ahead of Munnar.

At 8:30pm, we finally made it safely to our destination of the day, parked our bikes, checked in and had a good dinner. The stay had a good vibe filled with mostly youngsters, chilling out. The cafetaria wall is filled with British era images of Munnar tea estates with each picture having its own interesting story to read. Post dinner we played TT with other groups and retired to our room later. We recollected our day since the morning and felt accomplished though we were tired.

The highlight about the whole day was riding the last 20 Kms on Munnar-Poppara road which has lot of curves and is excellently paved. Though it was dark, I had fun on this road in a safer manner .

Day 2, Sep 15th - Munnar Outskirts to Meghamalai (125 KMs):-

First Leg => Munnar -> Poppara (Hotel Taj) (10 Kms, 10am to 10:30am)
Second Leg => Poppara (Hotel Taj) -> Theni -> Chinnamanur (70 Kms, 11am to 12:30pm)
Third Leg => Chinnamanur -> Meghamalai (45 Kms, 12:45pm to 2pm)

Stay: Sandriver Cottage, Meghamalai

Riding in Day 2 was all about Twisty, curvy ghat roads. This was my favourite part of the trip where I was able to enjoy GT650 fully. After checkout, we started at around 10am towards poppara on this excellant road. I can say riding on this road is the highlight of the entire trip. The road is almost the same till we reach TN border going towards Theni. We had a good breakfast(Egg-Curry and appam) in Hotel Taj enroute just before Poppara and later crossed border to enter TN.

Morning view of Munnar landscape from Balcony


Parking


Checkout and ready to ride towards Meghamalai


Highlight of the Trip - Munnar to Poppara stretch

We had a tea break and fuel refill for GT650 at chinnamannur before entering Meghamalai ghat. At the Meghamalai checkpost, We signed entry book and were handed over a chit which we are suppose to return next day while coming back. After climbing for certain distance, we started to witness scenic beauty which became breathtaking once we reached top. The road is very good and we reached our stay at around 2pm.


Sandriver, Meghamalai

Since I am not finding words to describe the beauty of the place, I am posting the pictures.

We had a sumptuous lunch filling our tummies with Biryani and took rest for a while. At around 4pm we went for sight-seeing, along with 2 friendly housekeepers Rajkumar & Dibu. We visited view-point did light off-roading for some photography.

Venniar Tea Factory




Viewpoint

After returning to guesthouse, recollected the day's highlights having a delicious dinner.

Day 3, Sep 16th - Meghamalai to Bengaluru (530 KMs):-

First Leg => Meghamalai -> Chinnamanur -> Theni -> Dindigul (140 Kms, 11am to 2pm, 3 Hrs)
Second Leg => Dindigul -> Karur -> Salem (Hotel ABD) (190 Kms, 2:30pm to 5pm, 2.5 Hrs)
Third Leg => Salem (Hotel ABD) -> Dharmapuri -> Krishnagiri -> Hosur (150 Kms, 5:45pm to 8:15 pm, 2.5 Hrs)
Fourth Leg => Hosur -> Bengaluru (50 Kms, 8:45pm to 10pm, 1.25 Hrs)

We started our day with a morning walk towards a nearby lake. Did one more round of photography since today was our final day of the trip.

Spotted pack of wild dogs devouring a deer.







Returned to guesthouse, got ready and had heavy and tasty breakfast.


Bid good bye to our housekeepers and started back home at around 11am.

Today was a boring day to ride since it was all plains once we descended Meghamalai ghat. Reached Dindigul at around 2pm and joined NH44. We decided to skip lunch and just hydrated ourselves in the breaks. I refilled GT650 for the last time. Past salem we had some light evening tiffin of button idlis and Filter coffee at ABD.



Finally after taking one more tea break at hosur, we reached our respective homes at around 10 pm.

With tons of memories, ride experience of winding roads and uncomfortable sore bum, we were proud of ourselves on completing the trip .
Thanks for reading !!

[czar6502]

It was so much fun to read your travelogue. I am now highly motivated to go on a similar ride in the route that you mentioned. Your photographs and description make it a very tempting route to take. How did you make the booking for your stay in Meghamalai?

The curved roads on the GT must have made for one hell of an unforgettable ride. I had a very similar experience, crossing through the Cauvery wildlife range enroute to Hogenekkal and back. Thank you for penning your experience down.

[rajeevsulu]

Nice writing and beautiful pictures as well. This is a very beautiful area to ride in. The food pictures look awesome.

Cheers