The Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 is a

parallel twin A straight-twin engine, also known as an inline-twin, vertical-twin, inline-2, or parallel-twin, is a two-cylinder piston engine whose cylinders are arranged in a line along a common crankshaft. Straight-twin engines are primarily used in motor ...

retro-styled

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar from a saddle-style ...

introduced by

Royal Enfield Royal Enfield is an Indian motorcycle manufacturer, headquartered and manufactured in Chennai, India. Royal Enfield (England), Royal Enfield is the oldest motorcycle manufacturer in continuous production. Bike magazine report pp. 32-39 - December 2018 and in 2020 the Interceptor 650 was the UK's best-selling big bike.

Design

The bike was designed at Royal Enfield's Technology Centre at Bruntingthorpe Proving Ground in

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

, England. Both models, Interceptor and Continental GT, share the same engine, frame, suspension, wheels, brakes, exhausts and mufflers. The engine is a wet-sump, 648 cc, air/oil cooled

SOHC An overhead camshaft (OHC) engine is a piston engine in which the camshaft is located in the cylinder head above the combustion chamber. This contrasts with earlier overhead valve engines (OHV), where the camshaft is located below the combus ...

, 8v,

. Fuelling is via Bosch injection and engine management. The low 9.5:1 compression ratio will help the engine tolerate lower-octane fuel. The crankshaft has a 270° Crank, with a gear-driven balance shaft ahead of the crank. The

slipper clutch A slipper clutch ''(also known as a back-torque limiter)'' is a specialized clutch with an integrated freewheel mechanism, developed for performance-oriented motorcycles to mitigate the effects of engine braking when riders decelerate. The main p ...

drives a six-speed gearbox and chain final drive. The cylinder head receives substantial oil-cooling and the bikes have a large oil cooler on the frame downtubes. Producing a modest 46.80bhp @ 7250 rpm, the engine is capable of future development: ''Bike'' magazine reported that "the crankshaft's substantial bearing area and the hefty alloy crankcases suggest that the engine could comfortably deliver more power. Compression, capacity and revs could be raised on future models". The chassis is a tubular twin-downtube cradle frame. Forks are standard telescopics (without gaiters); and rear suspension is via twin shocks(5 step adjustable). The ABS brakes comprise single discs: 320mm (front) and 240mm (rear). Instruments are conventional twin-dial analogue items with digital fuel gauge and trip display.

''Interceptor 650''

The Interceptor is a conventionally-styled roadster with dual seat, a rounded 13.7 litre saddle tank with a Royal Enfield classic badge and a Monza-style fuel cap. The braced handlebars and more forward-set footrests allow a sit-up-and-beg riding position, and a tubular grab-rail is fitted for the

pillion passenger A pillion is a secondary pad, cushion, or seat behind the main seat or saddle on a motorcycle or moped. A passenger in this seat is said to "ride pillion". The word is derived from the Scottish Gaelic for "little rug", ''pillean'', from the Latin ...

. The Interceptor is marketed as the INT650 in the United States where Honda has a trademark on the Interceptor name. In 2022, it starts at an ex-showroom price of in India.

''Bear 650''

The Royal Enfield Interceptor Bear 650 was officially released on October 31^th, 2024. It has been described as "a stylish scrambler-styled standard based primarily on the brand’s INT 650 model, though with some notable differences." On the Design and Styling front, Bear 650 comes with a scrambler seat, side panel number boards, and urban-off-road aesthetics. Full LED lights bring modern functionality. Derived from the Shotgun series this motorcycle uses Showa USD Forks, but optimized for scrambler duties with longer suspension travel. To complement its off-road credentials, the ride height has been raised. The Interceptor Bear 650 retains the Interceptor 650’s brakes but upgrades the front disc size for added stopping power along with Dual-channel ABS with a switchable rear ABS. Equipped with a full-color TFT screen with integrated navigation brings modern tech to the classic platform. Powered by the 650cc parallel-twin engine delivering 46.80 bhp and an increased torque of 57N-m (5N-m more than the Interceptor), while saving weight owing to two-into-one exhaust system.

Reception

The Interceptor was favourably reviewed by ''

Motorcycle News ''MCN'' or ''Motor Cycle News'' is a UK weekly Motorcycle, motorcycling newspaper published by Bauer Verlagsgruppe, Bauer Consumer Media, based in Peterborough, United Kingdom. It claims to be "the world’s biggest weekly motorcycle newspape ...

'' which stated, "As an overall package, the Royal Enfield Interceptor is great. The engine is lively without being intimidating, the handling is fun without being patronising and the finish is good without breaking the bank". The bike's engine, brakes, and equipment were all praised, but the suspension was criticised as basic, being too soft and underdamped. The Australian website, MC-News also gave a favourable report.

Known Issues

A known issue with motorcycle is the

death wobble Speed wobble (also known as shimmy, tank-slapper, or death wobble) is a rapid side-to-side shaking of a vehicle's wheel(s) that occurs at high speeds and can lead to loss of control. It presents as a quick (4–10 Hz) oscillation of prim ...

which many have faced seemingly at varying speeds, starting from 120kph. General consumer consensus is that this happens due to the CEAT tires, or the combination of CEAT tires with unbalanced spoke wheels. Royal Enfield has seemingly rectified this by giving newer models alloy wheels and Pirelli tyres as an option, though it was never officially acknowledged.

References

{{reflist

External links

Royal Enfield Interceptor 650
(archived)

Interceptor Interceptor may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Interceptor'', a British drama series on BBC One * Interceptor (game show), ''Interceptor'' (game show), a British television game show that ran during 1989 * Interc ...

Motorcycles introduced in 2017 Standard motorcycles