The Royal Enfield Super Meteor looks the business, with an air-cooled engine, wide but teardrop shaped tank, single headlight, dual exhausts and a finish quality which in the images provided looks a step above the 650 nakedbikes when I last tested t…
The Royal Enfield Super Meteor looks the business, with an air-cooled engine, wide but teardrop shaped tank, single headlight, dual exhausts and a finish quality which in the images provided looks a step above the 650 nakedbikes when I last tested them.
That 648 cc parallel twin should produce just under 50 horsepower and just over 50-newton metres of torque, with the vast majority of that torque available nice and low in the rev range. Sure it won’t have quite the same character as a V-twin, but we’re told Royal Enfield have modified the gearing and mapping to suit the cruiser.
We see a 19 inch front wheel and 16 inch rear, both alloy rather than spoked wheels, and there’s a single disc brake front and rear, with ABS to make an appearance, as it’s required in many markets these days. America is likely to be the exception there, if anyone gets a variant without the ABS.
Rotors are a 320 mm front and 300 mm rear, both running a dual-piston caliper, in what is likely to be a more relaxed, fairly cruiser themed brake setup. Tyre sizes are also confirmed as 100/90 front and a 150/80 rear.
241 kg is the weight figure I could find, and comparison points would be that Vulcan S (the 650) at 226 kg wet, and say the XVS650 at 233 kg if we consider a more traditional 650 cruiser.
Seat height is also a relatively manageable 740 mm, which suggests a roomier seating position between seat and forward controls, if with a slightly longer reach to the ground. That’s short for a nakedbike, but probably a bit on the tall side in the cruiser segment where around the 700 mm mark is quite common.
Being a cruiser weight should be balanced nice and low, largely offsetting being a heftier machine, although for new riders getting feet down securely in the early stages is always a big confidence boost.
A 15.7 litre fuel tank should offer decent range too, and while not huge is better than some of the tiny fuel tanks fitted to cruisers.
There’s also some standouts, like Royal Enfiel..
