Royal Enfield is one of the most popular bike makers in the country. The brand has impressed a lot of customers with its retro appeal. With the introduction of the 650cc twins, Royal Enfield also impressed everyone in terms of engineering. The models quickly went on to be a big hit in the country. The 650cc twins offer the smoothest and most vibe-free engine ever on a Royal Enfield motorcycle.
However, Royal Enfield is looking to expand its portfolio. Royal Enfield already has a lot of models in the pipeline. The next offering from the Chennai-based company will be the Hunter 350, which will likely arrive in August. The bikemaker is also working on a next-generation for its Bullet 350. Next year, the bike maker will introduce a 450cc Himalayan and its scrambler counterpart. Apart from all these models, the brand is also looking to expand its 650cc lineup. We all have seen multiple spy shots of the new 650cc models, and now we have a name for one of them.
Initially reported to be named the Super Meteor 650, the new leak hints that Royal Enfield will instead name it the Thunderbird 650. Royal Enfield’s Thunderbird range was on sale in the market for many years. However, after the arrival of the Meteor, the company discontinued the Thunderbird. A lot of Royal Enfield fans wondered what made the company drop such a famous nameplate. Well, it turns out that the company had bigger plans for it.
Royal Enfield offered the Thunderbird in 350cc and 500cc engines in India. However, if the latest leak turns out to be true, the next Thunderbird will sport the 650cc parallel-twin engine from the Interceptor and Continental GT.
The leak comes from Royal Enfield’s official website. The website’s service page showed a listing for a model that currently does not exist in its lineup. The name for the model was Thunderbird X 650. There is a possibility that the name of the bike was listed on the official website by mistake. A Royal Enfield rider and YouTuber noticed this and created a screen recording to show the same. Since then, Royal Enfield has rectified the error and removed the name from the website.
Back when Thunderbird 500 was on sale in the market, Royal Enfield also introduced a sportier variant of the same. The name of this sportier model was the Thunderbird 500X. Hence, it is likely that the Thunderbird X 650 is the sportier version of the Thunderbird 650. We have seen spy shots of the 650cc cruiser with alloys as well as spoke wheels. Thus, the version with spoke wheels could be the Thunderbird 650 and the one with alloys, the Thunderbird X 650.
From the latest spy shots of the Royal Enfield 650cc cruiser, we know the model is almost production-ready. There is a possibility that the Royal Enfield could unveil it at the upcoming EICMA 2022. Royal Enfield is a global brand, and the 650cc twins are also popular internationally. Furthermore, the company has unveiled a new motorcycle almost every year at EICMA. Therefore, the chances of it being the new 650cc cruiser this year are high.
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