Meteoric

Royal Enfield's newest cruiser puts a new spin on their new generation 650cc twin-cylinder motor that debuted on the Interceptor and the Continental GT, but with an all-new platform Royal Enfield's new flagship has a lot to prove. We head to the dunes of Jaisalmer to find out how good it really is

- Dipayan Dutta

THE DESIGN BRIEF FOR THE SUPER METEOR 650, AS TOLD BY THE LEAD DESIGNER OF THE MOTORCYCLE, WAS A SIMPLE, DEFINITIVE ONE-LINER. IT READ “MAKE A PROPER CRUISER”

Cruiser fans rejoice! Royal Enfield’s newest flagship motorcycle is here and it’s a cruiser based around the 650cc twin-cylinder that debuted on the Interceptor and Continental GT 650. This time around though, the motorcycle that you see on these pages replaces the twins as the brand’s flagship motorcycle. Straight off the block, this is the most authentic cruiser that has ever been sold with a Royal Enfield badge in India, so we best jump straight into finding out how good it is out in the real world.

The design brief for the Super Meteor 650, as told by the lead designer of the motorcycle, was a simple but definitive one-liner. It read “make a proper cruiser”. Something that Royal Enfield has never done, although they have slapped a cruiser tag on some of their lower displacement motorcycles the silhouette remained a strange amalgamation of a tall standard bike with some butterfly-ish bars mounted on the head. This is something that most people who have begrudgingly moved to Harley 750s know for a fact.