{"id":3449,"date":"2019-03-24T00:05:41","date_gmt":"2019-03-24T07:05:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/?p=3449"},"modified":"2019-03-24T00:05:41","modified_gmt":"2019-03-24T07:05:41","slug":"the-interceptor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/2019\/03\/24\/the-interceptor\/","title":{"rendered":"The Interceptor"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Interceptor in Baja’s wine country along the Antigua Ruta del Vino south of Ensenada.\u00a0 I think the Enfield is a perfect motorcycle. \u00a0 I thoroughly enjoyed our Baja ride on it, and I’m planning to buy one for myself.\u00a0 The spirit of the British vertical twin is alive and well in this fine machine.\u00a0 I’ll point out a few nits in this article, but folks, trust me on this:\u00a0 This is an amazing motorcycle.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When I was a teenager and LBJ was in the White House,\u00a0 my standard against which all motorcycles were judged was the 1965 Triumph Bonneville. To me, that represented the ultimate motorcycle, and to this day, it\u2019s what I think of when people start talking about the perfect motorcycle. \u00a0 It’s what came to mind when Royal Enfield announced the 650 Interceptor.\u00a0 I think 650 cubic centimeters is a good size for a motorcycle. I think a British vertical twin is the perfect vehicle (to borrow a phrase from good buddy Melissa Pierson). \u00a0 And I know that Baja is the best place on the planet for a motorcycle trip.\u00a0 That\u2019s why I wanted to get the new Enfield and ride it through Baja.\u00a0 The perfect bike on the perfect ride.\u00a0 I predicted it would be a great trip.\u00a0 I was right.<\/p>\n

Originally, we wanted to get two Interceptors, but they weren\u2019t available. Enfield countered with an offer of two 500cc singles. Okay, we thought, that would do, and we realized it was a gutsy move on Enfield’s part to lend the bikes to us. Then that same dealer we\u2019ve been so disappointed in couldn\u2019t seem to get around to getting the bikes ready for us, and the plan shifted to an Interceptor and a Bullet. Even better, thought Gresh and I, and we were off, headed south into Baja.\u00a0 The two different bikes would make for an interesting contrast.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a funny thing; we thought the story would focus primarily on the newer bike (the Interceptor), but the Bullet proved to be a fun and interesting motorcycle (like Gresh mentioned in his blog below). Don\u2019t get me wrong; the Interceptor is an amazing machine. In fact, I\u2019d say it was perfect. But it was almost too good (and I\u2019ll get to that further along in this post).<\/p>\n

Back in the day when I was a youngster dreaming about owning a Triumph Bonneville, I only knew one guy who rode an original Royal Enfield twin.\u00a0 That was Ricky Stang, a guy I knew in high school (go Vikings). Everyone else who rode was either on a Triumph or a Honda. Ricky had this amazing Enfield 750 with an all-chrome gas tank.\u00a0 He was (and still is) a cool guy. \u00a0 How cool, you might wonder?\u00a0 Well, he bought a Mustang car and modified the emblems by chopping off the M and the U, so his car said STANG (Ricky’s last name). That\u2019s how we rolled back in the \u201860s.<\/p>\n

Okay, back to the main attraction: The 2019 Royal Enfield Interceptor. Let\u2019s start with the basics. It\u2019s a 650cc vertical twin, just like my dream bike, the ’65 Triumph Bonneville. The Enfield brochure (downloadable<\/a> on the Internet) puts the \u201ckerb\u201d weight at 202 kg (that\u2019s 445 lbs; the \u201965 Bonneville was 363 lbs), the wheelbase at 1400mm (that\u2019s 55 inches, just like the \u201965 Bonneville), and the horsepower at 47 (the \u201965 Bonneville had 50). The new Enfield has a 6-speed transmission (the \u201965 Bonneville had a 4-speed).\u00a0 Hmm, the right displacement and the right dimensions.\u00a0 The Enfield weighed a bit more, but the ’65 Bonneville didn’t have disk brakes front and rear, ABS, electric start, turn signals, an oil cooler, or catalytic converters.<\/p>\n

The Enfield engine is magnificent. It is very torquey, and on our Baja foray I never felt like I was undergunned. The exhaust note is perfect (it sounds like a real motorcycle).\u00a0 The engine is extremely smooth. It didn\u2019t seem to care what gear I was in; I could just roll on the throttle and the bike responded. In fact, a lot of times I\u2019d be riding along thinking I was in 6th gear only to discover that the bike was in 5th or even 4th. It is that smooth.\u00a0 And a lot of times while climbing mountains in Baja’s Valle de los Cirios<\/em>, I didn’t have to bother downshifting. \u00a0 Twist and go.\u00a0 Cool.\u00a0 We had the bike weighed down with lots of gear on our Baja trip; the Enfield didn\u2019t seem to care.\u00a0 The engine is a 4-valve per cylinder, single overhead cam design, but the Enfield folks somehow managed to pull off the styling such that it looks a lot like the original overhead valve Enfield design of the 1960s (kudos for that). \u00a0 It is a good-looking and brilliantly-performing motor.<\/p>\n

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Perhaps the best-looking engine in the business, this SOHC, 4-valves-per-cylinder motor strongly resembles the 1960s Enfield OHV motor. The left side engine cases make it look like a non-unit-construction engine. Well done, Enfield!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The bike never felt heavy to me.\u00a0 The Enfield carries its weight low and it felt light and quick everywhere.\u00a0 Yeah, on paper it’s 80 lbs heavier than the ’65 Bonneville.\u00a0 It didn’t feel like it, though.\u00a0 It feels good.<\/p>\n

Enfield’s spec sheet says the bike is air-and-oil cooled, and there’s a non-obtrusive oil cooler mounted on the frame downtubes. \u00a0 The engine looks perfect. It’s nicely finned and you can see the thing.\u00a0 The exhaust system is a work of art.\u00a0 The mufflers are nicely shaped megaphones and brilliantly plated, and the exhaust header curvature is perfect.\u00a0 (Why is the word “perfect” emerging so frequently in this report?) \u00a0 I’m guessing the headers are a “pipe in a pipe” arrangement, as the pipes exhibited no heat discoloration. \u00a0 The clamps securing the exhaust headers to the cylinder head are neatly finned gizmos, just like Triumph had in the ’60s. \u00a0 Both sides of the engine have beautiful cases. \u00a0 Gresh commented that the engine’s left side cases were fashioned to make it look like the bike had separate engine and transmission cases, as Enfield had in days of yore. \u00a0 The Enfield guys got it right.\u00a0 I am impressed.<\/p>\n

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A magnificent exhaust system.\u00a0 The curvature of the pipes and the upswept cans are perfect.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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If we had any, Gresh and I could comb our hair in those engine cases.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gresh mentioned in an earlier blog that he reached 115 mph in 5th gear and 110 mph in 6th, confirming that 6th is really an overdrive. I never took the bike over 80; it would do it, I just didn\u2019t want to. I found the bike stable at any speed. Fuel economy is outstanding. When we took delivery of the bike, it had 847 miles on the odometer and Joe measured 60 mpg on the first tank.\u00a0 On our last tank, with another 1300 miles on the bike, it returned 70 mpg.\u00a0 It never used any oil on our trip.<\/p>\n

The headlight is a big chrome affair, just like Triumph (and basically all the British manufacturers) used to do.\u00a0 The beam was good, too. \u00a0 It lit up the street nicely.<\/p>\n

The bike has a single disk in front and another in the rear.\u00a0 Both are ABS equipped.\u00a0 There’s no provision that we could see to turn the ABS off. \u00a0 Joe slammed the rear brake on a dirt road, and you could see where the ABS activated on and off in the bike’s track. \u00a0 The brakes are good.\u00a0 I never used them hard enough to activate the ABS feature, and that was okay by me.<\/p>\n

The fuel tank is nicely contoured with a teardrop shape (it looks like a motorcycle gas tank should).\u00a0 Fuel capacity is 13.7 liters (that converts to 3.6 gallons). \u00a0\u00a0 The tank emblems are gorgeous, although there was a very slight curvature mismatch where the leading edge of the emblem interfaced with the tank. \u00a0 That’s my inner motojournalist kicking in.\u00a0 I had to find something negative to say about the bike, and folks, this is one of very few nits I had with the bike.\u00a0 Yeah, I’m being picky.\u00a0 The gas cap is of the locking variety (it unlocks with the ignition key), and the cap is not hinged on the tank.\u00a0 You take it completely off when refilling. \u00a0 The bike ran equally well on regular or premium, and we mostly ran on regular because that’s all we could get once we went further into Baja.<\/p>\n

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The badging is magnificent.\u00a0 No funky cheap decals here.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Picky, picky, picky…there’s a slight curvature mismatch at the front of the tank emblems. It was consistent on both sides of the tank.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Here’s another nit:\u00a0 Joe and I both felt the left side of the bike is crowded around the footpeg.\u00a0 The gearshift is a little too close (I guess it could be adjusted upward, and I’d like the lever to be a little longer). \u00a0 The extensions for the kickstand and the centerstand extend far enough outside the bike and they are close enough to the footpeg that putting your foot down is a bit challenging.\u00a0 I didn’t like that all of that stuff (the gearshift, the footpeg, the kickstand extension, and the centerstand extension) stuck as far out as they did, and I had to think about where I put my foot down more than I do on other motorcycles.\u00a0 On the plus side, shifting was slick and effortless, there was no clunking, and the bike almost changed gears telepathically (it was that smooth).\u00a0 Getting the kickstand down was easy with the long extension, and pulling the bike up on the centerstand was also easy.\u00a0 Enfield provides a nice handhold on the left side of the bike for that purpose.<\/p>\n

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Things are crowded on the left side of the bike, and I had to be careful putting my left foot down.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The shift lever was a little too low and a little too close to the left footpeg.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I’d call the instrumentation perfect (ah, there’s that word again).\u00a0 As I mentioned in one of the first blogs we did on the Interceptor, Enfield captured the essence of the big old Smiths instruments that used to adorn British bikes back in the ’60s. \u00a0 The bike has a digital, bar-based fuel gage in the left pod, an analog speedo and tach, high beam and turn signal indicators, an ABS light, and an odometer and two tripmeters.\u00a0 Stated differently, it has all the good stuff you need and none of the stuff you don’t.\u00a0 The tripmeter reset was a pushbutton between the speedo and tach.\u00a0 I found the tripmeter reset a little hard to actuate, but I haven’t been hitting the gym lately.<\/p>\n

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Perfect instrumentation, in my opinion.\u00a0 The chrome crossbar is a little cheesy.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The horn on this bike is loud. It sounds like a European automobile horn.\u00a0 I liked that.<\/p>\n

On the bodywork, everything looks great.\u00a0 The tank, as mentioned above, is is nicely shaped and the metalflake tangerine color is stunning.\u00a0 The Interceptor’s fenders are nicely shaped, a bit abbreviated (which I like), silver in color, and plastic, all of which is fine by me.\u00a0 The bike has a deep gloss black tubular double downtube frame, and that answers the mail nicely for a refined and classic Britbike look.\u00a0 The seat is long, not overly cushy, flat, and comfortable (it has a cable-actuated release accessible under the right body panel).\u00a0 The side covers work, too.\u00a0 I like that they are black.\u00a0 It fits the overall look nicely.<\/p>\n

The handlebar switchgear is the same as the Bullet, which is the same as the CSC motorcycles, which is the same as 90% of the motorcycles sold today.\u00a0 Somewhere, there’s a single factory making handlebar switchgear for everyone.\u00a0 My guess is that factory has a Chongqing zip code.\u00a0 It all works nicely.\u00a0 The turn signals are not self-cancelling. \u00a0 The clutch and front brake levers (forgive me, Joe Gresh) fell easily to hand and were light to operate.\u00a0 One more minor nit:\u00a0 Joe noticed that the front brake left was shaped such that it had a minor drag against the right handlebar switchgear housing, and that this slight drag prevented the brake lever from returning all the way to the forward position (you could touch the front brake lever with your fingers to make it go all the forward).\u00a0 We probably could have adjusted that interference out by repositioning the front brake lever on the handlebar, but we did not.\u00a0 It’s a nit that will almost certainly be gone when the bikes go into production for the US market.\u00a0 Joe liked the handlebar crossbar; I thought it was the only thing on the bike that looked cheap. \u00a0 I think it would have been better if it was an integral part of the handlebar, as Janus does on their Gryffin model and CSC does on the TT250.<\/p>\n

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Standard switchgear on the left handlebar.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Standard switchgear on the right handlebar, too.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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There was a slight bit of interference between the switchgear housing and the front brake lever in the area denoted by the yellow arrow.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The front suspension is not adjustable, and if you have been following the ExNotes Enfield Baja blog, you know that’s okay by me.\u00a0 The rear suspension is adjustable for preload.\u00a0 As delivered to us, the rear shocks were set to a medium position. \u00a0 Our bike, being a preproduction prototype, did not have a tool kit, so there was no spanner to make any rear shock adjustments. \u00a0 You can see from some of our photos that we had the Interceptor loaded heavily with our gear and soft luggage, and I managed to bottom out the rear suspension a couple of times.\u00a0 No big deal.\u00a0 Suspension travel is about what’s needed on a street bike. \u00a0 The wheels are 18-inchers\u00a0 front and rear.<\/p>\n

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Silver fenders, unpainted wire wheels, and Pirelli tires. It all came together for a crisp, responsive, good-looking motorcycle.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The rear carries 130\/70-18 tires. The bike rides and handles well.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Our Enfield benefactor told us that officially the bike is to be known as the 650 INT, as the Interceptor name had some issues.\u00a0 I’m guessing that’s because a certain other motorcycle uses that name today (hint: that motorcycle is usually red). \u00a0 Ah, whatever.\u00a0 It seems to me that Enfield of yore (in the UK Enfield days) used the Interceptor name long before you met those nicest people on a…well, you know.\u00a0 And then, of course, there was the Ford Interceptor, the name the Blue Oval guys stuck on their police cruisers.\u00a0 So I thought I might help Enfield by suggesting a few other names.\u00a0 My first idea was that maybe they could call this bike the Kool Long Range 650 to honor our 1300-mile Baja adventure and the bike’s displacement, but that would abbreviate to KLR 650, and…well, you know.\u00a0 Another idea was that because the bike has electric starting and it is such a smooth ride, we could call it the Electra-Glide, but…well, you know. \u00a0 And then, because it is so well balanced and tractable with its torquey motor, we might call it the Go Slow, but that becomes GS, and I think someone is already using those initials. \u00a0 The tank badges are kind of gold in color and shaped like a wing, so maybe Gold Wing would work (is that already taken?).\u00a0 Maybe, because of where the bike is manufactured, we could just call it the Indian.\u00a0 What’s that?\u00a0 That name is already taken, too?\u00a0 It’s tough, I guess, naming a new bike.<\/p>\n

Overall, I am extremely impressed with the new Royal Enfield 650 Interceptor. \u00a0 So much so, that I’m going to buy one if (as I mentioned in an earlier blog) I can convince the dealer that I’m not stupid and I’m not subsidizing their freight and setup fantasies. \u00a0 At first blush, one of the dealers told me freight and setup on this bike would be $1200.\u00a0 Uh huh. \u00a0 Look, I know that you can ship a bike anywhere in the lower 48 states for something around $350 (and that’s a max number; if you’re shipping it to a closer state it’s a lot less, and if you’re shipping several, the rates drop even more). \u00a0 Setup on this bike probably involves installing the mirrors, maybe the handlebars, and the front wheel, and all that should take under an hour.\u00a0 I don’t know why the dealers persist in this gouge-the-customer-for-freight-and-setup larceny.\u00a0 Well, I take that back. I do know. I just don’t like it, and I won’t pay it. \u00a0 A realistic freight and setup cost (to the dealer) is most likely below $350, and with a reasonable profit that number would go a little higher.\u00a0 But not $1200.\u00a0 No way, no how.<\/p>\n

Okay, off the soapbox and back to the bike. \u00a0 I think the Enfield 650 is one of the best motorcycles I’ve ever ridden.\u00a0 It’s light, it’s smooth, it’s fast, it handles well, it gets good fuel economy, and the fit and finish are world class.\u00a0 It’s almost too good, in that maybe it doesn’t have the character or personality of the Bullet, or a 1965 Triumph Bonneville.\u00a0 But that’s a trade I’d make.\u00a0 Enfield hit a home run with the Interceptor.\u00a0 I think it’s perfect.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I was a teenager and LBJ was in the White House,\u00a0 my standard against which all motorcycles were judged was the 1965 Triumph Bonneville. To me, that represented the ultimate motorcycle, and to this day, it\u2019s what I think of when people start talking about the perfect motorcycle. \u00a0 It’s what came to mind … Continue reading “The Interceptor”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[63,232,66,89,610],"tags":[613,617],"class_list":["post-3449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-baja","category-dream-bike","category-joe-gresh","category-motorcycle-adventure-ride","category-royal-enfield","tag-royal-enfield-650","tag-royal-enfield-650-int"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3449"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3449\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3527,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3449\/revisions\/3527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}