Written by Andrew Jones
It’s September 26th, 2017. Through a series of events I still don?t quite understand, I?m sitting in the boardroom of the new Royal Enfield Technical Centre at Bruntingthorpe, near Leicester in the UK. Next to me is Siddharth Lal who?s the son of Vikram Lal, one of India?s richest men. ?Sid?, as he?s called, is the CEO of Royal Enfield. Also here is Englishman Mark Wells who is their design guru and American Paul Ventura who does the thinking behind the company?s new products. Their mood is upbeat and I?m about to find out why.
A special rear-projection screen that?s big enough to show a rendered motorcycle at 100% scale is turned on. Before I really know what?s happening, we see a beautiful, orange-tanked roadster with twin exhausts appear as if it?s right there in the room with us. ?We?ve been working on this for almost 10 years,? says Sid without taking his eyes off of the bike. My jaw drops. The finished products. An Interceptor in ?Orange Crush?…
The team?s distraction morphs to excitement as they tell us all about what they have been keeping secret for so long. Next we see a render of their new engine. It?s a 650 parallel twin and boy does it look good. Hell, it looks almost archetypal ? like it belongs in a museum or an art gallery. Different to the thumping Royal Enfield singles we?ve seen before, it?s much more jaunty and forward-leaning with polished side covers big enough to check your new leather boots in.
All the while, Mark...