royal enfield continenta gt cafe racer review

Full Review- We put the Royal Enfield Continental GT aka Cafe Racer through its paces

royal-enfield-continenta-gt-cafe-racer-review

Late last month, famous South India based motorcycle maker Royal Enfield launched the much anticipated Continental GT aka Cafe Racer in India. The Royal Enfield Continental GT India launch happened only a couple of months after the bike’s Europe debut and the India-spec CGT looks like a fine machine. It’s the first motorcycle from the world’s oldest bike manufacturer to have been built from the grounds u in a very long time. We spent a couple of days with the new kid on the block and while we were easily the first Indian online portal to come up with a first-ride review of the new bike (click here to go to our first ride review), here we are again, to present before you a more detailed report on the latest RE.

royal-enfield-continenta-gt-cafe-racer-review-2 

So what is a Cafe Racer?

The term ‘cafe racer’ is certainly new to India and going by the number of people that have been asking us about this ‘new’ style of bikes, it seems like only the most clued-in bike aficionados understand the Cafe Racer lineage. Nothing too surprising, especially if you consider that Cafe Racer styled bikes have been conspicuous by their absence in our country and it is the very first time that such a bike has been made available in the mass market.

Going by history, a cafe racer is a bike that has been modified for racing between cafes! During the 1960’s  some high ‘spirited’ bikers in the UK used to go to a cafe, play some record, and race to return before the record finished playing!! Thus the term cafe racer was born. Gradually, it became pretty usual for Cafe Racers to hit the ton (100 mph / 160+ kmph). Most of these motorcycles were initially homegrown, with motorcyclists adding easily available performance parts to their ‘normal’ bikes to convert them into faster ‘Cafe Racers’. Thanks to addition of some of the commonly available parts, a standard look for Cafe Racers began to materialize.

A Cafe Racer of the 60s typically would consist of:

  • Swept-back exhaust pipe(s)
  • Clip-on handlebars
  • Dunlop TT100 rubber
  • Bigger carbs
  • Rear set foot-pegs

 royal-enfield-continenta-gt-cafe-racer-review-3 

It was in 1965 that Royal Enfield launched the Continental GT 250 in England. The ’65 CGT 250 came with a fibre-glass petrol tank and several such features that made it one of the sportiest Cafe Racers of its time. It is said that the 1965 Royal Enfield Continental GT 250 was the fastest quarter litre cafe racer model back in its day and the good news for us is that the good chaps at RE have taken enough inspiration from this Cafe Racer of yore for the new 2013 Continental GT!

Go to next page for Royal Enfield Continental GT Design and Ergonomics Review>>>

12 thoughts on “Full Review- We put the Royal Enfield Continental GT aka Cafe Racer through its paces”

  1. I took rides on GT & D-390 respectively back to back in that order. Still hungover with D-390. D-390 puts GT to shame in every aspect..

  2. Doesn’t make sense calling it a complete Cafe Racer since it can’t hit the “ton”(100 mph). It might be the best bike from RE till date but competition is stiff in today’s market, there are better bikes on offer by other manufacturers in the same price bracket. RE seriously needs to re-think its power/performance figures with its motorcycles.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top