The first time we tried the Interceptor 650 we were thinking wow, what a worthy, pocket friendly alternative to the Triumph Bonneville. Granted the Interceptor is all kinds of great on its own, with its own cult following growing in Malaysia and all over the world. However the Super Meteor 650 though, we feel it’s a crime to even draw such a comparison. This bike has pushed the envelope of the Royal Enfield brand a whole lot more compared to anything the brand has offered in the past.
The tech spec’s
The RE Super Meteor 650 comes with its 649cc parallel twin mated to a 6 speed gearbox. There’s plenty of power from engine, 45bhp @7250rpm and 52.3Nm @ 5650rpm to be exact. The bike comes with upside down Showa shocks and twin shocks at the back. Travel is 120mm at the front and 101mm at the back. The seat height is set at 740mm. The seats itself is generously sized for both rider and pillion. Our test bike came with a back rest too. Both the front and rears get twin piston calipers with generous 300mm discs at the back. There’s dual channel ABS as standard too.
How did it work on our roads?
This is a forward pegged cruiser. But in terms of ride and handling, it was such a joy to use. It was one of the bikes we used to marshal our maiden riding event with the Route Hunters Community Members. We did the entire twisty bits of the B32 / N32 routes in both directions. This bike worked really well, pulling strongly on 3rd and 4th gears, topping out at 90kph on even some large radius corners. In fact the forward pedals were really awkward to use for what the chassis and powertrain could do out here.
The suspension never felt overly soft on these routes, and it allows for a generous amount of lean angles. There’s full control even on mid corner bumps at about even 70kph in the bends. But the same suspension setup allowed for a really comfortable ride on most road surface. Only on the roughest patches do you really feel the ‘cruiser’ suspension travel’s limitation.
@route_hunters_malaysia Our maiden bike riding adventure, the Waterfall Ride : Part 1’s quick recap. It was a good bloody day #fyp #foryou #foryoupage #fypシ゚viral #fypage #fyppppppppppppppppppppppp #ducati #scrambler #nightshift #desertx #royalenfield #bulletmerijaan #classic350 #supermeteor650 ♬ Rock and Roll Session - Canal Records JP
During the mid ride stop, we allowed the participants to try out the bikes that were brought by us for the ride. Those who tried the Super Meteor really enjoyed the bike with one rider commenting on how he was blown away with its braking performance, citing its more powerful than anything he’s experienced or expected from the Royal Enfield brand.
Its quite good at cruising too, holding a steady 100kph with no throttle input at 6th gear, and jumping up to 120kph with ease with a slight throttle. The shifting feel itself feels nice compared to the single cylinder bikes we have tested so far from RE
In Conclusion
The Royal Enfield Super Meteor 650 is a very different creature to the Meteor 350. Both bikes are completely far apart, infact it’s quite a level above most of its stablemates. Everything from fit and finish, brakes, and suspension especially feel drastically different. The test bike had our least favourite colour of the Super Meteor, but even then it looked great especially out on the open road. For 37,900 theres loads of tech and toys thrown into it. It also gives a snippet of what the Shotgun 650 could feel like, and this is something we cant wait to explore.