Classic Bullet is out!

Royal Enfield launched its new Bullet Classic motorcycle in Delhi today in 350cc and 500cc versions. The motorcycle was first unveiled at last year's Intermot motorcycle show in Cologne Germany and has been well-received abroad, where only the 500 is sold. The delay in the Indian arrival is primarily attributed to the time to the retuning the Keihin fuel injection system which feeds the 499cc pushrod single cylinder engine to meet Indian noise and pollution norms.

The 500cc version will be available in a muted blue colour exclusive to that model, along with red and black (common to both versions). The new styling package is quite attractive with cues taken from the 76-year history of the company being taken forward with design tweaks that give the 500 a classy neo-retro feel. Among the serious updates are the 18-inch tyres, a Bullet first. The bike will come with 90/90-18 tyres in front and 110/90-18 at the rear - MRF Nylogrip radials, no less. The engine specification lists the twinspark 499cc engine as making 27.2bhp at 5250rpm and 41.3Nm at 4000rpm. No performance numbers are specified. The bike is priced at Rs 1.24 lakh ex-showroom Delhi.

The 350cc version gets the twinspark 346cc engine from the Thunderbird, and the same styling. A metallic grey will be available only as the Classic 350. The Rs 98,086 (ex-showroom Delhi) motorcycle will offer 19.8bhp at 5250rpm and a peak torque of 28Nm at 4000rpm. The 350 will retain the usual 3.25-19 tyre in front, mind you.

OVERDRIVE spoke to Siddarth Lal, MD & CEO, Eicher Group and RL Ravichandran, CEO, Royal Enfield at the event. Talking about the development of the Classic, they said that the sound was one of the big design issues and despite incredible effort - and it is a very nice sounding Bullet - the Classic has still reached only 75 per cent of the intended sound. The addition of the fuel injection system was another major challenge. But the successful implementation has brought fuel economy benefits. The Classic 500 is the most fuel efficient 500 on the UK market - and the UK customers are very happy about that.