I bought another bike today

A while back I posted about wanting a Royal Enfield 650. I think a few times. I did want to see some stats on how well they held up and since I bought the Triumph it was a long way off anyway. As it turns out they are fine. I was wanting to sit on an INT650 to size it up and I stopped by the Head Motorcycle Company in Columbia MO to do just that last Saturday.  They even had the orange color that I wanted brand new. 

What they also had was a 2019 in black with aftermarket levers,  rear shocks and rear rack with 175 miles(yes really) on it. For 4995 and a 155 doc fee. So I bought  it. 5150. Maybe I'm crazy but I test rode it and it's FUN, I know. Duh. I pick it up in a couple weeks because that's the only arrangement I could make but it's mine. Really stoked to have two bikes now. Ok it's really for the wife to learn to ride and kid #2 but it's one I can see keeping because it's so easy to work on. Cool, cool.

Welcome to the RE family. I now have three.  The brand is really the leader in retro bikes. Quality is on par with several of the Japanese brands (many of which aren't even built in Japan now). You can't beat them for the price.

i saw one of these on the road a couple years ago and assumed it was a restoration. i had no idea they existed again.

In reply to ddavidv :

Ha! Thanks. All it had to do on the test ride was start, run, shift and brake correctly. It surpassed my expectations.  I'm really hoping they release a Hunter 650 in a couple years. I'd add that to the garage.

Beauty. What is the seat height and weight on it?

I've looked at these a couple of times. I thought they had some quality issues that just recently, last couple years, got fixed? Stuff like footpegs snapping off. 

I've also read that the engines leave some to be desired. 

Regardless, that's a good looking bike. Well done and enjoy!

In reply to mr2s2000elise :

The previous owner installed lower rear shocks so I'm not sure what the seat height is currently.  I think stock is 31.5 inches. Weight is around 445 lbs wet I believe. 

In reply to Error404 :

One of the things I like most about the bike is how it's designed to be easy to work on for the average owner. I don't know who said that about the engines but they are wrong. It's a low compression air cooled engine designed to run on fuel from any crappy gas pump because it's a world bike. It's definitely more than the sum of its parts, also thanks, it really reminds me of my old suzuki gs550e from 1981 but with fuel injection and two fewer cylinders. I couldn't kill that thing.

Royal Enfields from the time of the 650 twins onward are well made. All of the hand-wringing over quality applied to the older Bullet 500s. There was a video of a foot peg snapping off a Himalayan but that was an earlier version. I just bought a Scram 411. The welds may not be laser precision but I'm not looking at the welds when I'm riding it. New bikes at used bike prices without having to resort to something from China in a box.

gunner (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to mr2s2000elise :

The previous owner installed lower rear shocks so I'm not sure what the seat height is currently.  I think stock is 31.5 inches. Weight is around 445 lbs wet I believe. 

Thanks. Was comparing to my Triumph street scrambler. I would like to add something else to the stable and was intrigued by yours.

In reply to mr2s2000elise :

Happy to help.