Royal Enfield Has Gone Insane And Built A 4th New Bike, The Wild Shotgun 650

Royal Enfield has been having an explosive 2023 filled with eye-catching model unveilings, and it’s not done yet. The firm has officially rolled out its latest motorcycle, and this one is pretty hot right from the factory. This is the Royal Enfield Shotgun 650, and it’s a stripped-down bobber – just a set of disc wheels away from making someone bite their lip. And if I’m reading the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency certification reporting correctly, it sure looks like riders here in America will be getting this backroad stormer, too.

If you think Royal Enfield news has been popping up a lot lately, you’re not wrong. It’s all a part of a larger scheme that, as Indian motorcycle news site 91Wheels wrote in 2020, will see Royal Enfield releasing a total of 28 new motorcycles over seven years. The brand is even expected to offer an electric motorcycle. It’s fascinating to watch all of this unravel. In the not-too-distant past, Royal Enfield was mocked by riders (I confess, I was one one of them). Now people all over the world are happily scooping up the brand’s bikes. In the past year, Royal Enfield has pumped up its lineup with the Hunter 350, the Super Meteor 650, and the Himalayan 450. All three of those looked pretty good, and Enfield isn’t done yet.

News and leaks about the Shotgun 650 have been coming in hot. Engine specifications were leaked back in August when the folks of Motorcycle.com did some digging and found that the EPA certified the Shotgun 650 here in America. Further details about the motorcycle’s chassis were revealed in September. Those were just the specs, bikes were seen testing before that. Now, Royal Enfield itself has finally revealed the production version of this motorcycle, and it actually looks pretty close to the spectacular concept that came before it.

The Concept

Back in 2021, Royal Enfield arrived at EICMA with the SG650 Concept. What made the SG650 special was the fact that, unlike other modern Royal Enfields, it wasn’t just an old nameplate brought into the 21st century. As Royal Enfield noted in 2021, the brand challenged its Industrial Design Team, led by Chief of Design Mark Wells, to create something celebrating ‘transition’. Thankfully, Royal Enfield does explain what that means. The team was tasked to take Enfield’s classic design and translate it into future design. This visual concept is often called neo-retro, and applied to the SG650 Concept, I think it looks stunning. I’ll let Mark Wells explain:

We are a company in transition – for so long [the brand has been] a representation of the analog age, and now we are developing new products that keep that same pure soul yet are fully integrated into the digital present. To celebrate this, we wanted to develop a project that really gave our design team an opportunity to stretch themselves creatively. The goal: to build a unique concept motorcycle that pays homage to Royal Enfield’s rich history of custom motorcycles, but one that wasn’t encumbered by the past. A neo-retro interpretation that pushes the boundaries of what a Royal Enfield motorcycle could look like, but at its core still celebrating that iconic Royal Enfield DNA.

 

The resulting SG650 concept looked like a work of art, and I still love the silver bits mingling with the blue accents. The design team committed to the theme, too, with silver with blue accents bleeding into the instrument cluster and turn-by-turn navigation system.

That paint scheme then “strips away” as it moves back as if the motorcycle is going Mach 1 as it sits still. Add disc wheels, bar end mirrors, plus blacked-out paint, and the finished concept looked so good, it was worthy of a desktop wallpaper – something I’d never have said of a Royal Enfield even five years ago. Even now, the SG650 is easily one of my favorite motorcycle concepts of recent times.

The Production Shotgun 650

The Shotgun 650 was officially unveiled at Royal Enfield’s Motoverse event in Goa, India earlier this month, and thankfully, Royal Enfield didn’t entirely ruin the look on the way to production. Chief of Design Mark Wells said the reaction to the SG650 Concept at EICMA was so overwhelmingly positive that the same team that built the concept was tasked with turning it into reality while changing as little as possible. The team was able to keep most of of the concepts defining features, including the cast aluminum nacelle, chopped fenders, and angular stance. Of course, certain things had to give, such as the concept’s lack of reflectors and its super low-profile mirrors.

Royal Enfield made a few other changes on the way to production that seem to result in a motorcycle with a different vibe. Gone are the silver parts. Now, they’re all black. Those sweet disc wheels also left the chat, replaced with a new 10-spoke wheel design. The paint scheme has also been inverted. Before, the bright bits were up front, now they’re in the back.

Otherwise, the motorcycle is largely faithful to the concept. You still get seating for one with the saddle suspended above the rear fender, and true to concept, the motorcycle looks like a near-future interpretation of a stripped-down bobber. You get everything you need and nothing you don’t. In terms of style, I think this is just a set of bar-end mirrors and disc wheels from really sizzling. Wells says the motorcycle is meant to be a stylish canvas for customizers of all experience levels to tinker with, so go ahead and do what you want with it.

The specific motorcycle you’re looking at here is what Royal Enfield calls the Shotgun 650 Motoverse Edition. It’s a limited-edition colorway being offered to just 25 of the people who attended Motoverse this year. According to Royal Enfield, each Motoverse Edition is hand-painted. That’s notable in itself as RE’s other motorcycles often get styling details via decals instead of paint.

Official specs haven’t been revealed just yet, but Royal Enfield did confirm that the motorcycle uses the brand’s 650-Twin platform. The EPA documents Motorcycle.com found say that the Shotgun 650 uses the same 648cc engine used in the Continental GT 650, Interceptor 650, and new Super Meteor 650. This should translate to an output of around 46.8 horsepower, and the engine is connected to a six-speed transmission.

Leaked certifications from the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) have given us some insight into the chassis. At 85.4 inches long, the Shotgun 650 is a few inches shorter than the 88.9-inch Super Meteor 650. At 32.2 inches wide, it’s just a touch slimmer than the 35-inch Super Meteor 650. The Shotgun 650 is also slightly taller, sitting at 45.4 inches whereas the Super Meteor is at 43.5 inches. The leaked specs from ARAI suggest a slightly higher seat height than the 29.13-inch saddle of the Super Meteor 650. That exact number isn’t defined, and neither is rear suspension travel, which is said to be greater than the Super Meteor’s 4 inches of rear travel. An inverted fork handles the motorcycle up front while dual shocks take up the rear.

The last bit of information we get is the fact that the Shotgun 650 has a shorter wheelbase than the Super Meteor 650, coming in at 57.7 inches to the Super Meteor’s 59-inch wheelbase. In terms of features, Royal Enfield says the bike has dual-channel ABS, alloy wheels, and the ability to add either a cargo rack or a passenger seat.

Royal Enfield hasn’t confirmed this, but in the past, EPA certifications were eventually followed up by Royal Enfield releasing the subject model here. So it’s reasonable to assume American riders will be seeing the Shotgun 650 soon enough, based on the regulatory docs. I have reached out to Royal Enfield for potential confirmation, and will update this story when more details are available.

Unfortunately, Royal Enfield has not fully released pricing at this time. The Motoverse Edition will be going for the equivalent of about $5,100 (Rs 4.25 Lakh) to those exclusive 25 customers in India. Regular production Shotgun 650s will be expected to sell for the equivalent of about $4,200 (Rs 3.50 Lakh). Of course, these are the prices for India, where the motorcycle is expected to go on sale early next year. I expect the confirmed spec sheet and international pricing to come closer to production time. Either way, the Shotgun 650 looks good and I’m adding it to my list of bikes we should road test.

(Images: Royal Enfield)