Royal Enfield Bear 650 Assessment | LAMS Motorbike Check

Royal Enfield Bear 650 Assessment

With the motorcycling world embracing the journey bike craze, Royal Enfield has lastly launched a 650-twin with some off-road intent. Meet Royal Enfield’s Bear 650.  Reasonably than an enormous model of the Himalayan or a full-fledged journey machine, the Bear is extra of a scrambler-style motorbike.

This implies capitalising on the strengths of the 650 platform by sustaining wonderful street manners whereas including just a little off-road functionality—probably all that the majority aspiring “journey” riders are realistically going to make use of.

On the one hand that does imply this bike is a fairly clear spinoff of the Interceptor, even displaying the moniker on the quantity boards. Nonetheless, the Bear comes with priceless updates and scrambler-specific tweaks that make it a particular choice.

Impressed by the historic Huge Bear Run within the USA, famously received by Eddie Mulder on a Royal Enfield, the brand new Bear 650 kicks off from a aggressive $11,490 ride-away. That’s respectable worth.

We spent two days testing out the brand new mannequin, heading out of Melbourne and all the way down to Lorne with some gravel roads thrown in. We stayed on the Cumberland River Tenting cabins in a single day, adopted by a day down the coastal street earlier than looping again as much as Melbourne.

Navigating out and in of Melbourne concerned some inevitable site visitors and tedious freeway stretches—simply managed by the bike—earlier than transitioning to gravel and unsealed roads to check its off-road capabilities. Add in some implausible twisty sections, and it was the form of an journey you may plan for a weekend escape.

So placing apart the puzzling ‘Seize the Bear by the horns’ catch-phrase, which appears to have misplaced one thing in translation, and onto general impressions.

The Bear 650 is undeniably a good-looking machine. The race plate, beefier tyres and blacked out exhaust all add as much as look. A particular word going to the ‘inexperienced body’ Two 4 9 livery, whereas the Wild Honey (as examined) was my private favorite.

Wanting on the useful aspect of issues, there’s just a little additional floor clearance; spoked rims – 19 inch entrance, 17 inch rear; switchable ABS on the rear; full LED lights and a few fairly large ‘bars.

When launched in 2018, the 650 platform marked an enormous step ahead for the Indian model and construct high quality has been enhancing additional with every mannequin launch. Nonetheless, the 650 fashions all the time appear to be a step above their smaller capability siblings on the subject of high quality of end and dare I say it, panache. The parallel-twin engine itself additionally provides a little bit of charisma into the combo.

The 830 mm seat top is just a little taller than the Continental GT, however fairly a bit taller than the usual Interceptor. That did shock me just a little, with the bike solely lifted about 10 mm within the floor clearance division. At 184 mm that floor clearance determine is fairly affordable for a Scrambler, however it’s over 40 mm lower than supplied by the extra off-road oriented Himalayan.

The large handlebars are instantly noticeable. Some riders on the launch had them rolled again just a little to lower the attain and supply a extra relaxed higher physique place. I used to be fairly pleased with them.

The large take a look at for me was whether or not I’d have the ability to simply and naturally stand on the Bear 650 when getting on to gravel roads, and that did fairly comfortably show to be the case. No less than for my 180 cm or so body, preserving in thoughts I’ve been accused of getting orangutan arms by my vital different. In fact T-Rex shouldn’t throw stones!

The bars are just a little low and require a little bit of a hunch to be comfortably reached when standings.

Whereas probably not the case for everybody, physique proportions various so broadly, that is what I search for, as you possibly can wager I’ll be standing within the off-road stuff, because it simply provides me extra confidence and really feel on the bike.

The tank cut-outs had been additionally perfect for my knees, though greedy the seat between my knees wasn’t so comfy. I’m no off-road professional although, so take from that what you’ll. The foot controls, significantly the shifter, aren’t ideally suited to standing whereas driving.

The most important boon for a lot of will likely be the truth that the Bear is learner authorized, which means you can begin on one as a brand new rider, leaping into the deep finish considerably, with simply shy of fifty hp. That’s within the candy spot of getting loads of ‘have enjoyable’ energy, however not ‘tremendous straightforward to lose your license immediately’ energy, no matter your license sort.

The air-cooled engine has been tuned for extra torque, partially due to the brand new exhaust boosting that determine by eight per cent. Shorter gearing additionally provides it a bit extra pep.

Peak energy figures could also be bandied about, however broad usable torque is the place it’s at on a street bike and the Bear doesn’t disappoint, with clean fuelling backing that up.

The suspension package deal is notable at this worth level with Showa offering the forks and shocks. Nonetheless, the shocks on this mannequin miss out on the exterior reservoir seen on another fashions.

I used to be fairly impressed after the gravel roads of day one, sufficient in order that I wouldn’t have minded doing extra gravel, which I’d say is a very good testomony to how comfy I felt on the bike.

Clearly we’re simply getting a style of sunshine off-roading on the pretty road-oriented customary tyres, however it’s clear the Bear doesn’t have the off-road chops of the go anyplace Himalayan.

Regardless of weighing simply over 200 kg, the Bear 650 is manageable on the gravel and the ample torque of the air-cooled twin-cylinder provides loads of drive.

I definitely wasn’t spinning the wheel by the corners, or locking the rear to show, however my confidence rapidly constructed up for the situations, which means I may additionally decide up the tempo – all the time factor whenever you’re the slowest of the group.

Entrance finish confidence and monitoring was good. Whereas I typically like a wider ‘peg for standing on a motorbike, they nonetheless did the job, and the suspension dealt with the situations simply.

Brakes are from Bybre, with a single entrance 320 mm rotor and two-pot caliper. A generously sized 270 mm rear rotor and single-pot caliper present a fairly respectable quantity of stopping energy on the rear, particularly with the leverage that standing provides you on the lever.

We did one barely tough part, with a steep downhill, solely to show round and head again up the identical part. That did have me a bit apprehensive (about my skills), however preserving the facility on and letting the bike do its stuff had the hefty Bear 650 climb up and onto simpler sections very quickly in any respect.

The ergos labored, the torquey engine was forgiving and simple to maintain momentum up, which means much less gear modifications, and people tyres gave affordable confidence.

I’m no off-road guru, however I believe for brand new riders significantly, this will likely be a simple machine to discover on. Which is vital as a LAMS machine. I’d be fairly glad choosing one among these over an ADV if I didn’t intend to do way more than the odd hearth path or straightforward gravel roads.

Our tarmac trip then gave a glimpse into simply how succesful the Bear 650 could be on the extra on a regular basis roads for many riders. Nicely, not your commuting roads, however the nicer rides that the majority of us actually get pleasure from on a day without work or a weekend.

The Nice Ocean Highway had the bike in its aspect, effortlessly linking collectively these corners, simply flicking backward and forward, the Bear shining on the authorized and pretty reasonable tempo of 80-100 km/h… or so.

You’ll be able to actually have a hoot on this bike at these speeds, cracking on just a little, having enjoyable and a little bit of a go whereas additionally probably not being too far within the hazard zone for pace cameras. That could be just a little conservative for the sportier rider. Nonetheless, it is a Royal Enfield, so it’s fairly true to kind.

I’m nudging in the direction of 40 now, however I nonetheless discover that there’s loads of enjoyable available on a motorbike ‘solely’ pumping out round 47 horsepower. Nonetheless, you possibly can stretch it as much as greater than 160 km/h, when you actually need to.

Contemplating the MRF Nylorex-X rubber isn’t a model or sort I’m acquainted with I felt they had been okay. I’d have an interest to see how they deal with the moist, however for the dry, they bought a tick of approval. For straightforward gravel or hearth trails they need to be as much as the duty.

A lunch cease at Duneed heralded the tip of the nice roads earlier than the slog into Melbourne in 35 diploma warmth. Fortunately, my Dririder Exo 3 jacket and the dearth of wind safety afforded by the Bear gave me loads of air-flow and made the summer time metropolis drudge bearable. The quantity of warmth coming off the bike wasn’t too dangerous both, contemplating that is an air-cooled machine.

I did discover the shocks just a little harsh on tough situations. After I’d checked the pre-load on day one I’d discovered it on the bottom setting, which means there was no remaining vary of adjustment for me to again it off additional for my 75 kg weight.

It did really feel harsher than the Interceptor, Continental GT or Tremendous Meteor, which is shocking because the Bear truly has extra suspension journey. 115 mm nonetheless isn’t all that a lot journey, however maybe these Nylorex tyres play their half within the harshness equation.

Seat consolation is sweet for an hour or two at a time, and there’s good mod-cons like a USB port within the sprint for gadget charging, a TFT show and onboard nav (by way of the app).

Total I believe the Bear 650 has rather a lot to supply. The pliability of a scrambler, powered by the freshest iteration of Royal Enfield’s 650-twin, and nonetheless very competitively priced. End up some enjoyable gravel roads or hearth trails to discover and a few likeminded riders to share the expertise with and also you’ll be in cloud 9 on the Bear.

What I like in regards to the Royal Enfield Bear 650:

• Styling is on level.
• Good mixture of efficiency and dealing with.
• Competitively priced.

The Royal Enfield 650 may enhance…

• Rear shocks a bit harsh (for me at 75 kg).
• ‘Bars could also be too ahead for some.

Royal Enfield Bear 650 Introductory Pricing & Colors

• Boardwalk White – $11,490 Trip Away
• Petrol Inexperienced / Wild Honey / Golden Shadow – $11,690 Trip Away
• Two 4 9 – $11,890 Trip Away

See the Royal Enfield Australia web site for extra info or your native seller.

2025 Royal Enfield Bear 650 Specs

2025 Royal Enfield Bear 650 Photographs

Photographs by Tom Fossati & Matthew Hayman