Buy a used Interceptor Royalen eld Interceptor
It’s the most British of all British bikes, brought to you direct from India
There are a few used examples around. Prices start at £4750, which is only £750 less than a fully-warranted spanker
º Check the electrics are in good order – there are stories of dicky ignition switches, battery faults and a handful of rectifier issues. If the bike’s been used all-year-round expect fur to be trying to grow. Don’t pay over the odds for a bike because of its accessories.
Redditch is a town a short distance south of Birmingham in the West Midlands. It’s home to the National Needle Museum and Halfords’ head of ice, and is where Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham was born. Reassuringly British, then. It was also the home of Royal Enfield, who started building bikes there back in 1901. In the 1950s they joined forces with Madras Motors, shipped a load of tooling to India and produced 350cc single-cylinder Bullets. 65 years later the Redditch outfit is long gone but Royal Enfield in India still make a Bullet that’s essentially the same. Their Chennai base may be 5175 miles from Redditch – but RE are arguably the only remaining company from the glory days of the British motorcycle. Last year’s new 650cc twin-cylinder Interceptor doesn’t appear to have the same historical link. After all, it’s hard to imagine it shares many parts with the thumping Bullet. But there’s real brand lineage in the Interceptor. Development started with the Bullet-derived 535cc Continental GT, and it’s full of British input. RE’S flash R&D centre is at Bruntingthorpe in leafy Leicestershire (where we do Bike’s performance testing). Its chassis was developed with Harris Performance (who RE own). And English has been RE’S working language for yonks.
‘The UK team started from zero just over five years ago,’ says Simon Warburton, RE’S head of product development. ‘There hadn’t been a great deal of development [of the 650] – we had a prototype engine but it still had all the work left to do: developing the engine to give the character, performance and durability we wanted, and designing the rest of the vehicle from scratch. We tried to retain as many of the original GT parts as possible, but that didn’t end up being many at all.’
Pleasingly, there’s still plenty of Indian contribution into RE’S models too. The UK centre has grown to 160 people but the Chennai team is now five times larger than it was, with 400 engineers, technicians, designers, testers. Development happens in both countries with designers more or less evenly split. Prototypes are built in the UK and India, depending on the project, and though testing happens in both countries most is done there, simply because the teams are bigger. ‘Enfield have been in India so long I appreciate that aspect to their heritage too,’ reckons Hugo. ‘Costing £5699 is great, but it’s not just about making the bike in Asia to lower costs and delivering a cheap product. I like that there is a genuine link between the Interceptor and the original company from 1901 – it gives the bike extra credibility.’ Viewing the 650 next to the Chinese-built Benelli, it’s easy to see Hugo’s point of view. It feels more... authentic. I also like how RE seem like a ‘proper’ factory, not just an assembly plant. Where previously they relied on outside agencies for development and design guidance it’s now all in-house. They make their own frames and tanks, machine the cylinder heads, barrels, crankcases and engine covers, do the powdercoating and paint, and slap on chrome. Parts bought in are from places as far-flung as China, Europe and the USA, though most big component suppliers are set-up locally: brakes come from Brembo India (branded Bybre), ABS is from Bosch India, with engine management from Bosch, Keihin and Continental.
None of this should actually matter. What’s important is what the bike is like, and the Interceptor is a charming, usable, lovable device of the sort that makes you feel good about life. Engine, chassis and ergonomics form a gloriously balanced package, giving a bike you jump on and use day-to-day. And its lack of electronics is surely part of the appeal. That it’s produced in Asia and so costs just five and half grand simply cements its place as one of the great bikes of recent times. But... well, for a Royal Enfield all this designed in Britain stuff and the many decades of Indian ancestry are important. I’m sure Quianjiang or another eastern factory could build an equivalent retro with the same looks, finish, components and on-road behaviour. And same bargain price. But would it feel like having an Interceptor? I doubt it.
‘What’s important is what the bike is like, and the RE is gloriously balanced’