WILL NEW KX SHAPE ENFIELD’S FUTURE?

Royal Enfield’s 838cc concept reveals hidden passion

‘My personal favourite part is the tank’

When Royal Enfield unveiled the gorgeous KX Concept recently, we were left with more questions than answers. What on earth were a value-focused company doing building an outrageous concept? Well it turns out they were simply pleasing the boss. “Of all the models in Enfield’s history the KX is my favourite,” says Siddhartha Lal, CEO of Royal Enfield. “It’s from such a fascinating time in motorcycling history. It was before the English and American markets split into parallel-twins and cruisers, so it has style elements that we would associate with both. My personal favourite part is the tank; there are no other shapes like it out there.”

So just how did the model come about?

“Well it’s good to give the team something to do without the restraints of a production bike,” adds Lal. “I told them I like this one, then it was just a case of giving them the time and the budget. The work they have done is amazing, it went from idea to finished concept in less than six months.

“We actually drew up a few different designs that ranged from very classic tributes to the KX, to very futuristic modern reinterpretations. In the end the final design was somewhere in the middle of the two, with elements from both.” As gorgeous as it is, Enfield are currently being stubborn and sticking to the official line that this bike is purely a concept and is not destined for production. We’ve heard that one before a few times over the years... so fingers crossed something similar might appear in the near future.

Proper heritage The Concept KX draws inspiration from the 1140cc V-twin KX from the 1930s Twintastic While the engine block is styled after the original KX, the cylinders are similar to the new 650 twins Then and now The KX mixes classic and modern styling, such as the girder fork with integrated nacelle and modern speedo Forging ahead Despite the classic style, the KX manages to sneak in something rather special: a single-sided soft-tail rear-end 1 2 3 4

Retro meets modern in the KX’s digital speedo

It’s been a pet project for Enfield boss Sid Lal

Single-sided softail back end is a classy touch