Royal Enfield could either recall the Interceptor 650 and Continental GT 650 for a revised engine map that handles high altitude riding well, or may carry out this exercise silently through a soft recall when the motorcycles are handed off for service. This information was conveyed by popular Youtuber Bulu Patnaik (Youtube channel BuluBiker), who faced engine stalling enroute the high altitude lake of Gurudongmar in Sikkim. Following the Youtuber’s troubles, Royal Enfield investigated the issue and found that it wasn’t a hoax. The retro motorcycle maker has now worked on a fix that is expected to be issued to all current owners of the Interceptor 650 and Continental GT 650 through a revised engine map. Bikes that are yet to be delivered will get the engine map from the factory itself.
Mr Bulu Patnaik has also noted that the engine remap is just a 10 minute job, which means that riders won’t have to spend too long at a Royal Enfield workshop to get the new map. Royal Enfield has acted swiftly on the compliant, and seems to be doing a good job in resolving this issue, which could become a big bother for riders heading to the hills.
In the past few weeks, the Royal Enfield twins have been silently recalled for fitment of rubber stoppers in the rear shock absorbers to prevent them from bottoming out. So, it’s clear that Royal Enfield is taking no chances with the real world performance of the 650cc twins, easily the most ambitious new motorcycles that the brand has produced.
The Interceptor 650 and Continental GT 650 twins were launched in India late last year, and the company expects a large number of Royal Enfield 350cc/500cc owners to upgrade to the twins. Both motorcycles are doing very good numbers, and have together outsold every other Rs. 2 lakh+ motorcycle in India including the KTM 390s, the TVC Apache 310, the BMW 310 twins, the Kawasaki Ninja 300, the Yamaha R3 and even much cheaper motorcycles such as the Bajaj Dominar 400 and Honda CBR 250R. The biggest selling point of both motorcycles is the value-for-money price point at which they sell at. The Interceptor 650 starts at Rs. 2.37 lakhs while the Continental GT 650 starts from Rs. 2.49 lakhs, and these prices makes them the least priced twin cylinder engined motorcycles in India. Both motorcycles use a 647cc, parallel twin engine with 47 Bhp-52 Nm, a 6 speed manual gearbox with slipper clutch and dual channel ABS equipped disc brakes.
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