IT’S taken a long, long time for them to do it, but Royal Enfield finally looks to be moving ahead with its 650cc scrambler model, and we think it even now has a name.
Trademark filings from Australasia have been filed, and the name Royal Enfield is looking to protect is ‘Bear’. Unusually for the historic brand, which often leans on its heritage for model names, we can’t find a bear in the Enfield back catalogue, but it seems that is the name they have chosen and a launch might not be far off.
Further details of the bike are as yet unknown, although now the name is nailed down, we could expect a full model launch at some point in the next twelve months. The prototype of the bike has also been spotted out on the road, although the finished article will likely be vastly different once it hits the showrooms.
The new Bear will be slotting into a fiendishly competitive Royal Enfield range, with the Continental GT and Interceptor 650 selling phenomenally well in the UK, Europe and beyond. Really the only thing missing from the most retro of all the retro motorcycle makers was a classically styled scrambler to do battle with bikes like the Triumph Scrambler 1200, BMW’s R nine T, and Ducati Scrambler models.
While there is no official news on what the finished bike could look like, we have already seen a number of scrambler-style custom bikes based on the 650cc platform.
Once the launch of the Royal Enfield Bear is out the way, it’s likely next on the Indian factory’s to-do list will be the bobber based on the same 650cc platform. That is a bike we have been following closely, since we first had a look at the prototype at the EICMA show in Milan some time back. Again, the name for that machine is also known, with calling that machine ‘Shotgun’. The name ties in nicely to one of Royal Enfields age-old slogans, ‘Built like a Gun’.
