Author Topic: A new Classic? Anyone know if a 500cc version is in the works?  (Read 3792 times)

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Willie

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Reply #15 on: September 06, 2021, 04:05:49 pm
It's disappointing indeed that Mark and Sid are right there by a canal, yet chose not to do the Fish Slapping Dance: https://youtu.be/T8XeDvKqI4E. So much for respect for tradition.

Understandably though, it rather "smacks" of Imperial Colonialism.


fressko

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Reply #16 on: September 12, 2021, 09:04:14 pm
The 500 as a "performance" bike was supplanted by the new 650s. The 500 was too much for a mileage obsessed Indian market hence the comparative success of the 350. Enfield is ditching the really antiquated UCE (pushrods... no counterbalancers...) replacing it with what looks like a reliable and newer tech thumper on that J platform.
The 650 can work nicely on fast western roads and it was a HIT with sales, which cannot be said about the UCE500 like, ever.
I am not in the habit of buying new, but I could not resist the proposition of owning a brand new pushrod undersquare decent cc vibrating thumper (the only thing i would have wished for would have been a shaft drive and maybe 50-100 extra cc). I am pretty sure that RE will be following sales and market trends from now on so I dont see a 500 based on J platform in the future. Too many headaches for very little gain.


Keef Sparrow

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Reply #17 on: September 13, 2021, 12:39:19 am
I am pretty sure that RE will be following sales and market trends from now on so I dont see a 500 based on J platform in the future. Too many headaches for very little gain.
In that case my current 500 Bullet Trials will be my first and last Royal Enfield.  :(
Past: CB125-T2, T500, GT500, Speed Triple, 955i Daytona. Now: Royal Enfield Bullet Trials 500


axman88

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Reply #18 on: October 05, 2021, 04:24:24 am
There's a lot to like here in my opinion. Anyone know if a 500cc version is in the works?

Earlier tonight, at a "Motorcycle Monday" social event, here in Chicago, I met a rider on a RE Conti 650, who told me that a 500cc version of the OHC "J" engine was being worked on, and is definitely in the pipeline, and at least a year in the future.

I did ask how he knew, and the answer was convincing, but he asked me not to tell, or if I did, it was a little bird that told me, so this is all I feel at liberty to say.


fressko

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Reply #19 on: October 05, 2021, 09:44:34 am
If true, interesting decision, considering the very low sales of the previous 500 (after the twins hit the market). Looking at the specs of 350 J and UCE, the 500 J would have similar performance to the old one. I wonder who would buy it, other than the few enthusiasts here :)


Warwick

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Reply #20 on: October 05, 2021, 10:01:48 am
If is has decent power, I would trade in my interceptor in a heartbeat!!!
cheers and beers
Warwck
2007 Bullet, 1999 Lightning, 2010 Honda VFR1200f, 2019 Interceptor, 2007 Kwaka GPX250R


Crabsapper

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Reply #21 on: October 05, 2021, 12:29:27 pm
Seems fairly obvious to me that a 500 would get some sales from those who bought the 650 and/or 350 precisely because there wasn't a 500 to choose. Similarly the Himalayan.


AzCal Retred

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Reply #22 on: October 05, 2021, 05:35:11 pm
It's just a piston, barrel & counter balancer away from 500/535? ccs. It's what they did for 50 years, an obvious strategy. Everyone that's ridden the Meteor so far has been impressed with how "real motorcycle" sized it is, so...?
A trifecta of Pre-Unit Bullets: a Red Deluxe 500, a Green Standard 500, and a Black ES 350.


beagle

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Reply #23 on: October 20, 2021, 12:39:16 am
The 500 thumper was a nightmare to ride and own for some...while others, mine included, could comfortably sit on 60 mph all day and be smooth. Ive ridden some that would vibrate your teeth outta your head and were absolute heaps of shit, others a delight. The reluctance to accept them when a 650 was a similar price was obvious.  I have both a modded 650 and classic 500 and I prefer riding the 500..It offers a relaxed ride, a slow down and smell the road kill feel about it.  HD are going thru the same..the new bikes have little of the older hard metal feel to them even if they are a better engineered item. It come down to what excites your jollies. I grew up on thumpers from the 50s and 60s and I get nostalgic over them , not a 70's Z900 kwaka. RE are catering to the emerging market not us older blokes...
Drink now....avoid the Xmas rush.
greetings from Brisbane, Australia


fressko

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Reply #24 on: November 09, 2021, 10:04:38 pm
I grew up on thumpers from the 50s and 60s
There you go. Once you get to experience thumpers and especially if you start on one, everything else will eventually feel like a car and an experience that is disconnected from the road itself.