Royal Enfield has been spotted testing a mysteries new motorcycle which from the looks of it seems to be direct rival for the Jawa Forty Two. Or it even could be the next-gen Thunderbird X with a styling approach.
A new set of spy images have been doing rounds on the internet that reveal a completely new motorcycle from Royal Enfield, perhaps a Roadster. At first glance, this new motorcycle even looked like the new Thunderbird that’s coming up very soon but on closer inspection, you will know its not. This motorcycle has a low-slung stance unlike any other Royal Enfield motorcycle.
So what tells us that this is not the new Thunderbird? Well, for starters this motorcycle gets a single seat which is also flatter than the split seat setup seen on the Thunderbird. Secondly, this motorcycle gets a tail lamp that is different in shape and is also mounted higher than the one on the Thunderbird. The indicators are also mounted higher up on this bike. That said, it must be noted that the single seat and oval tail-light are similar to the one on the outgoing Thunderbird X.
As for the body panels on this test mule, they are more triangular-shaped while the ones on the next-gen Thunderbird spied repeatedly are slightly elongated. Another big element that hints at this being a completely new motorcycle is the exhaust pipe. The muffler on this bike is stubby and upward-swept, which is new for a Royal Enfield. The foot pegs are mid-set as opposed to the forward-mid-set seen on the Thunderbird test mules so far. While the fuel tank appears to be the same as the other bike, the one here appears to be positioned slightly lower.
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But let’s talk about what we can make out from this motorcycle. The headlight, fork, and round digital instrument cluster look similar to the Thunderbird test mules seen before. The double-cradle frame also has been seen on the spied images of the next-gen Classic. The engine also looks identical with its matte-black finish. The rear shock absorbers look similar too and so does the swingarm. Lastly, the V-shaped alloy-wheel design also appears to be the same.
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So what really is this new Royal Enfield motorcycle? There are plenty of similarities with the next-gen Thunderbird seen before but there are equal number of differences as well. What we are guessing is that this could be Royal Enfield’s direct rival to the Jawa Forty Two. While you could say that RE already has the Classic 350 for that purpose, its retro styling makes the Jawa a more fitting rival. So this could be a new motorcycle that directly targets the Forty Two. Or it could mean that RE has adopted a completely different styling strategy for the next-gen Thunderbird X. Whatever the result may be, we are quite excited to see what the end result will be.
