I am most definitely anxious to see (and more importantly, ride!) the new twins, and I'm sure they will be wonderful additions to the Royal Enfield lineup. . . yet, I am still saddened that the current single-cylinder variant will be going the way of the dodo. Here’s why.
As a kid I was obsessed with the cafe racers of the 50s and 60s and I read everything I could find about this remarkable period of British motorcycling history. When I finally turned 16 and got my motorcycle license in 1979, the first thing I did was turn down the handlebars of my KZ400 in a lame attempt to emulate the bikes I saw in the few UK publications I could get my hands on while growing up.
I also think that every motorcyclist needs to experience the joys of riding a big thumper even if as a second bike – or, as in my case, a third. I’m fortunate in that I have both a big metric cruiser and a new retro classic Bonneville in the bike shed and I truly love both bikes. Thanks to my association with oVc (or perhaps it’s a curse?) I’ve had the chance to ride the GT a bunch of times and when I heard that the original version was on the chopping block, I knew I had to get one for myself.
Thankfully, I have an understanding wife who truth be told, already rides her own Royal Enfield Classic 500, so she truly gets it. By the way, should I be nervous that she insists on holding on to the spare key for “safe keeping”?
I think it is fair to say that every motorcycle is fun, but the GT ramps the fun factor up ten-fold. I’m very pleased to have this bike and I fully expect that as long as I’m capable of heaving my gimpy leg over the seat, this beautiful machine will have a spot in the shed. It’s not the fastest bike I own, and it’s certainly not the smoothest, but it is the closest a boy growing up in 1970's Nova Scotia is likely to ever come to realizing his café racer dreams.
If you share this retro cafe racer obsession, you might want to get on over to Old Vintage Cranks pronto. Ken has managed to acquire a couple of previous model year GTs that have been in the warehouse for the past two years and he's offering them at special pricing that is drastically reduced from the original MSRP.