Summary
- Royal Enfield is targeting the American cruiser market with the Super Meteor 650 to fill a gap in the lineup of Harley-Davidson and Indian.
- The Super Meteor 650 is receiving positive reviews for its vintage looks, decent performance, and affordable price, making it an attractive option for riders on a budget.
- Roland Sands Design has customized the Super Meteor 650 with a new paint scheme, upgraded suspension, and modernized handlebars, giving it a classic yet modern chopper look. The bike was unveiled at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.
You can tell that Royal Enfield is hungry for a hefty chunk of that sweet American cruiser market. With the successful launch of the Meteor 350, and the upcoming Super Meteor 650, the Indian brand has grown in confidence, and is going all in. And if the chatter in the motorcycle community is anything to go by, quite a few riders are excited by the prospect of a no-nonsense, classically designed and inexpensive cruiser, something which neither Harley-Davidson nor Indian currently have in their lineup.
To help promote the new Super Meteor 650, Royal Enfield enlisted everyone's favorite customizing renegades, Roland Sands Design. Fresh off their new collaboration with Buell, the former racer and his team were given the Super Meteor to customize as they saw fit, so that it could debut at the most appropriate place possible: the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota.
The Super Meteor 650 Is Coming For Harley
The reviews are piling up. The Super Meteor 650 seems to be everything that fans of simple, classic cruisers ever wanted. It's got enough clean, vintage looks to spare. The air-cooled parallel twin, found in the likes of the Interceptor and the Continental models, is full of old school charm and character. Is it a screaming hot racer? No, but it has enough horsepower (47 hp) and torque (38 lb-ft) to get you where you need to go, if not quite in a hurry.
But Royal Enfield's biggest ace is going to be the price. In the U.K. the Super Meteor is going for £6,799. So you can expect the U.S. pricing to be comparable. Those riders looking for vintage Harley or Indian looks from their cruisers without breaking their piggy bank, and are hesitant to approach Japanese metric bikes like Honda's Rebel 500 or Kawasaki's newly launched Eliminator, may be the perfect target for Royal Enfield. And because Harley-Davidson and Indian have the left the small capacity, beginner cruiser market wide open, Royal Enfield will be reaping all the benefits.
Roland Sands Design On Top Of Their Game
Roland Sands has turned his career as a motorcycle racer into a thriving commercial business. His company, Roland Sands Design, not only sells apparel, motorcycle gear and parts, they also have a fairly successful side gig of customizing motorcycles. And they do so not only for their customers, but also for major manufacturers like the aforementioned Buell, Harley-Davidson and KTM to name just a few. So it's no surprise that Royal Enfield had reached out to them to take a stab at their latest door-busting cruiser.
We decided to team up with Royal Enfield on the Super Meteor, to build this bike and start a cool relationship with a brand that is worldwide. And touching a lot of people that we don't normally get to talk to. And that, to me, is super exciting. - Roland Sands
Sands is well known in the cruiser community, and the publicity from this partnership should be a boon to both brands. But there is a third part of this equation that has to be considered, and that is the venue that the two had chosen to unveil the custom Super Meteor at.
A Custom Design That's A Perfect Fit For The Super Meteor
Roland Sands and team definitely took a hammer to the stock Super Meteor. Gone are the rear and front fenders, handlebars, exhaust and just about anything else they deemed extraneous. Other than the new custom paint scheme a few other additions can also be found on the customized Royal Enfield cruiser.
Sands took note of the basic OEM rear suspension, and upgraded it with performance Ohlins shocks with piggyback reservoirs. So whoever ends up riding this chopped out beauty will also have a smoother, more comfortable experience. The original wheels were also disposed off, and replaced with cast wheels that have a more modern profile to them. But one of the biggest changes was the update to the handlebars. The bike now sports a narrow, gold, upswept bar, installed on super tall risers, which gives it a completely different silhouette from its original form.
The rest of the cockpit has been disassembled, with the ignition key now situated directly on the right side of the engine. Gone are the instrument cluster, the proprietary Tripper GPS unit and the OEM headlight. The pipes and rear lights have also been given a toss, in favor of more streamlined, custom pieces, like the brand-new gas tank.
The finishing touch, of course, has to be the premium paint job and graphics. Painted a glossy black, with gold touches on the rims, chassis, forks, side panels and gas tank. The bulky cruiser has become a classic, yet somehow modern, minimalist chopper, which couldn't be any further from the original that rolled off the Royal Enfield factory floor. Sands and crew took an already classic look, and completely reconceptualized it, from the ground up, to make the final form of the bike echo those early, American choppers that, to this day and forever on, will be associated with everything that is the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.
Sturgis Is The Perfect Place For The Custom Royal Enfield Cruiser
The history of the Motorcycle Rally began in 1936, when Clarence Hoel purchased an Indian Motorcycle Franchise in Sturgis. The rally itself started in 1938 and has been going strong ever since. And though every rider and motorcycle is welcomed in the city and the rally, it is primarily known for bringing together fans of baggers, cruisers and choppers.
There's also a very healthy custom bike scene at the rally, courtesy of Sturgis Buffalo Chip, a famous outdoor event venue. The Sturgis Buffalo Chip Custom Series is hosted every day of the rally, offering different styles of customizations and specialty shows, like the Wango Tango, a custom GoldWing showcase. And it is at this event that Roland Sands and Royal Enfield unveiled their first collaboration, in the form of the highly modified Super Meteor 650.