momentmal
Finally made it
- Location
- Bairnsdale
It has to be said that my 2015 Royal Enfield Classic 500 doesn’t do its best work on the freeway. It will do the freeway, 100kph or even 110kph being well within its capabilities to sustain. But at such speeds we are not at our most comfortable; the bike is being asked to perform a task outside of its happy place. Glad to be of assistance on occasion, but more content elsewhere.
On my first ride after getting it home, I was so impressed with the performance; why, I thought, were so many people critical of these things as ‘slow’? This one didn’t seem to be! Not long after that, a ride with a friend set me straight- the speedo over-reads by about 15kph at highway speeds. So when I thought I was doing 100kph, I was only in fact doing 85. That’s why so many people seemed to be overtaking me at insane speeds…But the real strength of the bike is in the torque; it will go up most hills in top gear, and, when asked, it takes off fairly briskly when going for a gap in traffic, for instance. You couldn’t really say that it accelerates so much as it gathers momentum- acceleration, after all, is not what the bike is about.
Fuel economy is excellent. I have taken the bike to Melbourne on occasion, 300 kilometres distant. Filling up on arrival the first time showed that we had consumed 11 litres of fuel in the process. Overall, I use a smidge over three litres per hundred kilometres- pretty good by any measure.
If you want to go fast, a 650 is probably the go. But for the sheer joy of the ride, the Classic 500 is just brilliant, within its limits.
On my first ride after getting it home, I was so impressed with the performance; why, I thought, were so many people critical of these things as ‘slow’? This one didn’t seem to be! Not long after that, a ride with a friend set me straight- the speedo over-reads by about 15kph at highway speeds. So when I thought I was doing 100kph, I was only in fact doing 85. That’s why so many people seemed to be overtaking me at insane speeds…But the real strength of the bike is in the torque; it will go up most hills in top gear, and, when asked, it takes off fairly briskly when going for a gap in traffic, for instance. You couldn’t really say that it accelerates so much as it gathers momentum- acceleration, after all, is not what the bike is about.
Fuel economy is excellent. I have taken the bike to Melbourne on occasion, 300 kilometres distant. Filling up on arrival the first time showed that we had consumed 11 litres of fuel in the process. Overall, I use a smidge over three litres per hundred kilometres- pretty good by any measure.
If you want to go fast, a 650 is probably the go. But for the sheer joy of the ride, the Classic 500 is just brilliant, within its limits.
.....and admire from afar.
