Ever since Pablo sent the pictures of the Royal Enfield Bear 650 from the first ride in the States, I was waiting to get my hands on this scrambler. Just a few days before we were to leave for India Bike Week, the Bear arrived, and almost immediately I called dibs to ride it to Goa. Thankfully, before the ride, I decided to spend some time with the bike in the city. Royal Enfield’s delectable 650cc parallel-twin engine in a Scrambler guise? This was the perfect bike on the platform for India, or so I thought. I mean it looked the part with the gold-painted USD forks, tall stance and dual-purpose tyres. Even after swinging my leg over the seat, nothing changed that perception. The tall, wide handlebar and the near-perfect position of the footpegs resulted in a comfortable-yet-commanding ergonomics. Immediately, all that presented a false sense of confidence in me that the Bear could take on anything that came in its way.
A short 40-km ride in the city was enough to shatter that. The rear suspension would promptly hit me back every time I rode through a pothole, undulation or even a speed-breaker. It came to a point where I rode the bike at under 60 kph; in fact, this is the slowest I have ever ridden any RE 650. To top that, the rider’s seat was just too soft for my liking, and in fact, the pillion seat’s foam felt firmer and more comfortable, though the ride quality was still the biggest shortcoming. Nonetheless, I found myself staring and ogling at the bike every time I parked it. Even though the Golden Shadow paintjob isn’t the most attractive, the bike certainly is gorgeous. Though I took the Himalayan to Goa, I am looking forward to hitting some dusty, broken roads with the Bear till I can ‘bear’ its firm rear suspension.
