Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 (2018-on) Review

Overall rating

As an overall package, the Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 impresses. The engine is lively without being intimidating, the handling is fun without being patronising, and the finish is good without breaking the bank.

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When you take into account the price, it really is a suspension overhaul away from being a five-star bike. I’ve saved the best bit till last too: the average age of an Enfield owner in India is 27. If they can repeat that trick over here, we could be looking at the bike that saves the sport.

And thanks to its relatively low cost, the Interceptor makes a great base for a custom bike, with plenty of parts available. Jump to the Equipment section for more.

Owners in the UK are able to join the Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 Owners Group on Facebook.

Ride quality & brakes

The Royal Enfield test riders say their brief for this bike was to make it fun and they’ve succeeded. Because it doesn’t make huge amounts of power, you can rev the nuts off it and spend the whole day stretching your throttle cables without feeling like you’ve had the stuffing knocked out of you.

When a corner approaches, the Bybre brakes scrub off speed well with a decent bite and good modulation – hell even the budget Pirellis do a great job of sticking to the road.

Riding along you start wondering where they’ve saved the money, then you come across some challenging corners and it all becomes painfully apparent.

When you really start to push on, the budget suspension starts to struggle. The Interceptor is very soft, at the request of the Indian market, and can wallow on fast, sweeping roads.

When you do hit a bump, it’s under damped so it blows straight through the first part of the suspension and pops back with a jolt.

Royal Enfield Interceptor 650: seriously good value

When you consider the price, you can forgive the bike a few faults – there are more expensive bikes with naff suspension too – but it’s still disappointing.

In truth, a suspension swap wouldn’t be the hardest job in the world nor the most expensive, and Enfield did hint that posher suspension options might find their way into the catalogue in the near future, but for now it does mar the finish on an otherwise great bike.

Aftermarket upgrades

We had an Interceptor 650 in the 2020 MCN Fleet and have swapped the tyres to Continental Road Attack 3 (you have to get the rear in a 130/80 instead of the 130/70 that comes as standard) and upgraded the suspension with K-tech rear shocks and fork cartridges.

The new parts have transformed the bike’s handling from adequate to sharp without sacrificing comfort, read more in our full long-term test. 

Engine

The Interceptor is fitted with Enfield’s brand new, air-cooled 650 parallel twin, also used in the Royal Enfield Continental GT. It doesn’t make huge amounts of power or torque, but that’s not really the point and it has ‘enough’.

Down low there’s a reasonable amount of torque with most of it arriving before 2500rpm, so you can chug it out of corners but you can rev it too without it ever feeling like it’s going to bite. The throttle is lovely and smooth too, plus it’s A2 compliant.

Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 will do 100mph

Holding on to gears brings you a bit more power while also rewarding you with a fantastic exhaust note. It sounds like it’s straight out of the ‘60s, which is a miracle in a Euro4 strangled world – there are even some S&S cans coming for noisy types.

The new six-speed gearbox (an Enfield first!) is slick and if you keep feeding it gears it will clamber all the way to the magic ton.

Reliability & build quality

For the brief 150 miles we rode the bike on the launch in September 2018, nothing broke. In all seriousness Enfield doesn’t have the best rep for reliability but that’s something they want to change.

All the new bikes that come off the line will have gone through a 1007-point-check, which Enfield said took over six hours to complete. If that’s not enough, every new bike came with a three-year unlimited mileage warranty, so there was peace of mind when purchasing an Interceptor, too.

Speaking personally – we wouldn’t have any concerns about buying one and it falling apart on the ride home.

To find out what the Interceptor's reliability is like over the course of a year, we're running one on the MCN long-term fleet during 2020.

In May 2020 a recall was issued for this bike due to corroding Bybre brake calipers. 

Value vs rivals

Royal Enfield are known for the budget bikes and the Interceptor continues that crusade, starting at just £5500 for the standard 'Orange Crush' model, rising to £5990 for the 'Glitter Dust' option.

A brand new 650cc twin bike with a three-year unlimited mileage warranty for under £6000. Sounds like a bargain to us.

Rival bikes you may consider include the vastly more expensive Triumph Street Twin, the Fantic Caballero 500 and of course, sister bike, the Royal Enfield Continential GT.

We took the Interceptor around the MCN250 test route against two of its main rivals in the form of the Triumph Street Twin (£8100) and Kawasaki W800 (£8645).

Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 vs Triumph Street Twin

Forget everything you know about old Royal Enfields because the new Interceptor 650 is in a different league. It still oozes old-school Enfield simplicity, but it’s well-built, classily finished and packed with well thought-out detail touches. It’s light, easy to ride, fun and handles incredibly well. At normal MCN250 road speeds, it’s as capable as any retro roaster, but at a fraction of the price.

Slicker, with funkier styling, more equipment, presence and more of a big bike feel, the Triumph is a class act and, compared to the BMWs and Ducatis of the world, decent value. It’s packed with character, superb handling, grunt, speed with easy road manners. 

It’s worth some of the extra cash over the Interceptor 650 for all its niceties, but for the pure riding experience there’s little to separate the two, which just goes to show what an incredible job Royal Enfield have done and why the 650 is our winner.

Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 vs Kawasaki W800

Attracted to retros for a taste of classic motorcycling? Kawasaki’s W800 hits the spot. Actually, it does more than that. Yes, it has the sensations and charisma of a British classic, but build quality and finish are far superior to how bikes used to be. And though its focus is on leisurely outings, the engine and chassis are more than capable of dealing with the frantic modern world.

Royal Enfield’s Interceptor also has traditional appeal, but in a package capable of more all-round use. It’s got the famous old name, classic looks and ample authenticity, enhanced by its basic nature and the fact it’s built to a price. But the 650 has far more grab-it-and-go versatility than the 800 – and is the best value retro on the market, too.

For laid-back Sunday morning thrums, sun-drenched evening pootles to the local meet and touchy-feely garage encounters, buy the Kawasaki. If you want a practical, affordable, jump-on-and-ride bike with plenty of old-school appeal, go for the Enfield.

Equipment

Despite its budget price there’s some decent kit. Brakes are from Brembo subsidiary ByBre and they’re paired with Bosch’s two-channel ABS. Pirelli provide the tyres (although 18" sizes don’t leave many aftermarket options).

The retro clocks are nice too and they’ve even got a fuel gauge, although they’re not as feature rich as the ones on the Royal Enfield Himalayan, which is a bit of a shame. The fit and finish of the rest of the bike isn’t bad either – the only thing that really lets it down is the budget suspension.

Royal Enfield Interceptor collector and dealer, Jeremy Pendergast, has been riding Royal Enfields since the '90s. Watch the video above to hear Jeremy talk about the golden age of the Interceptor and how he celebrates the bike's greatest following on the American West Coast.

The bike's available in six tank colours: Orange Crush, Mark Three or Silver Spectre (all £5699), Baker Express - below - or Ravishing Red (both £5899), and Glitter and Dust, which costs £6199. See the full range of colours here.

Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 custom mods

This roadster is a great base for a custom build. There are myriad options out there to make the Interceptor your own.

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You can choose exhaust options from the likes of Zard and S&S, and the latter company can also supply various motor mods to increase performance, including a big-bore kit and wilder cams.

In fact, even Royal Enfield themselves offer a range of mods for the Interceptor. You can pick from parts like bar end kits, Scorpion exhausts, engine guards, taller windscreens and bike covers at their website.

Watch and listen: Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 with S&S slip-on pipes and air filter kit