EICMA 2021: Royal Enfield SG650 Concept Revealed

Royal Enfield has just dropped their all-new SG650 concept to the masses at EICMA in Milan, Italy – and we’ve had a tip from PowerDrive that the mid-weight bobber will likely go into production soon. 

Royal Enfield’s new cool cat is based on the 650cc platform that powers the Interceptor and the Continental GT. To that effect, we can (more or less) trust the engine specs to be as follows: a rough-and-reliable 4-stroke, 648cc, air-&-oil-cooled SOHC parallel twin engine boasting a power rating of 47 bhp @ 7250 rpm and 52 Nm of yank @ 5250 rpm. 

“It’s always exciting to design for a what-if scenario, and the brief to create a motorcycle that would both be recognizably Royal Enfield, but at the same time push what a Royal Enfield could be was a real challenge,” says Adrian Sellers, industrial design lead for the SG650 concept project.

Since this is a concept, CycleWorld makes a good point when they say to expect the (very new and very nice) machined parts to be either trimmed or cut differently for the official production model – machined parts are, after all, a wee bit expensive compared to the cost of the rest of the bike’s aesthetics. 

As such, parts likely to be tweaked for cost purposes will be the gas tank “CNC machined from a single block of billet aluminum”, and the wheels (same, complete with integrated ABS). 

Parts adopted from other RE machines include the twin shocks and looped frame (reminiscent of the 2021 Meteor 350), with the overall aesthetic still comfortably signalling ‘classic cruiser’. 

“The SG650 Concept is the result of a challenge set to Royal Enfield’s Industrial Design Team by Mark Wells, Chief of Design,” comments IndiaToday. 

“At its core, the message underpinning the concept build was about celebrating ‘transition’. The aim, through this challenge, was for the Royal Enfield team to embark on a new creative journey with the SG650 Concept; starting from within Royal Enfield’s classic design sensibilities and then pushing into a whole new era of what the Royal Enfield’s of the future could look like.”

We can’t wait to see what the company gets up to next; in the meantime, be sure to drop a comment below, take a gander at the photo gallery below, check out the new “EICMA2021” category that we’ve curated for you to stay updated on the latest and greatest from the largest motorcycle show in the world, and as always – stay safe on the twisties.