Top 10 custom Royal Enfields from 2020: Bullet, Himalayan, Interceptor with brand new personalities

2020 - A year that will go into the history books, of course, for the fact that we went through the worst pandemic in the modern world and also, the change in lifestyle we had to accommodate because of it. For motorcyclists who could not ride as much as they would've wanted to, ogling at pictures of some very neat custom bike builds also made a great way to pass the time. So, we've put together 10 of the neatest Royal Enfield custom bike builds that helped us get through boredom of sitting at home for months of lockdown and after.

We came across this one just earlier this month. A custom-build Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 that's been transfomed to look quite convincingly like a Triumph Thruxton R with a semi-fairing and everything. It gets clip-on handlebars and the rear has been trimmed down. The bike has been finished in all black colour with contrasting yellow accents and pinstriping for the sporty cafe racer look.

This Royal Enfield Bullet 500 built by GDesign is a broad tracker with steampunk-ish elements and to say the least, the black and gold paint theme is working wonders for it. It has plenty of handcrafted pieces, like its split fuel tank that holds electronics in one half and fuel in the other, along with the aluminum wings that it adorns and the winged fuel cap, and the speedo and the amp meter that are embedded up top.

Royal Enfield 'Vajra': A Classic 50 that is lighter and faster than an Interceptor 650, the Vajra stomps authority with just this one fact. Besides this, the finish and attention to detail is rather commendable as well. The engine has been bored out to 612cc and custom house Cycle City claims that it will do a top speed of 180 km/h.

Royal Enfield ‘Handmade’: Jay D Patel of J&D Custom who holds more faith in traditional handcrafting than computer-aided machining, has delivered on this raw and beautiful Electra 350 which J&D have simply called ‘Handmade’. Everything apart from the engine and wheels was built from scratch. Jay wanted to build a springer fork set-up for the Handmade Electra 350 and this would be his first time building one. He got it quite right the very first time and says that it is the most beautiful part of the build.

Thundercloud Customs of Ahmedabad had a thought about speeding things along on a Himalayan and the end result is claimed to be much faster and looks nothing like a Himalayan anymore. It gets a quickshifter and claims a top speed of 180 km/h, thank to a Powertronic ECU with two modes – M1 and M2. The wheels are smaller, the seat is single, and so you're looking at a bobber-style Himalayan.

Royal Enfield 'Typhoon': Neev Motorcycles of Delhi found a way to make an Interceptor 650 look more butch yet boast a minimalistic appeal and thicker tyres, and finsihed in some very neat blue-black dual paint job. It gets new lighting and handlebars, custom twin exhausts, and several handbuilt body parts like fenders. The engine is the stock 6548cc parallel twin with 47 hp.

Royal Enfield 'MJR Roach': A turbocharged Himalayan, 'nuff said. But if you must know more, the MJR Roach puts out 50 hp because of the turbocharger, which is over twice of a Himalayan's stock 24 hp. In fact, it is well above a KTM 390 Duke or an Interceptor 650 as well. It gets a K&N air filter and has had a substantial weight loss, which is also thanks to a lithium-ion battery.

Royal Enfield 'Regale': Based on the Interceptor 650, the Regale is a Bobber version of the roadster with custom headlamp, a new single-pod instrument cluster, custom fuel tank an fuel filler cap, and of course a new single seat. The detailing on the Regale has been done splendidly, especially with the addition of a handcrafted tool box. The engine is the same 650cc parallel twin.

A Royal Enfield Bullet 500 custom-built as a scrambler and a quite a throwback to vintage MX-style Husqvarna motorcycles. With the Royal Enfield Bullet 500 missing the rear half of its bobber-style frame, David went to rebuild it with upright dynamics and added long YSS shocks. New upper fork sleeves and headlight mounts were fabricated and the top yoke redesigned for traditional risers. The new look was finished with a new headlight, a vintage-style number board, and classic handlebars.

Royal Enfield 'Kamala': A gorgeous vintage racer based on a Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 built by Cristian Sosa of Sosa Metalworks, Kamala boasts a bare metal finish with steel, aluminum, brass in their original glimmer. Inspired by early Royal Enfields, a girder fork connects the wheel to the frame at the front and it gets a detailed springer seat arrangement.