I love relaxed motorcycling! Cruising gracefully at a steady pace along the deserted roads with light music in the ears stirs excitement within me. Ever since Royal Enfield launched the new Super Meteor 650 in January 2023, I wanted to get my hands on this 650cc power cruiser. Finally, the aspiration came true on March 17 as it joined the Express Drives Garage for a long-term review. The Royal Enfield Super Meteor 650 served as my companion for over four months and here’s a summary of all the things I love and detest about this motorcycle.
Royal Enfield Super Meteor 650: What I liked?
Stellar mile-muncher
The enumeration of Super Meteor 650’s positives must commence with its brilliant powerplant. Powering this motorcycle is a 650cc parallel-twin, air & oil-cooled fuel-injected engine that develops 46.3 bhp and 52.3 Nm of peak torque, paired with a 6-speed manual gearbox. This is the same mill that also powers the Interceptor 650 and the Continental GT 650.
Royal Enfield’s 650cc parallel-twin engine is one gem of a motor. It pulls effortlessly at any given speed and is very refined. Moreover, the Super Meteor 650 is a stellar mile-muncher and feels at home on long highway runs with constant speeds of 80-120 kmph. I took this motorcycle on a roundtrip from Delhi to Agra and back, all within 16 hours and what a ride it was!
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The new Super Meteor 650 stays true to its marketing tagline, ‘Cruising at its purest.’ It offers a comfortable riding posture and one can easily do cross-country rides on this cruiser. However, not everything is so good about this motorcycle. It has its own set of flaws as well which I have explained in the latter part of this story.
Charismatic persona
The Royal Enfield Super Meteor 650 is an exquisitely handsome motorcycle and there are no two ways about it. It grabs eyeballs out on streets and I’ve lost count of how many people enquired about this cruiser’s price and fuel economy at traffic signals. We had its top-spec Celestial Blue variant which comes equipped with the deluxe touring seat, pillion backrest and a windscreen as standard. Our test ride unit, however, missed out on the windscreen.
A feature-rich RE
While Royal Enfield and feature-rich motorcycles don’t usually go hand in hand, the case is quite different with the Super Meteor 650. It sports an all-LED headlamp which does a great work of illuminating the road ahead both in high beam as well as in low beam. Moreover, there is an analogue instrument cluster with a small MID (multi-information display) in between.
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The Super Meteor 650’s MID houses an odometer, twin trip meters, a clock, a fuel gauge and also a gear-position indicator which I personally feel should be offered on all motorcycles regardless of their price. This power cruiser gets RE’s Tripper navigation system as well which shows turn-by-turn navigation and this is a very useful feature to traverse the roads for someone like me who’s new in the Delhi-NCR region.
Royal Enfield Super Meteor 650: The bummers
Suspension: As stiff as a poker
After penning ample praises about the Super Meteor 650, let us delve into its cons. The biggest downside of this motorcycle is its suspension setup. While this cruiser has fantastic ergonomics which offer a comfortable riding posture, its stiff rear suspension is a big letdown. At low speeds, the ride quality is still acceptable. But, once you pace up, the road undulations and expansion joints can be felt very easily.
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Things get worse when you ride this cruiser on some flyovers with a poorly designed bump at expansion joints (like the new Ashram flyover in Delhi) as it unsettles the motorcycle due to its quick rebound nature. I also tested the pillion comfort of the Super Meteor 650 and while the optional touring seat fitted on our test ride unit along with the backrest was very comfy, the stiff cushioning system was still ruining the experience.
Fuel-efficiency and weight
With a kerb weight of 241 kg, the Royal Enfield Super Meteor 650 is a very heavy motorcycle and has a long wheelbase (1,500 mm). While its hefty weight doesn’t feel on the go even at slow speeds, things go haywire while taking sharp U-turns. Moreover, getting this motorcycle in and out of tight parking spots (like the one in our office) is also quite a task.
Talking about fuel-efficiency, the RE Super Meteor 650 drinks (petrol) like a fish. It delivered a mileage of 20-22 kmpl in the city. However, on the highways, especially during the Agra trip, it offered around 24-26 kmpl. It’s also worth mentioning that just like most other Royal Enfield motorcycles, the Super Meteor 650’s fuel gauge shows inconsistent readings at times.
Royal Enfield Super Meteor 650: Price and verdict
The new 2023 Royal Enfield Super Meteor 650 is offered in three variants: Astral, Interstellar and Celestial. Its prices currently range from Rs 3.54 lakh to Rs 3.84 lakh, ex-showroom. After riding it for over four months and 1,400+ km, I must say that it’s a very desirable motorcycle. While it has its own set of pros and cons, the Super Meteor 650 turns out to be a brilliant cruiser with the list of positives outweighing the drawbacks.
Make and model: Royal Enfield Super Meteor 650
Date of induction in the fleet: March 17, 2023
Date of retirement from the fleet: July 30, 2023
Test started at: 1,518 km
Test concluded at: 2,976 km
Distance covered: 1,458 km
Fuel economy: 20-22 kmpl (city); 24-26 kmpl (highway)
Launch price (January 2023): Rs 3.49 lakh to Rs 3.79 lakh, ex-showroom
Current price (August 2023): Rs 3.54 lakh to Rs 3.84 lakh, ex-showroom
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