Royal Enfield Bear 650 - If You Down Down To The Woods Today

Royal Enfield holds the distinction of being the oldest global motorcycle brand in continuous production. Its journey from a needle manufacturer to a cult icon is a fascinating blend of British engineering and Indian industrial heritage.

It all started in ​1891, when Bob Walker Smith and Albert Eadie purchased the Townsend Cycle Company. They began supplying precision parts to the Royal Small Arms Factory in Enfield, and to celebrate this connection, they created the Royal Enfield brand name.

Their legendary tagline, "Made Like A Gun," reflects this arms-manufacturing heritage. ​In 1901, the first Royal Enfield motorcycle was produced: essentially a bicycle with a 1.5 hp engine mounted over the front wheel.

Manufacturing continued through two world wars, then in 1955, the Indian government said it needed a durable motorcycle for its police and army to patrol the borders. They chose the 350cc Bullet.

Sadly, like so many other British motorcycle brands, Royal Enfield permanently closed the doors to the original UK factory in Redditch in 1967. The brand effectively dissolved in Britain by 1971. Enfield India, however, continued producing the 350cc Bullet exactly as it had been designed decades prior.

This status quo remained until ​1994, when the Eicher Group acquired Enfield India, eventually securing the worldwide rights to the "Royal" prefix, renaming the company “Royal Enfield”. 

Under Eicher’s leadership, Royal Enfield transitioned from a niche manufacturer of classic, old-school bikes to what it is today: a global lifestyle brand. 

The Royal Enfield Bear 650 is the scrambler evolution of the popular Interceptor 650 platform. Released globally in late 2024 and arriving in showrooms for the 2025/2026 seasons.

The Bear 650 is a beautifully simple concept. Uncluttered, evocative, designed to handle light off-roading while maintaining a heavy 1960s desert racer aesthetic, and achingly cool in its execution. 

Royal Enfield took inspiration from "Fast Eddie", Eddie Mulder, a 16-year-old racer who won the gruelling 1960 Big Bear Run desert race in California, on a 500cc Royal Enfield Fury. My press bike was adorned with the optional 249 paint job, which was Mulder's winning race number. 

Based on the Interceptor 650, the frame has been reinforced at the steering head and subframe to handle the extra stress of trails.

It offers higher ground clearance than the Interceptor, and the seat height is taller at 830mm, compared to the Interceptor at 803mm. The handlebars are wider and higher for better control when standing on the pegs yoo, although I found the bars are a little too low for standing, but that's not what this bike is about. 

The Bear 650 features the 4-inch circular TFT dash, called the Tripper Dash, borrowed from the Himalayan 450, which includes full Google Maps navigation integration. It is beautiful in its simplicity.

I found it simple to use and very effective. You pair your phone via WiFi, then use Satnav via the Royal Enfield app (Google Maps). You have an arrow on the dash for directions, or if you want, you can “cast” the map to the screen, so it is displayed in full colour. I found it a little fiddly to set up at first, but it really is simple; I’m just getting old. 

The Royal Enfield Bear 650 features higher-travel Showa suspension. Up front, you have non-adjustable 43mm Showa SFF-BP (Separate Function Front Fork - Big Piston) upside-down forks. This means one leg contains the spring, while the other leg houses the damping mechanism. This means it keeps the weight down and is an improvement over the basic telescopic forks found on budget bikes. At the rear, you have twin Showa shocks, adjustable for preload only. Suspension travel is increased to 130mm at the front and 115mm at the rear.

It comes on MRF Nylorex tyres, an Indian budget tyre brand. They were fine: quiet on the road, and fine on the muddy lanes and fields I went on. On the road, when you press on, they were stable but didn’t particularly offer much feedback. I like Pirelli Scorpions and find they let you get the bike moving around when you push on, but these didn’t seem to offer that level of feedback, but were absolutely fine. 

We took the Bear all over the place. It’s fine at motorway speeds or just above, but it’s not a particularly fast bike. You are much better off taking the long way home. Find those B roads and trails and have some fun. The suspension is great, even with a pillion. The damping and compression are a tiny bit firm, but I’d prefer that to it being too soft.

Rolling around the countryside on the lanes and back roads was a blast. This was a great bike. It sounds lovely, with a raspy exhaust note. It is a lovely bike to ride, evocative, charming and fun, and all for a very reasonable price. 

The gearbox is generally good, allowing clutchless up-changes if you want (there is no quickshifter), and was nice and smooth, apart from its single most annoying trait. If you came to a stop in any gear other than first, you were in trouble. A couple of times, I had to stop quickly, in 3rd gear, and it simply would change down through the ‘box at a standstill. As long as you ensured you always stopped in 1st, you were all set.

Other than that, the Bear 650 was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. I’m quite inexperienced off-road, but this is a friendly bike and encourages you to look for open farm gates, byways, and anywhere you might be able to have a little dirty fun.  

The Bear is widely reviewed as a "street scrambler." This means it is designed for urban commuting and b-road fun, but it can handle gravel or light trails with ease. However, if you are looking to tackle heavy offroading or deep mud, this isn’t the bike for you. 

If you are looking for a fun bike with bags of character and genuine heritage, that looks and sounds great, maybe this is the bike for you.

• Engine - 648cc Air/Oil-cooled Parallel Twin
• Power - 47 hp @ 7,150 rpm
• Torque - 56.5 Nm 
• Exhaust - New 2-into-1 system (Saves weight and adds torque)
• Suspension - Showa USD (Inverted) front forks; twin rear shocks
• Wheels - 19-inch Front / 17-inch Rear (Spoked)
• Tires - Dual-purpose MRF Nylorex block-pattern tyres
• Weight - 216 kg (Curb)
• ​Available Colours (2025/2026): Boardwalk White, Petrol Green, Wild Honey, Golden Shadow, and the signature Two Four Nine.
• Price - £6899 plus OTR. As tested £7099 plus OTR