Royal Enfield is one of the more memorable motorcycle makers. Shuttered in the 1970s, the original British bikemaker is long gone, but the 1931-born Bullet model is still going strong as it’s been built by Enfield’s India-based offshoot since 1955.
It has received improvements during that time, but we’re still talking about the same bike that’s the best part of a century old by now. That doesn’t mean Royal Enfield doesn’t like to experiment: At the EICMA bike show this year, Royal Enfield showed its Concept KX bobber bike, a mixture of the quaint, the retro and the super-futuristic. It’s almost steampunk-like in its execution, inspired by the 1938 Royal Enfield KX model.
Now, Royal Enfield was quick to point out that the bike, as it stands, is a concept and not slated for production. It’s still made out of feasible parts, and the badging appears to show that the engine in it is a new 838cc v-twin with oil cooling, rumored to be based on a collaboration with Polaris. Power figures have not yet been revealed.
The almost industrial-strength-looking girder front fork makes the bike appear like a body builder, yet it looks dignified enough with that vintage leather seat. There’s a certain sci-fi comic book look to the bike, and we’d welcome a production version any time. Here’s hoping there are further developments and a real production KX follows at some point.