I don’t mean to be going all Royal Enfield all the time here, but with the India-based brand rolling out so many interesting things at the moment, I couldn’t help but be drawn to this particular ‘What I can afford‘ find: a 2017 Royal Enfield Classic 500.
I have long had a soft spot for Royal Enfields. How could I not? I love classic bikes, or, rather, bikes that are styled to be classics; I don’t really have the patience or skill to deal with genuine classic motorcycles. To some extent Royal Enfields are both.
Or, at least, they were for quite a long time. Famously, from 1955-1997, Royal Enfield’s most iconic model, the Bullet 500, did not change. At all. Not even a little bit. So, a bike bought in 1957 could use parts from a 1997 model, and vice versa. Even after that, the changes made up until about 2007 were minimal. This sort of stuck-in-timeness was even seen as a selling point.
But the thing is, by 2007, Royal Enfields weren’t really selling ─ not outside of India, at least. Things were so bad that the brand was stuck in an international market doom loop, with responsibility for sales falling from one unsuccessful distributor to another, each struggling and fumbling and, in so doing, hurting the brand a little more.
17 years later, Royal Enfield is now booming. According to the story that the brand tells about itself, the Classic 500 represents the start of its turnaround. Who wouldn’t want to own a piece of that history?
WHAT THE AD SAYS
“Spectacular bike in tip top condition. I am selling my lovely Classic 500 EFI in Lagoon Blue. I have loved this bike for over 7 years and loved every ride on it. I bought it new and I carefully ran it in, it has always been dealer serviced. I am selling because I bought an Interceptor and there isn’t enough room in my garage for both. I would love to keep both but I just don’t have enough time to ride them. I also still have my 1951 Royal Enfield Model G that I bought over 52 years ago but this one isn’t for sale. The condition of the bike is very good with no visible scratches or scrapes, it has never been dropped and always ridden with care and respect. It has a new front tyre that had a cut in it and has just passed it’s MOT with no advisories. I have always run this bike on E5 petrol and it has averaged between 90 and 98 mpg making it an economical mode of transport. The bike is completely original with no modifications and always attracts a lot of attention from onlookers. Next MOT due 05/08/2025, Blue, £2,495“
I’m not spotting any red flags in the ad. It’s relatively well-written but not professional, which makes me believe that the owner actaully has taken good care of the machine. A quick check of its MOT history seems to back that up; the bike has passed every one of its tests without ever facing an advisory. The pictures, too, tell a story of a motorcycle that’s been looked after.
There are just 7,200 hundred miles on the clock, meanwhile, which works out to slightly more than 1,000 miles a year. That suggests to me that it’s been a sunny-day vehicle; it likely won’t have ever been exposed to road salt.
WHAT IS IT?
The Classic 500 was first introduced in 2008. Powered by a 499cc air-cooled pushrod single-cylinder engine, it was not a huge departure from the Royal Enfields that had come before it ─ the thing has a kickstarter, after all. Delivering a claimed power output of 20.3 kW (27.2 hp) at 5200 rpm, and 41.3 Nm of torque at 4000 rpm, it’s not a fearsome beast but has enough punch to go anywhere you want to go. I know a guy who rode from Madrid to Dublin and back, via Cardiff and Edinburgh, on a Bullet Electra EFI 500 (2008-2016), which had the same engine as a Classic 500.
The Classic 500 was designed by Englishman Mark Wells, who, these days, is Royal Enfield’s chief of design. Back in the mid-2000s, though, he was an independent ─ running his own design company. Royal Enfield asked him to come up with a bike that spoke to the company’s heritage and he chose to draw inspiration from the brand’s pre-India days. You probably know that Royal Enfield was founded in Redditch, England (It became an Indian affair in the mid-1950s, with the last vestiges of British control fading in the early ’70s).
The folks at Royal Enfield loved it. So much that they eventually bought and consolidated Wells’ design business.
Searching through forums, it appears the Classic 500 was more reliable than predecessors, but not wholly so. There are no consistent problems, a la KTM’s camshaft issues, just a lot of isolated tales of gremlins, probably brought on by inconsistent quality control.
This particular example is a 2017 model, however, which means that it was produced several years after Royal Enfield began its turnaround. The acclaimed Interceptor 650 and Continental GT 650 models were rolled out only a year later, and those bikes have a pretty solid reputation. The owner doesn’t mention any issues in the ad, so it’s possible that this specific machine has lived a relatively trouble-free life.
Not too long after this bike rolled off the production line, the Classic 500 was dropped from Royal Enfield’s lineup due to evermore stringent emissions regulations in Europe. In 2022, Royal Enfield unveiled the Classic 350 model, which looks pretty much the same but for a smaller engine (349cc single cylinder) and no kickstarter.
To that end, perhaps the biggest thing going against this Classic 500 is the fact that, for just £2,000 more than what the seller is asking, you can instead buy a brand new Classic 350. Of course, in that case you’re dealing with even less power. It’s a shame RE doesn’t offer one of these with its 650 powerplant.
IS IT BETTER THAN MY CURRENT MOTORCYCLE?
No. Or, well, mostly no. Aesthetically speaking, yes, a Royal Enfield Classic 500 is better than a 2012 Kawasaki Versys 1000 ─ it would look better in your living room as a piece of art, certainly ─ but in all other ways the Kawasaki is the winner. It beats the Royal Enfield in terms of power, performance, technology, comfort, functionality, and reliability.
I guess the Classic 500 wins in fuel economy, but it’s still more of a hobby than a motorcycle. That’s not to say it’s not a hobby worth having, but I feel I’d definitely need to own a second, everyday/all-the-time bike to justify purchasing this one.
Which I guess is what I would have if I held on to the aforementioned Kawasaki…
To that end, I’ll admit I’ve spent a very long time daydreaming about buying this bike. Royal Enfields are famously low-tech, which means they’re some of the easier bikes to work on. The Royal Enfield dealership network in the UK isn’t massive but it’s certainly growing, so finding parts wouldn’t be a challenge. And, from what I understand, the cost of those parts isn’t too bad.
I live in West Sussex, where roads are choked with traffic and speed cameras are omnipresent. It is also one of the sunnier, drier parts of the United Kingdom. So, a bike like the Classic 500 would make perfect sense for Sunday afternoon meanders to cafes and such. I really can picture it.
But the Classic 500 is physically not much different than the Classic 350, and that bike is just a bit cramped for my 6-foot-1 frame. Also, the affordability of Royal Enfields makes me want to hold on for something bigger.
Searching the internets, I am able to find three different Interceptor 650s currently on sale for less than £3,300. That’s still a few months away for me in terms of saving, but entirely within the realm of possibility. And with winter on the way ─ when I wouldn’t be riding this bike ─ why not wait?
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