CLASSICAL ROMANCE

Much more of the same cannot be a bad thing... right? Right?

- Kartik Ware

'I hope there's a chrome version, 'I said to the gentleman from Royal Enfield, before walking into the room in Newcastle, UK, in which the Classic 650 Twin was displayed in a rather hush-hush manner. Well, we had to have one, didn't we?' he replied, and I nodded along in agreement. And by the third nod, I realised that that reply in the form of a question was the whole reason for this bike to exist. How could RE not make a bigger flagship version of the bike it sells the most? It's also the reason why the Classic 650 Twin is more of the same -'more' being the operative word in every sense. This is one more motorcycle with RE's very approachable 650 twin engine, one more example of that lovely casquette-led ageless design.

There are few shapes on which chrome looks better than those typically British (now very firmly Indian) lines; to me, it's like Shakespeare walked into a quaint old English pub, and the whole place was immediately doused in the mirror-finish stuff, Bard and all.

So naturally, I was aghast at being stuck with the paint scheme that looked like a maroon-cream dessert.

Make no mistake, if you think of getting one of these, it has to be the old Machismo-inspired blackchrome number. Especially since RE chrome is a special thing to walk up to every morning.