Family Three

Memory Lane Reverberates to the Sound of Royal Enfield Twins. It's Never Felt So Alive

- Kartik Ware

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,’ declared the philosopher George Santayana once upon a time. It was sound advice, too, for most purposes; the world had been through two World Wars in the space of 31 years, and most people who lived during the time, including Santayana, must’ve been terribly annoyed by all the noise and death. These days, however, motorcycle manufacturers happily paraphrase that cautionary aphorism at the beginning of this story into something approximating, ‘Let’s do retro, dudes.’

Now, I don’t know if Santayana had the time or the inclination between all the philosophising and cultural critiquing to indulge himself with motorcycles, so I’m not sure if he ever heard of Royal Enfield. But it was during his lifetime that the British company made its first

twin-cylinder motorcycle in 1930, the 976cc V-twin Model K, followed by the 1140cc Model KX in 1937. But it wasn’t until 1948 that, taking a cue from fellow British motorcycle makers, the company made its first parallel-twin motorcycle, called simply the 500 Twin. Ten years later in 1958, it was this bike that came to be called the Meteor Minor. That’s the old grey bike you see here.

Then came the 700cc Super Meteor, a 40-bhp motorcycle, after which followed the 700cc Constellation featuring 52 bhp (the chrome-and-green beauty you see here), which in turn became the 700cc Interceptor for the USA, finally culminating in the 750cc Interceptor which was the most advanced motorcycle Royal Enfield had ever produced. The company also made an 800cc Interceptor prototype, but the factory closed down before it could be put into production.

And that was that. Until 2018, of course. Looking at the 60-year-old story of Royal Enfield parallel twins, it seems fitting that the Indian chapter picks up where the British one was cut short — with the Interceptor badge.