Royal Enfield Continental GT 750 (2027-present)

The Royal Enfield Continental GT 750 is the company's new café racer, unveiled at EICMA 2026 alongside the Himalayan 750. Both bikes debut the same engine, a 743cc air/oil-cooled parallel twin. Royal Enfield calls it the highest-performance production motorcycle it has ever built, but the numbers are still under wraps: power, weight and price haven't been announced. Deliveries are expected in 2027.

Straight back to the seventies

I came face to face with it on the Royal Enfield stand and for a moment I was a teenager again. At first glance it really does recall the bikes of the seventies, the ones I'd stare at for hours, dreaming of owning one. The long tank, the finned twin on show, the chrome catching the hall lights: standing in front of it I felt the same thrill I felt back then.

There are two versions and both were on the stand. The half-faired Red Line, red with white stripes, is the sportier one, but it didn't win me over: solid red with a fairing just isn't my thing. The naked Master Clean, on the other hand, I adored. Chrome tank with blue flanks and a gold coach line, blue seat and cowl, spoked wheels, polished engine covers and silencers. That's the one that stole my heart.

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Naked or half-faired

The naked bike has an exposed round headlight and higher, comfier bars. The half-faired version adds a round nose fairing with a small screen, lower bars and bar-end mirrors.

The half-faired bike comes in two colour schemes: Red Line, red with spoked wheels and a polished engine, and TT Blue, blue with alloy wheels and black engine and exhausts. Every version, naked included, has 18-inch wheels and a single seat with a tail cowl that covers the pillion spot and can be removed.

Engine and chassis

The 743cc is an uprated version of the Himalayan 750's engine, for which Royal Enfield quotes 63 Nm at 5,000 rpm, with 90% of the torque already there at 3,500. There's no official figure for the Continental yet. Compared with the 650, the first thing you notice is the twin front discs in place of the single one. A conventional fork and twin shocks, both preload-adjustable, complete a classic layout.

There are still two clocks, round and side by side as on the 650. Inside are real needles and a small digital display: Royal Enfield calls it a hybrid TFT. The company hasn't said anything yet about electronic aids or riding modes.

I haven't ridden it yet and I absolutely have to. I won't hide that I'm giving it serious thought: if the road confirms what I felt on the stand, it could well end up in my garage. I'll update this page after the test ride and once the spec sheet and Italian price list arrive.

The Continental GT name was born in England in 1964, when Royal Enfield still built its bikes in Redditch. It was a 250 single with the full café racer kit as standard: clip-ons, a red glassfibre tank, a small flyscreen, rearsets. The advertising called it Britain's fastest 250, and it was the bike every lad dreamed of as his first machine.

The brand survived in India, where it's now part of the Eicher Motors group. The Continental GT returned in 2014 with the 535cc single and then, from 2018, with the 650 twin that introduced Royal Enfield to a whole new audience, in Europe too. With its air/oil-cooled twin and simple chassis, the 650 proved that a modern classic could still be honest and affordable.

The 750 is the next step. It arrives with the Himalayan 750 at a time when retro-styled middleweights are multiplying, and for the first time takes Royal Enfield's modern range beyond 650cc.

• Continental GT 750 naked, Master Clean (from 2027): exposed round headlight and higher bars. Chrome tank with blue flanks and gold coach lines, blue seat and cowl, spoked wheels, polished engine covers and silencers.
• Continental GT 750 half-faired, Red Line (from 2027): round nose fairing with small screen, low bars, bar-end mirrors. Red with white stripes and a race number on the side panel, spoked wheels, polished engine.
• Continental GT 750 half-faired, TT Blue (from 2027): same fairing, blue with red and white details, alloy wheels with tubeless tyres, black engine and exhausts.

Shared mechanicals: 743cc air/oil-cooled parallel twin, twin front discs, 18-inch wheels, hybrid TFT clocks. The colour and version pairings are those seen at EICMA and in the first presentations: the Italian line-up will be confirmed with the price list.

To launch the first Continental GT at the end of 1964, Royal Enfield staged a stunt that would make a modern press office smile: a group of journalists took turns riding from John o' Groats in Scotland to Land's End in Cornwall, the full length of Britain. It took them 22 hours and 20 minutes. Meanwhile racer John Cooper lapped an almost icy Silverstone at an average of over 70 mph.

The 750 isn't the first Royal Enfield of that size. In the 1960s, still in England, the company built the 736cc Interceptor, a twin aimed mainly at the American market.

The Continental GT 750 isn't on sale yet and there's no Italian price list. When it reaches dealers, here's what's worth checking.

• Riding position: the faired version has low bars and café racer footrests. Try it for at least half an hour before choosing it, because it's the version least suited to long trips.
• Official figures: power, weight and seat height will decide what to compare it with. Wait for the full spec sheet before placing an order.
• Licence: so far Royal Enfield hasn't announced a restricted version for the A2 licence. If that's your licence, ask the dealer before you fall for it.
• The dealer network: ask the dealer about service intervals, warranty and parts for the new engine, since the 743cc twin is only just making its debut.