Winter can be tedious what with the seemingly endless grey skies and same-old-same-old routines. However, this time of year is perfect for catching up on the progress of custom bike builders who are taking advantage of the downtime. Regular CRM readers will know that contributing writer Blair Powell has been fiddling with the Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 for the past few issues, slowly customizing the rapid twin into a more aggressive cafe custom. While working on the bike in the magazine’s garage recently, I stated considering wild paint finishes and more track-biased approaches to modding the 650 when I came across the photo above. Royal Enfield has been heavily involved in sponsoring the American Flat Track racing series as of late and the 650 Interceptors that are running in the series are proving top-flight vehicles (no pun intended) for just the sort of customization that gets our collective blood boiling. Check out the stripped-down brilliance of this R racebike- it’s adorned with absolutely nothing that doesn’t help the bike to lap faster and that aesthetic minimalism has created a sleek, purposeful motorcycle that wouldn’t look out of place at your local Bike Night.
Like cafe racers, street trackers are highly personalized customs that borrow cues from paddock bikes and show machines alike. If we succeed in getting our hands on an Interceptor in 2021, this is likely the direction it will take, though we’d likely up the radical paint ante a bit by covering the voluptuous fuel cell with some over-the-top metalflake paint scheme and an S&S big bore engine kit. The possibilities are endless, just like winter…