THE CIVILISED SCRATCHER
The Royal Enfield Continental GT 250 single of the 1960s was every schoolboy’s dream. I lusted after one. But my old man deduced that blood-red paintwork and bacon slicers were far too much performance for a sixteen year-old learner. So he reneged on a birthday promise and bought me a BSA C15 instead, which simply didn’t look as cool as the scratcher’s GT.
To most acne-pocked lads the GT’s racing red paintwork, swept back exhaust, racing dualseat, mini flyscreen, and twin bacon slicer brakes were just too hot to ignore. I was gutted when my good friend Scott turned up on his shiny new Continental GT and insisted we go head-to-head. My poor old dad never understood why I abandoned my C15 after that embarrassing showdown…
The original Continental GT was launched in 1965, only a few years before Royal Enfield finally closed its factory doors. The Redditch firm asked its dealers what young learner motorcyclists might aspire to, and the result was a good handling, light weight and irresistible legal-learner motorcycle, capable of a true 85mph.
Fast forward to 2013 and the Ace Café, where Enfield India launched their new Continental GT. Ace Tester Miles attended this event and his illuminating report can be read in RC115. Other press reports weren’t as positive about the GT as Paul’s fair and educated narrative – some failed
