Although we earlier reported that Royal Enfield Thunderbird 500 will be launched this-month. But now the report on the web suggests that T’bird 500 is scheduled to launch only by July next-year. The reason behind the delay of T’bird 500 is that the company fears that it will not be able to meet up the demands of the customers. The company’s unique selling point is that the two-wheelers are hand-made and this won the hearts of many a couple of years back. But, now the handiwork itself has become one of the reasons for delay in delivery.
Chennai-based company also faces technical problems because they don’t have the scale to invest in high-end tooling. The need of the hour for the company is a good production base that can meet the numbers and a good dealer network. Many Royal Enfield owners have faced the issues with the lack of good service support. Also service is a drawback, since most of the RE owners use it for long drives on weekends, they are afraid that the bike would break-down in the middle of the journey and end-up being helpless. To overcome all this issues, the company needs to expand dealership network, enhance service centers and the productivity should be increased to completely satisfy the weekend bike enthusiast.
Coming back to the Thunderbird 500, it was revealed by Royal Enfield during the 2012 Auto Expo in New Delhi and since than several spy pics of the bike have been doing the rounds online recently. Besides these, we were the first to inform you about the appearance of the T’bird 500 in Yash Chopra’s latest upcoming untitled film featuring Shahrukh Khan (rider) and Anushka Sharma (pillion). So is SRK joining the bandwagon to promote a two-wheeler manufacturer or is it another one-off publicity gimmick by the company to create some hype around the ‘to-be-launched-soon’ bike?
Refresher – The Thunderbird 500 features a fuel injected, twin spark 500cc unit construction engine produces a peak power of 27.2 Bhp and delivers a prodigious peak torque of 41.3 Nm. The engine is mated to a five speed gearbox and uses maintenance free hydraulic tappets.
Also see the follows –
Spied – Royal Enfield Thunderbird 500 almost from every angle
Royal Enfield Thunderbird 500 scheduled to launch next-month
Spied – Royal Enfield Thunderbird 500 caught in lens at Chennai
SRK rides Royal Enfield Thunderbird 500 in Yash Chopra’s Untitled Movie
