Drawing inspiration from 16-year-old Eddie Mulder’s 1960 Big Bear Motorcycle Run victory on a Royal Enfield Fury 500, there’s yet another Royal Enfield 650 variant—the 2025 Royal Enfield Bear 650.
Royal Enfield’s air-cooled 648cc twin has been in a sport bike (INT), café racer (the Continental GT), cruiser (Super Meteor), and bobber (Shotgun). Now, the versatile powerplant is dropped into a scrambler chassis. Let’s see what makes the Bear 650 stand out from its siblings.
- Although the 2025 Royal Enfield Bear 650 has the familiar parallel twin motor, it is tuned slightly differently. Sporting a single muffler, the Bear develops power a bit sooner in the powerband. Torque peaks at 42 ft-lbs at 5150 rpm, and 47 horsepower is produced at 7150 rpm. The numbers haven’t changed much from the other 650s, but are different.
- The Bear 650 gets a dirt-friendly wheelset. It’s a 19-/17-inch combo, which we often see on scramblers and adventure motorcycles. The wheels are wire-spoked.
- New to us are the MRF Nylorex-F tires. Based in Chennai, India, MRF was founded in 1946 as a toy balloon manufacturer. Six years later, the company was making tires for trucks and automobiles. In 1985, MRF expanded into the two-wheel world. Last year, MRF introduced its first steel radial motorcycle tires, and its revenue has hit $3 billion annually. The Nylorex-F tires have an adventure-style tread pattern to match the mission of the 2025 Royal Enfield Bear 650.
- The chassis reflects the retro-modern scrambler vibe. The inverted 43mm fork is matched up with cantilevered twin shocks. Suspension travel gets a small boost to over five inches in the front and 4.5 inches in the rear. Ground clearance is 7.2 inches. Unfortunately, we don’t have rake, trail, and seat height numbers yet. Royal Enfield put the Bear on a diet—the 476-pound curb weight is among the lightest of the brand’s 650 family.
- There are plenty of vintage styling cues on the 2025 Royal Enfield Bear 650. The headlight, taillight, clocks, and mirrors are round. The chrome steel handlebar has a bolt-on crossbar. The mildly stepped bench seat and frame-loop passenger grab bar recall earlier times. Side number plates and steel-toothed footpegs make the Bear 650 ready for desert racing—okay, maybe not, but it might be fun on an easy course. The disc brakes with ByBre calipers and the TFT dash are nods to modernity, and there are rubber footpeg inserts for street riding.
- Here is Royal Enfield CEO B Govindarajan’s pitch: “We’ve always drawn deep inspiration for our motorcycles from our community, and from our riders who’ve achieved extraordinary feats. Our inspiration for the Bear 650 came from one such legendary story—Eddie [Mulder] and that of the 1960 Big Bear Run. The Bear 650 channels the same spirit of raw instinct, sheer impulse, relentless determination, and embodies the ethos of a true scrambler full-send mindset and DNA. It is built to deliver confidence and control across all terrains, whether you are navigating urban streets or dusty trails. The Bear 650 is not just about performance; it’s about versatility, resilience, and an uncompromising spirit.”
- Royal Enfield always delivers eye-popping paint options, and the Bear 650 is no exception. There are five choices at varying prices. The budget-conscious get the Boardwalk White paint job for $6849, while the big spenders will drop $7149 for the historic Two Four Nine treatment. Other choices include Petrol Green ($6999), Wild Honey ($6999) and Golden Shadow ($7099).
Watch for our review of the 2025 Royal Enfield Bear soon.
2025 Royal Enfield Bear 650 Specs
ENGINE
- Type: Parallel twin
- Displacement: 648cc
- Bore x stroke: 78 x 67.8mm
- Maximum power: 47 horsepower @ 7150 rpm
- Maximum torque: 42 ft-lbs @ 5150 rpm
- Valvetrain: SOHC; 4 vpc
- Compression ratio: 9.5:1
- Fueling: EFI
- Cooling: Air and oil
- Transmission: 6-speed
- Clutch: Wet multiplate
- Final drive: Chain
CHASSIS
- Frame: Steel-tube double-cradle
- Front suspension; travel: Non-adjustable Showa inverted 43mm fork; 5.1 inches
- Rear suspension; travel: Spring-preload adjustable Showa shocks; 4.5 inches
- Wheels: Aluminum alloy
- Tires: MRF Nylorex-F
- Front tire: 100/90 x 19
- Rear tire: 140/80 x 17
- Front brake: 320mm disc w/ ByBre twin-piston floating caliper
- Rear brake: 300mm disc w/ ByBre twin-piston floating caliper
- ABS: 2-channel; adjustable
DIMENSIONS and CAPACITIES
- Wheelbase: 57.5 inches
- Seat height: N/A
- Ground clearance: 7.2 inches
- Fuel tank capacity: 3.6 gallons
- Curb weight: 476 pounds
2025 Royal Enfield Bear 650 Colors and Prices
- Boardwalk White: $6849 MSRP
- Petrol Green: $6999
- Wild Honey: $6999
- Golden Shadow: $7099
- Two Four Nine: $7199
2025 Royal Enfield Bear 650 Photo Gallery
