Modified Royal Enfield Super Meteor 650: As Vintage As It Gets

Royal Enfield has unveiled a modified Super Meteor 650, called Project Delta. The bike has been modified with a lot of retro elements. It now looks like a bike from the 1930s or the 1940s, complete with its girder fork, a hardtail look, and single seat. The bike has been modified by Purpose Built Moto, an Australian custom house.

As part of this build, the Royal Enfield Super Meteor 650 has undergone a lot of changes. The bike now gets a smaller headlight and a handcrafted peanut tank inspired by the Royal Enfield Super Meteor 700 from 1952. Along with this, the bike has a black and gold pinstripe design on the tank. It also gets a narrower handlebar, with custom grips and levers. The handgrips and seat feature a cherry-red finish, which goes well with the black and gold styling. At the rear, the bike gets a custom fender, with a neatly tucked-in tail-light.

The analogue speedometer is now positioned on the handlebar stem, in front of the tank and under the handlebar. This gives the handlebar a clean look. When looking at the bike from  either of the sides, the speedometer is not clearly visible. This makes it look more retro. 

The frame has been extensively changed, and the bike now gets a hardtail-style sub-frame. A hardtail is a bike which does not have rear suspension. In this case, the rear wheel is directly mounted on the sub-frame, as it would be in a bicycle. However, the sub-frame is connected to the main chassis at a pivot joint and a monoshock. The rear suspension is neatly tucked in underneath the seat, which completes the hardtail look. 

At the front, the custom house has used a girder fork. This is something bikes from the 30s and 40s used to get, but now has been replaced by telescopic and inverted fork. The only other modern bike with a girder fork is the  upcoming Royal Enfield Flying Flea C6.

This modified Super Meteor 650 rolls on a custom 23-inch front and 19-inch rear spoke wheel setup. The brake rotors are custom, with retro-style single-piston callipers at both ends. Another interesting bit about the bike is the hand-operated gear shifter on the left side.  This lever includes the clutch as well, so the rider will have to take his hand off the handlebar to shift gears.

Coming to the engine, the bike has undergone a few changes. It now sports twin-brass velocity stacks. These are retro-styled air intakes mounted directly on the throttle body This has essentially removed a traditional air filter, however, these should have some sort of basic air filtering. This should also derestrict the airflow to the engine, and boost performance. For reference, the stock Super Meteor 650 has a 648cc, air & oil-cooled twin-cylinder engine that makes 47PS and 52.3Nm. Along with this, the oil cooler has been integrated into the downtube. So from afar, the radiator isn't visible. This is quite a unique modification and one which we haven't seen on other custom bikes.

Project Delta also has  twin, compact-looking custom exhausts, instead of bulky ones that were offered on the stock bike. Overall, this build is quite interesting and really takes the Super Meteor’s retro quotient up a notch. Purpose Built Moto has really created something special, and the bike has managed to balance retro and modern in the best way possible.