Royal Enfield 125th Anniversary Edition Hypershift Classic 650

The 125th Anniversary Edition Hypershift Classic 650 costs $8,499, which is more than Royal Enfield usually asks but still well short of what a limited paint job commands elsewhere. Only 625 will be made. Registrations closed October 26, with deliveries starting in November.

The engine is the familiar 648cc parallel-twin, making 46.4 horsepower at 7,250 rpm and 38.6 lb-ft of torque at 5,650 rpm. Nothing about the mechanical package is new. Royal Enfield has spent the anniversary budget on the finish rather than the machine underneath it.

That finish shifts between red, green and gold depending on the angle you view it from, and from light to dark as well. It sits over the brand's usual retro cues: the teardrop tank, the nacelle headlamp, a brass base plate that nods to the earliest Royal Enfield machines from 1901. A gilded crest marks the anniversary, and the pinstriping is hand-painted rather than printed, running from the tank through the fenders. The seat is quilted leather.

The commemorative gestures, crest, pinstripes, leather, are the kind of detailing that normally arrives on a bike costing twice as much. Royal Enfield has kept the architecture ordinary and spent the money on the surface, which is a reasonable way to build a collector's edition without inventing a new motorcycle to justify it.