Royal Enfield showcases the Cafe Racer concept at the Auto Expo, for the umpteenth time!

If there is one motorcycle that Royal Enfield has been showcasing at motor shows across the world, it must be the Cafe Racer concept that the factory has put together around a 500cc fuel injected UCE lump. Also, this has been one concept that has been generating plenty of interest by young and old alike, with our readers bombarding us with queries on when Royal Enfield would launch the UCE500 based Cafe Racer in the Indian market. While we just wish we had a definitive answer to that question, Royal Enfield was at it again, at the 2012 Indian Auto Expo, when it showed off the Cafe Racer concept.

Royal Enfield Cafe Racer UCE500 at the 2012 Auto Expo

The Royal Enfield Cafe Racer is a single seater model which features the fuel injected 500cc unit construction engine. This concept, which take inspiration from the legendary Flying Flea cafe racer motorcycle, currently is more of a concept than a production reality. Royal Enfield, currently is struggling to meet the pent up demand for its range of UCE engined motorcycles and it will be sometime before it can manage to find additional capacity to makes one off specials like these aimed at the commercial markets. That said, a new Royal Enfield plant at Oragadam will be up and running by early 2013.

Once that happens, concepts like the Cafe Racer 500 could finally see the light of the day. Previously, we had Royal Enfield telling us that the Cafe Racer could make it to production in 12-18 months, but to no avail. In this day and age of instant gratification, many of you reading this wouldn’t want to wait anymore. Help is right at hand. SANS Inc, a Royal Enfield customization firm run by Saurabh Katar, does have a plug and play Cafe Racer kit on sale for folks who want to convert their existing Royal Enfields to cafe racer forms. You can read more about the Cafe Racer kit, right here.