Royal Enfield accessories for 650 twins

The Royal Enfield Interceptor Lightning edition has it all. 

 A friend recently pointed out that Royal Enfield announced "Thunder and Lightning" editions of the Royal Enfield 650 twins for the UK. These are Royal Enfield Continental GT and Interceptor 650 motorcycles dressed up with soft paniers, engine guards and high end mirrors, seats, and even oil caps. 

"Royal Enfield has really gussied up the Interceptor and Continental GT 650 for the UK market," John Donlon wrote me in an email. 

"The Interceptor is as close to a 1970 Mk 2 redux as you are ever going to see; IMHO  just beautiful." 

Basically, Royal Enfield emptied an accessories catalog on its 650 twins, and they do look nice. 

But... 

Well, the engine guard is attractive and potentially useful without hiding that polished 650-twin motor. Nicely done. A machined oil filler cap adds to pride of ownership, I suppose. 

But, unless I needed to travel I think I would skip the paniers, as nice as they are. I was surprised that the friend who liked the Thunder and Lightning packages so much agreed with me.

"I'm not a 'bag' person because when I have them they magically fill up with all sorts of shit I eventually forgot I put in them -- so, I avoid them altogether. Still, I love the package for that bike. It is very handsome," John wrote.

He hit that nail on the head.

My 1999 Royal Enfield Bullet came with two very handy extra-cost accessory leather saddle bags. Since the Bullet already had two surprisingly capacious lockable metal toolboxes standard, the saddle bags never carried anything more than an occasional library book.

At first.

Then, over time, I found that it was handy to toss a screwdriver and adjustable wrench into the bags, even though I had a full set of tools locked in a toolbox.

Then another screwdriver. Then an extra spark plug, even though there was one in a toolbox. An extra rag. A second rain coat. A redundant tire pressure gauge. Etc.

Soon there was a near duplicate set of stuff rattling around in one or other of the bags and my carefully selected tools, riding gear, spare parts and owners manual rode forgotten inside the toolboxes.

Then, one Spring Cleaning day, I removed the saddle bags and put the accumulated debris back in the garage.

Maybe just an illusion, but I swear that the Bullet was noticeably faster without the bags dragging through the air.

What's in your toolbox? If yours is an old Bullet you already know how full you can pack the standard toolboxes. Here's what I carry in mine.

Here's what I carry in my Royal Enfield toolboxes. List here.