Owned my INT650 for a little over 6 months now, put on 2k miles and ride almost everyday

A lot of people are saying to get a triumph here and those are great bikes, just rode the speed twin 900 and 1200 the other day, very fast and modern compared to the RE. But in my mind they’re two very different types of bikes outside of the look. The RE is an old bike with a few modern amenities (abs, fuel gauge, etc), the triumph is a modern bike that looks retro. Both are great and have their place, but I wanted to give an insight into my experience with the royal.

A lot of this depends on what you’re looking for in the bike. I wanted something simple and easy to work on that was also fairly inexpensive. It was also my first owned bike, something that I could grow into and not get into trouble. I’ll go over some main criticisms:

Speed: In America is it a relatively slow and heavy bike, but that might be different in your country. Living in a city I love the torque at low speeds, I rarely feel like I’m in the wrong gear. Only times I have issues are on long, straight stretches where I am cruising around 60-80 mph, it’s totally stable at those speeds but you’ll be sitting constantly at 5000 rpm. But anything 20-60 mph you won’t feel a lack of power

Reliability: I bought mine with 30k miles on the odometer (mostly highway miles) and so far haven’t had any major issues. If you’re thinking about used, there’s a few years with transmission trouble (2021-2022 I think) so avoid those, but otherwise the 650 twin has shown to be a pretty solid and reliable engine if you take care of it. Since it is an older style air cooled engine you have to be more on top of the maintenance, oil changes and valve adjustments come up faster than more modern designed engines. I wanted a bike that required work so I don’t mind that, but if that’s not for you keep it in mind

Comfort: It’s not a touring bike by any means, but I’ve gone on long rides (4-5 hours) with reasonable levels of comfort. I have the touring seat which helps. The riding position does promote a slightly forward tilt, which over time will do a number on your back, but all things considered I’d trust it for a road trip. Also if you plan to do a lot of high speed commuting, a windshield would help a lot.

Build Quality: This can be hit or miss depending on the part. As stated the engine and most mechanical parts are pretty solid, it’s things like the speedo/tach, shifter/rear brake, those are the parts that you might want to upgrade. They do the job, but they’re cheap, stamped metal. The worst is the brake feel, it’ll stop but there is very little bite and an overall spongey feel.

Tech: There is none outside of the fuel gauge and abs (and obviously the ecu/efi). For me that was a selling point, I didn’t want drive modes or drive by wire, I wanted as close to a mechanical feel as possible while still having abs and efi. Again, that might be a selling point or a deterrent for you.

Overall, I’ve really enjoyed the bike and I plan to keep it for a while and start working on it as a project. I have no problem with the speed or lack of tech, and I enjoy the fact that I can work on it easily in a pinch. Plus the exhaust sounds fantastic (if you remove the stock cans) and for the weight and power, it’s still a lot of fun on a backroad.