ROAD NEWS
FINAL LONG-STROKE ENFIELDS
R oyal Enfield has announced a limited edition farewell to the popular Classic 500 line in the form of the Classic 500 Tribute Black , with the model marking the end of the road for the firm ’ s 500cc long-stroke engine . After nearly 14 years , the Royal Enfield Classic 500 is being discontinued , which seems to be in part because of emissions regulations as well as Royal Enfield wanting to free up production capacity for future models . Priced at $ 9690 and available for pre-order from royalenfieldmotorcycles . co . nz or local dealerships , just 40 examples of the Classic 500 Tribute Black are expected to land on Kiwi shores , with roughly 200 allocated to Australia . The first bikes are expected to arrive in dealers before the end of the month . As the name implies , the Classic 500 Tribute Black is an all-black affair with two-tone gloss and a matte black tank with hand-painted gold accents .
As expected for a limited edition motorcycle , each example of the Tribute Black is a numbered limited edition and features a special build plaque noting the bike ’ s special place in Royal Enfield ’ s 120-year history . As for the Classic 500 itself , local Distributor Urban Moto Imports acknowledged that the last stock of the Royal Enfield stalwart has already arrived with CEO Joseph Elasmar noting “ once they ’ re gone , they ’ re gone forever .” To celebrate the end of a rather spectacular period in Royal Enfield ’ s history in which the company has exploded in popularity worldwide , Royal Enfield dealers nationwide including Experience Motorcycles , First European , Freedom Motorcycles , MCR and Wanaka Powersports will be holding a tribute evening to the Classic 500 on the evening of July 7 .
KIWI RIDER 23