A Close Battle! Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 VS Kawasaki W800 | Who Will Take The Crown?

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This was a really tough decision! The other day I got the opportunity to ride this 2011 Kawasaki W800 Back to back with the new Royal Enfield Interceptor 650.

Both of these bikes are pretty closely matched on paper but how will they square up in a real world riding scenario? In this video I find out exactly that as I go into which motorbike has the best handling, performance, torque, stopping power, looks, value for money and more. Which of these is the best modern classic? Which Retro bike would you choose?

[nickduffy]

I am a huge RE fan and don’t think any other bike gives such incredible value for money. But, and it’s a huge BUT, that Kawasaki is just beautiful and the engine is truly a work of art. I’m not a big fan of ‘blacked out’ bikes so side by side the Kawasaki wins the good looks contest today.

[stewartnorton]

I got my W800 on Friday. First time I saw one online I fell in love but once I saw one in real life I was smitten....most beautiful bike I have ever seen. When I bought it the seller said I hope you like attention and talking to people as people love this bike and he was right. On my first ride out I stopped for petrol and two police officers parked up in a car came over and started asking me about it 😊 The low down torque is superb for lazy weekend riding you hardly have to change gear as it can pull in any and the engine breaking noise make you grin ear to ear, it could be louder but it is easy to remove the dB killers from the pipes and makes a big difference ( search on YouTube). Buying the W800 was possible one of the best decisions I've ever made 🥰

[davidtait]

Bought my Kawasaki w800 cafe for £5495 pre reg 22 plate with 0 miles brand new in February this year

[davidbrayshaw]

I own a '15 model W800 and I agree with the assessment of this bike as presented here. I haven't ridden the RE, so I'm in no position to compare the two, however. A couple of things to note with the W800. They respond very well to a change of tyres. I'm running Bridgestone radials on mine. If you do purchase one of these, price that in, they need it. Once fitted with decent rubber, that big long wheel base and good rubber come together to make a bike that tracks exceptionally well and it will hold a line like it's on rails.
It's worth noting also that the W comes with a 19" front wheel as standard. If you ride on rough roads like I do, you'll see why.
It is easy to modify the exhaust on this bike to bring out a bit more "character". A 35 mm hole saw up the pipes will remove the baffles to reveal a more authentic sound without it being over the top, loud.
One thing that I will say is that it takes a bit of time to get familiar with how to ride the W800. They just aren't like any other bike on the market, these days. They're geared quite low and they have oodles of power in the low to mid range. It's easy to ride these around town at quite a brisk pace and never go over 3k RPM. On the back roads, it's easy to never exceed 5k RPM.
And the engine breaking higher in the rev range is pretty impressive. Once you get used to where and when to shift in order to make use of both the power and the engine breaking, you can really hustle these things along, but in a relative lazy way, if that makes sense. And that makes them a whole lot of fun to ride, and it makes them a very practical bike for "real world" riding.
I wish that I'd known about these things, sooner.

[ThePenitentOne]

As much as I love Royal Enfield, I'm riding the classic 350 myself, I gotta hand this one down to Kawasaki. The W800 (and the Meguro K3 variant) is just a top class bike.

[expandingknowledge]

The main reason Royal Enfield 650s handle and perform so well is because the frames were developed by Harris Performance. I find my Continental GT-650 very much up to task of navigating twisty roads and switchbacks with complete ease. Pound for pound they are hard to match, just my humble opinion. 🏁🏁 First on Race Day!!!

[IanSixbikes-byei]

Great to see you testing a W800, a fabulous looking retro, if it was my money it would be the W800 over the Interceptor every time. I could never understand why Kawasaki dropped it from its range especially when just about every other manufacturer has introduced retro's in to their line up, all of which seem to sell extremely well.

[ianhalliwell]

I'm with you I dislike blacked out bikes, it's chrome all the way for me. The W800 has Kawasaki build quality and legendary reliability everything about it shouts quality. Its the only bike I'd swop my GoldStar for, but obviously a more recent model although that green is very tasty indeed.

[abadanr]

Fantastic editing - really appreciate the riding
(SOUND😊) clips scattered throughout 👍🏻
Keep 'em coming!

[marchettejw]

I’ve got an interceptor here in northern Utah, I take mine on the 70+mph highway all of the time. It does a very good job at those speeds. And the look of the bike draws a ton of attention.

[fauveride]

Oh, congratulations on reaching 100, 000 subs! This father and son deserve it.

[Aquarium]

Two very Nice Bikes. I ride a W800 MJ 2024. I love the Feeling and the Sound.

[christianmouraux]

Both great bikes ! My choice goes for the W800 😉

[UncleLongbeard]

I bought my '11 W800 for 4300 just before the premiere of the Interceptor. 6 years and 20k miles later I still got it and I will probably keep it as the price is not worth selling it really. If I would have a choice - would I buy the RE? No, I wouldn't. I like the Interceptor but I prefer the look of the W. You can get it cheaper and I trust it much more when it comes to reliability. Within 20k miles I only adjusted the tappets. No other mechanical work needed. With RE I'm certain that wheel bearings, clutch and a few other things would require my attention. If the Enfield would be cheaper though, I would probably lean towards it I guess.

[kwakithailand]

Great comparison of these fantastic bikes.
Your VDO is a great guideline for those looking for a good retro, Darcy.

[caldaemon]

The W800 looks more retro and distinguished, but there's a huge price difference here in Ireland. W800 is ~12k€ and RE is ~9500€ both new. Great comparison! Cheers!

[sambagogo]

Yes! 'Versus' videos are my favourite. It's a shame that more YouTubers don't do them. I suppose it's not always easy to have two bikes available to review at the same time... plus some other 'influencers' are too scared to say anything critical which might risk them being blacklisted by the manufacturer!

[operamatthew]

a new W800 will be arriving to my house later this month. i’ve never ridden one and didn’t have to. it’s perfection.

[IndigoJo]

The newer W800s are black (currently not sold in the UK, but there are some recent secondhand ones, and you can get them new from other countries in Europe, not sure how easy it is to import them to the UK post Brexit). The W800 has a similar hp:cc ratio to a 350cc Enfield (0.62hp:10cc) while the Interceptor's ratio is higher (0.72hp:10cc). I've also seen some pretty poor fuel economy reports regarding the W800, often well below 50mpg which is below any recent RE or even a recent Bonneville.

[schetsfiguur]

After weeks of researching, I narrowed down my search to the Interceptor 650 and the W800 Classic, with the preference towards the W800 because of it's beautiful styling and engine. However, after a test drive, I unfortunately realized that the W800 was a lot less comfortable than the Interceptor at my height (6'3). The Interceptor's seat height provides more room, it is easier to move around and get comfortable on the bench style saddle, and it's easier to adjust the pegs downwards (as the break lever of W800 runs below the peg, adjustment optionality is limited).

Now I've got an awesome Interceptor 650 and added an aftermarket peashooter exhaust similar to the W800's stock one. Unbelievable how much this changes the style of the bike, truly believe it is best of both worlds like this :)