Royal Enfield unveils new electric motorcycle – and its the perfect type

Royal Enfield’s biggest announcement at EICMA 2024 – the Milan Motorcycle Show – was undoubtedly the drop of its new electric motorcycle, the Flying Flea C6 and S6.

“Flying Flea” turned out to be the name of not just the new bike but the entire electric sub-brand launched by Royal Enfield, designed to encompass a range of light to middleweight urban electric motorcycles.

The first two models, the classicly-styled Flying Flea C6 and scrambler-styled Flying Flea S6, set the direction for the brand while positioning the type of rider and the type of ride that Royal Enfield has envisioned for its electric future.

One look at the new bike shows that it fits with Royal Enfield’s design heritage, borrowing several design cues and mixing them with the modern opportunities afforded by electric motorcycle design work freed from the traditional bounds of conventional frames and engines.

At the same time, a nod to history in the design mimics several now vestigial features, including an electric motor case that looks like a crankcase and bodywork that mimics a fuel tank.

We can see the obvious inspiration from the original Royal Enfield Flying Flea motorcycle of the 1940s, famously airdropped into WWII alongside paratroopers to provide lightweight and speedy battlefield mobility. From the girder fork to the vintage-style saddle, it’s a slick-looking ride. But appearances, however eye-catching, can only take Royal Enfield so far. For the new Flying Flea to become a commercial success, it will have to be backed up by the right specs at the right price.

And the team at Royal Enfield has an answer for that too. They just aren’t telling us yet.

While the unveiling was big on pomp and highlighted the brand’s focus on bringing accessibility to the commuter electric motorcycle market, the company isn’t quite ready to spill the details on specifics. Nearly the entirety of the bike’s spec sheet remains shrouded in mystery. The company doesn’t expect the bike to go on sale until Q1 2026, so we’ve got some time to get there.

However, we can still glean a lot from looks alone. The battery itself is rather small, physically, meaning it is unlikely to offer a terribly long range on a single charge. The narrow battery case likely implies a single row of cylindrical battery cells, limiting its total capacity. Perhaps two rows of cells could fit, but it’d be a tight squeeze. Either way you slice it, there’s just not a ton of space in between your knees for batteries. And that’s ok, as long as Royal Enfield has positioned the bike properly for its role. The company has repeatedly referred to the Flying Flea C6’s role as “city+”, meaning it’s designed primarily for urban commuting, with occasional excursions further out and onto faster roads.

This isn’t going to be a long-range highway commuter, but it will likely be sufficient for hopping on local highways for an exit or two. That’s peak commuter bike, right there.

Secondly, the motor isn’t all that large either. Physical size isn’t the only indication of power in an electric motor, but it’s usually a good corollary. This isn’t going to be laying down LiveWire-like 0-60 mph times of 3.0 seconds, which again, isn’t something a commuter bike is meant to do. If I were a betting man, I’d put the battery capacity at between 4-5 kWh and the peak motor power at under 15 kW (20 hp). I imagine the battery will be slightly smaller than most of us would want, but the power level is likely perfectly adequate for commuter-level requirements. With small batteries comes limited peak power, that’s just physics.

To put it simply, the specs are likely to be fine, but not breathtaking. And that’s ok. In fact, it’s what the market needs right now.

We’ve all watched as high-performance electric motorcycle companies have struggled, even gone bankrupt, trying to chase high speed and long range. That pursuit of performance is often a nearly impossible balancing act without seeing the price skyrocket. The current size and expense of batteries simply make it nearly impossible to shoehorn enough of them into a motorcycle-sized package and have something that looks good, let alone remains affordable.

So instead of racing for the top, Royal Enfield has chosen the path less traveled these days: comfortably nestling into the sensible section of the market. With modest power and range figures comes modest pricing, and that’s Royal Enfield’s key to success. The company has long prided itself on building bikes that are accessible. And as many other companies have seen their sales stagnate or shrink, Royal Enfield has continued to grow in the last few years, reaching nearly a million units sold last year alone.

That combination of an eye for design mixed with sensible accessibility hasn’t just kept Royal Enfield afloat; it has helped the company prosper. And it just so happens that that’s exactly what the electric motorcycle market needs right now.

Fortunately – or more likely by design – this comes at a time when Royal Enfield is ready to take the risk. In candid discussions we had throughout the launch, it was underscored multiple times that Royal Enfield isn’t betting the farm on this. The company waited until they thought the time was right, but if the Flying Flea isn’t an immediate commercial success, we were assured that it wouldn’t drag the company down. That doesn’t mean the Royal Enfield team isn’t expecting success, but only that they’re not watching the world go by through rose-colored riding goggles either.

How much will the Flying Flea electric motorcycle cost?

This is the big question. More than “how fast?” and more than “how far?”, people want to know how much the Flying Flea C6 and S6 will cost.

And just like the performance specs, Royal Enfield isn’t ready to tell us. Depending on who I asked, they either know and aren’t saying yet, or they don’t even know it themselves.

But one thing is for sure, every member of Royal Enfield I questioned seemed to understand that pricing was going to be the critical factor here. They can see which machines have succeed and which have failed over the last few years. People went gangbusters over a $5,000 Metacycle (even if that bike proved too good to be true) and laughed in Can-Am’s face at their $14,000 commuter electric motorcycles.

If I had to guess, I can see Royal Enfield bringing the Flying Flea to market at between US $6,500 to $8,000. Discussions with leaders at Royal Enfield seemed to imply that the company is targeting multiple battery capacities and power levels to create various options for riders, meaning the entry-level model could be quite attractively priced, even if it must give up some range and top end to get there.

Ultimately, we don’t have much substance to judge the Flying Flea on yet. The bike looks great, at least in this journalist’s opinion. But once we can learn what’s going on under the hood and how many paychecks it will set us back, we can get a better idea of how well Royal Enfield can do on its first electric shot.