Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 Vs. Harley Davidson Street 750

“Don’t wait for someone to take you for a ride, ride your own.”

It is never too late to start riding a motorcycle. Motorcycle riding is a fun activity with many advantages. Firstly, it is an affordable mode of transportation. Secondly, it has several mental health benefits. Riding a motorcycle requires a certain level of skill and if you are a beginner, it is essential to learn the basics. To be safe, you should start by wearing appropriate riding gear, learning about traffic laws, and joining motorcycle riding classes. Also, the most important thing is to select a motorbike best-suited for beginners. Luckily, many motorcycle companies produce motorbikes for almost every rider, including beginners.

The Harley Davidson Street 750 is a beginner-friendly motorbike with a simple design,  a low-powered engine, blacked-out parts, a radiator, a small nose fairing, and a café racer-style tail cowl.

Royal Enfield is a globally emerging Indian motorcycle brand that produces midsized motorbikes for beginners and intermediate riders. The Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 has a stylish café racer design and a 648 cc Parallel-Twin engine that makes it ideal for beginners.

This article is a detailed comparison between the Royal Enfield Continental 650 and the Harley Davidson Street 750.

The Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 is a lightweight café racer-style motorbike designed for quick and short commutes. It is a tribute to the original customizable café racers popular among British riders during the 1960s. The Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 comes with a solo rider seat and low-mounted clip-on handlebars for an aggressive riding style. It also comes with an extended frame that allows you to replace the solo rider seat with a full-size saddle and passenger footrests capable of two-up riding.

The Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 also comes with a round headlamp, two round-dial gauges mounted to the front fork, and side mirrors attached to the clip-on handlebars. It has a bobber-style front fender and a rear mudguard near the tail/stop light, license plate bracket, and rear turn signals. The Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 also has a blacked-out, triangular battery cover with the Continental GT 650 logo on it. Two separate, classic-style mufflers are placed on both sides. The Royal Enfield Continental GT 650’s high-spoked wheels wrapped around its radial tires and tail cowl give it its classic café racer look.

The Harley Davidson Street 750 is a low-powered, lightweight cruiser with a stylish look. Despite being fitted with a 750 cc engine, it is suited for beginners and intermediate riders. The Harley Street 750 is built with high-quality parts and a clean finish. It has an aesthetically appealing design due to its compact build, raked-out front end, blacked-out parts, two-into-one exhaust, and small nose fairing.

The Harley Street 750 also has a bobber-style front fender and a tail cowl-style rear fender with a tail/stop light, rear turn signals, and license plate bracket. The small nose fairing is mainly only for aesthetics since it does not reliably block the incoming wind. The Harley Street 750 comes with single dial gauges attached to mid-mounted handlebars. It is also fitted with a large radiator behind the front wheel and a liquid-cooling system. The Harley Street 750’s only two chrome parts are the rear shock absorbers and front forks. It also has blacked-out, seven-spoke wheels with machined rim highlights.

The Royal Enfield Continental GT 650’s engine has a retro-style look but is built from high-tech internal parts. Royal Enfield worked hard to build a simple, user-friendly, and inexpensive motorbike to introduce in the U.S. market.

The Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 is fitted with a 648 cc air- and oil-cooled, Parallel-Twin engine capable of horsepower of 47 hp at 7,150 rpm and a torque of 52 Nm at 5,250 rpm. It has a six-speed, constant mesh transmission that connects to the rear wheel via a chain drive. The Parallel-Twin engine has a crank angle of 270 °, providing a quick throttle response and smooth torque delivery at all gear levels which help ensure a fun riding experience. The Royal Enfield Continental GT 650’s smooth and predictable power delivery makes it suited for novice riders.

Due to being a lightweight motorcycle, the Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 is easy to handle when traveling through traffic. The 41 mm front fork and the twin coil-over shocks provide soft damping rates which help with comfort when going over bumpy roads. The Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 has reliable braking due to its 320 mm single front disc and a 240 mm single rear disc, along with an optional Bosch ABS.

The Harley Davidson Street 750 is powered by a 750 cc liquid-cooled, Revolution® X V-Twin engine capable of a torque of 58.98 Nm at 4,000 rpm and a horsepower of 53 hp. It is an all-around cruiser with an aggressive, café racer style capable of providing a comfortable cruising experience on highways and open roads. The Harley Street 750’s minimalist design makes it a nimble and agile vehicle. The 750 cc Revolution® X engine produces a smooth power output at all gear levels. However, if the motorcycle travel at or over 80 mph, it starts to vibrate uncontrollably.

Unlike most Harley Davidson motorcycles, the Harley Street 750 comes with a liquid-cooled system that better maintains the engine’s temperature. The single front disc with a Brembo caliper and a rear disc brake provides adequate braking, which can be improved further by installing an optional ABS.

The Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 has an aggressive riding style similar to a café racer. It is built to be agile and provide a quick throttle response but at the cost of comfortability. The Royal Enfield Continental GT 650’s clip-on handlebars and rear-mounted foot controls offer a forward riding style and compact legroom. It also offers a smooth riding experience with minimal vibrations during mid-range travel.

The Harley Davidson Street 750 is a lightweight, beginner-friendly motorcycle ideal for daily commutes and cruising open roads and highways. It has a low seat height of 25.7 inches and low-mounted handlebars which provide an upright riding position. However, shorter riders will have to sit slightly forward to reach the handlebars and taller riders will find it uncomfortable to travel long distances. The Harley Street 750 also has mid-mounted foot controls for comfortable city street traveling.

The Harley Davidson Street 750 is a lightweight cruiser with slightly aggressive styling and ergonomics. It comes with low-mounted, less swept-back handlebars, an upright riding position, and mid-mounted foot controls for comfortable city travel and highway cruising. The Harley Street 750 has a low seat height of 25.7 inches which helps make it more nimble and agile. Meanwhile, the Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 is a café racer with an aggressive riding style. The rider has to sit in a slouched riding position to reach the low-mounted clip-on handlebars. Also, the Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 has rear-mounted foot controls which make it uncomfortable for taller and average riders.

The Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 and the Harley Davidson Street 750 are nimble and agile beginner-friendly motorbikes. However, both motorcycles differ in terms of their designs, performance, and ergonomics. The Royal Enfield Continental 650 is a café racer built for fast, short commutes, offering little comfort on long-distance rides. Meanwhile, the Harley Street 750 is ideal for beginners due to being lightweight, easy to handle, agile, comfortable, and affordable. It provides a comfortable cruising experience on open roads and is ideal for daily commutes. Overall, the Harley Street 750 is a more versatile cruiser and better suited for beginners. Also, due to being a popular and customizable Harley model, there are aftermarket parts readily available.

The Harley Street 750 can be transformed into a light-touring bike by adding a few aftermarket parts, including saddlebags, full-sized fairing, pulled-back handlebars, sissy bars, and rider and passenger’s backrests.