The world of electric motorcycles is a tough one right now. Promising upstarts and established names have gone out of business while even Harley-Davidson can’t seem to convince people to buy an electric bike. None of this is stopping Royal Enfield, which has just officially announced its sub-brand of electric motorcycles. Flying Flea will hit the ground running with two motorcycles and I think these have the chance to get Americans to trade an engine between their legs for a stack of batteries.
As I wrote recently, Energica ran out of steam last month after producing high-range motorcycles for years. Sondors crumbled after delivering a motorcycle that didn’t live up to the advertising. Erik Buell’s company took reservations on an electric motorcycle and then folded before delivering. Arc Vector and Onyx died without anyone noticing. Harley-Davidson’s spin-off electric brand is still trying while burning more money than most people will ever make in a lifetime. Those are just the recent concerns that had a bad time.
This hasn’t stopped other companies from moving forward. An interesting challenger is entering the EV ring. Royal Enfield is known for building seriously attractive motorcycles at a shockingly affordable price. Now, it wants you to ride its new sub-brand called Flying Flea, and I think it has a lot of potential.
The rumor mill has been abuzz about Royal Enfield launching an electric motorcycle for some time now. English-speaking websites have been talking about prototype sightings for over four years now and the brand previously even confirmed future EV models. In revealing the new brand Royal Enfield say this has been a huge endeavor involving over 200 engineers in India and the UK plus a timeline stretching “many years.” The company says all aspects of these bikes from the battery to the motor are being developed in-house.
Now, we’re finally seeing the fruits of their labor with the Flying Flea brand. Two motorcycles will be coming out of this effort: The retro C6 and the scrambler S6. The S6 is below.
Right out of the gate, Royal Enfield gets to the point and says that these machines are “urban and city+ motorcycles.” Basically, these are urban bikes, but with just enough capability for a short jaunt out of town. Don’t expect to do an Iron Butt on one of these. That makes a ton of sense for the current state of electric motorcycle technology, where adding range costs money, so cheap bikes don’t go very far. Riders all over India and China are picking up electric motorcycles by the millions to use in cities. I like that Royal Enfield is keeping expectations realistic, but America will be a challenge for sure.
Of course, you’re also probably wondering about that name. The Flying Flea is one of the models Royal Enfield considers to be one of its most historically significant, from Royal Enfield:
Simple, tough and resilient, the Royal Enfield Flying Flea, or WD/RE to give it its official title, was deployed as a front line combat machine during the latter stages of the Second World War. An invaluable asset to the elite soldiers of the newly-formed Parachute Regiment, it was parachuted behind enemy lines, carried in assault gliders or ferried to the beaches of Normandy in amphibious landing craft.
Ironically, the Flea was originally a German design. Launched in 1934, the DKW RT100 was one of the most reliable and best selling motorcycles of the 1930s. In 1938, the Nazis pressured DKW’s Dutch distributor, R S Stokvis & Zonen, to fire its Jewish directors or lose its DKW franchise. Rather than bow to this anti-Semitic coercion, the company promptly despatched an RT100 to Royal Enfield in England with a request to reverse-engineer the motorcycle and supply them directly.
Enfield’s chief designer, Ted Pardoe, set to work, replicating the frame and forks but enlarging the engine capacity from 98 to 126cc. The result weighed just 56 kg and its one-and-a-half gallon fuel tank gave a range of around 150 miles while travelling between 35 and 40mph.
Part of the Flying Flea’s charm was its super low compression engine, which meant that it ran on the poorest quality garbage that could barely be classified as fuel. It also had an interesting cost-effective front fork design. It was built from pressed steel blades with three rubber bands providing suspension, but no damping. Soldiers riding a Flying Flea bounced around, but the suspension was cheap to make and easy to repair in the field.
Flying Flea seems to make a lot of sense for a brand going for lightweight electric motorcycles built for a purpose. The C6 is designed to look like a modern interpretation of the old Flying Flea combat bike. Royal Enfield says there’s a real girder fork up front, but it’s all modern with forged aluminum materials and a mudguard that articulates as the suspension moves through its travel.
Behind there is a forged aluminum frame that follows the elegant lines of the old Flying Flea. Captured inside is a magnesium battery case containing wavy cooling fins. They almost look like they’re emulating the look of a large single-cylinder engine.
But it’s not just about the visuals. Royal Enfield is leaning heavily on technology. The company said these bikes will come equipped with a touchscreen and an operating system that was developed in-house that will constantly monitor your ride. According to the company, the software should be able to optimize your motorcycle for either “captivating rider feel” or improving range. This involves something called the Vehicle Control Unit, which is something like a central nervous system connecting physical and digital touchpoints together. The company says the operating system will be able to provide “200,000 different ride mode combinations” and that company engineers have been so hard at work that 28 patents were created in the past six months alone.
Other bits of technology Royal Enfield is boasting about are that you’ll be able to use your phone as a key and that the bikes will have lean-sensitive ABS. All of this is pretty high-tech for Royal Enfield. Remember, my 2023 Royal Enfield Classic 350 is so old-school that its biggest feature is just having regular ABS. It doesn’t even have an LED headlight and most of its parts, including its heavy frame, are real steel.
Sadly, Royal Enfield hasn’t revealed any other information, so we don’t know anything about the price, batteries, motors, range, or weight. Judging from the pictures, it seems we’re looking at a frame-mounted motor, Bybre brakes (a Brembo brand), a belt drive, and a monoshock rear suspension. Not bad!
The S6 scrambler (below) is based on the same platform as the C6, but does away with the 1930s vibes and the girder forks for more conventional inverted forks plus a higher ground clearance.
I’m hopeful with a dab of caution. If Royal Enfield can hit that sweet spot of enough range for a low enough cost, I think it might get some Americans on an electric motorcycle. For now, too many brands are selling bikes that are just too expensive. Maybe Royal Enfield will be different. The company says we’ll have to wait until 2026 for the bikes to hit the market to see.
At the very least, I’m totally in love with the look. Royal Enfield might have just made one of the best-looking electric motorcycles yet. Hopefully, the company gets everything else right.
(Images: Royal Enfield)
I like bobber form factor, but this one is super ugly IMO, don’t know what makes this look more like a beach cruiser bike with added plastic covers
How well do Royal Enfields sell here in the states generally? I think I can count on one hand the number I’ve seen in the past five years, but that’s hardly an exact gauge.
I love the idea and think it’s terrific that India, as is often the case, is keeping a piece of cool old Britannia alive, but will it forever be an also-ran here in Harley (and increasingly, Indian) land?
That looks really awesome but no specs? Also wondering about scale, as a fairly girthy dude I’d probably look like a circus bear on a bicycle one one of them, even in their promo shots the rider looks a little big for it.
As an urban bike, it’s unlikely to be a large bike. If those are 17” (or even 19”) wheels, the scale is on the small side.
But you’re right, the rider looks to dominate the scale here. And I’m sure they wouldn’t put the circus bear on it for the media shoot – so makes me think it’s on the even smaller scale.