OPPOSED TWINS

It wouldn’t be out of the question to think that the Kawasaki W800 Café would trounce the Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 in a head-to-head retro-bike comparison. The manufacturing giant from Kobe has, after all, built rockets, helicopters, bullet trains, and some of the fastest motorcycles the world has ever seen. But, underestimating the Indian marque with a storied British name would be a mistake. These twins not only come from two different countries but also have differing goals and philosophies—despite being so closely matched in character, construction, and specifications. The Continental GT 650 is a machine meant to grow Royal Enfield’s business in the United States, whereas the Kawasaki is a niche-targeted exercise in nostalgia.

We contemplated this opposed pair of parallel twins parked inside our open-plan office and pondered which example might better represent what a retro café should be like. Could a 648cc, $6,249 machine manufactured in