Royal Enfield unveiled its modernized Flying Flea late last year — an electrified two-wheeler that is loosely based on a lightweight British motorcycle that was parachuted out of aircraft during World War 2.
But rather than offer low-maintenance transport for advancing troops, the modern version is designed to appeal to a fresh audience of city-dwellers and extra-urban commuters who have perhaps not considered a motorcycle in the past.
“There are no gears, there is no noise and no need to fill up with gas where Flying Flea is concerned. It’s approachable,” explains Matt Cardenas, head of advanced concepts at Royal Enfield and a man very close to the Flying Flea project, tells us.
We caught up with him at Motoverse, an annual gathering of hardcore Royal Enfield fans in Goa, where the Flying Flea S6 made its second outing after an official unveiling at the EICMA motorcycle show in Italy a few weeks ago.
Designed to be a more focused, off-road companion to the Flying Flea C6 (the C standing for “classic”), the scrambler-inspired S6 packs more traditional front suspension, high-rise bars, knobbly tires, and a dedicated off-road mode for traction control, lean-angle sensors, and ABS braking.
Both bikes look set to bring something fresh and exciting to the world of electric two-wheelers next year, fusing next-gen EV propulsion and cutting-edge infotainment in a machine that doesn’t cost supercar money.
While we are still in the dark about the exact price, battery specs, and range, we’ve found several reasons to get excited about the Flea…
1. You can charge it with a kettle lead
Rather than offer a removable battery solution like Maeving and Honda have on recent electric machines, Royal Enfield and Flying Flea opted for the convenience of a good old-fashioned kettle lead.
The idea is that this standard fitting is not only ubiquitous, but it can also be easily carried in a pocket or backpack when on the move. Domestic plug sockets are everywhere, so charging your Flying flea should be as easy as topping up a laptop.
“We spoke to thousands of potential customers during our research phase and found hardly any wanted to carry heavy battery packs upstairs to apartments. But 85 per cent of them had a plug socket where the bike would be parked,” Cardenas explained at this year’s Motoverse.
Rather than the convenience of a removable pack, the company wants to offer what it calls “City Plus” range, which is touted to be around 100 miles on a single charge. Something it says is impossible if you want to keep batteries light enough to be carried around.
When plugged in to a standard wall socket, Cardenas says owners can add around 1km of range for every minute the bike is tethered using Flying Flea’s dedicated lead. Any other kettle leads with theoretical work, but it could slow charging rates.
2. It will be the first of its kind to run an Android OS
Over 200 engineers from India and overseas have worked on developing the Flying Flea to date, with a large number of those dedicated to the innovative operating system and user experience.
Cardenas says it will be the first dedicated motorcycle UX to run on the Android operating system, meaning owners will get a smartphone experience when interacting with the 3.5-inch true round TFT display.
Google Maps will be used for navigational purposes, a feature carried over from the most recent iteration of Royal Enfield’s popular Himalayan motorcycle, while Qualcomm’s system-on-chip for two-wheelers have been employed to offer bike-to-cloud connectivity.
BMW’s CE 02 and CE 04 electric scooters edge close to this reality with plenty of smartphone compatibility, but Flying Flea’s use of built-in navigation and the ability to control a device when on the move is heading into territory that is occupied by much more premium and expensive motorcycles.
3. Expect real-time updates
The aforementioned Qualcomm chip delivers a seamless communication between the bike and the rider, meaning that once a smartphone is tethered, it can be used as a key and a way to remotely check on the charge status and whereabouts of your pride and joy.
Cardenas tells us that Apple CarPlay and Android Auto simply don’t work well with a joystick style UI, which is what Flying Flea uses, so the company had to develop its own software from scratch.
Harnessing 4G, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity, Flying Flea will offer a dedicated voice assistant for answering messages on the fly, as well as hunting for playlists that reside on the smartphone and navigating to places of interest.
It can also automatically update settings via over-the-air software packages, which could in turn help improve charging speeds, battery speeds and even the performance of the bike over time.
4. Smaller and larger models will sit on the platform
The Flying Flea C6 and F6 are just the beginning, as that number relates to where these two models sit in a wider line-up of electrified two-wheelers.
Although the debut offerings are very much designed to appeal to first time riders and those looking at the equivalent 125cc motorcycles, the C6 and S6 both use premium materials, shunning the temptation to drastically undercut the competition and produce it as cheaply as possible.
There’s a magnesium battery casing to keep the weight down, for example, as well as a frame-mounted electric motor that drives a belt on the road-going C6 or a chain on the S6, which is arguably more complex than the simple rear hub motors used by Maeving and other rivals.
That said, Royal Enfield and Flying Flea clearly plan to offer smaller and cheaper variants that could possibly make waves in the Chinese-dominated scooter market, as well as something to take on larger capacity combustion engine bikes.
5. Royal Enfield will continue to champion ICE bikes
Among the noise, sights and smells of Motoverse, where the combustion engine still very much rules the roost, Royal Enfield’s silent Flying Flea still attracted the crowds.
That said, Siddhartha Lal, chairman at Royal Enfield, admits that while electric motorcycles make a sense to a lot of people, they won’t replace the company’s best-sellers just yet.
“Royal Enfield could make an electric motorcycle, but it would have to be the right model,” he explained.
Instead, Flying Flea has been designed to appeal to a different audience, one that is perhaps more tech-savvy and not so attached to the internal combustion engine.
We will find out full specification and pricing closer to the C6 launch date, which is Spring next year. Although we’ll have to wait even longer for the S6 to arrive.
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