Royal Enfield has been on an incredible roll lately. It seems as though every month, the Indian giant releases a new model to rave reviews. And this time last year, they shocked EICMA with the sleek, city-focused Flying Flea C6, a lightweight electric commuter that managed to be both practical and pretty. This year, they were back at EICMA with another surprise, and they’ve done what Royal Enfield does best: taken the idea off the tarmac and into the wild. Meet the Flying Flea S6, a tougher, dual-purpose sibling built for riders who’d rather take the long way home, preferably via a gravel back road.

The name Flying Flea isn’t new; in fact, it’s one of Royal Enfield’s most legendary. The original was a pint-sized World War II dispatch bike, designed to be dropped out of airplanes with parachutes. Its job? Land, start, and go, no drama, no excuses. And while the new S6 might not be jumping out of C-47s anytime soon, it carries that same spirit of simplicity, lightness, and go-anywhere grit. Only this time, there’s no petrol involved! Wisely, Enfield's entry into the electric market focuses on budget-friendly offerings, and the S6 is no different. You can't expect people to try a still-new-to-most technology, and then charge an arm and a leg for the privilege.

When you walk into the Bangkok workshop of Tanadit Sarawek, better known to the motorcycle world as Eak K-Speed, you don’t just see bikes. You see a philosophy. It’s a place where black paint and matte finishes reign supreme, metal bends to human will, and factory-fresh machines are stripped of their innocence before being reborn with a darker, sharper identity. His latest subject? Royal Enfield’s brand-new Bear 650. And true to form, Eak has conjured up another monochrome monster, a back street brawler he calls Scrambler Bear.

The name tells you all you need to know about both this custom creation and the philosophy behind Royal Enfield's factory creation. Adding to their incredibly successful 650 twin line-up, the Bear isn't just a new paint job to cover up an existing model; it's a genuine effort by the Indian powerhouse to capture the '60s soul of a true scrambler and infuse it with plenty of inspiration from California's legendary Big Bear Run. In typical RE fashion, this means clever tweaks, which give you all of the thrills the name offers, without a huge hit to the back pocket.

When Royal Enfield dropped their modern twin, everyone figured it’d sell well, but no one saw this coming. The thing’s become a full-blown movement. Sales are through the roof, race grids are filling up with nothing but Enfields, and the number of customs out there is enough to make your head spin. So when Royal Enfield Brazil decided to run a BTR Dealer Build-Off for 2025, they tapped seven shops to throw down. And this, folks, is the bike that came out on top. Dreamed up by the Sekai Group, the crew behind Enfield dealerships across southern Brazil, and brought to life by the metal magicians at RMC Garage, it’s a lean, green, track-shredding machine that looks every bit as good as it goes.

For nearly a decade, RMC Garage, also known as Real Motorcycles, have been building incredible classic styled customs out of their small garage in Florianópolis. And with the Sekai Group having a host of dealerships, including one not too far from the shop, the build-off was the perfect excuse for the two businesses to team up. Along with their fellow contestants, they'd all follow the Royal Enfield ethos of Build.Train.Race, a program that started in North America to teach women how to create and ride their own track bikes, and has since morphed into a one-make race series, run under the mighty Moto America banner.

Ten years ago, if we'd told you that India and Royal Enfield would become the powerhouses of both the motorcycle industry and the custom bike scene, you wouldn't have believed us. Heck, we wouldn't have believed ourselves, but there is just no denying the incredible rise of the Asian nation and the two-wheeled company that has been synonymous with motorcycling there for generations. However, even the biggest brands rely on unique and successful partnerships to achieve remarkable things, and few relationships have borne so much tasty fruit as RE and Rajputana Customs. For their part, Enfield delivered a brand-new Shotgun 650 to the Jaipur-based bike builders, and Vijay Singh and his team have gone custom crazy, crafting a truly handbuilt bike, they call JetStream.

Credit where it's due, Royal Enfield and their 'Custom World' program have been supporting bike builders around the globe for quite a few years now, and their approach is paying off big time. Part of their philosophy is to truly give creative freedom to builders, no requests to use the company colours or not hack up too much of the frame or change the silhouette. In fact, their vision for Vinjay Singh and the team at Rajputana was to simply “create something truly different.”And boy, have they, the finished product is out of this world and showcases just what a perfect engine the RE parallel twin is for going crazy on a full-on, one-off build.

It goes by a number of names, among them Super Single and Super Mono, but in the road racing world, they've become an affordable way to get on the track without spending a small fortune on a full-blown Super Bike. But just like the Twins class that has become a favourite at events like the Isle of Man TT, what was once a class about being budget-friendly has turned into somewhat of an arms race. The winners are the spectators who get to see cheap road bikes transformed into absolute track monsters, and when Royal Enfield decided it would be a good way to get in on the action, there was only one man to turn to. Enter the legend that is Pepo Rosell, the man who has made turning road bikes into racers an absolute art form. And this is his latest creation, a Royal Enfield Guerrilla that is now 'GRR 450 by XTR Pepo', a single-cylinder, Super Mono, that made its debut at the recent Wheels and Waves festival.

The Super Single class has been dominated by a mix of dirt bikes from Japan transformed into fully faired road racers, and machines like the RC390 from KTM which have been produced from the factory to be easily transformed into budget bikes for racing. However, Royal Enfield is rightly proud of the water-cooled single-cylinder engine they have designed for use in platforms like the Himalayan and the Guerrilla, and they wanted to show it could easily stack up to its rivals. And so they sought out Pepo Rosell and commissioned him to build a bike that could more than prove the point.

From acting icon Steve McQueen to former MotoGP Star Danilo Petrucci, there is something about riding in a Rally Raid that makes even the rich and famous desperate to fill their lungs with the dust of the desert. From the epic adventures of the Dakar to the sand and speed of the Baja 1000, these races are as much about the characters who embrace the challenge, as they are the machines that have to withstand the inherent chaos and carnage. And few know the pleasure and pain as intricately as the organisers of Scram Africa, who battle from the sea to the Sahara, the Spanish outfit that is Fuel Motorcycles. So, to celebrate the launch of the new Royal Enfield Bear 650, the big manufacturer tasked the Barcelona-based outfit with creating something special. Introducing the Fuel Fury 650, a modern Desert Racer infused with nostalgia from the glory days.

To say that the 650 twin-cylinder range from Royal Enfield is booming right now would be an understatement, and the Bear 650 is part of a number of new additions to the already highly successful line-up. For their part, Enfield describes the bike as “a road scrambler with a sixties soul. Inspired by the Big Bear Run in the Californian desert.” And given the popularity and success of parallel twins from that era and their dominance of everything from Scrambles to Rally Raids, the introduction of the Bear 650 comes with plenty to live up to. For Fuel Motorcycles, “It all began when Royal Enfield invited us to collaborate on the launch of their new Bear 650, asking us to design a limited-edition clothing line and to customise one of the very first production units.”

At the close of the most recent financial year, the bean counters at Royal Enfield had one hell of an impressive number to take to management; the company had produced and sold a million motorcycles in that twelve-month period. The company is simply booming, and you'd be hard pressed to find a place on earth where you don't see an RE on the road; but nowhere do they loom as large as in their home country of India. The love for the brand is a national pastime, and workshops like Eimor Customs service a clientele who want to do something truly special with their RE. The latest build to roll out of the Hyderabad-based powerhouse is 'Shibusa', a 2012 Royal Enfield Classic 350, which is transported back to a golden age as a brass popping Bobber with all of the fruit.

Eimor stands for East India Motorcycle Revolution and was founded back in 2011 by friends MJ and Joy, who decided because they couldn't find anyone to build bikes to the quality they desired, they'd just have to go out and do it themselves. And over the years they've not only assembled an incredibly talented team, but they've built countless custom motorcycles of the highest standard. They like to use a lot of locally manufactured machines for their projects, and while it is not as evident on this build as it is on others, they have by far the best paint and graphics department on the sub-continent. Now, that's a big call, we're talking over 1.5 billion people, but if you look at their website and check out the incredible panel, paint and airbrushing work they do, I'm sure you'll agree.

When it comes to events that truly capture what the custom motorcycle culture is all about, few do it better than the folks behind The One Motorcycle Show. Spearheaded by local legend Thor Drake, the four-day extravaganza takes place at the incredible Zidell Yards on Portland's waterfront. The old abandoned facility sets the stage for a gritty, down-to-earth vibe, where 'built not bought' and bikers with grease under their fingernails are all just part of the atmosphere. This year was the 16th edition of the show and featured 300 custom bikes on display, as well as a host of kick-ass bands, tasty beer to drink as well as group rides and after-parties to enjoy. So, sit back, relax and take in these stunning shots of all of our favourites from what Thor calls 'The Best Show on Earth'.

The One Show just seems to get bigger and better each year, and a huge part of that can be put down to the community-like vibe that washes over Portland for the event. Thousands make the pilgrimage on two wheels from near and far, and instantly it's time to catch up with old friends and see who is riding what. The first day is made up of the Thursday Night MX at the nearby Portland International Raceway and then it's off to a local cinema for the opening of the VAHNA Film Festival, a film competition and festival tour dedicated to the art of motorcycle cinematography.

Call me old fashioned, but nothing in a new motorcycle press briefing has me looking for the exit faster than when the PR guy launches into their spiel about the bike's latest tech. I'm not talking trick suspension here, but Bluetooth connectivity for your phone, iPhone and Android mirroring, and voice-guided Sat Nav. This is the world I'm trying to escape. I want a visceral, analogue experience, and nothing truly gives you that feeling like a classic motorcycle between your legs. But many of the magnificent vintage machines that provide this joy have seen far better days and require a skilful restoration to breathe new life into their soul. That was the case for this 1951 Royal Enfield Bullet 350, which had been drowned in a flood, only to be revived back to its former regal self by the talented team at Purpose Built Moto.

If you're looking to relive the glory days, then British bikes from the '50s just might be the perfect sweet spot to fulfil your classic/vintage dreams. Anything earlier is likely to be either very expensive or increasingly hard to get parts for. But in that post-war period, prior to the Japanese boom that would come in the late '60s, the Brits were building motorcycles that were increasingly reliable and genuine high-quality transportation, with spirit to match. Brands like AJS, BSA, Matchless, Triumph, Norton and Enfield were at the heart of the period, and because many used common suppliers, parts can be interchangeable across the brands. And it was as parts that this bike arrived at PBM.

The Royal Enfield Classic 350 is the Indian brand's biggest-selling motorcycle, with a cult-like status in its home country and millions sold over the last decade. So it’s a no-brainer to take their popular parallel-twin engine and make a beefier version for those who crave more horsepower. Enter the Classic 650. We were recently invited to the Aussie launch of this beautiful bike, and – as the name suggests – this machine is a timeless classic. It's the sixth model in the ever-growing 650 Twins family, and this one is like the more mature, handsome and heavy-set big brother.

Seeing the bike in the metal for the first time and doing a quick walkaround, there’s no denying the design team at RE have done an amazing job creating a modern classic that stays true to the brand's heritage; the bike looks like it could have been pulled out from a 1950s time capsule. There are only three colourways here in Australia and the Black Chrome immediately grabbed my attention. The Vallam Red and Teal Green are also beautiful, but for me, the Black Chrome puts the 'class' in classic.