Royal Enfield has been making motorcycles since 1901. In 125 years, every single one of them ran on petrol. That changed on April 10, 2026, when the company officially launched the Flying Flea C6 — its first electric motorcycle — at a dedicated showroom in Jayanagar, Bengaluru. Bookings opened at noon, with deliveries set to begin by the end of May.

Speaking at the launch, CEO B. Govindarajan said: "We are excited to introduce the Flying Flea C6, marking our first step into electric motorcycling in our 125th year. This is not just about going electric — it is about creating a new category of urban mobility that is rooted in experience, not just specifications or numbers."

The Name and the History Behind It

The Royal Enfield Flying Flea takes its name from the 125cc, single-cylinder motorcycle used by British army paratroopers in World War II. Designed to be dropped behind enemy lines, it delivered messages between troops when radio communications were not possible. Royal Enfield has resurrected the name for a motorcycle that shares the original's core qualities: lightweight, narrow, urban, and now silent.

Design and Build

The C6 was first shown at EICMA 2024 in Milan and has remained largely unchanged from concept to production — a sign that Royal Enfield meant what it showed.

The standout visual feature is the forged aluminium girder fork, a suspension setup rarely seen on modern motorcycles that gives the C6 a distinct neo-retro silhouette. The bike is built on an all-new cage frame made from forged aluminium, keeping weight in check. The battery casing is magnesium. The result is a kerb weight of just 124 kilograms — the lightest Royal Enfield ever built. For context, the Classic 350 weighs around 195 kg.

The C6 is available in two colours: Storm Black and Flea Green.

Performance and Range

The C6 carries a 3.91 kWh lithium-ion battery paired with a permanent magnet synchronous motor producing 15.4 kW peak power and 60 Nm of torque, with drive going to the rear wheel via a belt drive. Claimed IDC range is 154 km, with a 0-60 kmph time of 3.7 seconds and a top speed of 115 kmph.

Realistically, Indian media testing puts urban range at closer to 100 to 110 km in mixed city conditions — adequate for daily commuting, but this is clearly a city machine, not a tourer.

A full charge takes 2 hours and 16 minutes, while a 20 to 80 percent top-up takes about 65 minutes from a standard 16A home socket. Riders can also choose between Rapid, Standard, and Trickle charging speeds via the mobile app.

Technology

The C6 brings features Royal Enfield has never offered before. It is the first Royal Enfield to get traction control and cornering ABS. A 3.5-inch circular TFT touchscreen with a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor powers Google Maps navigation, SMS and call alerts, and music control. Under the tank panel sits a 15W wireless phone charger plus a 27W USB-C port. Five riding modes — City, Rain, Highway, Sport, and Custom — are available, along with a bidirectional crawl mode, hill-start assist, keyless ignition, tip-over alert with location sharing, and over-the-air software updates.

Price

The Flying Flea C6 is priced at Rs 2.79 lakh ex-showroom. Customers can also opt for Battery-as-a-Service, which brings the price down to Rs 1.99 lakh, with a monthly subscription covering battery usage and maintenance.

At Rs 2.79 lakh, it costs more than every 350cc Royal Enfield currently on sale. The premium is justified by materials, technology, and the fact that this is genuinely a new kind of product — but it is a premium nonetheless, and buyers need to weigh that honestly.

What's Next

Flying Flea is Royal Enfield's dedicated EV sub-brand, and the C6 is only its first product. The Flying Flea S6, a scrambler variant built on the same platform, is expected to follow later in 2026, likely around EICMA in November. The first Flying Flea showroom outside India is planned to open in Paris in 2026.

The C6 is not trying to replace what Royal Enfield has built over 125 years. It is an opening statement — carefully made, deliberately positioned, and aimed at a new kind of rider. Whether that rider exists in sufficient numbers to justify the ambition is a question only the market can answer. The wait for that answer begins today.