Royal Enfield Flying Flea: First Ride Review

The Visuals

The Flying Flea’s design draws clear inspiration from the original bike that was parachuted into war zones to mobilise troops. The compact form factor and lightweight application carry forward to the electric motorcycle, and I like the unique shape that it cuts in today’s times.

There are design bits like the girder suspension, the exposed frame, the floating seat, and the magnesium case for the battery pack, replete with fins that not only help with the cooling but also look aesthetically pleasing. Adding to the visual appeal is the richness of the green paint on our test bike. There’s a nice and very welcome attention to detail which sets the Flying Flea apart from other two-wheeler EVs. On the whole, the bike looks distinct and that’s going to be one of its USPs.

That said, this is a rather slim motorcycle, so those with big builds will appear a touch oversized on the Flying Flea. Perhaps, it will be a point of consideration, for those who care about how they are seen while riding a bike.

The Package

Starting with the powertrain, the bike has a 15.4kW PMSM motor that is rated to make 20.6bhp at 3,500rpm and 60Nm of torque. The claimed top speed is 115kmph.

As for the battery pack, it is a 3.91kWh unit and the company claims an IDC range of 154km. More importantly, the Flying Flea packs an onboard charger, which takes 65 mins to charge the battery pack from 20 per cent to 80 per cent. That’s at a rate of approximately 1 per cent per minute. Over and above this, what I like is the fact that I only need to carry the cable around to charge the bike at a regular three-pin socket. No hassle of lugging around a bulky charger.

In fact, this clever packaging is what left me impressed. This slim EV packs a motor, battery, on-board charger, and a wireless mobile charging pad that can accommodate an iPhone Pro Max.

The bike also gets a rather crisp and neatly executed touchscreen instrument cluster. It also has navigation system via the FF app and it worked pretty accurately.

Lastly, I like the fact that the Flying Flea is equipped with modern-day safety features like cornering traction control and ABS. In addition to this, the bike gets ride modes such as City, Highway, Sport, Rain, and even a customisable mode. This mode allows riders to tailor the throttle response and the level up to which the traction control or ABS intervenes.

The Ride

Once you are seated on the rider’s perch, it becomes instantly apparent that the Flying Flea is a city bike. The seat is roomy but just enough for those short runs.

The handlebar is within easy reach, while the footpegs are set in a neutral position. The pegs, however, can also be moved forward for a slightly cruiser-ish riding position. I, however, have an issue with this, which I’ll come to later.

On the move, the Flying Flea is quick and stable. Even in the City mode, the Flea doesn’t feel like a slouch. Acceleration is rapid enough to keep pace with traffic and even pulling quick overtakes isn’t an issue. On the other end of the performance spectrum, the Sport mode sharpens the throttle response significantly and the bike feels properly fast. Royal Enfield claims a 0-60kmph time of 3.7s but the best part is that the ‘Flea’ can sit at highway speeds of 80-100kmph with ease. Which means there’s usable performance for both city and highway riding scenarios.

As for the battery range, the claimed 154km IDC should translate to a real-world range of around 100km, which is sufficient for city rides. Plus there’s regen to help maximise the overall range. However, we’d wait to test the bike in our city to put out a more conclusive statement about the actual range.

The ride quality of the bike is surprisingly good, despite the girder-style front suspension. It was absorbent over bumps and undulations with only the sharpest bumps filtering through. The monoshock also does a good job of isolating most of the bad roads from the rider, but it still felt a touch more firm than the front end. Those 19-inch wheels at both ends, meanwhile, made life easy while riding over broken and some mud packed trails. Considering their narrow width, the tyres are grippy around corners, albeit it does take a while to get used to the feel and feedback that they offer.

More importantly, the bike doesn’t get unsettled under hard braking conditions, despite the slim wheels. In fact, the brakes on the Flying Flea are quite strong and sharp, and I discovered this while avoiding a stray dog that decided to sprint across the highway all of a sudden.

That said, since I was on a motorcycle, I instinctively reached for the non-existent foot-operated rear brake pedal. I had to remind myself that the rear brake lever is on the handlebar, as is the case in a scooter. I get the point that Royal Enfield wanted to add adjustable footpegs as a feature, but a conventional rear brake would’ve been better.

Wait to buy?

The Royal Enfield Flying Flea cuts a rather distinct figure in the electric two-wheeler space. There’s a genuine backstory to the name, the bike is compact enough to be ridden or parked in the city, and there’s more than adequate performance and range on offer.

What Royal Enfield needs to get right is the price, which is due to be announced on 10 April, following the launch of its first Flying Flea showroom in Bengaluru. The bike will be available across the rest of India in a phased manner.

We expect the Flying Flea to be positioned as a premium offering and that should reflect in the price. For now, the bike does look promising.

Photography by Kapil Angane