Royal Enfield 650 Rear Brakes Are Failing

Royal Enfield brakes are failing, or, are they? According to at least one Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 Facebook group user, Royal Enfield says “Yeah, that’s normal.”

As someone who’s owned a couple Royal Enfield 650s over the years, I’ve pointed out some obvious flaws in their quality. I’ve also shared some of the things I’ve really liked about the Interceptor. I wanted to chime in, so let’s take a look at what’s going on.

Adersh on the Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 Facebook group says:

“Hello friends,

I have been using my interceptor since 2019. I experienced a serious accident that was not my fault. While riding downhill, I was randomly applying both the engine brake and the normal brakes. Suddenly, my rear brake became spongy, causing me to lose control. I slowed down and continued using my front brake to reach the nearest town for brake repairs. However, my front brake also failed, and the brake lever moved freely. I was on a turn and riding downhill when I suddenly swerved onto the adjacent track and collided with the bike against a side wall on the road. I managed to avoid a more severe accident by doing so. I survived with the assistance of divine intervention and only sustained a deep cut on my foot that required surgical intervention to repair the vein and tendon.

Subsequently, I reached out to Royal Enfield regarding this matter and requested me to bring the vehicle to their service center for inspection. After interacting with them, they informed me that this is a common occurrence in these bikes and that it is considered a normal case. This information has raised concerns about the reliability of the bike for future rides.

Therefore, I urge all riders to exercise caution in this situation. If you experience any issues with one of your brakes, it is advisable to refrain from using the affected brake and seek professional assistance. Taking such risks can lead to serious injuries.”

I’m Adrian from YouMotorcycle, I make videos that help motorcyclists, and in today’s video we’re going to talk about what exactly is happening to this rider, reactions from other Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 owners that show that rear brake failures are not uncommon, and my take on this as someone who’s owned Royal Enfields, ridden motorcycles for twenty years, and worked in the motorcycle industry for 14 of them.

What’s the community saying?

I hate Facebook, but I do have a special love for model-specific Facebook groups, because unlike general forums or reddits, you get people who really know, or at least have first-hand experience with your exact motorcycle. So let’s see what the Interceptor 650 Facebook group users have to say.

What’s happening with these riders?

For years I’ve talked about the Royal Enfield Interceptor 650s having brake issues, and people have taken it super personally, denied it, gotten very emotional, and attacked me for it. One very angry Indian even sent me a death threat. People are clearly a little too emotionally-invested in their Royal-Enfields.

So does Adersh’s story mean I was right and totally justifies all the times I mentioned Royal Enfield 650 brake issues? Well, no. But also, kind of yes.

Let me go nerd-mode for just one minute and give a real quick explanation:

Your brake system uses brake fluid to transfer the force of you squeezing the lever, down to the brake caliper. That’s what pushes your brake pads together and squeezes them around your spinning brake rotor, slowing your motorcycle down to an eventual stop.

All of this grinding of brake pads on spinning rotor causes a lot of friction, which causes a lot of heat, which is why brake fluid has a really high boiling point. Fresh brake fluid can handle temperatures up to 230 celcius or 446 Fahrenheit.

BUT, once your brake fluid gets old, the boiling point goes down to 155 degrees celcius or 311 Fahrenheit. That’s about a 33% performance decrease, all because of old brake fluid.

So, what happens when your brakes overheat? 

Sometimes exactly what our friend Adersh is describing, all of a sudden things start feeling spongy at the lever, and stop performing how they should. Your brakes basically stop working exactly when you need them the most.

Picture in your head the last time you had to slam the brakes and come to an emergency stop, now imagine if your brakes had stopped working halfway through that time you were braking.

This can sometimes kill people. And it’s all because they didn’t change their brake fluid every two years like the manufacturers recommend.

So does Ardesh’s experience justify my concerns about Royal Enfield’s braking components?

Probably not, because we don’t know how long it’s been since his last brake flush. We don’t know enough to know whether the machine has failed the human, or whether the human has failed his machine.

However, we can clearly see that there are a lot of other cases of Royal Enfield 650 repetitive rear brake failures that point to a bigger problem.

Since publishing the video about 24 hours ago, nearly a dozen more people have chimed in various discussions on Facebook saying that they too, had recurring rear brake issues, despite the dealers bleeding the system. This shows us that the problem is not due to brake fluid maintenance, but rather to a failure in the system.

Your brake system should be sealed. Air should not be getting in. Clearly this is a common issue from the manufacturer, and isn’t due to maintenance or service.

So what can you do about Royal Enfield 650 rear brake failures?

I warned my audience about this years ago, when all the other YouTubers only wanted to say nice things about these motorcycles. After all, it’s better for views if you just smile and play nice. I’d rather have less of a following and give you guys the truth because at the end of the day this information could save lives and I’m glad more people are starting to talk about it.

So what can you do if you own a Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 or GT 650?

First, call up your nearest authorized Royal Enfield dealership, and give them your VIN #. Ask them to look up your VIN # and tell you if there’s any outstanding recall work that your motorcycle needs done. Recall work is free, so if there’s something to be done, even if you’re broke, bring your motorcycle in.

Second, I have a video showing how to tell if your motorcycle brake fluid has gone bad. There are three different ways of doing it. You can easily do all of them yourself. Two ways are totally free. There’s a third option which will only cost you about $10 for a special tool.

It’s a really quick video showing you an essential skill in just a few minutes. It costs you nothing to do and can easily save your life. I strongly suggest watching my How To Tell If Your Motorcycle Brake Fluid Needs Replacing Video after this.

I’m Adrian from YouMotorcycle, I make videos that help motorcyclists on YouTube, so be sure to check them out.

Thank you for watching. Ride safe, but have fun.

Adrian