Royal Enfield has launched the much-anticipated Thunderbird 500 in Mumbai today. As seen in the 2012 Delhi Auto Expo, the bike looks exactly the same with the signature LED ring headlamp and a five bar LED tail-lamp.

Other goodies include the analogue-digital instrument display with two trip meters. Also keeping safety in mind, the Thunderbird gets hazard lamps which should be useful when the bike is parked next to the road in case of a breakdown.

The engine is a carryover from the Classic 500 and makes 27.2bhp and 41.4Nm of torque. The fuel tank capacity has been increased to 20 litres to give the bike a range of 500km on a full tank!

What came as a surprise was the launch of the Thunderbird 350 at the press launch of the Thunderbird 500. Bookings for the 500 are open in Mumbai from today, while the Thunderbird 350’s bookings will open soon. If you have already booked the older Thunderbird 350, don’t worry, you have the option of switching over to the new one.

The Thunderbird 500 is priced at Rs 1.82 lakh while the 350 will retail at Rs 1.43 lakh (both prices on-the-road, Mumbai). How badly do you want one, TopGear.commers?

Tags: royal enfield, thunderbird, thunderbird 350, thunderbird 500