Royal Enfield goes vintage! New Classic Pegasus draws from Flying Flea of World War II

 A lightweight motorcycle, the 125cc two-stroke bike was known as the 'Flying Flea' and was deployed behind enemy lines via parachutes onboard the Hirsa Gilder to provide communications support. It also acted as a platform for quick mobility for the forward units of the Airborne Pegasus. It was the only proper motorcycle that was used by airborne troops during D-Day and over 4,000 were deployed across various sites of war like Normandy and Arnhem.

Royal Enfield has been long associated with military motorcycles and military in general. The bike making company's team made their best efforts to not only create this new motorcycle but also recreate an old glory. The makers took inspiration from the 'Flying Flea' and put them in the Classic 500. They spent a lot of time making colour swatches and ultimately came up with two colour options for the Pegasus Edition - Service Brown and Olive Dab Green. Indian customers will only get the Brown colour as civilians are not allowed to have vehicles that have the Army colour. Another specialty about the Classic 500 is that the bike will come with stenciled unique serial numbers on the tank to give it the military motorcycle feel.

The placing and positioning of the Pegasus logo on the fuel tank was also given a lot of emphasis by the makers to recreate the RE roundel. The Pegasus Classic 500 will also come with a yellow stripe on the side of the engine cover. This may not mean anything now but the makers gave that attention to detail to ensure the bike had the essence of the original Flying Flea. The yellow stripe was originally used to define the center of gravity of the motorcycle. The bike fancies a bespoke set of military-style canvas panniers, the Pegasus motif on the tank and panniers and period correct RE badging. Each bike will also have brown handlebar grips, blacked out silencers, rims, a leather strap with brass buckles across the air filte, kickstart lever, pedals and headlight bezel to highlight the functional, period look.

The Royal Enfield Pegasus Classic 500 will be priced at Rs 2.5 lakh ex-showroom Delhi.