I have a soft spot for Royal Enfields. I own a new 650 Interceptor and a 2006 Electra. These bikes aren’t the most exciting, but they are really, really nice, have a great heritage and are very well-built.
The original Interceptor was really an awesome bike. It was originally a 700 that was only sold in Canada and the US. Royal Enfield introduced their all new 736 cc twin cylinder engine in 1962 on the 750 Interceptor. The new engine was similar to the 692 cc engine; but there was hardly any part that was not modified or improved. The engine cases were beefed up to withstand the increased torque.
What sets this engine apart from other contemporary British twins is that the crankshaft was dynamically balanced from the factory which made these bikes one of the smoothest British twin engines ever. The Series 1 bikes had an automatic advance magneto, coil ignition and a new seat. There was a rare single carburetor model as well, but most were twin carb.
The Series II was introduced for 1969. It included a wet sump engine to improve oil flow to the crankshaft. The CB points were moved to the end of exhaust camshaft and the timing cover was redesigned accordingly. This engine was used on the Interceptor until the end of production in 1970.
This Interceptor is on ebay, and priced about double what it should be, since the close up pictures show flaws in the paint, no insignia and with that minimal attention to detail and high price, I personally wonder what else mechanically might be found.
I checked out the NADA book, and pricing for this model tops out just under $12,000 US for a show-ready model (I’m being generous), with “nice” models running around 6k. This model might be “nice” if it can be looked at and run. It seems to have much more chrome than what came from the factory. But when you look close up at that tank:
You can easily see the scratches in the chrome, dent in front of the filler cap and really bad copper paint. I’ve done much better in my garage. Also, where are the logos? look at the filler cap? When asking 2K over what a concours bike would cost, it should look like it was built by Vulcan.
I think this needs some work.
Find it here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/1969-Royal-Enfield-750-Interceptor-II/333841938315?hash=item4dba87b78b:g:yI8AAOSwv8ZfdeZO