FEATURE - Royal Enfield Busted Knuckles Build-Off
Words: Mike Ryan
Photos: Courtesy of Urban Moto Imports
There’s nothing like a custom bike competition to unleash some rivalry – and a lot of creativity – among motorcycle dealers. That was certainly the case for the latest Royal Enfield “Busted Knuckles Build-Off”. The third season of this factory-backed custom build event brought five rivals together, with winners selected by both industry and public vote.
Open to Royal Enfield dealers across Australia and New Zealand, this third season of the Busted Knuckles Build-Off follows previous editions held in 2019 and 2022. The Build Off’s inaugural winners (chosen from six finalists) were ‘Royal Steel’ from MotoMAX in Perth, which secured the Experts’ Choice, while ‘Intertracker’ from Wanaka Powersports in NZ won the Peoples’ Choice award.
Season 2 saw an extensively modified, production racer-inspired build, dubbed ‘No.55’, from Royale Motorcycles in Hamilton, NZ, secure the Experts’ Choice. Adding components from Honda, Kawasaki and Triumph sportsbikes to a Continental GT 650 base, along with Öhlins suspension, a custom exhaust and plenty more mods, No.55 looked ready to race! This bike also won the Peoples’ Choice in Season 2.
Return with a Shotgun
The Busted Knuckles Build-Off returned for Season 3 this year with a more specific brief - entrants were specifically instructed to use the Shotgun 650 as the base for their creations.
Royal Enfield’s factory bobber, the Shotgun 650 was introduced to Australia and New Zealand in 2024, bringing the popular bobber aesthetic to the brand’s 650 platform. With a solo saddle (and provision to add a pillion seat), bobbed rear mudguard, alloy wheels and headlight shroud, the Shotgun 650 also features an extensive blackout treatment of the engine, exhaust system, suspension and wheels.
In factory form, the Shotgun 650’s 648cc parallel twin (remember that capacity – it’ll become important later) produces 34.6kW at 7250rpm and 52.3Nm at 5650rpm. With EFI, digital electronic ignition and electric starting, this engine is matched to a six-speed transmission and chain final drive. Suspension components – Showa at each end – combine a USD fork front with twin coilover shocks at the rear.
Other factory equipment on the Shotgun 650 includes an 18/17-inch wheel combo with tubeless tyres, 320mm front and 300m rear brake discs with ByBre calipers and the mandatory dual-channel ABS. Off the showroom floor, a Shotgun 650 is also equipped with a combined analogue and digital instrument pod, plus Royal Enfield’s Tripper app-based navigation system, a USB port, LED headlight and adjustable levers. Seat height is 795mm and kerb weight 240kg.
Making it Personal
There are enough goodies in the Royal Enfield Genuine Accessories range for Shotgun 650 owners to extensively personalise their ride - bar-end mirrors, LED indicators, sump guards, panniers, a flyscreen and more – but entrants in Season 3 of the Busted Knuckles Build-Off took ‘personalisation’ to whole new level. In some cases, very little of the Shotgun 650 base remained.
The five competing dealers were: MotoMAX from Perth, WA; Moto Machine from Sydney, NSW; GRID Motorcycles from the Gold Coast, QLD; House of Motorcycles from Prospect (Launceston), TAS; and Fast Fuel Motorcycles from Albury, NSW. Each was given a new Shotgun 650 and six months to make it into something special.
Here’s a breakdown of their creations.
SAWN-OFF
House of Motorcycles, TAS
A one-of-one Shotgun 650, Sawn-Off was inspired by classic bobber and drag-bike culture. Built by Cam at House of Motorcycles, Sawn-Off strips the Shotgun platform right back, hence the name! The result is described as harder, lower and more purposeful.
Making the Shotgun into a Sawn-Off started with the addition of gear from the Genuine Accessories range, such as a low-profile urban flyscreen and black signature rider seat, plus aftermarket goodies, like XL 10.5-inch rear shocks, 7/8-inch drag handlebars, an Up and Over handlebar riser kit, custom curved number plate frame, integrated Ellypse run/turn/brake lighting, and bespoke turn signals. A set of Michelin Anakee adventure tyres adds to the aggressive look.
Sawn-Off seems close to stock at first glance, but closer inspection shows a clean, aggressive and tightly resolved custom that House of Motorcycles says is true to Royal Enfield’s ethos of pure motorcycling, simplicity and rider expression.
SPITFIRE 650
Fast Fuel Motorcycles, NSW
The Spitfire 650 takes the Shotgun 650 and reworks it with inspiration drawn from the iconic Supermarine Spitfire fighter plane of World War II. While there was no obligation for the finished product in this competition to be road registerable, Fast Fuel Motorcycles chose to keep their creation legal, reliable and genuinely usable.
Fast Fuel’s build combined a strong visual identity with standout features like genuine exhaust flame throwers, panniers in the style of ammunition boxes, a custom LED tail light strip, internally wired handlebars and a sprung, custom upholstered seat. Aesthetic changes included a scalloped red-over-black paint treatment, ‘Spitfire 650’ identification on the sidecovers, a hand-painted shark’s mouth on the offside engine cover, and candy red powder-coated finish for details like the rear fork springs, bar-end caps and brake calipers.
Rather than completely reimagining the Shotgun 650, Fast Fuel Motorcycles chose to enhance its modern design with added personality and detail, creating a custom that feels both distinctive and true to Royal Enfield’s spirit.
DIRTY PURDY
MotoMAX, WA
For their Expert’s Choice winner in 2019, MotoMAX leaned hard into the endurance racer vibe, as well as the aesthetic of Ducati’s iconic 750SS ‘green frame’ model. This time around, the build was more subtle, with MotoMAX saying they weren’t trying to re-invent the Shotgun 650. Rather, the intention was to take what was already there and “turn it up” with a lower, longer, louder and more aggressive look.
Defining Dirty Purdy is its exhaust system - a true twin “shotgun” exhaust setup - that forms the visual anchor for the whole build. The pipes exit high and wide on each side at a 45-degree angle, giving the bike a hard-edged silhouette. With no mufflers, these pipes have an aural impact to match their visual impression, ticking the ‘louder’ and ‘longer’ requirements.
To achieve the ‘lower’ part of their goal, MotoMAX dropped the bike’s rear end by 40mm via revised shock settings and heavier fork oil. Atop this, the low-slung seat setup combined the rear guard hanger from a Goan 350, custom-made mudguard and Royal Enfield accessory seat.
Tinware was stripped of paint for the most part, but some black was added to the fuel tank’s forward section, along with MotoMAX’s signature ‘piston bolt’ logo. Gloss black features everywhere else, including on the custom plate that replaces the factory headlight and lends a flat tracker vibe to the front end. An aftermarket LED work light attached to this provides forward illumination.
MotoMAX says Dirty Purdy is a stripped-back, aggressive and purposeful custom that stays true to Royal Enfield’s spirit while turning the Shotgun 650 “all the way up”.
DESERT EAGLE
Moto Machine, NSW
Moto Machine have been part of Australia’s custom bike scene for more than a decade, so they’re no stranger to out-there builds. This creation really pushes the envelope, though. Easily the most radical looking of the five finalists, Desert Eagle takes the Shotgun 650 into new territory mechanically, too.
With its appearance inspired by Group B rally cars and Dakar racers, Desert Eagle features a fabricated steel fuel tank, tank-mounted ram air intake, and custom side-exit Delkevic silencers. The custom, three-stack LED headlight lends a futuristic look to the build, as do aero disc wheels fitted with chunky Kenda ‘Big Block’ enduro tyres.
Equipped with a functional nitrous oxide system slung under the solo seat, the Desert Eagle was also fitted with YSS remote reservoir rear suspension and a long list of fabricated, CNC-machined and 3D-printed details. Two-tone paint – desert sand and satin black – is offset by a blue chain and anodised fittings for the NOS plumbing.
Moto Machine says their bold one-off stays connected to Royal Enfield through the frame-loop design and Shotgun 650’s silhouette. The Desert Eagle also references Royal Enfield’s military-inspired heritage, as seen on recent production models, like the Desert Storm and Pegasus versions of the Classic 500.
RE1000
GRID Motorcycles, QLD
Remember when we mentioned earlier that the Shotgun 650 runs a 648cc parallel twin in factory form? How about taking that powerplant and winding it up to 1,000cc! That’s what GRID Motorcycles were able to achieve with the ‘RE1000’.
Described as a world-first for a Royal Enfield parallel twin, the 1,000cc twin was developed by Jesse Robinson of Robinson Precision Engines. How such a significant increase in capacity – 53.8 per cent larger than stock - was achieved wasn’t fully explained, as boring and stroking can only achieve so much.
To this unique engine, Dylan Brown hand-built virtually everything around it, including the slender frame made from chromoly steel tubing, a custom aluminium fuel tank and rear mudguard, custom handlebars and grips, and custom triple clamps.
Aesthetically, RE1000 has the look of Japanese-built customs (particularly the sinuous creations from Cherry’s Company), with GRID Motorcycles revealing they drew on this scene, as well as drag racing culture, for the RE1000's styling. The slender, minimalist look is uninterrupted by unnecessary extras, like mufflers and gauges, with even the Royal Enfield logo reimagined as an elegant, winged design.
Royal Enfield described the RE1000 as one of the most ambitious and show-stopping customs ever built for their Busted Knuckles Build-Off, and it’s hard to disagree. It combines extreme and complex fabrication techniques with a sleek, timeless finish.
Royal Enfield Busted Knuckles Build-Off – Experts’ Choice
RE1000
Given the comprehensively reworked engine, all-new frame and custom tinware, it was a relatively easy decision for the Build-Off judging panel to give the Experts’ Choice award to GRID Motorcycles.
The Experts’ winner was announced at a special event in Essendon, in suburban Melbourne, on 19 May, when all five finalists were unveiled in front of an invited audience of Royal Enfield dealers, motorcycling media and special guests.
Royal Enfield Busted Knuckles Build-Off – Peoples’ Choice
Desert Eagle
Following the Experts’ Choice judging, voting for the Peoples’ Choice award opened on 21 May and ran for two weeks. While the total number of votes were not revealed, the result was apparently very close across all five dealership builds.
Ultimately, the Desert Eagle was the public’s favourite, who rewarded it for its “post-apocalyptic” look, led by that headlight and fuel tank, as well as its NOS-boosted performance.
