Royal Enfield Himalayan Preview

Words: Dipayan Dutta

Now we all know that Royal Enfields have an inherent inexplicable attraction to the Himalayan region, we’ve long suspected its part of a contractual obligation when you buy one. It’s part of some kind of time honored tradition, a rite of passage if we may. You buy an Enfield, you go to Leh. End of story. Why I have always found the tradition strange is that Bullets or Thunderbirds are not really built to conquer the kind of terrain in the Himalayas’. Not that it has ever stopped them though.

That’s where the Himalayan comes in. Now it’s not exactly been developed on Area-51 level security, we’ve known it’s been in the pipeline for some-time now. They’ve been spotted in and around the highway being tested and repeated. We even saw some production straight from the factory courtesy some enterprising employee (probably ex-employee by now, if they found him/her) at RE.  Yesterday, however Royal Enfield has released a couple of videos, showing off their all-new motorcycle. And from the looks of things it’s totally worth showing off.

Engine

For starters we know that the Himalayan isn’t just another re-worked existing engine, it’s an all-new engine built from the ground up. It displaces roughly 410cc, has an overhead cam – ditching the traditional push rod from most REs of the past – and it makes a pretty decent 25bhp of power. We expect the torque output to be around the 30Nm mark.  You’ll also notice in the video that the Himalayan has ditched the very distinctive RE thump, for a more waspish hum. Also included is the visible oil cooler up front. Strangely enough the Himalayan will debut with a carb rather than a fuel injected set up, it is a bit off-norm considering that RE already make a fuel injected motorcycle.

Service

Now Royal Enfield claim that this engine has been built to take a beating, they say that the service interval on the Himalayan will be 10,000km, which only reflects on how confident the company is on the quality of this motorcycle. They even went on to say that the Himalayan would only need a spark plug change till the 25,000km mark.

Looks and Build

Look at the bike from any angle and you will know that Royal Enfield has really committed to the ‘Adventure Motorcycle’ bracket they chose for the Himalayan. We know that UK’s Harris Performance has had a lot to do with reworking the double cradle frame from the Continental GT to accommodate the rear mono-shock. The Himalayan will also get 21-inch rather than the more conservative 19-inch wheels up-front, which again indicates their commitment to the Himalayan’s off-road abilities.

Brakes and Tyres

Now although RE haven’t yet released an official statement on what brakes and tyres the Himalayan will use, from the looks of the photos and videos, thus far, the tyres on these bikes are Ceat Gripps. The Gripps have always had an off-road intent, but for the Himalayan, they are a new tread design which should prove to be both on- and off-road friendly. Also quite clearly visible, are the Brembos on both the front and rear. Although where the Himalayan will flaunt ABS or not is still under speculation.

They’ve even got CS Santosh to give it a go around in one of their videos and he seems to be quite impressed with the Himalayan. I would tell you who he was, but if you didn’t know would you really be here reading this. Point being after spending some time with the Himalayan at his home track here’s what he had to say:

Most of the times you have motorcycles that do well on the street but as soon as you take them off road, they don’t seem to fit in. I was surprised because I think it felt natural to be off-road as well. Just the way it was sitting between my legs it felt good because I’ve been used to rally bikes and it didn’t feel strange at all. For a common man, it will not be intimidating at all. The power is there but it’s not gonna be aggressive.”

For a recent user review we received on the Himalayan, click here.