The Royal Enfield Himalayan is due to be released officially on February 2nd, 2016. We haven’t seen much of it until now, but the sudden release of press shots and videos reveals a very interesting motorcycle.
The Himalayan is an adventure bike with a new 410cc single cylinder engine and an all-new double cradle frame. It comes with a 21-inch front wheel, decent ground clearance and long suspension travel, and also has a 15 litre fuel tank.
What’s interesting is that Royal Enfield boss Siddhartha Lal has written about the bike, and how large tourers don’t really work in the Himalayas due to their need for high octane fuel and a seat height that rules out a large percentage of the Indian population from being tall enough – which also applies to British riders like myself. I know I can pick up a BMW R1150GS by myself if I need to ( BMW instructor and Dakar racer Si Pavey forced me to learn), but I’d rather not if there’s a lighter alternative for riding off-road.
The Himalayan can also apparently run and power a headlamp even if the battery is missing, as long as you can push start it. Having experienced the joys of aftermarket electronics in the past, I wish that had been true of some other motorcycles…
The video also features Lester Harris of Harris Performance, which were acquired by Royal Enfield in 2015. It’s interesting to note that the bare metal prototype is possibly even better looking than the finished design. Another video was released showing the testing of the bike with Indian Dakar racer CS Santosh. Try to ignore the bit at 1 minute 53 seconds where testing includes apparently breaking a footpeg… Apparently the discovery of that fault was part of the testing process and has apparently been rectified for the production model.
So the Royal Enfield Himalayan is a relatively simple, lightweight adventure bike which is decent enough on Tarmac judging by the testing at Bruntinthorpe and the Chennai circuit, but should also be a capable off-roader for most of us.
Look tempting? The only potential issue is whether it’ll ever come to the UK – the potential problem will be the new bike emission laws. That’s not a downside for Royal Enfield – the domestic Indian market is not only massive (And a country which has seen growth for pretty much all bike manufacturers), but it’ll be more suitable to most of the country than anything in the current range.
It might be disappointing for someone like me though, who could seriously be tempted into a reasonably priced commuter/adventure/tourer which looks cool even as a stock bike but can also take a bit of a battering.
See what I mean? If Royal Enfield can find a way to accommodate UK emission laws, they could definitely be onto a bit of a winner. If not, we may have to ask some of our friends in India whether they can help us ship one over…
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