After showing you pictures and videos of prototypes a couple of weeks ago, we now have studio photos and specifications from the official launch of the Royal Enfield Himalayan (together with a pretty cool video at the bottom of this article). This is a relatively simply motorcycle powered by a 411cc oil-cooled single making a claimed 24.5 hp and utilizing a five-speed transmission. The Himalayan is not designed to win any drag races.
Royal Enfield designed the Himalayan to be simple, reliable and relatively inexpensive for an adventure bike. We expect the Himalayan to reach the U.S. market eventually, but the first launch will be in India a couple of months from now. Here are some photos of production units followed by specifications and a new video from Royal Enfield.
Royal Enfield Himalayan Specifications & Dimensions
Engine – 411cc, single-cylinder, oil-cooled
Maximum power – 24.5bhp at 6500rpm
Maximum torque – 32Nm at 4000 – 4500rpm
Transmission – 5-speed constant mesh
Length – 2190mm
Width – 840mm
Height – 1360mm
Wheelbase – 1465mm
Ground clearance – 220mm
Fuel tank capacity – 15-litres
Kerb weight – 182kgs
Front tyre – 90/90 21-inches
Rear tyre – 120/90 17-inches
Front brakes – 300mm disc, 2-piston floating calliper
Rear brakes – 240mm disc, single piston floating calliper
Chassis & Suspension
Tyre – Half-duplex split cradle frame
Front suspension – Telescopic, 41mm forks, 200mm travel
Rear suspension – Monoshock with linkage, 180mm wheel travel
See more of MD’s great photography:
Could see a twin from this- 820 cc and 50 hp- all low end- awesome
That is a great looking motorcycle. It doesn’t look all that heavy to me. Must have a sturdy frame.
I think it looks like a Penton. Anyone else remember those?
I like the looks, but can’t believe it’s only a 400. Swap that motor out for Suzuki DR650 engine and we’d have something.
Nailed it. That would really get some interest.
Some people are suggesting that REs are not reliable bikes. Why do I get the feeling that they’ve never even owned or ridden one.
I think you should buy one and report back to us in a few years. 🙂
The video was quite good. The speakers are articulate, thoughtful and passionate without being sophomorically “extreme” like more than a few of the commentators here.
It looks to be a simple bike with a simple purpose. Fun. I doubt most here are capable of picking up their current mounts and that being in spite of said bikes purportedly weighing less than this one.
I suspect if it does make it to the USA, it will have fuel injection but then, the 2016 DR650 still sports a carb as does the venerable, low tech (albeit water-cooled), KLR650. Those sell, do they not?
Most people here seem to want to rant, not ride. Typical of typists and bench/butt racers with more testosterone than IQ or manners. If the site manager has any testicular fortitude, this commentary will stay. Given Dirk’s admiration of bikes that possess the elan vital of their makers but often kowtows to what amounts to pseudo political correctness, who knows?
Hopefully he will receive a test bike and will provide a look at what it truly has to offer.
Bully for you WSHart. I say that this RE shows quite up to date engineering as far as looks and quality from the picture. I own a 400 quad, and it can rip quite nicely thank you, so the size of this would not be a turn off without first having the opportunity to test the machine. The gauages look quite modern and informative. I too wish some people would quit griping about some things before the actual bike can be evaluated. Looks are objective for sure, but other things should wait until evaluated. RE is making good progress lately in updating and modernizing their machines while still keeping their identity.
Guys, if you’ve ridden in the real Himalayas, all you’ll see are Enfield Bullets chugging along in hundreds in one of the most hostile biking terrains in the world. Its not that there aren’t other choices for a steed in the Himalayas, there are plenty – infact one also gets to see plenty of GSs and Tigers high up there. But many of my friends who’ve taken their expensive adventure bikes up there prefer an RE bullet, its much more suited to the terrain. The Himalayan is purpose built for that terrain by a company that knows the Himalayas. The CEO is an avid biker who traverses that terrain every season and knows his stuff. The factory test rider for this project completed the Paris-Dakar last year; he surely would know his stuff. Its easy to write-off the Himalayan as a low tech piece of crap in this day and age; but i bet the Himalayas will see hundreds of Himalayans next season making my Tiger look like an expensive piece of unwanted excess. Peace.
+1
+1
But I don’t live in the Himalayas.
Riding any Royal Enfield is an adventure. Don’t plan to go too far.
If they can get this to the US market for under $5K I think it would sell surprisingly well. It’s a nicely designed bike, and there are not that many traditional looking motorcycles to choose from any more. Too bad the power sounds low, but depending on gearing and other variables it might be adequate for real-world usage.
Reliability is a big factor for off-road bikes. That is the reason this bike won’t sell in America. Better off with a DR, XRL etc… At least you won’t need a sag wagon to follow you around just for an afternoon ride.
nice compass.
Man I actually went back up to look at the pictures again fully expecting, given RE’s penchant for “old tech”, to find an oil filled analog compass like on the dash of my grandpa’s Oldsmobile.
nothing wrong with those either; they work.
Where is the kick start
It fell off when they kicked it.
My Honda XR650L did not have a kickstart, either. If the battery wasn’t up to both turning the starter and firing up the engine, it was standard procedure to bump start the bike.
Depending on the price, it would be great for just putting around outside the log cabin in the woods or rain forest.
Not much to recommend it for regular roads with fast traffic or long distances.
Fake carb as per triumph??
No, ACTUAL carbs!
It’ll never make it to Europe and doubtless the emissions are terrible as a result.
I like that it comes with a skid plate, luggage rack and windshield. These are extras on other bikes. It still needs bark busters. I like that they have luggage available.
I think it’s success in the US will depend on two things: seat height and price. I think there are a lot of people would like an adventure bike or dual sport that think that the bikes now available are too tall.
My old air cooled SR500 single put out about the same horsepower and it was adequate to cruise down the highway.
Your old SR500 had 33hp at the crank and around 28 at the rear wheel so a good bit more than the Himalayan lump which will likely dyno at 21hp. The SR was also lighter at about 375 lbs. wet too.
Couldn’t they have at least painted it in some bright colors? White and Black really? No fuel injection, no catalyst and no ABS means no sale in Europe too. It’s porky too at 401 lbs. wet. On the plus side it does look simple and rugged with a counter balanced engine and a Harris developed chassis. What they have shown us is a bike developed for the Indian market and there it could do just fine. To be successful in other markets they’ll need FI, ABS a catalyzed exhaust and at least 30hp. That should all be doable if they choose to.
I do like the compass! The original GPS.
Shouldn’t take much to squeeze out a few more hp and drop a few pounds.
Has anyone seen my Sawzall . . . . . .
Too heavy, not enough power, sub par suspension, no fuel injection, etc, etc, etc.
They will likely sell like hotcakes in the Indian home market. The few that make it to North America will be considered a novelty, similar to Ural.
Domestic sales are the prime focus for Royal Enfield, exports are just a nice bonus.
This is a lot like an XR400 but with street legals. I don’t ever recalling that bike being too heavy or underpowered for it’s intended purpose either. And what’s wrong with carbs? I’ve ridden and owned many carbed bikes that run much smoother than the FI bikes I’ve owned and ridden – plus they’re easily jetted to suit modifications. I prefer carbs.
“And what’s wrong with carbs?”
You have to rejet them. And rejet them again if you didn’t guess quite right the first time. And clean and/or rebuild them on occasion, especially if you don’t ride frequently or treat your gas. And choke them. If I could buy a fuel-injected weedeater, I’d have one. I could tolerate a carb on a single cylinder bike like this, but one carb per engine is my limit. Carbs weren’t so bad in the days before tightened emissions and the low quality of gasoline we have today, but now they just need to go away as far as I am concerned.
Granted, you have to “rejet” some FI systems, too, if you want to maximize them, but you can also do so much more with them than you could ever do with a carb. And all I need for any of that is a computer. I’ll be damned if I ever have to remove, rebuild, rejet and reinstall another 4-bank of carburetors.
cordless electric is the only way to go on a weedtrimmer
2 acres of yard and lots of cord-eating landscaping rocks. I bought a Ryobi 48V trimmer a year ago to try out of curiosity. I could probably make it through the yard if I bought a second battery, but the spindly little cord used on those electric trimmers gets chewed up way to quickly for my taste. And the auto-feed spool on that Ryobi is horrible. I modded it to take a double-sided spool with .95 cord, but that really sucks the battery up. I’ll stick with my Toro 2-stroke and just hope that Ryobi comes out with some other cool tool that uses that 48v battery.
OK, this thing is a bit more than 100 pounds heavier than an XR400. You couldn’t tell by looking at it. That’s nearly 50% heavier. OK, maybe not so interested here. I’ll just go look for a plated XR400…
Other than displacement, there is really very little in common with the RE Himalayan and a Honda XR 400. While a bit dated, the XR is far more dirt oriented than the RE with much better suspension components and design. I’m willing to bet that the XR engine is a bit more energetic than the heavy flywheeled RE as well.
It reminds me a wee bit of the ole BSA Victor. I would prefer that the exhaust system was routed in true scrambler fashion rather than under and up. I for one look forward to seeing this bike in the flesh.
I found it interesting the way the natives said Himalaya and the way the foreigners said it… Him-ah-lee-ah vs Him-uh-lay-uh
As for the bike, a technical masterpiece in that country..not so much the rest of the developed world.
What is the price?
Obviously, this is the main key piece of information one would want on this bike! At a very low price, the bike is actually pretty cool. If it’s 10% less than a Japanese bike then this is a complete waste of time.
Honestly: Would not everyone reading this rather rather prefer a RE clone of Honda’s SL350 a/c twin, especially with Honda’s flat black exhaust (minus the ungodly seam), possibly with FI and a few sub frame mods for Adventure gear?
I presume such bike would have cost similar to engineer vs. this 411cc single, weigh less than the Himalayan, and generally run circles around it.
What kind of HP did the SL make? I presume it was well < 400 lbs.
The SL350 Twin was advertised as producing 33ps, down from the 36ps that the CB was said to produce (crankshaft). Curb weight was advertised as being 364lbs.
Those twins had a pretty good snarl to them. Since RE is advertising 25hp I presume some of those ponies get lost before reaching the rear wheel? What’s the generalized accepted lose percentage? 12%? Maybe about 22hp at the rear wheel?
But then too, the Himalayan is being build with poorer grades of lower octane gas in mind, something the SL wasn’t aimed at.
Actually, India has pretty good fuel quality and octane ratings similar to what you’d find in the US.
I’ve ridden a CB350 and I’d say it’s closer to 25hp too. Maybe RE is measuring power at the wheel? Regardless, it’s probably mildly tuned, or as we say in the US, “tuned for torque.” People tend to short shift bikes and don’t typically know how to properly use the power that is available in a bike.
Exactly. I don’t know what the market is for a 25HP, 400lb single is, but the market for a 40HP 400lb twin is obviously much bigger.
And they can’t bother to install a 6 speed?
Without a doubt, the best looking, most appealing RE to date, against a pretty low standard previously. From the side, beak has a most predatory look. Is that the first compass to come standard on a motorcycle? Who says RE is not innovative?
I really like the design, but it’s 50lbs too heavy and 5-10HP too weak. My expectations weren’t all that high, I don’t think, but c’mon. They can’t even hit 1980s par?
The Super Tenere of mopeds. It looks like it will serve as a decent about-the-town, grocery, coffee, university, diner kind of bike. A nice little urban:rural ride.
I really want to like this bike. But with what is shown here, including a carburetor, 24.5 hp (at the crank so probably 20-21 hp at the rear wheel), air-cooled, and 400 lbs wet, I think a WR250R would be much more appealing with its fuel-injection, 27 hp (at the rear wheel), liquid cooling, and 100 lbs LESS weight.
Exactly..
I’d be getting a Suzuki DR650 instead. Air cooled, but lighter and makes more power – and well proven as an adventure platform.
The DR is about the only thing in the world that is slightly less technologically dated than the RE.
…or the Honda XR650L.
24.5 HP is pretty small for all roads touring, dealer network is tiny, but it looks okay. For someone rolling around the back roads close to home it would be cool.
Seems like the XL 250 came out in ’72 with 24 hp, a little more than half the weight. I guess they are hot on Honda’s trail.
They (or someone) would make a ton of money just offering tours on those same “roads.” I would have loved to have been a test rider! I like this bike quite a bit, like an XR400 that is street legal. Nice and simple/rugged.
After owning a RE bullet, I think I would go with a gen1 klr650 instead.
It would be a great conversation piece for a hipster working at a British nursing home.
HAHAHHAHAHA!!
About the “counter balancer” I did not see anything in the video but a counter weight on the crankshaft. If they don’t have a separate counter balance shaft (or shafts) this baby is going to shake like a wet dog. Euro/Japanese thumpers have had separate balance shafts for decades. I love thumpers and a light, simple, well suspended MODERN mid-size single is appealing…. But, I would gladly pay a lot more for KTM’s new 690 Duke and take advantage of state-of-the-art design and performance.
At 2:30-2:40 in the video you can see them installing the counterbalancer shaft.
why the 2 front fenders (or beaki, if you will)?
apparently they tried three front fenders but thought it looked strange.
Lol good one!
Bike mullet: party up top, business down low.
You do not want FI in most of the world. Probably FI versions for NA and Europe. Likely to have lower compression ratings available too.
I would much rather have FI.
I’ll assume that the speedometer is marked in KPH?
If not, RE has some very optimistic personnel.
It is carbureted. I would expect models for the US and EU markets to be fuel injected, but who knows.
If you watch the video between 2:01 and 2:09, you’ll see it’s definitely carbureted..
Think I would just buy ankle 650
The beak lives!
But what a beak!
The weakest, most pathetic looking excuse for a beak I have ever seen. Most others seem to make their beak look all tough and macho. This beak, OTOH, is obvoiusly directly aimed at the core target demographic: Hipsters. An “ironic” beak. An inside irony noone outside Revolution Cafe will ever get….. 🙂
Just wondering if this bike is fuel injected? Did not see it in the spec sheet. Spiked my curiosity as long as it has a dealer support/ network.
I’m sure it’s fuel injected.
If you watch the video between 2:01 and 2:09, you’ll see it’s definitely carbureted..
It does appear to have a carb. Those engines are probably for the home market. I was of course, talking about the USA market bike which hasn’t been introduced yet. 😉
A carburated bike called the Himalaya, better come standard with a jet kit…..
looking back at it, sure looks that way, lost all interest in it if that is the case
Now that I look back at it, it doesn’t have finned exhaust nuts. Total deal breaker. No way I’m buying a bike without finned exhaust nuts…