Royal Enfield Himalayan: Top 3 facts

Adventure motorcycles are the next big in-things after scooters. While the latter is often used for doing run about duties or for easy point A to B movement, the adventure motorcycles are the workhorses. They do everything from carrying the groceries to transporting kids to the school. For those weekends, they even climb mountains. Versatility rolled into one package. While Malaysia has quite a few adventure motorcycles in the RM 7,000 to RM 60,000 bracket, there is going to be a new player that is going to literally sit in the middle with its estimated RM 40,000 price. That is the new Royal Enfield Himalayan - a motorcycle built with a purpose of conquering the mountains. So, here are the top three facts that one should know about the Royal Enfield Himalayan.

Chassis

While Royal Enfield has been known to use chassis from its older motorcycles, the steel unit of the Himalayan is all-new. It has been designed in conjunction with Harris Performance from the United Kingdom. It is a double cradle frame and boasts a new swingarm, mono-shock suspension at the back as well as a new steering geometry. The chassis has been designed in such a way that the components attached to it can be easily fixed should the motorcycle fall. Given the riding conditions, it will be subjected to, it is but natural that there will be slides but the easy-going nature of the chassis ensures that this will not be heavy on the pocket as well. Telescopic 41mm forks with 200mm of travel have been added at the front while a monoshock with linkage and 180mm of travel is given at the rear. The front end of the motorcycle boasts a 21-inch steel wheel while the rear has a 17-inch unit strapped on. Block pattern tyres from Ceat do duty here and the expected life of this tubed tyres is around 50,000 km. A 300 mm Bybre single disc brake at the front and a 240 mm disc at the rear handle braking duties. There, however, is no ABS available for the moment.

Engine

Royal Enfield could have chosen to use its existing 350 or 500cc engines in the Himalayan, but the company has chosen the harder path. They have designed a 410cc motor ground-up. The LS410 where LS stands for Long Stroke makes 24.5 PS @ 6,500 rpm of power and a healthy 32 Nm of torque @ 4,250 rpm. The long stroke configuration helps the Himalayan to go off-road with ample amount of torque present at the bottom end. International reviews say that this fuel injected motor is low on vibrations compared to other Royal Enfield bikes and this could be a plus point given its touring and off-road intentions. The motor is also Euro-IV compliant. Royal Enfield has paired this engine to a 5-speed transmission. The company says that since most of the torque is made at the bottom end, they didn’t opt for a 6-speed unit. As it is, it would have driven the costs up as well. The motor comes to life through an electric starter while a kick start too has been provided.

Off-road intentions

Royal Enfield has not shied away from calling this motorcycle a true off-road machine. Few of the Royal Enfield Himalayan test mules have done close to a lakh kilometer and the company says that apart from regular maintenance, there was nothing much to be spent on the motorcycle. For its off-road intended role, the Himalayan gets a high-set halogen headlight, an LED tail lamp, bash plate covering the engine from below, a 15-litre fuel tank with a provision to carry jerry cans on the side of the main fuel tank, 800 mm seat height and knobby tyres that aren’t designed to be extreme given that the motorcycle will also be ridden on the road for most of its span. There is also a provision to hook on luggage at the back with the multiple points provided. Royal Enfield says that a small box can also be carried at the back of the motorcycle.

All in all, Royal Enfield has designed the motorcycle to be sturdy as well as to be easy on the pocket. It should retail for around RM 40,000 when it goes on sale here in a few days.