Royal Enfield Unveils the All-New Himalayan

[advrider]

Royal Enfield has revealed their all-new Himalayan at EICMA. Their livestream lasted about half an hour, and is nestled into 55+ minutes of marketing and riding footage. Around 17:30 you’ll see the on-floor reveal. The first 11 ½ minutes are pretty fantastic drone shots of a group of Royal Enfields riding around India and the Himalayas, with a few city shots and some yaks for good measure.

The new Himalayan gets some glamour-shot drone footage. (Photo: Royal Enfield)

Introduction

B Govindarajan, the CEO, presents the bike saying “the motorcycle… has everything you [want] but nothing you don’t need” for adventure motorcycling.

He goes on to call it the “Bruce Lee” of the motorcycling world, because it isn’t about “big, mighty, intimidating,” but instead about “agility, balance, precision and high capabilities.” That’s marketing speak defending the small motorcycle in a big motorcycle market.

The Specifics

Mark Wells, Chief of Design for the Himalayan, introduced the all-new Sherpa 450 engine for the new Himalayan. Also new to the model for this generation is ride by wire. That means it also has (two) ride modes. The new 452 cc single-cylinder engine is water-cooled. The bike’s ABS is switchable, and the gearbox now has six speeds. RE’s new engine puts out 40.2 hp and 40 nm of torque (that’s 29.5 ft-lb if you’re counting). Peak torque is reached around 3,000 rpm, though, which is pretty good for a small thumper.

Royal Enfield’s New Engine: The Highlights Photo: Royal Enfield

“Everything is new. Not even one bolt is carried over from the previous model,” says Paolo Broventani, Royal Enfield’s Chief of Product Development.

The new bike features 43mm Showa USD cartridge forks, a steel twin-spar frame, LED headlights, an adjustable seat, and a 17-liter (4.5 gal) gas tank. Suspension travel is 200 mm (nearly 7.9 in) front and rear.

The standard seat height adjusts from 825 to 845 mm (32.5 to 33.3 in), and the low seat from 805 to 825mm (31.7 to 32.5 in). Wet weight is published at 196 kg (432 lb). Actual price is not available yet.

More Electronics

Wells also explained that Royal Enfield worked closely with Google to develop the Himalayan’s new “Tripper” dash layout. It integrates music, maps, and everything else Google offers for dashboard-to-smartphone connectivity. But he very conspicuously did not call it Android Auto, and also did not mention anything about Apple compatibility.

The new Himalayan’s full-color Google-compatible “Tripper” dash is very tidy. Photos: Royal Enfield

Availability

It will be available in five (5) different colors! Slate Poppy blue, Hanle Black, Kamet White, Kaza Brown, and Slate Himalayan Salt. That is some kind of record for a motorcycle manufacturer, at least in North America, where each model year, we get any color you like as long as it’s black, and maybe one other color, if we are very lucky.

Five different colors! (Photo: Royal Enfield)

Availability of the new Himalayan is a little fuzzy. Global preorders began 7 November 2023, delivery in Europe is touted as “early spring” of 2024. North America should see the bikes later in 2024.

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