Royal Enfield Himalayan 450: New Bike, But Still Affordable

[advrider]

With the recent unveiling of the Royal Enfield Himalayan 450, we see the first modern liquid-cooled engine that the company has ever built and overall, a big step forward in bike design. So all these improvements are going to cost a lot of money, right?

Not quite. At least, judging by the European MSRPs that have been published so far, it seems the price tag is indeed going up, but the bike is still affordable.

The Himalayan 450 Base model in Kaza Brown. The most affordable model for 2024, at least in Europe. Photo: Royal Enfield

For 2024, the MSRP for the new Royal Enfield Himalayan 450 starts at 5,900 euros for the Base model in Kaza Brown paint. Individual countries may differ slightly, but that’s the ballpark number. The MSRP rises only slightly for the second-tier machine, the Pass variant, which comes with nicer paint and costs you about 100 euros more. Finally, you get the top-tier Summit variant with its own paint schemes along with tubeless spoked wheels; that machine will cost you about 6,500 euros.

Working those out on current exchange rates, they roughly equal a price range of $6,500-$7,150 USD.

Currently, the older air-cooled Himalayan models see pricing start at $5,449 MSRP, so the base model would in theory rise about $1,000 USD if pricing is held exactly on-par with Europe. Chances are that it won’t be, but even if it is, there are few options for travel bikes in the $6,500 price range. That would put Himalayan 450 pricing basically the same as the Honda CRF300L, and a little bit more than the Kawasaki Versys-X 300. Suzuki’s DR-Z400 and DR650 dual sports sell around the $7k mark in the US now, and the Kawasaki KLR650 is also around that $7k mark, with a couple hundred bucks in savings if you don’t get the optional ABS.

So, Royal Enfield’s bike would be a little less than the 650 competition perhaps, depending which package you bought, while some 300-class models would undercut it on price while others remain the same. Price differences of less than $500 have a way of evening out once you factor in accessories or dealer add-ons such as shipping fees.

The Summit version in Kamet White paint. This is another top-tier variant, which will see price rise due to the flashier paint and more expensive components. Photo: Royal Enfield

A bold new direction

While the previous Himalayan sold itself as an affordable air-cooled budget bike, the new 450 version is a modern machine that nobody else really builds—unless maybe you count the Chinese OEMs. The Himalayan 450 has a liquid-cooled 452 cc single-cylinder engine with shim-under-bucket valves that should offer much longer intervals between adjustments than the old screw-type adjusters. It makes just under 40 hp and 30 lb-ft of torque. It has electronic fuel injection, a six-speed gearbox and even two selectable ride modes. Switchable ABS is standard too, and along with practical OEM luggage accessories, there’s also a basic-but-functional Tripper GPS system.

In other words: It’s the modern 450 dual sport/travel machine that we’ve been asking the Japanese to build for many years, but they haven’t listened to us.

We expect to see the new 450 in our market sometime in 2024, although it always takes a little longer for Royal Enfield to get its machines to North America.

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