Licks Cycles: 2024 Royal Enfield Himalayan Assessment

2024 Royal Enfield Himalayan review — The 2024 Royal Enfield Himalayan has undergone an entire makeover, with a bigger engine, a extra sturdy chassis, and up to date styling and featuures. (Pictures courtesy Royal Enfield)

You possibly can drink a Tecate in Tecate, you’ll be able to take a shower in Tub, and you’ll put on a fez in Fez. One among most intriguing eponymous pairings a moto-loving individual can think about is driving a Royal Enfield Himalayan within the Himalayas. The favored journey bike has gotten an entire makeover for 2024. The query is: Can the brand new model deliver the Himalayan into the technological current and nonetheless retain the character and charisma of the unique?

Royal Enfield, the oldest world bike model in steady manufacturing, launched the Himalayan in 2016, however we didn’t get our first trip on one till 2018.

Powered by an air-cooled 411cc Single, it has been a favourite of riders in search of a easy, versatile, and reasonably priced bike. Royal Enfield is a decidedly and deliberately retro producer, so the corporate was meticulous, even plodding, in its growth of an upgraded Himalayan. However the wait is over.

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Royal Enfield Himalayan: What’s New

It’s not hyperbole to say that the whole lot in regards to the 2024 Himalayan is new. Beginning on the coronary heart, the air-cooled 411cc Single has been changed with a liquid-cooled 452cc Single with DOHC and 4 valves. The claimed 39.5 hp (up from a barely ample 24) is reached at 8,000 rpm, and 29.5 lb-ft of torque (up from 24) arrives at 5,500 rpm. The brand new Himalayan’s whole energy curve surpasses that of its predecessor, and the engine revs out farther.

The forward-canted cylinder is a visible and technological departure from the earlier mannequin’s vertical air-cooled powerplant. The engine is now a harassed member of the body, and a brand new gearbox has six speeds as an alternative of 5 and is a part of the unit-construction, semi-dry sump engine case. Situated underneath the gasoline tank is a brand new airbox that gives a lovely consumption growl. Exhaust gasses run via an under-frame catalytic converter that additionally muffles sound, which permits for an attractively brief silencer.

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Suspension and braking modifications are simply as substantial as these to the engine. The earlier standard 41mm fork has been changed with a Showa cartridge-type inverted fork with 43mm tubes, and the rear shock is now a linkage kind with adjustable preload. Suspension journey is 7.9 inches entrance and rear, protecting entrance journey the identical however bumping up from 7.1 inches of earlier rear journey.

As earlier than, the Himalayan rolls on spoked wheels with tube-type rims, 21-inch entrance (90/90-21) and 17-inch rear (140/80-17). Royal Enfield reps stated sure up-spec fashions will probably be provided with tubeless spoked wheels, however particulars haven’t but been finalized. There are nonetheless single disc brakes entrance and rear, however the 2-piston entrance caliper now squeezes a 320mm disc (up from 300) and the 1-piston rear caliper squeezes a 270mm disc (up from 240). ABS is customary and might be disabled on the rear wheel for off-road responsibility.

Entrance and middle, the Himalayan has a brand new 4-inch TFT show that mixes a mess of progressive and trendy options in a retro-style spherical gauge. It affords Bluetooth connectivity to a rider’s smartphone for music and navigation. The latter is powered by Google Maps and is the primary of its type for the show kind and form. On-the-fly toggling between screens is actuated by an simply accessible hand management. The Himalayan options LED lighting throughout, and the tail lighting is innovatively built-in into each rear turnsignals. A USB-C port retains a smartphone charged.

The general aesthetic of the bike was crafted to retain core design components of the unique whereas projecting a extra trendy look. The midsection is narrower, and the bike has a decrease middle of gravity. There’s an simply adjustable dual-height seat (32.5/33.3 inches; an non-obligatory low seat adjusts from 31.7 to 32.5 inches), and a beefier handlebar is adjustable fore and aft in two positions.

The brand new mannequin’s wheelbase is simply over 2 inches longer than the unique at 59.5 inches, and floor clearance is true at 9 inches. The redesigned gasoline tank holds 4.5 gallons (up from 4.0), and Royal Enfield claims a spread of greater than 280 miles, which interprets to about 62 mpg. The Himalayan is accessible in 5 colours impressed by its namesake area: Hanle Black, Kamet White, Kaza Brown, Slate Poppy Blue, and Slate Himalayan Salt.

No journey bike is full with no few farkles, and the Himalayan accent record consists of handguards; a taller windscreen; touring mirrors; protectors for the engine, radiator, and headlight; aluminum panniers and high field; and a rally package that features a rally-style seat and tailsection and the next aluminum exhaust can.

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Royal Enfield Himalayan: Driving Impressions

Earlier than I get into the nitty gritty, you have to perceive that driving in northern India is sort of a schizophrenic dance. When site visitors is gentle and the tarmac is undamaged, it’s a sweeping and sleek waltz. The ballroom is beautiful within the shadows of the towering Himalayas. At different instances, the dance is a frenetic mosh pit of exercise with the soundtrack of blaring horns. Colorfully adorned and bedazzled business vehicles use the tarmac dance ground in any lane they select. Small-displacement bikes and scooters weave and maneuver, carrying passengers and payloads in clear extra of their design limits. Cows wander and generally sleep within the highway as if they’re totally conscious of their religious significance in Indian tradition. The “dance ground” is a continually altering platform that varies from intact to fractured to nonexistent with no warning in any respect. That is precisely the dance for which the brand new Himalayan is designed.

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After a briefing on how you can deal with driving within the area, our take a look at trip took us up into the mountains on a crisp late October morning. The Himalayan proved to be a simple bike to regulate to. The controls are user-friendly, the shifting is exact, and response from the brand new throttle-by-wire is clean and controllable. Braking, whereas not exemplary, was predictable, and the ABS carried out properly. Predictability was significantly essential as I negotiated the ever-changing situations of the northern Indian roadways.

The work that Royal Enfield engineers put into the brand new mannequin’s ergonomics is clear. The seating place is pure and impartial with a snug attain to the bar, and there’s ample leg room to the footpegs. What impressed me most in regards to the new ergos is how comfy the bike feels in a standing place. I’m 6-foot-3 with a 34-inch inseam, and a few smaller bikes power me right into a semi-crouch when standing. Because the situations continually modified on our trip, it was straightforward to shift round on the bike and stand over its slim midsection.

Climbing to greater than 10,000 ft in elevation, it was essential to maintain the 40-hp Single within the acceptable gear. Exiting a nook in a rev vary that was even barely too low required fast downshifting to seek out acceleration. To that finish, the brand new slip/help clutch made gear modifications practically seamless. When in the proper gear, the engine carried out remarkably properly. I ponder what sort of efficiency enhance the engine would notice at sea degree.

Gear Up

The Himalayan is a really competent bike on pavement. The chassis is notably stiff in its new configuration with the engine as a harassed member. Cornering on the serpentine sections of Himalayan tarmac proved to be steady and confidence inspiring. I repeatedly dragged the pegs and felt comfy doing so. Wind safety from the small display was ample, protecting a few of the blast off my torso. Nevertheless, I’d go for the accent tall windscreen for touring.

On our means into the mountains, I received intermittent hints about how the bike would deal with off-road. There have been many sections the place the ravages of the Himalayan atmosphere had washed away the pavement, leaving dusty and rocky stretches. I usually encountered these sections at excessive speeds, and the bike dealt with the modifications in footing admirably. Within the villages, the bike’s predictability was essential as I negotiated that aforementioned dance – braking, weaving, and accelerating via the site visitors frenzy.

After a number of hours of driving into the mountains, we got the chance to hit the grime. The situations provided up sandy and rocky sections in addition to some closely rutted inclines. The up to date suspension, stout body, and 21-inch entrance wheel negotiated these situations properly. The entrance suspension felt extra sorted than the rear, however I bottomed out the rear shock solely as soon as. Cranking up the rear preload a bit would have helped. The off-road functionality of the bike is enhanced by the general gentle really feel and relaxed ergos. It felt steady and planted within the grime even on the road-biased tires.

Later within the day, I had the possibility to trip some icy declines and restricted water sections. Once more, the Himalayan was as much as the duty. I felt totally in command of the bike on the slick sections, and switching off rear ABS negated any unsettling freewheeling sensation from the rear brake. All in all, the brand new Himalayan dealt with the whole lot admirably. The bike was steady at velocity on the tarmac, predictable within the grime, and controllable on dodgy surfaces. What else are you able to ask of a light-weight ADV?

If journey bikes are the Swiss Military knives of the motorcycling world, then the sunshine, versatile Himalayan resides comfortably in that pocket. The brand new mannequin is a marked improve from its already widespread predecessor. This isn’t a motorcycle meant to wow your driving buddies with energy numbers or cutting-edge expertise. Slightly, it’s a dependable, comfy, competent all-around bike obtainable at an inexpensive worth (U.S. pricing shouldn’t be but obtainable, but it surely shouldn’t be drastically greater than the $5,449 base worth of the 2023 mannequin). If the Himalayan can deal with the extremity of the situations within the area after which it’s named, it ought to proceed to be a well-liked selection worldwide.

The reply to the query posed earlier is a powerful “sure” – the brand new Himalayan brings the mannequin into the current and nonetheless emits its fair proportion of character and charisma.

Try extra new/up to date bikes in Rider’s 2024 Motorbike Patrons Information