Royal Enfield Himalayan 450: A well made prototype!
With that prologue, ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to the leanest, the meanest and the most capable Royal Enfield ever made: The Himalayan 450! It's an all new, ground up motorcycle and it shares exactly 0 parts with the older Himalayan 411 that it replaces. What Royal Enfield have thrown at this motorcycle will just blow your mind to tiny bits. It gets liquid cooling, 6 gears, ride by wire throttle, riding modes and a colour TFT display that can cast your mobile screen, including Google Maps! So how does all of this translate to the riding experience of the new Himalayan? Should the competition simply pack their bags and leave already? Moreover, should YOU buy the all new Himalayan and should you buy it NOW?
Lets start with the all new engine series aptly named "The Sherpa 450". To surmount the mighty Himalayan passes, you do need a Sherpa by your side! Just like the old LS 410 engine was when the first generation Himalayan was launched, the Sherpa 450 is very uncharacteristic of a typical Royal Enfield engine. To start with, it is an oversquare layout. Which means it has a bigger bore and a shorter stroke. This lets the engine rev more freely with some compromise on the torque. We are used to seeing RE's deliver less horsepower but dollops of torque, especially in the low end of the RPM range, but not the Sherpa. The Sherpa loves to rev. It delivers its peak power of around 40 bhp at 8000 RPM and peak torque of around 40 nm at 5500 RPM. These RPMs are higher than most Royal Enfield motorcycles redline at! Moreover, the peak torque to bhp ratio is no longer what Royal Enfield purists loved the brand for. We have often seen RE purists, especially the tourers, when they do well in life financially, they get home their second bike which would most likely be a fire breathing KTM 390 or a larger capacity ADV from premium brands like Triumph, Kawasaki, Honda, etc. for that faster highway touring. The new Himalayan is aimed square at them. This fraternity needs to be kept under Royal Enfield's ever widening umbrella and the Sherpa 450 delivers 100% toward this goal. I don't have the gear ratio figures with me but the gearing on the new Himalayan is extremely tall. The minimum speed to slot it into just 4th gear is around 60-65 kph. This makes sitting at triple digit speeds in 6th gear a soothing symphony that the Sherpa can play just about all day. The flipside of this is that the Himmie struggles at low RPMs in traffic. And by struggles I mean, really struggles. When you slot it into first, rev it up and leave the clutch, the motorcycle does not jump off the line, it rather rolls off the line. Climbing flyovers and moderating speed through traffic requires frequent gearshifts. The slip and assist clutch is light and progressive but the gear lever travel is long and the shift quality, inconsistent. All in all, this drivetrain feels very out of place in the city. Add to that, a poorly executed piece of technology stuck on this motorcycle: ride by wire throttle. The spring rate feels overly tight. There is a significant delay in your throttle input and the engine's reaction to it. That robs you of not only the feel and excitement that you get from modulating the throttle on highways but also makes it extremely difficult to ride it with precision in city traffic. It's like playing a video game with slow speed bluetooth controllers. Given the highway focused nature of the motorcycle, cruise control would have been a great addition and that requires ride by wire. I would've forgiven RE for the clunky throttle response had they slapped on cruise control onto the motorcycle. The Himalayan does not get that. It gets two riding modes instead, which, for the lack of a better word, are plain pointless. Hence, ride by wire to me is a step taken too far in the wrong direction by Royal Enfield.
What Royal Enfield have very well sorted out are the ergonomics. The sitting ergonomics at least. You sit nicely into the motorcycle. The 825 mm seat height is not too tall as the suspension sinks in as you mount the motorcycle. For taller riders, this same seat can be adjusted to 845 mm. For shorter riders, RE will sell you a lower 805 mm seat as an accessory which can also be adjusted to 825 mm if you so need. So in theory, you get three seat heights to choose from: 805, 825 and 845 mm, which is just brilliant. With the seat set to 825 mm for a 5' 8" endomorph like me, there is a slight reach to the handlebars and I quite like that. Again, RE will sell you handlebar risers as an accessory if you wish to raise the comfort bar further, pun intended. The short windscreen up front is nice for city speeds and RE will sell you a larger screen as an accessory for your long highway tours. The footpegs are neutrally set and sadly, and RE will sell you wider pegs if you so need. Straddling the motorcycle feels natural to me but I've seen taller riders having some complaints there but nothing that a right set of handlebar risers cannot sort out.
What Royal Enfield have very well sorted out are the ergonomics. The sitting ergonomics at least. You sit nicely into the motorcycle. The 825 mm seat height is not too tall as the suspension sinks in as you mount the motorcycle. For taller riders, this same seat can be adjusted to 845 mm. For shorter riders, RE will sell you a lower 805 mm seat as an accessory which can also be adjusted to 825 mm if you so need. So in theory, you get three seat heights to choose from: 805, 825 and 845 mm, which is just brilliant. With the seat set to 825 mm for a 5' 8" endomorph like me, there is a slight reach to the handlebars and I quite like that. Again, RE will sell you handlebar risers as an accessory if you wish to raise the comfort bar further, pun intended. The short windscreen up front is nice for city speeds and RE will sell you a larger screen as an accessory for your long highway tours. The footpegs are neutrally set and sadly, and RE will sell you wider pegs if you so need. Straddling the motorcycle feels natural to me but I've seen taller riders having some complaints there but nothing that a right set of handlebar risers cannot sort out.
Suspensions at both ends come from the Japanese suspension giant Showa and what a beautiful set up this is! The 43 mm inverted telescopic separate function front forks, paired with the large 21 inch front wheel up front smother every pothole that comes their way. The long travel rear monoshock is also tuned beautifully and not much from the road reaches your spine. It's like driving a rugged body on frame SUV through bad roads. Unphased by anything you throw at it. What is truly brilliant is that this ride quality does not come at the cost of handling. With a large wheel upfront and a long wheelbase, the Himalayan does feel a tad bit slow to tip into corners but once tipped in, it holds its line like a boss. I would rate the riding experience around bends very close to what larger ADV's like the Honda Africa Twin or a Triumph Tiger deliver and that's saying something for a motorcycle that costs less than 25% the money. Somewhere beneath the Himalayan's ADV exterior, there sits an extremely capable road bike chassis and I can't wait to see just how much fun other motorcycls based on this platform would deliver around corners. What also shines bright on the Himalayan are the brakes. The bite is strong and progressive and it doesn't take much right hand effort to make the nose dive to the ground. The rear brakes are strong too. A bit too strong maybe, but I like that. ABS at the rear is switchable for having fun in the dirt. The 17 litre fuel tank gives the Himmie excellent touring range of at least over 400 kms. Given how comfortable the seat cushioning is and how spot on the riding ergonomics are, riding 400 kms non stop with the Himalayan would be a breeze. A cool, misty mountain breeze!
All in all, kudos to Royal Enfield for taking such bold steps in the right direction for the future of the brand. This is not a brand that is leaning on its past heritage and cult following for getting in the sales. It is crossing technological boundaries, targetting newer customers and reaching out for newer horizons instead. That alone deserves our respect. With a 450cc single cylinder engine, this platform also qualifies to compete in the Dakar rally and the likelihood of seeing three Indian manufacturers compete in the Dakar gives me goosebumps.
However, have Royal Enfield done enough to deserve our hard earned money with this motorcycle? The answer to that is a mixed bag. The motorcycle feels like a great cross country tourer and a cross country tourer alone. The lack of low end torque, the tall gearing, the weight and that glitchy ride by wire throttle make the Himmie an extremely impractical city motorcycle. I have my doubts if this Himalayan would be as good as its predecessor at off roading either. Especially for novice riders who rely more on low end torque rather than momentum for tackling off road adventures. So my answer to the question should you buy a Himalayan 450 TODAY would be a NO. No if this is going to be the only motorcycle in your garage. This is not a city bike. Period. Moreover, it still feels more like a sum of parts than a complete motorcycle as a whole. Each part works brilliantly on its own but when put together, the communication between these parts feels a bit lacking. Maybe a year down the line, once the initial customers have done their testing and made 18-20 visits to RE service centres to smoothen out the imperfections, the Himmie will truly, fully come to life. Even better would be the Scram 450, a motorcycle I feel that will do a lot more justice to this beautifully handling chassis. So should you buy any other ADVish motorcycle in this price range today instead of the Himalayan? An emphatic NO! There is just too much potential in this platform to make every other pretentious ADV motorcycle in this segment and above feel redundant. All it needs is some polishing. If RE can sort out these initial niggles, they will have an absolute legend of a motorcycle in the Himalayan 450. But till they do, it makes sense to quietly wait and play the patient game. Good things come to those who wait.
So Royal Enfield, you have my respect but Honda, you still have my money!
Keep Riding!
Keep Riding!
