Fresh on the heels of the release of the new Royal Enfield Himalayan 450, we see patents that show, guess what—it looks like Honda is working on building a machine to compete with the old Himalayan.
The new machine is reportedly based on the CB350 and its related models, which are made in India. These aren’t the old-school parallel twin Honda design that was so popular around the world back in the 1970s, although it’s supposed to look like it. This is a modern air-cooled single-cylinder that’s super-popular in Asia today, with exports slowly leaving the Indian market and spreading around the world (but not to North America, yet). The fuel-injected engine only makes about 21 hp, so it’s certainly no powerhouse—but then, neither was the original Himalayan either.
But that original Royal Enfield adventure bike was so popular that home-market competitor Yezdi built their own successful clone, and Honda is apparently readying to riff on the same formula, according to documents that Ben Purvis from Cycle World revealed.
For the Indian market, this would be a welcome addition to Honda’s lineup. Over there, a 350 is still considered a big machine, and a fuel-injected thumper like this is just the ticket for exploring the mountain ranges for which the OG Royal Enfield adventure bike was named.
For western markets? It seems unlikely, considering the CB350 still hasn’t come here. But the world economy is shifting quickly, and we see the Trail and XR150L dual sports coming to Canada now. If this machine actually makes it to production, perhaps it’ll be next. If Honda kept the price tag to the right point, there would be buyers—there always is.
