When Royal Enfield introduced the first-generation Himalayan, it was a bold move into a new segment for the Indian manufacturer. The first-gen Himi was popular with many buyers, but very limited in its performance, and it was a learning curve for the company. Royal Enfield performed mid-production updates to fix weaknesses as they appeared, but ultimately, the bike was limited by its chassis and engine.
Then, in 2023, after months of spy shots and rumors, Royal Enfield officially revealed the all-new Himayalan 450, a ground-up redesign of frame, suspension and engine. After months of waiting, those bikes are finally arriving on US shores, and Royal Enfield invited us to Utah in late August to ride the machines.
What’s new?
Everything is new. Royal Enfield built an all-new frame and engine, bolted up an a new suspension, and the end result is the Himalayan 450.
The liquid-cooled 452cc engine has 11.5:1 compression, a six-speed gearbox, a slip/assist clutch and Performance and Eco ride modes. Royal Enfield claims almost 40 hp at the crank, and 24 lb-ft of torque. Not a lot when compared to a 1000cc-plus ADV, but a lot more than the previous air-cooled 411 model. The Sherpa engine is a big upgrade, and you can wind it out to 9,000 rpm.
The chassis also sees a major remodeling, starting with a relocated airbox that sits over the engine, under the fuel tank, freeing up some space behind the engine to allow for a revised shock linkage that improves ground clearance over the previous model. The airbox is still relatively quick to access: remove the seat and the fuel tank’s rear mount, then disconnect the fuel tank hose and the airbox top is now accessible. It’s not that tricky, and probably no worse than fidgeting with the clip systems on some Japanese dual sports.
The suspension itself is built by Showa, with a non-adjustable USD fork and preload-adjustable shock (the wrench for adjusting the shock is in the toolkit). There’s 200mm travel front and back, about 25mm more than the previous model.
There’s a bolt-on steel subframe, which should be relatively easy to repair, and the frame itself is steel, which can be welded just about anywhere in a pinch. At the technical presentation, Royal Enfield’s staff made a point of showing how fixable the bike is, which is very important if you want to adventure travel far off the beaten path.
Brembo’s ByBre subsidiary made the brakes, with ABS included. There’s an off-road ABS mode which detunes the front ABS sensor and shuts the system off in back, and it’s very easy to switch from street mode ABS. Having said that, if you turn off the key, you must re-set ABS every time, as its turn-on default is street mode, with antilock function at both ends.
The tank can haul 17 L of gas, and comes with a set of crash bars/pannier racks built into the sides. Curb weight is 196 kg.
The Tripper dash, which was optional on some earlier Royal Enfields, is standard on the Himalayan 450. This functions as a round TFT gauge with speed, rpm, fuel gauge, hi/lo beam indicator and other data. But Royal Enfield cleverly programmed the display so that you can connect your phone and get a navigation screen integrated to the dash as well. This is a bit of a tricky arrangement, as it’s powered by Google Maps code and your phone’s screen must be on in order for the nav to work—it uses the same “casting” technology that many people use to link their phone and TV. However, other infotainment features—music playback, answer/reject phone calls—can be controlled with your screen off, conserving battery power. Royal Enfield does have a USB port up front to keep your phone charged, so you can use the mapping feature without killing your battery.
All in all, a well-thought-out bike with no feature missing that you would reasonably expect in this price segment. But does all this smart design actually result in a good ride? We’d find out…
All-new = lots of fun
The original Himalayan had plenty of power for back roads, but when you hit the multi-lane highway, it lacked the passing power to push past traffic at 70 mph and above. When our day’s ride started on the four-lane, our group leader responsibly kept us to a sensible pace, not allowing us to see for ourselves whether we could now pass a tanker truck at 80 mph. But even though we were riding responsibly, one thing was immediately obvious: The bike’s engine has plenty of power for the real world. The fuel-injected, ride-by-wire engine is a lot smoother than the carbureted Japanese singles of the 1990s/2000s, and if power delivery isn’t exactly neck-snapping, the engine builds a much stronger head of steam than the weedy 300ish single-cylinders that Japan foists upon us today.
As our ride diverted down a twisty canyon road with bumps and muddy slop across the lane, it was obvious that the bike was capable of very good handling on the street, and wasn’t afraid of a bit of rough stuff to boot. The engineers’ work to centralize the bike’s mass, combined with a carefully tuned Showa suspension, results in a machine that’s serious fun in the twisties. The stock tires are also very good for this sort of thing—they’re dual sport tires that you can trust when heeled over on the tarmac.
And then we got to the dirt section, the true test of the bike’s capabilities. This is where things got interesting, because for the most part, this bike is very good on dirt.
While some riders will want tunable, tweakable suspension, with clickers to set fork spring rate, or maybe even an app, Royal Enfield managed to build a bike that’s simple but very good right out of the box. You must keep a watchful eye on the trail, lest a dip suddenly eat up all your suspension travel and catch you off-guard—this happened to me and others, with varying levels of success in handling the G-out.
The stock tires are surprisingly good on dry gravel; they offer much more grip than a quick glance would suggest. However, they’re quickly overwhelmed by mud. As the day went on, there were several crash-ees in our riding group, including myself. I was a lot more banged-up than the bike, which only suffered a broken mirror; Royal Enfield designed this machine to take a beating.
After lunch, our group navigated a tricky uphill section with deep ruts—the kind of place you have to carefully pick your line and rely on steering instead of just powering through. The Himalayan handled it all nicely, ending the day with a fun street ride on a very twisty section of pavement along a reservoir, once again impressing all of us with its street manners.
Summary
This is a very good bike—much better than it has any right to be, considering it’s only the second in this line from Royal Enfield. It’s very fun on the street, and competent enough to handle off-road travel without any major upgrades; you’ll want new suspension and some bash guards if you want off-road speed, but that’s also true of a lot of Japanese bikes, bikes made by companies with decades more experience in this space than Royal Enfield.
How much do I like the bike? I’d buy one… if I didn’t have a garage full already. PHOTO CREDIT: Zac KurylykI don’t know, but I do know that with a $7,699 MSRP in Canada, the current class of 300cc-650cc thumpers has some new, tough competition thanks to Royal Enfield’s willingness to reinvent their ADV bike.
