Royal Enfield boss Siddhartha Lal recently revealed that a bigger engined Himalayan is indeed on the way. Here is another render showing what the bike could look like when launched in India sometime in 2019 or 2020. The new render, courtesy PK Gautam, basically adds the 650cc engine of the Interceptor into the present Himalayan.
The bigger engined Himalayan is expected to use Royal Enfield’s newly unveiled 650cc parallel twin engine. This engine will address the long standing complaint of current Himalayan buyers – of the bike being underpowered for the weight it packs in. Since the 650cc engine is much heavier than the 411cc unit of the current Himalayan, expect the bigger engined bike to weigh more than 200 kilos.
But this is a trade-off that most Himalayan buyers will be willing to make as the new engine brings a lot more power and torque. Where the 411cc engine produces 24.5 Bhp and 32 Nm, the new 650cc parallel twin engine makes 47 PS and 52 Nm. This significant increase in power and torque will make the Himalayan 650 an effortless highway cruiser. Remember, the new engine also has a 6 speed manual gearbox and slipper clutch.
Top officials of the company have repeatedly stressed that the new engine will deliver good fuel efficiency and will be affordable to maintain as it is intended to make 350cc Royal Enfield owners upgrade. The officials also said that will price 650cc bikes like the Interceptor and Continental GT650 affordably.
This may be the same case with the Himalayan 650 as well. We expect the new bike to cost no more than Rs. 3.5 lakh as the present Himalayan is priced at around 1.65 lakhs. Adding a bigger engine will double the price, at the most. We also hope that Royal Enfield manages to sort out all the quality issues that plague the current Himalayan by then.