Deliveries of India’s most affordable adventure bike, the Royal Enfield Himalayan, have begun. Owners have started clocking serious distances on this motorcycle, bringing out many unknown facets about it. Here are 10 things you may not know about the Himalayan.
The Himalayan is a thumper without the thump. Yes, it’s true. While the bike gets a long stroke 411 cc four stroke engine, just like other Royal Enfields, it just doesn’t have the trademark thump of its siblings. So, if you’re looking for the ‘thump’, look elsewhere. The bike has sacrificed the engine’s thump for some better things.
Like a 10,000 kms oil change interval, which is the highest on a Royal Enfield motorcycle. Running costs of the Himalayan promises to be lower than other Royal Enfields. Also, the bike uses semi-synthetic oil, unlike the other, more expensive adventure bikes that run on full synthetic oil.
The Himalayan’s clutch feels heavy to operate, but this has a remedy. Replacing the stock clutch cable of the bike with the longer one of the Classic 350’s is said to dramatically lighten the clutch. The gearbox’s notchiness is also said to be resolved with this change.
The Himalayan’s tappet noise is on the higher side, but there’s a solution coming soon. Royal Enfield is said to be working on a slightly different cam shaft design to eliminate the annoying tappet noise from the engine. This fix could soon be rolled out onto bikes from newer batches, and is expected to be offered as a fix on older bikes too.
But the production version of the bike already features a big improvement, in terms of weld quality. Royal Enfield now uses robots to weld sections of the Himalayan’s frame. This makes for better quality as well as more aesthetic welds.
The bike still marks its territory, like other Royal Enfields. Yes, the Himalayan’s engine is not leak proof. The initial owners of this bike have already started complaining about oil seepage from the engine, and this is something Royal Enfield need to immediately address.
That said, the Himalayan is the least vibey Enfield ever. Though there are vibrations on the bike, they’re much better damped than on other Royal Enfields. This makes for a more pleasant, and low-fatigue touring experience.
The bike has some very interesting features. How about a compass? Yes, a digital compass sits on the instrument cluster, and so does an ambient temperature gauge. Other standard features include hazard lamps and an LED parking light.
The Himalayan has better specs than the next cheapest adv bike, the Kawasaki Versys. Priced at 1.55 lakh rupees, the bike is not only 4 times cheaper than the Kawasaki, but has better ground clearance (220 mm vs 170 mm), better suspension travel (front 200 mm vs 150 mm, rear 180 mm vs 145 mm), lower seat height (800 mm vs 840 mm) and lower kerb weight (182 Kgs vs 216 Kgs).
A 2 month waiting period pan-India means that the bike is very accessible. This comes as a cherry on top of the cake, as affordable Royal Enfields are notorious for having super long waiting times. The Classic 350 used to have 9 month waiting periods. Thankfully, this is not the case with this adventure tourer.
Oil seep image source