Riding a motorbike on the tarmac twisties of Himachal

The new Royal Enfield Himalayan 450 is a lightweight motorcycle that can be ridden across countries and continents

- Rishad Saam Mehta

The ‘all new’ Himalayan 450 that will be launched at MotoVerse Goa later this month is truly brand new—not a bolt has been carried over from the previous Himalayan 411.

The Himalayan, first launched by Royal Enfield in 2016, was envisioned as a purpose-built, capable motorcycle purely for those keen to explore the changeable and mountainous terrain of the Himalayas. While it came with its own gremlins, it found fans not only among explorers of high-altitude mountain trails, but also in the Americas, Europe, Australia and South East Asia, and has been ridden to the South Pole and to the inhospitable heights of the Karakoram.

I have ridden the old Himalayan from the high-altitude tarmac of Tibet to the bone-rearranging dirt tracks of Mustang in Nepal and along the gravel hairpin bends of Zanskar, and, just by comparing the technical specifications and features of the old and the new, it is apparent that the new Himalayan is an evolved one.

When I first saw the Himalayan 450 parked outside the Sitara Himalaya, a lovely hotel above Manali, it tugged at my heartstrings. It is such a handsome motorcycle. The 17-litre fuel tank is as burly as a barrel-chested body builder and gives way to a slim contoured seat. The seat height is adjustable from 825 to 845mm with an optional low seat adjustable from 805 to 825mm. The engine’s cylinder block is angled forward, compared to the old Himalayan’s straight up position. It sits on a combination of 21-inch front and 17-inch rear wheels. It has an all-new twin-spar frame with the engine as a stressed member. The front suspension duties are done by an upside-down (USD) open cartridge fork and there is an adjustable preload monoshock spring at the rear.