Royal Enfield is a brand that as everyone now knows, outsold even Harley Davidson in motorcycle sales across the globe. Yes, that is how well Royal Enfield is doing across the globe and is gaining popularity with every passing day. Ask any real Royal Enfield enthusiast and they will tell you that Royal Enfields are meant for the outdoors. These motorcycles are designed to conquer the highways, but there are hundreds of Royal Enfield users out there who have used their machines to conquer more than just plain old highways.
Royal Enfield motorcycles have been favorites among riders who want to, as well as who have already ridden the Leh-Ladakh circuit. The people who know anything about this circuit also know that it involves a lot of off-roading and riders have taken their motorcycles to places which have no roads at all too. It seems like the boffins at Royal Enfield had been quietly observing all this and that is the reason, they came up with the concept of the Royal Enfield Himalayan.
Quite some time ago, Royal Enfield had revealed their plans to develop a mid-size adventure motorcycle and in February this year Royal Enfield applied for a trademark to the name ‘Himalayan’. Yes, Royal Enfield has named their adventure motorcycle after the Himalayan mountain ranges. And it has been into development for the past few months and we are pleased to report that a lot of progress is seen in the development.
The Royal Enfield Himalayan has been spotted while undergoing developmental testing, a couple of times and it has now been spotted again on test. When the motorcycle was spotted on test for the first time, it was bare bones and had not much to talk about. It was running with many parts which were borrowed from the current Royal Enfield flagship – The Continental GT. It literally was like a scrambler with a lot of continental GT parts bolted on.
Now though, most of the Continental GT parts are gone and quite a number of all new parts and panels can be seen on the adventure motorcycle. The fuel tank is an all new design with knee support recesses and the rear sub-frame too is all new, and it had to be because the Royal Enfield Himalayan has a mono-shock setup to handle suspension duties at the rear. At the front though, it makes do with a conventional telescopic fork suspension but with a rubber dust cover to protect the fork oil seals in dusty off-road scenarios.
Royal Enfield seems to be pretty serious about the motorcycle’s off road capability as it has all the tell-tale signs of a proper adventure motorcycle. The Wheels, for example are off-road ready. They look like 19-inch wheels up front and 17-inchers at the rear and both are both the wheels are conventional spoked ones and this is the exact same configuration used in Motocross and Supermoto bikes. Even the Big adventure Motorcycles from Ducati, Triumph, BMW and KTM use the same configuration. The exhaust system too on the Himalayan is all new and features a high-set end canister, which again allows for good off-roading capabilities. The riding position is pretty upright and the rider is seen sitting at a height which we think is the highest ever seen on a Royal Enfield.
Powering the Himalayan will be one of the two all-new engines being developed by Royal Enfield. Royal Enfield had announced a few weeks ago that they are in the process of developing two new engines which included a high capacity parallel-twin Cylinder and a mid range single-cylinder and we think the mid range single-cylinder engine will make its debut on the Royal Enfield Himalayan. The engine is an all new, air-cooled, 410cc, single cylinder motor with a maximum power output of around 35 PS. This is all we know about the engine as of now.
Well, Royal Enfield fans and adventure lovers alike will surely be waiting with baited breath for the launch of this motorcycle. The motorcycle will be sold internationally as well and Royal Enfield is expecting the exports of this motorcycle to contribute greatly to sales numbers.
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Also see: Royal Enfield Himalayan gets spied with a sports bike-like exhaust
Source: Gaadiwaadi
