Royal Enfield Himalayan

11th November 2016

LS410 | 400cc | Single | SOHC | Specs

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The Royal Enfield Himalayan is to come to the UK after all. At least, that's what Royal Enfield is currently telling us.

Earlier this year (Sump Motorcycle News Feb 2016) we reported that there were no clear plans to bring the Himalayan to the UK, largely due to Euro4 emissions requirements which wouldn't look too kindly on a new carburetted motorcycle trying to slip past through border.

However, the Mumbai firm has since fitted a fuel injection system to the revised long stroke 400cc, SOHC LS410 counter-balanced single (said to be capable of lasting 10,000 kilometres between service intervals), and evidently the motorcycle looks good to go.

Anti-lock braking has also been added (as per EU requirements), the tyre choice has been revised for more appropriate road use, and an automatic headlight has also been bolted on. The frame, incidentally, was designed by Harris Performance if that makes a difference to you (and no disrespect intended to Harris).

The bike is expected to be in UK Royal Enfield dealerships some time next year (2017), and the company will give us the price in due course.

We haven't much changed our view of this bike. For a Royal Enfield, it's clearly a great leap forward. For the motorcycling world beyond, there's nothing to get too excited about. But the RE brand has established a certain cachet among the more practical-minded and the contemporary urban trendsetters, so we can see the firm shifting a fair number of these.

And the company is hungry and ambitious and is piling a shedload of dosh into the brand. "Built for all roads. Built for no roads." That's the slogan, and it's a nice little slogan too with a satisfying rhythm. And earlier video of the bike posted on YouTube saw what looked like the failure of a footrest. We've no doubt that Royal Enfield has looked closely at reinforcing that particular part. It remains to be seen if the rest of the bike lives up to Mumbai's expectations and promises.

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