Royal Enfield Himalayan 250 in the works?

A test mule of the Royal Enfield Himalayan was recently spotted doing the rounds. At first glance it looks like a poor wheel change job on the bike. Instead of running a 21-18inch front to rear wheel setup, the test mule was running a 19 inch front wheel and presumably a 17 inch rear.  Now, why would RE feel the need to downgrade the wheel sizes of the 410cc Himalayan? It wouldn’t.

So, what we see here is possibly a smaller capacity Himalayan. And it’s not the smaller wheel sizes that are a give away. If you look closely, you will the find the tank doesn’t fit right. It seems a tad big for the bike. The forks touch the tank, and the oil cooler is much closer to the fuel tank than on the current Himalayan as well.   

All of this are indications that though the clothes are borrowed from the 410cc Himalayan, these are clearly draped on a smaller motorcycle. Furthermore, the front disc seems to be of a smaller size as well. And we won’t be surprised if this test mule runs thinner front forks. 

We expect this Himalayan to displace around 250cc. The engine seems to be more or less similar to the 410cc, but it might run a smaller bore which will give the smaller Himalayan better low and mid range torque characteristics.   

There’s no doubt there’s a market brewing for small capacity ADVs. But, these ADVs need to be more than off-road or travel centric machines. These need to be light and easy and accessible enough for even the non hardcore adventure seekers. KTM will address this with the 250 Adventure. Suzuki and Yamaha too might launch 250cc ADVs in the coming years. And there are strong indications that Hero is working on a larger capacity Xpulse as well.   So, can Royal Enfield be left behind?

Image source: teambhp