Earlier this year, we got you the exclusive details of the new Himalayan 450. We told you how it is going to look. We also told you the basic engine details and also about its future plans. In this article, we plan to give you more information on this bike.
I’ll start with the engine first. We did tell you this bike will make around 40bhp and can produce a bit more. But we didn’t have details on the torque figures. Well, we do now. The Himalayan 450 will produce around 40bhp of power and 45Nm of torque. This engine is brand new and obviously, it wouldn’t have the torque characteristics like the one we see on the current Himalayan which has a long stroke motor. But we believe this engine will be able to produce a performance that will let the riders do really good speed on the road and also produce good grunt to get through some really tough sections off-road. And when this happens, the new KTM 390 Adventure is bound to have a tough time. And yes, it will get a six-speed gearbox.
Now let’s talk about features. The new Himalayan 450 will get ride-by-wire system and that means it will also get multiple riding modes – 3 to be precise – road, rain and off-road and when you activate the off-road mode, the ABS at the rear wheel is switched off. Now according to our sources, this bike will also get a cool looking vertical instrument cluster that will show a wide range of ride data. But we don’t think it will be a full-colour TFT cluster like we see on the 390 Adventure to keep the costs in check.
The new Himalayan is going to have a really good road presence. So we are talking about bigger body panels and lots of mass upfront. It will get a 20-litre fuel tank which I think is a pretty good number. Other bits like upside-down forks at the front, upswept exhaust and large mudguards are the other few things that will be seen on the motorcycle. And just like the Himalayan 411, this one too will get a 21-inch wheel at the front and 17 at the rear. The tyres will be from CEAT but a special compound has been developed for this model. We are talking about a rubber compound that has been developed to perform well equally on-road and off-road. So a 50 50 per cent distribution. The current tyres on the Himalayan are 70 per cent road-focused and 30 off-road. These tyres will have deeper treads than the Himalayan 411.
Now one coming to the touring aspects – the 450 will have a luggage rack that will have a payload capacity of 15kgs. And that means it can hold larger tail bags and boxes. A lot of focus has gone into getting the sub-frame right for the same purpose. And obviously, Royal Enfield is going to come up with a lot of accessories for this ADV. We are talking about heated grips, different handlebars and handguards, and lots of hard and soft luggage options.
Now that we have given you almost all the information we have on the Himalayan 450 – I think this is the right time to talk about the Himalayan 450 Raid. This bike is codenamed K1X and it is the top-spec model which will be launched quite late. We are talking about the 2025-26 launch. But this bike will have some premium tech – like upgraded suspension, tubeless spoke wheels, a more powerful engine and also an auxiliary fuel tank. This clearly suggests that Royal Enfield has big plans – plans that could see the Himalayan 450 competing in Dakar and what a day that would be.
We are quite excited to see this Royal Enfield in person and we expect to see it sometime early next year. That’s also the time when the current Himalayan will most likely be discontinued.
