Here’s your first official look at the Royal Enfield Himalayan, plus two stonking videos

The Himalayan isn’t exactly an NSA-level secret, having been spied testing across the length and breadth of the country numerous times in the last couple of years. That, of course, was a necessity because it is an adventure touring bike – the first from the company – and a motorcycle like that needs to be tested against various terrains and weather conditions so that it can cope with the real-world scenarios that its potential customers are obviously going to throw at it once it is launched.

Still, Royal Enfield remained tight-lipped throughout it all, refusing to divulge any details except what we have heard from unofficial sources. So, to recap, here’s what we know so far:

The Royal Enfield Himalayan is a completely new motorcycle from the ground-up, and that’s not something you say frequently about Royal Enfields. Developed with the help of Harris Performance, the renowned British performance specialists which RE acquired last year, the Himalayan boasts of many firsts for the brand.

It is the first Royal Enfield to come with a monoshock. Apart from being lighter, the inclusion of a monoshock on the Himalayan should endow the bike with considerable ride and handling benefits, while also making it more reliable on the move, something that long distance riders will surely appreciate. Upfront, suspension duties are handled by long-travel telescopic forks clapped on 21-inch wheels.

Motive power comes from an all-new, indigenously-developed oil-cooled, 410cc single-cylinder engine pumping out around 28PS of power and 30Nm of torque. The motor will also have overhead cams instead of the traditional push rod architecture on Royal Enfield engines and is expected to freely rev to 6,500-7,000rpm. The engine will also be equipped with a counterbalancer to reduce vibrations, so expect the Himalayan’s mill to be the most refined unit seen on a Royal Enfield yet.

No hardcore tourer worth his Gore-Tex goes globetrotting with a bog-standard bike; he customizes it according to the type of trip he’s going to undertake. Royal Enfield is already at the forefront when it comes to factory produced/approved customization options, and they’re taking it even further with the Himalayan. We already know that it will come with side panniers, crash guards, jerry cans for fuel, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Expect a lot more accessories, probably including touring gear, once the Himalayan is launched.

The only disappointing thing about the whole package that is the Himalayan is that while it will come with disc brakes at both ends, ABS has been skipped, presumably to keep costs low.

In the series of videos and teasers that Royal Enfield released today on its website and official YouTube channel, the brains behind it talk about the development process of the Himalayan and how they settled on its final design and specifications. In another video, CS Santosh, India’s endurance racing prodigy who is famous for his Dakar pursuits whips the Himalayan around the Big Rock Motopark in Kolar, Karnataka. Santosh seems to be pretty chuffed with the Himalayan, stating at the end: “Most of the times you have motorcycles that do well on the street but as soon as you take them off road, they don’t seem to fit in. (With the Himalayan) I was surprised because I think it felt natural to be off-road as well. Just the way it was sitting between my legs it felt good because I’ve been used to rally bikes and it didn’t feel strange at all. For a common man, it will not be intimidating at all. The power is there but it’s not gonna be aggressive.”

We sadly can’t embed the videos on this page here, but you can check them out via the links above.

The Royal Enfield Himalayan will be officially unveiled on February 2, which is less than two weeks from today. We have got our block-your-dates and are as excited as you to be finally clapping our eyes on the Himalayan for the first time sans any disguises. Stay tuned!