Royal Enfield Himalayan 411 discontinued

Royal Enfield’s venerable Himalayan 411, the company’s first dedicated adventure motorcycle has been discontinued, and has been replaced by the newly launched Himalayan 450 which is priced starting at Rs 2.69 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). While the Himalayan 450 brings about significant updates in features as well as abilities over the erstwhile Himalayan 411, there’s no doubt that the 411 paved the way for RE’s new ADV, as well as the ADV segment in India. As we bid adieu to the Himalayan 411, we look back at its history and see what made it so special.

Royal Enfield’s motorcycles have always been associated with the Himalayas. For over three decades, RE’s bikes have been the weapon of choice for thousands of bikers making their annual pilgrimage to Leh - undoubtedly the Mecca for Indian motorcycle riders. So in 2016, Royal Enfield launched a dedicated adventure motorcycle to tackle the treacherous terrain of the Himalayas, and aptly named it the Himalayan.

The Himalayan 411 brought with it many firsts for Royal Enfield, with their first “modern” air-and-oil-cooled single cylinder motor which featured a counter balancer as well. Although it made a relatively modest 24.3PS and 32Nm, it could easily cruise along at 100kmph on the highway, and it also sported long travel suspension along with plenty of ground clearance. In fact, the Himalayan 411 was a marvel of packaging, as Royal Enfield managed to give it 220mm of ground clearance, but kept the seat height to a surprisingly low 800mm. 

Paired with 200mm and 180mm of wheel travel at the front and rear respectively, the Himalayan 411 very easy to manage on bad roads even for short riders, its only Achilles' Heel being its heavy kerb weight, which had risen to 199kg on its last iteration.

Although the first lot of this Himalayan 411 faced a lot of NVH and quality issues, which also included catastrophic failures of the swingarm in some cases, Royal Enfield kept working on the bike, improving it over the years. Its last major update, which came in 2021, gave it some much needed additions, such as RE’s Tripper navigation pod, and some ergonomic changes, making it the must-have motorcycle for any Indian rider starting off their ADV journey. Given its excellent abilities, even its latest price starting at Rs 2.16 lakh (ex-showroom), made it decent value for money. 

But now though, the Himalayan 411 is out, and the Himalayan 450 (or just Himalayan) is in. And it had brought much more to the table including Royal Enfield’s first liquid cooled motor which makes 40PS and 40Nm. It offers more ground clearance, more suspension travel and even more features than the 411, including a fully digital instrument cluster with navigation. All for just Rs 53,000 more. It’s not just the spec sheet of the new Himalayan that makes it the perfect upgrade to the Himalayan 411, but the riding experience has been elevated as well. You can read about it in our first ride review here.

So thank you Royal Enfield for the Himalayan 411. It leaves us with some great memories. And thank you for the new Himalayan 450 as well. We’re sure it will help us forge even better memories in the future.