Royal Enfield Might Have Dakar Dreams With The Himalayan 450

After our exclusive story on the first sighting of the upcoming Royal Enfield Himalayan 450, new details of the bike have emerged. In fact, the ADV could even have a more hardcore ‘Raid’ variant packing more features and better hardware than the standard bike.

The Royal Enfield Himalayan 450’s liquid-cooled single-cylinder engine is said to belt out 40PS and expect the torque figure to be around 40Nm. While this isn’t a long-stroke motor, we expect the new Himalayan to retain the likeable low-end grunt of the current model. 

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Royal Enfield is said to be coming up with a bunch of premium features. This includes a ride-by-wire system, three riding modes with a dedicated off-road mode that switches off the ABS at the rear. Furthermore, RE could equip the bike with an all-new instrument console (unlike the possibly Meteor-sourced unit we saw on the test mule) with a rally raid-style vertical layout.

The spy shot revealed the design of the upcoming bike. Royal Enfield may equip it with a 20-litre fuel tank. The Indian bikemaker is also rumoured to be developing a new tyre compound with CEAT for the Himalayan 450.

 As per reports, the Indian bikemaker may make its Dakar Rally debut soon and the Raid seems to be the apt candidate. The Royal Enfield Himalayan 450 Raid variant could flaunt some premium equipment like an adjustable upside-down fork and monoshock, tubeless wire-spoke rims, Rally Raid-style auxiliary fuel tank, a more rugged tail rack, and heated grips. Royal Enfield may even retune the engine to extract more performance for its top-spec variant.

While the Royal Enfield Himalayan 450 may debut by mid-2023, the ‘Raid’ variant’s launch could happen in early 2024. We expect the Himalayan 450 Raid to cost around Rs 3 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). By then, we may see the Hero XPulse 450 and even the KTM 390 Adventure R in our market.

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