Upcoming Royal Himalayan 650 Spotted Testing

Quick Highlights:

• Upcoming Himalayan 650 will have the familiar 650cc twin-cylinder engine

• It could have a completely new chassis

• Styling inspired from the Himalayan 450

• Could be called the Himalayan 750, powered by the upcoming 750cc twin-cylinder engine which should make its debut in the Continental GT 750

The highly-anticipated Royal Enfield Himalayan 650 has been spied during testing in Europe. The upcoming ADV could get a 650cc twin-cylinder engine that we have seen in the Bear 650 and the Shotgun 650. The 650cc ADV will be a part of the more premium Royal Enfield 650cc bikes like the aforementioned ones, and should be priced accordingly as well. 

The Royal Enfield Himalayan 650 looks quite similar to the Himalayan 450, albeit with some tweaks to its bodywork. For starters, the headlight unit seems to be the same one as the Himalayan 411. But it has some bodywork surrounding the fuel tank, which extends to the headlight housing. The latter is not something the current Himalayan has. The windscreen also seems to be new. Coming back, the split seats could be similar to that of the 450. On the tail, the upcoming Himalayan gets the same indicator-integrated tail-light as the Himalayan 450. 

Now comes the most important bit — behind all the exterior bits is an all-new chassis. However it seems to have the same inverted fork as the 450, but we hope that RE gives it preload/rebound adjustability - something that the Himalayan 450 sorely lacks. That said, the rear monoshock is vertically-mounted to a swingarm that looks the same as the 450’s. This Himalayan is rolling on a 19-inch front wheel (not a 21-inch like the 450) and a 17-inch rear wheel, both spoked. Though, these look like the tubed-spoke wheels, not tubeless. 

The front wheel size indicates this could be a more road-oriented bike. It also has a twin-disc brake setup at the front and a single disc setup at the rear. The front brake setup was likely chosen as it would help stop this clearly heavier bike. In any case, based on the visible hardware, and what we know of this motor’s performance, this Himalayan twin is likely to be more of a road-biased ADV.

The  ADV test mule is equipped with a new horizontal digital display unit. Apart from that, it should have all the most modern rider aids — dual-channel ABS with an off-road mode, traction control, and the works. But more importantly, we believe that RE could introduce cruise control on this Himalayan twin.

All said, this Himalayan could be still far from launch — mostly post-2025. 

ZigSays 

Now, here comes the fun part. While enthusiasts are waiting for the Himalayan 650, there’s a slight chance that this could have the new 750cc twin-cylinder engine. The reason for this is that RE has reportedly started developing the 750 twin — we have spotted the Continental 750 on test as well. Also, RE could put this engine in the bigger Himalayan as that would allow the brand to have a considerable performance difference between this upcoming twin-cylinder Himalayan and the Himalayan 450.