Considering that I am not an adventure rider, I couldn’t resist testing the latest Himalayan 450. A friend who runs Royal Enfield Tours recently received new 450s, and I was eager to try one. Seeing how much hype this motorcycle gathered in the past few months after its official release, I cannot walk away from testing it myself.
First of all, I should mention that the ADV space is somewhat blurry in terms of the attributes bikes should have today. All motorcycles are basically all-rounders and crossovers, which allow you to do a bit of everything. Some of the most popular bikes that represent that space are the BMW GS, Honda Transalp, Africa Twin, and, of course, the Yamaha T7. All those bikes are pricy; they start from $10k, and with all the specs and accessories, this can be an infinite number. This leads to the situation that most people are using those bikes for touring on paved roads. Over the years of riding a motorcycle around here in Montenegro, I have met many people who travel long distances, and I have learned that if you go on an adventure, get a smaller and lighter motorcycle. This will make it easier to travel through rough terrains when you are riding in unknown places, and also inexpensive to fix as you are going to drop a motorcycle, not a single time when riding off-road. That is why true adventurers will typically ride Honda CRF300 or Kawasaki KLR bikes. The biggest bike you might see among ADV riders is the T7. But even that bike is a bit big by true ADV standard.
I have never been interested in Royal Enfield as a brand, and I probably won’t be buying their motorcycle any time soon. So, I have zero biases. But when I saw the new Himalayan, and simply by putting all the specs against an ADV checklist, I could see a good value as this bike checked all the boxes. But let’s see, how it feels in real life.
First of all, the look of the motorcycle. The new 450 looks modern and fresh. I like the colour scheme; I like the paint job quality in general. The bike has some modern elements out of the box, which might not always be seen on other motorcycles. Things such as a USB-C port or TFT dash with navigation are a lot to offer for such price point. This generation of Himalayan also has a more fluid design than most ADV bikes. Round headlight, round dash, round mirrors. So it makes it look modern.
Let’s start with the cockpit and ergonomics. First, you feel this is a modern motorcycle when you sit on the bike. It’s not particularly a premium one, as most elements are very simple, but it all looks robust, including switch gear on both sides of the bar. But then you have this huge circular TFT dash. First of all, it is not a typical solution, but the most important thing is how clean and easy it is to read. It can invert the colours depending on the day/night situation, and it also offers connectivity. You can display Google Maps on that screen, which is an amazing solution, in my opinion. Royal Enfield actually dedicates an entire page on their website to tell you how cool this screen is. And I’d say yes, they probably paid enough attention to tech, which I think pretty cool for such motorcycle.
Control elements are easy to reach and use. You’ll also notice that headlight and engine switches are not typical, they have swing movement left to right. But they are very tactile and responsive. Everything is very simple, but functional on both sides of the bar. For me it took a minute to get used to everything and start riding a motorcycle. Mirrors are nothing special, visibility is great, but you’ll notice they are continuing round design of the dash and the headlight.
Moving to a sitting position. This is a relatively small-engine bike. But I feel here at home. Even with my stature, I don’t find myself cramped, which is very well done, Royal Enfield. My only complaint would be the seat. It is hard. After an hour’s ride, I started to feel it. Even with soft suspension, seat doesn’t make it easier. Other than that, I have almost 90* angle in my knees, upright sitting position, and have no problems at all. If you go for an adventure with such sitting position you can capture the nature and landscapes around you easily. Also, I should mention that most ADVENTURE motorcycles are not suitable for most people due to the seat height, which is usually between 850 and 870mm. Himalayan 450 has a standard seat height of 825mm, which makes it very accessible.
Now, it’s probably a good seagway to move towards suspension and riding comfort. The suspension is soft but still on the stiffer side. I think that this motorcycle was designed for mixed use of paved and unpaved roads, so the goal was to make it more stable on asphalt, which comes with drawbacks. When we went to the road with the surface reminding me of a washboard, I started to feel that suspension was not able to perform well on such terrain. You either have to slow down or accept this discomfort. In combination with the hard seat I mentioned above, this becomes noticeable. Also, I must mention that the frame is a bit on the soft side; you start to notice that when you get back to the paved roads and pick up a bit of speed. Probably for off-road use, that exactly what you need, but for cruising on flat roads, this might lead to instability.
Handling is overall good! I cannot say it is perfect because it is not. Maybe that is my particular problem. Coming from touring motorcycles, I used to ride bikes with precise handling, and that is where 450 is not that. It does well on average bumpy roads at slow speeds, also gravel is not an issue in terms of handling and overall riding experience. But once we speak about performance riding or say road use, that’s where the bike lacks in feedback. Those who were never riding high-performance motorcycles probably won’t notice that, so I cannot call it the issue.
Road / off-road riding. I already mentioned that bike has average performance with road use, and probably does much better off-road. I haven’t had any chance to use this bike off-road, rather than short stretch of gravel. But I feel that it will do anything you ask it for, however don’t expect extraordinary performance. I think this motorcycle is a perfect tool to execute riding A to B whichever terrain there is, but not gonna make you feel like a Pol Tarrés.
Let’s talk about its power plant. The engine is enough for any scenario. Not for highway riding or even speed roads, but if you ride with an average speed of 40-90 km, this will do the job. I wouldn’t expect anything more than that from this engine. It is designed to deliver you anywhere, with no particular excitement from riding it. Probably, that’s what you need when riding bad roads. Couple of moments I want to highlight. First of all, ride by wire electronics. Seeing such technology on an affordable motorcycle like Himalayan is so cool. You have ride modes, so bike can change behaviour for the variety of situations you might find yourself at. Another unusual thing is the gear change lever. If it is super light, you almost don’t feel how you shift the gears. I have never had such an experience on an off-road-focused motorcycle; this is a seamless process. Frankly speaking, I wouldn’t put it as an advantage here because sometimes I felt like it lacked the feedback, but I have never missed the gear, so nothing to say about that part. Overall, I think the engine is just average, but I hope it will do a great job when conquering the mountains.
So why does this bike stand out for me? Just like I mentioned, I am not a huge expert in ADV space, so I can only speak as a consumer. Most manufacturers were offering either big advanced motorcycles, which are hard to call ADV, or relatively simple bikes, such as CRF300. What Royal Enfield did was offer a modern, inexpensive solution for those who want to try ADV space with no need to break the bank. With all the heritage companies carried, this is an interesting solution and something new.
That’s brings us to the pros and cons. Here, I cannot go deep, as it requires proper long-term testing in various conditions, but I can definitely say how I can see this motorcycle for me as a customer. First of all, this is something new; with quite an affordable price point, you get fresh tech and modern design. You also receive a motorcycle with an approachable seat height, which can go off-road, which is a big plus for most riders entering ADV space. I assume this motorcycle should be reliable since it’s been tested in the Himalayas in India and has plenty of history of being used on rough roads. My cons for this motorcycle probably would be that it is pretty much average. Coming from riding Japanese motorcycles all my life, I find it really hard to find something that matches that performance. Quality of riding, if you will. But I must say, that if I don’t have any reference point, I’d probably be happy with what Himalayan 450 could offer.
