When it was first announced in 2016, nobody really took much notice, expecting yet another decent looking, but ultimately, poor quality product made by the Indian giant.
At first, it was more or less exactly that. The first year bikes were pretty awful and experienced a lot of failures, it was a steep learning curve for both them and their well-meaning customer base. Since then the model has gotten better and better, with some minor revisions hare and there, some important additions, and an altogether better product overall. The bike went from being “that bike everyone laughed at on YouTube” after losing a footpeg in an advert, to the solid bike we will find in Royal Enfield showrooms all over the world today.
10 Designed By Harris Performance Products
After decades of pretty much making the same motorcycle, it seemed like a logical move to outsource the design work for their all-new bike. Giving a company (that they now owned) more strongly associated with performance parts an adventure bike as their first product seemed like a bit of an odd decision, but it paid off.
Once the first production model was made available it was clearly the right move, the bike is clearly a Royal Enfield, but also different in the right kind of ways.
9 Retro Appeal
Retro bikes are all the rage right now and Royal Enfield are one of the companies that have benefited the most from this particular trend.
Adventure bikes are pretty new as a concept, but adventuring on a motorcycle has been around since the first bikes rolled off the production line, and the Himalayan taps into both old and new technology, blending them rather effectively.
8 A Real Goat
It honestly looks a bit like a goat, and it also goes like one, nothing happens fast on the Himalayan, but much like a tractor, it will pull through almost anything.
It only makes 25 horsepower, but somehow they are able to optimize the torque to 24 lb-ft, and that helps make it a lot more capable off-road than most people think.
7 Standard Equipment
So many people complain about having to spend hundreds of dollars on optional extras, for most manufacturers this is normal even though it is something most adventure bike enthusiasts regard as essential components; a center stand and crash protection.
The fact that they fit these items as standard equipment is a nod to their market research and the incredible value they offer with this package, as it is far from the only standard features they have squeezed into it for what is a bargain-basement price.
6 Rugged By Nature
This is the kind of bike you won’t mind getting a few scratches on, it is almost designed to be abused.
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It is a great bike for those new to riding off-road, where it is almost inevitable that the bike will go down at some point. It has the added benefit of being comparatively light, so it won’t take as much effort to get it right back up again compared to some modern Adventure bikes.
5 Approachable Adventure Bike
It is important to note the fact that it isn’t actually light, it is just "light" when you compare the thing to other 500 pound adventure bikes, but pretty much everything is made of steel and has a wet weight of close to 420 pounds.
What it has on its side is a low, approachable seat height of under 32 inches, which is great for Adventure bike riders that are shorter or less experienced.
4 Improved Reliability
The first model year of any car or bike is usually renowned for having a few kinks to work out, unfortunately the first model year Himalayans were just one very big rolling kink. They were forced to change from carburetion to fuel injection anyway, so they took that as an opportunity to rectify their many egregious errors.
The first bikes were known as BS3 models, and we wouldn’t recommend them to our worst enemy, but the new bikes are all BS4 models, and so far they have proven to be solid and, for the most part, mechanically sound.
3 Simple Engines
One of the best parts of owning a Himalayan is running a Himalayan, they are both easy to maintain for those who enjoy doing their own maintenance and very cheap to fix.
Air cooled singles are by nature simple and that is precisely what you get here, and thanks to the addition of fuel injection they are pretty efficient too.
2 Affordable
Service intervals are a little short by modern standards at 6000 miles and 3000 for valve clearances, but these are not modern machines, so you have to embrace that part of it.
It will still be cheaper to maintain than any used bike, and we can say with some authority that you won’t get a more affordable new bike unless you are willing to settle for something out of China.
1 Better Than Ever
It is far from perfect, but very few motorcycles are. If you are willing to deal with the odd quirk and riding at the speed limit all the time, this is a fantastic option.
They have added a few updates to sweeten the deal this year, including a proprietary navigation system called Tripper. Much like the bike it is bare bones but will save you from mounting a phone to the bar, which is great considering how much it vibrates.