Royal Enfield Himalayan 450 Road Test Review

Does the new Himalayan deliver on its expectations of being a do-it-all motorcycle?

So, the Himalayan 450 has replaced the popular Himalayan 411 in Royal Enfield’s lineup and with it comes a whole lot of expectations. The Himalayan 450 is Royal Enfield’s attempt at making a modern ADV with its first liquid-cooled motor that promises exciting performance that the older Himalayan lacked. So, does it live up to those expectations?

Design

The Himalayan 450 has quite a road presence with its long wheelbase, 21-inch front wheel and the large sculpted tank. Its muscular looks and clean design lines make it stand out among other bikes. At first glance, you’ll be amazed at how big it looks in person. The beak-like front fender, the round LED headlight and the sleek rear end tie up the overall design really well.

And it has the colour schemes to compliment its looks perfectly. The Kamet White colour option looks perfect on the bike but the Hanle Black paint job with those gold wheels simply makes the ADV look drop-dead gorgeous. 

Engine, Performance & Mileage

The Himalayan 450’s all-new 452cc, single-cylinder, liquid-cooled ‘Sherpa’ engine with a power and torque output of 40PS and 40Nm respectively is a punchy and powerful motor. It offers very quick acceleration and in our tests, it managed to accelerate from 0 to 100kmph in just 6.91 seconds, which is only 1 second slower than the new KTM 390 Duke! And it is quite frugal too as the Himalayan 450 delivered a mileage of 29.54kmpl in the city and 31.87kmpl on the highway during our tests. 

If you are cruising on the highway with the motor running at 5,000rpm, the engine always has enough performance available to overtake other vehicles, without needing to shift down a gear. Just feather the clutch a bit and you are good to go. Talking about the clutch, the slipper clutch offers a very light clutch action at all times and the gearbox shifts smoothly as well. 

Now, even though the Himalayan is very quick, it doesn’t have much torque at low rpm. Below 2,500rpm, not much torque is available, meaning you’ll have to keep the engine rpm a little high even in 1st or 2nd gear to move around in the city. This is quite different from the tractable nature of Royal Enfield bikes we’ve always loved, where you can easily ride them at slow speeds in higher gears. But then this is also the first high-performance liquid-cooled motor from the manufacturer, so things were always going to feel a bit different. If you don’t compare it to how other Royal Enfields feel and get down to understanding the motor, then it isn’t a big problem after all.

Another thing to note about the motor are the vibrations; there are loads of them, even if you are riding at speeds of 20-30kmph in the city. If you’re riding at 100kmph in 6th gear, the motor will be at 5000rpm and at this point the vibrations are not too bothersome. But if you start to push the motor even a little, vibrations on the handlebar, footpegs and the point where the seat meets the tank can become prominent and annoying.   

Ride & Handling

The ADV has quite nimble handling characteristics. In the city, you don’t have to be very mindful of the bike’s long wheelbase and can easily move through traffic due to its well-balanced chassis. The bike moves through corners very gracefully on the highway and on the mountain twisties. Despite the 196kg kerb weight, it leans into corners very easily and the tyres offer really good grip to give you the confidence to maintain your line in those corners.

The brakes offer really good bite and stopping power. But the front suspension tends to compress a lot when you apply the brakes hard. This can be particularly difficult to deal with while taking U-turns because if you suddenly grab the front brake, and the front suspension rapidly dives, it’s easy to lose balance. And since the bike is very top-heavy, if you tip the bike over sufficiently, there’s very little you can do to keep it from falling.

Comfort

One of the highlights of the ADV is the suspension setup and the comfort it offers. It soaks up bumps and potholes excellently without letting you feel any discomfort. On the highway, whether it’s bad roads or some smooth tarmac, the suspension keeps the Himalayan 450 stable at all times. Combined with the comfortable, upright riding position with the wide handlebars and mid-set footpegs, the ADV is especially loveable when you are sitting on the saddle for long periods on a road trip.

To find the maximum comfort level, you have to be mindful of the seat height. The Himalayan 450 has a seat height of 825mm as standard, which can be bumped up to 845mm via a simple mechanism under the seat. Now, I’m 5 feet 10 inches tall and on the heavier side, so, with the 845mm seat height, my feet were just about reaching the ground. It did provide a commanding view of the road while riding, but during slow moving traffic and while parking the bike, it was a bit of a problem. So, the 825mm seat height worked perfectly for me. 

Features

The Himalayan 450 comes loaded with features such as a TFT instrument console with Bluetooth connectivity for call and SMS alerts, music control, full-fledged Google Maps navigation and much more. The Google Maps navigation feature on the instrument console works flawlessly and is very well integrated into the round console while displaying other essential information like speedometer, tachometer, odometer and other readouts. This is especially useful when going out on road trips.

But there is a caveat to this as the navigation controls are controlled through the Royal Enfield app on your phone. This means the app and the phone’s screen will have to be on every time you are using navigation. This will drain out the phone’s battery very quickly (that said, you do get a USB C-type charging port under the handlebar). Also, whenever you lock the phone screen or exit the Royal Enfield app, the map navigation stops and switches you to turn-by-turn mode, which is quite annoying to be honest. 

Verdict

So, has Royal Enfield managed to make the Himalayan 450 into an ADV perfectly suited for the modern world? Yes, it has. The bike has exciting performance, excellent handling dynamics, superb ride quality and a list of features you’d expect from a 450cc ADV these days. Yes, the engine has a lot of vibrations and the navigation feature needs some time to get used to. But, overall, the bike delivers on its requirement of being able to do city commutes, while being the perfect partner for touring and having the ability to go anywhere without breaking a sweat.