RE Motorcycles Sdn Bhd, the official importer of Royal Enfield motorcycles, has launched its newest model, the Himalayan.
Designed from the ground up as an adventure touring motorcycle, the Himalayan is touted as an extremely capable off-road bike with excellent on-road manners.
“The Himalayan is the culmination of Royal Enfield’s 60 years of enduring history in its spiritual home - the Himalayas. With its purpose-built, ground-up design, the Himalayan is a simple and capable go-anywhere motorcycle that will redefine adventure touring in Malaysia,” said RE Motorcycles general manager Muhammad Syahrul.
The Himalayan is quite simply tagged as a “Built for All Roads. Built for No Roads” motorcycle.
At a glance, the Himalayan is almost Jeep-like in its utilitarian outlook, with simple and robust shapes defining its outline.
Sturdy brackets for luggage mounting points or jerrycans are integral in its design. The powerplant of the Himalayan is an all-new design, a four-stroke, air-cooled overhead cam single displacing 411cc with 24.5hp at 6,500rpm and 32Nm at 4,000rpm.
The long-stroke design delivers high-torque values at lower rpms, thus making the Himalayan smooth at slow speeds in high gear. This also promotes fuel saving, thus the 15-litre fuel tank can carry the Himalayan up to 450km.
The chassis, designed by Harris Performance, is a sturdy steel duplex split cradle with off-road ready wheels in 21 and 17-inch sizes shod with dual-purpose tyres.
Long-travel suspension -conventional forks up front and a monoshock rear - and a generous 220mm of ground clearance - assist the rider in fording rivers or mounting city curbs.
Despite this ground clearance, the Himalayan is blessed with a low seat height of only 800mm. The 300mm front disc and 240mm rear disc brakes are equipped with anti-lock braking system as standard.
A stand-out feature of the Himalayan is its extended service intervals - 10,000km between oil changes.
The short test ride for the media included an obstacle course laid out with pallets. First impressions are that the Himalayan has a fairly smooth pickup and easy-going power delivery quite, unlike the Bullet.
The flat torque curve of the engine extends further up the rpm scale as well, although at high revs vibration will start to intrude. The suspension is set up quite softly and the low seat height is a definite plus.
The riding position is excellent, whether sitting down or standing. The rather busy instrument console is comprehensive, even providing a compass. The three layers of pallets were easily dealt with and the suspension was adequately controlled even going over them at a higher speed.
The Himalayan is available in two signature colours - Granite and Snow - and retails for RM36,880 without the Goods and Services Tax. A range of accessories are available, from hard luggage to jerrycans, all available at RE Motorcycles in Section 15, Shah Alam.
More details will be shared as and when we are able to get a test unit.