Words & Photography: Arvind Salhan
The Royal Enfield Himalayan came back to the car&bike long-term fleet with tubeless tyres and with Preetam’s hectic travel schedule, I finally got my hands on the it. After using it as my daily ride for some time I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to take it out to stretch its legs over a long-ish ride. Here’s how the Himalayan performance, in the city, on the daily ride, and out on the highway, with some off-road riding thrown in as well.
Also Read: Royal Enfield Himalayan Long Term Review - Part 1
The Sherpa 450 is high-revving and is fun! The torque though starts kicking in at over 3,000 rpm, and as long as you keep the engine spinning, it’s quite tractable and has the performance to impress. But low-end tractability is a bit of a letdown, and you need to downshift, once you go below 3,000 rpm. At the top end, there’s a slight delay in performance while accelerating from 7,000 to 8,000 rpm, but 4,000 to 6,500 rpm is where the engine is the most tractable and entertaining! The intake road of the engine is quite nice, and the Himalayan can effortlessly do triple-digit speeds all day long with plenty in reserve for overtakes on the highway.
Also Read: Royal Enfield Himalayan 450 First Ride Review
The tall riding posture on the Himalayan is miles apart from my personal KTM RC 390. The tall seat height offers confidence while filtering through traffic and offers a commanding view ahead, over cars and other traffic. This makes it easy to plan overtakes in traffic. The riding position is very nice, but the cushioning could be better, particularly for long rides. For around two hours on the highway, I could ride non-stop without any difficulty. But after that, you do feel like you need to take a break.
The Himalayan’s ride quality continues to be its strongest characteristic, with the suspension offering excellent performance over all kinds of surfaces. On the daily commute, all road imperfections, broken patches and big potholes are despatched with the suspension ironing out all kinds of bumps and broken tarmac. The suspension offers the best of both worlds. It’s stiff enough to offer stable handling during cornering, and gives good feedback from the surface. And when you leave the pavement behind, the long-travel suspension gives the confidence to go over all kinds of terrain.
Overall, the Himalayan returned combined fuel economy figures of 27 kmpl, which included some city usage, and mostly highway use. Within the city, fuel economy dropped to between 24 kmpl and 25 kmpl, depending on traffic conditions and how aggressive we were with the throttle.
The gearbox issues continue, particularly in traffic. Even though the clutch lever action is light, we encountered a few false neutrals in traffic while riding at low revs. There is some mechanical clatter from the engine which just refuses to go away. It’s not created any problems as such but takes away the sense of refinement one would expect from a modern engine like the Sherpa 450.
One area which needs serious improvement is the headlight. The throw from the LED headlight is poor and this becomes more pronounced on highways. The position of the headlight is fixed as well, which makes it difficult on a twisty mountain road. Overall, as a versatile adventure bike, the Royal Enfield Himalayan has a lot going for it, which makes it easy to recommend.
Overall Mileage: 2200+ km
Fuel Economy (Combined): 27 kmpl
Pros: Ergonomics, Riding Position, Ride Quality & Braking Performance
Cons: Valvetrain clatter, vibes between 4,500 to 5,500 rpm, rough gearbox, poor headlight
