Finally, this is your all-new 2023 Royal Enfield Himalayan. After thousands of spyshots, the brand has taken to social media to reveal the bike completely ahead of the global debut later this month. Time will tell, if their launch campaign this time around goes without any problems, unlike the last model which showed some parts falling off. Nevertheless, the Royal Enfield Himalayan story is trying to get better with this iteration, and also, more modern.
For 2023, the Royal Enfield Himalayan is an all-new motorcycle. So feature changes are plenty. You can see that the motorcycle comes with a new full LED headlamp, LED turn indicators, LED tail lamp, USD front forks, rear monoshock, engine bash plate, short exhaust end can, split seat setup, pillion grab rail, new design tank protector, reshaped fuel tank, high mount front mud guard, spoked wheels, small front fly screen, front and rear disc brakes, round shaped ORVMs, etc.
The biggest change however would be the heart of the motorcycle. This all-new Himalayan motorcycle has a lot to prove. The motorcycle will come with the brands first ever in history, a liquid-cooled engine. How reliable would this be in the early days, it would be interesting to note. But with this new motor, the Himalayan could only deliver better performance than before. But would it be as good as the KTM 390 Adventure, as fast, we’ll have to ride and find out. Typical of Royal Enfield’s though, expect plenty of torque lower down in the revv range for easy city commuting.
What could disappoint long distance tourers is the spoked wheel setup, which would be prone to punctures. And nobody want’s to waste time anymore fixing a flat tyre in the name of riding a motorcycle the old school way.
KTM has set all-time benchmarks with the 390 Adventure in the segment. How much Royal Enfield wants to close the gap remains to be seen. The brand takes pride in pushing the ride pure philosophy, which basically means lack of electronics features, but for the price, customers now demand and need modern products. Expect basics like dual channel ABS and switchable ABS for sure. But let’s hope there’s more in store.
Royal Enfield’s customisation platform will allow customers to kit up their new Himalayan as per their taste. These teaser images reveal hard saddle bags and even a top box. Expect plenty more stuff such as a bigger screen may be, or different styles of crash protectors and more. Hopefully, there’s an option of alloy wheels for the Himalayan.
