[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by FueledbyFury

Does the Google maps in TFT display works with pocket mode in android phones? Did anyone go down that path?

So basically the RE app itself provides a faux screen lock. Its not the android lock screen, but from the app itself. I guess it was done to avoid accidental touch in the pocket.

This is how the screen looks when navigation is being cast -

[Ridesbysky]

It seems the Royal enfield app has been updated or it could just be for my order, that I can see the option for tracking now under Profile->Motorcycle Booking in the app. Although it just shows the tentative date as of now for me and that too is different than what customer care had provided in email(4th week of March).

[Shur'tugal]

I have what might be a stupid question.
Why do you strongly recommend taking the maximum possible warranty offered?

Also, how would you rate the rideability in the city, vs the much lighter KTM 390 ADV?

[tech_rider]

Originally Posted by 2000rpm

Can the following be removed to reduce weight?
- Metal structure around the tank
- Main Stand
- Luggage rack at the back
- Saree Guard

How much would each of these weigh??

Anything else which can be removed easily without affecting the city usage of the bike?

It was discussed in the old discussion thread. Please check this (2023 Royal Enfield Himalayan 450 | Now officially revealed)

[tech_rider]

Originally Posted by Shur'tugal

I have what might be a stupid question.
Why do you strongly recommend taking the maximum possible warranty offered?

New engine is completely new technology from RE. It is better safe with extended warranty rather than to face troubles later.

[Sebring]

This is one cracker of a review . Mirrors my observations. I'm curious about the RE original foglights, as Honda just launched a pair for the CB 350 and they're good. For the bash plate I have ordered the rally one with integrated crash guard, at around 8000+. This time Royal Enfield is totally 'geared up' for a good fight in the burgeoning ADV segment!

[KarthikK]

Thanks to CrAzY_dRiVeR for this wonderful, crisp and concise review of the Himalayan!

I had the opportunity to do an extended test ride of the all-new Himalayan on a longish highway ride + some mild offroad trails thrown in. I'll compare my views vis-a-vis my experience with the old BS6 Himalayan 411 which I had owned and enjoyed for ~15000 km of touring until 2022.





Most points have already been covered by this review and so many other members who have been kind enough to share their test ride experiences and ownership experiences over the past many months of this bike making noise in the Indian automotive scene. Kudos to RE for this brilliant product and for taking care of almost all the feedback enthusiasts had about the old Himalayan.

Some personal opinions and observations of mine in general (some of them will be comparing with the Himalayan 411 experience) in no particular order below.

Things I liked:

+ The dynamics have improved a lot compared to the H411, the longer wheelbase makes its presence felt. The suspension setup is well sorted for low speed and high speed balance. The ride quality is very taut at high speeds yet is sufficiently cushy on low speed bumps and undulations, and the suspension pretty much absorbs most of the obstacles without much fuss. The old H411 had a softer setup on the rear and felt squishy at higher speeds and hard cornering, but at lower speed undulations I felt the old H411 suspension was more cushioned. I would still give the new Himalayan's suspension the upper hand for the overall balance it strikes since this bike will mostly be used across a multitude of speeds and terrains.

+ The brilliant VFM package that RE has put together at such an aggressive price. The availability of the tubeless spoke wheels and touring accessories in future just cements the proposition for any adv buyer in this segment. I doubt any other rival in this segment can come close to this level of value proposition. RE basically improved every aspect / weakness of the old Himalayan they could, when they conceptualized and built this new Himalayan from the ground up. One just cannot go wrong with this package in my opinion!

+ The engine is obviously the biggest and most noticeable strength of this new gen Himalayan. The bike pulls cleanly in every gear, picking up speed is masked brilliantly and before one even realizes, the bike is already doing some pretty spirited numbers. This one definitely can do expressway mile-munching all day long (which was the primary handicap of the outgoing H411). The addition of that 6th cog also changes the game totally.

+ Brakes are A++ on the new Himalayan, both front and rear. The front brakes on the old H411 were very weak in bite, the 21" wheels and long travel suspension further reduced any feedback. The new Himalayan's front brakes are brilliant on both bite and feedback. The rear brakes on the old H411 had a very wooden feel and felt more like a footrest. This has been fixed a bit too much on the new Himalayan, the rear brake is so sharp that one can almost bring the bike to standstill from highway speeds by just using the rear brakes (not advocating this practice by any means, just saying for fun)

+ Instrumentation now is segment best and has tons of information and customization options as many others have pointed out. I don't need to go into the specifics (not that I had the time to try those out either). The biggest advantage especially while touring is the google maps screen mirroring which will avoid a phone being on the mount. The riding modes and look-and-feel customization modes are neatly done.

+ Seat thickness and firmness were just perfect, unlike the old H411 whose stock seat would compress around 20-30 mins into the ride, and leave the rider feeling the frame under the soft seat. I am sure RE might bring in OE accessory touring seats for this Himalayan too, but the stock seats are good in this aspect. My only grouse on the new Himalayan's seats are that the rider's seat is a bit too long and wide, flat and not contoured enough and I felt myself sliding a bit before I could find the perfect position to sit for a long and boring stretch of expressway. This is however just a nitpicking comment and nothing major.

The old Himalayan 411's contoured rider seat is missed on the new Himalayan which sports flatter shaped seats



+ The bike is very easy to enjoy and take-to offroad and off the beaten path when exploring the outdoors. Stock tyres are decent offroad and on-road, the footpegs have sufficient real estate, the 21" wheels coupled with the long travel suspension handle the job of soaking in all the obstacles with ease. The engine's low end grunt although not as good as the old H411 at pottering speeds, manages to be tractable offroad without stalling. Offroad ability was anyway expected to be a major strength for the Himalayan, so nothing surprising here. On the off-road experience, I have a few nitpicks as a tall rider but that is mostly from an ergonomics perspective.

The new Himalayan loves going to places without roads, like its predecessor




Things I didn't like:

- While the engine does its job brilliantly in terms of handling all the acceleration demands thrown at it, the tune is very linear and there is no hurried or pushed-back feeling on wide-open-throttle. This is not to say that progress is not happening, in fact it was effortlessly keeping up with my twin cylinder CB500X which probably puts out some 10-12% more horsepower with an extra cylinder. That says a lot about what a nice job RE has done with the new Himalayan. Just that the power delivery is linear and there is no thrilled-outburst of power kicking in at any part of the rev range.

- Rider Ergonomics with the seat height set to 845mm were a bit mixed for my height (I am 6'1" tall). It felt more like a naked hooligan for me at that seat height, than an adv. The old Himalayan had a lower seat height, plus more of the "sitting inside the bike" feeling, while I tend to sit "on the bike" with the new Himalayan. The pegs and levers felt adequate and I don't have anything to complain on those. The stock visor is woefully short and low, and does absolutely nothing to shield tall riders from wind-blast and buffeting at highway speeds. I guess RE will be coming out with some extended windscreens in their accessories portfolio, ditto with aftermarket players.

Me (with a 6'1" height) on my old H411



With the H452 the front of the bike feels like a Scram 452 than a Himalayan, lol!



- Pillion Ergonomics are a mixed bag again. My better half and I had a look at the ergonomics during a casual visit to the RE company store which I happen to stay very close to. She has been a part of almost all of the 15,000km of touring I did on the old Himalayan 411, and her feedback on the old H411 was mostly positive. Her feedback (she is 5'5" in height) vis-a-vis the old H411 was that the new Himalayan's pillion seats are wider and roomier but the angle of the pillion footpegs to the seat compromises a bit of the leg room and raises the angle of the seated leg position. In other words, the new Himalayan's pillion leg ergonomics are a bit leaning towards a squat-like angle more than the no-nonsense upright position of the old H411. This might possibly trouble pillion comfort on long rides. Again, this depends on pillion height, taller pillions will face more of this issue and shorter pillions may not even notice the issue.

Old Himalayan's seat setup



New Himalayan's seat setup - larger seats with more area but devoid of the previous gen seat shape support



- This bike is not free of vibrations by any means. Vibrations were noticeable almost at any speed above 90-100 kmph. When continuously accelerating the vibrations weren't noticeable much (engine does not feel strained even when whacking open the throttle). But the moment I wanted to sit at any particular speed (say 100 or 110) to cruise for some time, vibrations were felt on the footpegs, handlebar and even my bottom was feeling vibrations from under the rider seat and pillion seat edge. Mirrors had a vibration at speeds above 110+, introducing an annoying blur and hampering visibility of what was behind.

- Offroad ergonomics are a step-down from the previous gen H411 for my 185cm height. The handlebar felt way too low for my height to have a confident reach, the pegs felt a bit highly placed (possibly with the ground clearance improvement) and quick direction changes with lower body while saddling had me being a bit more careful before I got used to the bike offroad.

The old Himalayan I felt was a bit easier to manage for tall riders offroad





While the new one loses a bit on this front due to the relatively lower handlebar, high footpegs and tapered tank shape.



Some more nitty-gritties and nitpicks which may or may not matter as pros or cons but I thought it might be worth mentioning anyway:

• The engine does not have the instant low-end torque and pull of the old H411. It feels almost KTM-like in the lower end of the rev band, but once it crosses 4k rpm, progress is swift and the engine is happiest delivering smiles when it is kept in the mid range. It however does not stall like KTM 390s even when lugging in the lower-spectrum of the rev range.

• The jerrycan-brackets were intrusive on tall riders' legs on the older H411 when seated. That problem is now totally solved with the new Himalayan's design.

• The side stand lever reach could have been better. I found myself hunting for the lever to pivot the stand down everytime I stopped.

• The stock mirrors are circular, too tiny, mounted at an awkward position and next to useless for any proper touring visibility, I tried adjusting the mirrors a lot, to try and grab a good view of the scenes behind me but to no avail. Hope RE brings in some OE touring mirrors with better visibility, if not there are always aftermarket options which can solve this issue.

• Downshifts seemed noticeably hard and vague (referring to the shifter lever) for some reason. Not sure if anyone else faced this on other bikes or whether just this particular test ride bike had this issue. Upshifts seemed fine though.

• The fuel indicator seemed to drop a bit rapidly towards the last 30-40% as we started to empty out the tank gradually on a long ride, presumably due to the tank shape.

• As others have mentioned on this review and in general, the new iteration of the Himalayan is a tad bit more top-heavy and the weight is noticeable at parking speeds or when crawling. Not a deal-breaker though.

• Heat management is quite good and I did not perceive much heat even at low speeds or when stopped. I have not ridden it in city, so cannot comment on how good/bad heat is when using in stop-go traffic for a noticeable duration.

• Not a fan of the integrated taillights and indicators design due to the confusing setup of everything inside those tiny housings which also tend to vibrate at highway speeds. Just a personal preference though, so not really a con if one likes this kind of design.

• The stock LED headlights are pathetic and totally useless. Aux lights are a must on this bike for any sort of touring in low daylight conditions.

[rishi.roger]

Originally Posted by Ridesbysky

It seems the Royal enfield app has been updated or it could just be for my order, that I can see the option for tracking now under Profile->Motorcycle Booking in the app. Although it just shows the tentative date as of now for me and that too is different than what customer care had provided in email(4th week of March).

I was having issues as well earlier and have reported this issue to RE over customer care several dozen times since I purchased because I'm very envious of people posting ownership Experiences.
This has changed for me today as well and now I can track my order. I don't know if it was me pestering them or what

Booking date: 10th Nov,
Delhi, Hanle Black variant.
It shows tentative date as February but I'm hoping it arrives in Jan.

[MagicalWizard]

Originally Posted by Ridesbysky

It seems the Royal enfield app has been updated or it could just be for my order, that I can see the option for tracking now under Profile->Motorcycle Booking in the app. Although it just shows the tentative date as of now for me and that too is different than what customer care had provided in email(4th week of March).

It is showing me some update but not sure, as royal enfield customer care told me last week of January as tentative delivery date while dealer told me he cannot see or have any tentative delivery date.

[Cyborg]

Super review Crazy Driver and Karthik, thank you.

What’s the company recommended tyre pressure front and rear?

Cheers

[CodeEvo]

Originally Posted by Cyborg

What’s the company recommended tyre pressure front and rear?

Cheers

it's 32 PSI both front and rear

[Ketan]

Thank you crazy_driver and Karthikk for the great details on this wonderful review. This gives confirmation in certain areas that we have been hearing from others / influencers / v-loggers etc but were not so sure if that's unbiased opinion or not; also helps getting clarity and myth busting on certain aspects that were masked by the sheer praising by this same set of folks.
This surely would help those on the fence.

[tech_rider]

Thanks a lot for detailed review crazy_driver and Karthikk. I was eagerly waiting for this (along with other ownership reviews ofcourse). So far, from various reviews from this forum, I understand the bike has mainly 3 issues

1) Very low initial pickup (low end torque)
2) Vibrations all around (every reviews reporting this at various rpms/speed)
3) headlight and mirrors are not very useful.

Coming from long term Honda bike and car rider, engine vibration part is what worries me. Though I am aware that I cannot expect refinement of entry level Honda engine(150cc), on mid range engines, how much would be my tolerance on thee engine vibrations are yet to measure. I keep asking for longer experiential test drive from the dealer, which is still pending from their end.

My bike is giving me lots of vibrations now a days because of its age(13 years) and degradation on various parts. I am not able to smoothly ride above 60kmph and more than 15km rides are tiresome now a days. Engine refinement is still good though. Acceleration till 60 is still enjoyable.

I feel, I need an upgrade but test ride was not conclusive. Many of experts here and YouTube have a very good opinion on Himalayan 450. I really hope engine vibration or buzziness part would be not bothering for me. My bike headlight also very weak and I believe anything new would be better than that, also I know these are easily extendable with aux if cannot manage.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Some Miscellaneous images:


First TD vehicle that I had to get washed before the shoot - thanks to white matte finish! Royal Enfield handed over a washed vehicle, but the colour looked more yellowish than real. Took another wash outside to get the actual colour from the bike.



Another one from the shoot, with the CB500X that accompanied me:



With my Tiger Sport 660. The Himalayan is longer, wider and has a larger wheelbase than the 660. Tiger Sport is taller, but only due to the larger windscreen.



With KarthikK's CB500X:



I had the most fun with this bike while exploring roads like these:



And getting lost ... Was not much fun after though - because the headlamps were not at all good for unfamiliar roads



The key for opening up the seat is not located in the side covers, as usual with Royal Enfield motorcycles



Headlamp and console has adjustability built-in, may be for markets outside not needed numberplates - as someone had pointed out in the old thread.



The stock saree guard:



Tool kit is packed under the pillion seat:



Good to see the stock battery being Amaron. The "bay" looks neat:



The plastic sump guard that comes with the bike. Most people would anyways be swapping this with aftermarket metal ones:



Radiator cap hidden behind the tank shroud.



The brake lines have been nicely pulled from the left to right with this arrangement. Good attention to detail:

[bhansali_hardik]

Anyone taking delivery around now in Bangalore. Please let us know the pricing which the dealer is pushing for and the cost break up as well.

The whole pre booking prices will prevail but we’re not sure fiasco is still spiralling. Either the dealer wants to go rouge at the first chance given or he’s genuinely clueless remains to be seen. Lack of transparency from my dealer is questionable now.

However, when my turn comes I should be able to switch colors without additional wait is what is being promised. I’m leaning towards kamet white but if stickers are already catching dust not sure how it’ll age over few years.