Royal Enfield will soon unveil their first-ever liquid-cooled motorcycle with the 2024 Himalayan 450, and things are looking very promising!
Motorcycle enthusiasts seem to either love or hate the Himalayan. Fans won't stop talking about its excellent value for money, its practicality, and the availability of aftermarket parts. The other side of the argument tends to focus on the little bike's lack of power, and with only 24 hp and 23.6 lb-ft of torque, that's a valid point. Luckily, Royal Enfield is now addressing this issue. While we're not getting a Himalayan powered by the 650cc parallel twin just yet, they have given it a small bump in displacement — the updated Himalayan will have a 450cc engine.
We have updated this article with more exciting new information on the highly-anticipated 2024 Himalayan 450. We give you more details on the performance, color options, dimensions, and cool features to look forward to on the Himalayan 411's glamorous evolution.
The Himalayan 450 may just be one of the most exciting products we've seen from Royal Enfield lately, and that should translate to volumes, considering the company has completely reinvented itself in the last few years. It combines accessibility, usable performance, rugged looks, and enough features to make it a great everyday bike. We recently saw just how capable the new Royal Enfield Himalayan 450 can be, thanks to Indian Dakar racing legend CS Santosh. Now, RE has been teasing us with a YouTube Shorts Series called The Final Test. This takes us along the 'final test' of the new Himalayan 450, a 3417-mile endurance test from the South of India to the tip of the Himalayas.
All confirmed information on the 2024 Himalayan 450 has been derived from official teasers from Royal Enfield and Itchy Boots YouTube Channel.
The new Royal Enfield Himalayan 450 is a brand-new bike, but it will still retain some styling cues from the original. We've already mentioned that the Himalayan 450 gets a new engine. In addition, it receives a new trellis frame. We not only expect the new frame to reduce the bike's weight considerably, but it could also improve its handling characteristics.
Some of the other notable changes on the new Himalayan 450 adventure bike include a larger fuel tank, new body panels, an LED headlight, a new fully digital instrument cluster, a USD fork, a new front disc brake, a different switch gear, and a sump guard. The feature in this lot that has our unwavering attention is the cool circular TFT instrument cluster. Thanks to YouTuber Itchy Boots, we saw first-hand how the TFT looks and functions. The top half of the circular instrument cluster turns into a cute turn-by-turn map display when needed. This is a cool and much-needed feature for an adventure motorcycle like the Himalayan.
While those are some much-welcomed improvements, the Himalayan 450's design language is clearly inspired by the previous model. It is a smart move by Royal Enfield, as too many changes could potentially upset its established fan base. In addition, as per our sister website—Topspeed.com, the spoke wheels on the 450 are seemingly identical to those found on the current model. They're both running a 21-inch front- and 17-inch rear wheel setup. Whether it'll be the same wheels on the finished version remains to be seen, but we know that Royal Enfield has a set of spoke wheels that can run tubeless tires, so that could be another option. Also, there will be a host of new shades offered on the 2024 Himalayan 450. We could make out some of the new ones from the official teasers and leaked images. There certainly isn't a shortage of reasons why we'd want to buy the entry-level adventure bike.
This is the big news, which makes most RE fans tingle with excitement. While a 40cc increase in displacement may not seem like a big deal, there's a lot more to it than that. Royal Enfield is now bringing the Himalayan up to speed. The current Himalayan 410 runs an oil-cooled unit, which, as we've already established, is rather underpowered. The new 450 model, on the other hand, will be the first Royal Enfield motorcycle to receive a liquid-cooled engine.
There are rumors that the new 450cc single-cylinder engine may potentially get 4V technology, but nothing has been confirmed. What we do know is that the new liquid-cooled mill will improve performance and comfort, as well as reduce noise levels. Speaking of performance, as per our sister website, Topspeed, the Himalayan 450 is estimated to produce over 40 hp and 30 lb-ft of torque, a vast improvement on the current oil-cooled model. If those numbers are correct, the Himalayan 450 will be a much better adventure bike option than its predecessor and on par with the KTM 390 Adventure.
Manufacturer
Royal Enfield
Production Years
From 2023
Displacement
452cc
Configuration
Single-cylinder, liquid-cooled
Transmission / Drive
6-speed, chain drive
Front Suspension
USD fork
Rear Suspension
Monoshock; Seven-Step Preload Adjustable (as per Itchy Boots Via YouTube)
Power
40 hp
Torque
29.5 lb-ft
Royal Enfield has always offered some of the most affordable bikes on the market, and that's not likely to change with the new Himalayan 450. The current Himalayan model retails at $5,449 in the United States, undercutting its three main rivals — the KTM 390 Adventure, Kawasaki Versys X 300, and the BMW G310GS, which have MSRPs of $7,399, $5,899, and $5,695, respectively.
While the new Himalayan 450 sees a lot of upgrades, we still expect it to be cheaper than its toughest opponent, the KTM 390. At this point, Royal Enfield's adventure bike will be too far ahead of the Versys and Bimmer, so we wouldn't be surprised if it's more expensive than those. With the KTM retailing for $7,399, we're probably not too far off the mark if we predict the Himalayan to hit the market around the $6,000-6,500 mark, placing it in the same price bracket as the Continental GT 650.
CS Santosh, one of India's top off-road and enduro motorcycle riders, recently posted a video riding the new Himalayan 450. This is the same guy who rode the original Himalayan in the infamous promo video where the foot peg broke off.
Royal Enfield did catch some flack upon the release of the current Himalayan. First, in the bike's promo video, the footpeg fell off during a short off-road stint. Then, the first production bikes that hit the market in the brand's home country, India, suffered quality issues. While Royal Enfield did sort out those problems, it did taint their name in the Western markets.
Since then, they've proven that they are certainly capable of making reliable motorcycles, but rather unfairly, it seems a lot of people still perceive the brand's quality as sub-par. With the Royal Enfield Himalayan 450 being a brand-new bike, there may potentially be some issues, but this is the case for virtually any motorcycle manufacturer when they release a new product. Royal Enfield has come a long way in recent years, and we know they want to cement a reputation of making quality bikes, so it's fairly certain that the Himalayan 450 will be their best effort yet.
Reference: Topspeed
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Andre has built magazine-featured cars and gone on several ridiculous road trips in highly unsuitable vehicles, so what could possibly be a more fitting career move than automotive writing?!
With a special interest in modified cars and motorcycles, he started out as a freelance writer for various sites and local papers, and is now an editor and content manager here at HotCars.
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