The Royal Enfield Himalayan has many fans around the world, and with good reason. It’s a capable, characterful, and very reasonably priced middleweight adventure tourer. What’s not to love? Well, there is one thing that many riders say about it after riding it for a while. The thing is, while a lot of people love that bike, a lot of people also wish it had just a little more power. A tiny bit, mind. Not too much.
While the motorcycle world does love a good rumor, that’s clearly why everyone (ourselves certainly included) has been so excited about the possibility of an upcoming Royal Enfield Himalayan 450. Now, to be completely clear, as of April 19, 2022, Enfield itself hasn’t made any official announcements about this bike. Therefore, everything we say here is speculation and/or observations gleaned from spy photos and video that have trickled out over the past few months, and should be taken with several grains of salt.
Here in mid-April, 2022, the most recent video comes from Instagram user Akshai, who posted a quick flyby video and some screenshots in his Stories. For those unfamiliar with Instagram, Stories disappear after 24 hours, and aren’t embeddable the way that regular Posts are. We captured some screenshots, though.
Gallery: Royal Enfield Himalayan 450 Spied
In Akshai’s video, the suspected Royal Enfield Himalayan 450 comes up quite quickly on the vehicle’s right-hand side, zooming past in the right lane and passing the vehicle from which Akshai was taking the video. It’s clear that the rider was in a hurry to get somewhere, and didn’t want to waste any time just cruising along in a relaxed way. Were they on their way to adventure? Perhaps.
In any case, the bike isn’t really camouflaged, and we can see a few more important details about it that set it apart from the 411cc Himalayan we already know and love. First and foremost: There’s an upside-down front fork on this bike! Also, the windscreen appears to be a little bit smaller than the one found on the existing Himalayan. We also see a big, round pod with a metallic bezel around it (hard to say if it’s chrome) providing a main focal point on the dash.
While none of it is official, the earlier rumor that the new Himalayan 450 is expected to make about 40 horsepower and 30 pound-feet of torque also has fans hopeful. Although there are no details on that USD fork, nor any other suspension modifications or upgrades, the mere possibility of an upgraded suspension will surely be music to fans’ ears.
As always, though, nothing’s real until it’s real, and we’ll just have to wait and see how all of this shakes out in the future. The rumors suggest that this could be a 2023 model, but until and unless we hear otherwise, they will remain very pleasant rumors.
