Adventure bikes are all the rage in motorcycling right now. They are also large, heavy, complicated, and expensive for the most part, which puts them out of the reach of many riders. Because of that, there is a movement towards cheaper and simpler adventure bikes. Royal Enfield has capitalized on that momentum with the Himalayan, which may well be the cheapest and simplest option out there. But does simple and cheap make it a bad bike? Did Royal Enfield skim on the features and build quality? Or is that perception just plain wrong? The answers, as usual, are complicated. The Himalayan does a lot of things very well, but maybe misses just a few steps along the way.
Updated March 2023: Every new motorcycle has growing pains, and the Himalayan is no different. Royal Enfield has heard many of the criticisms from its riders and have endeavored to fix as many of them as it can. But in the meantime, we're keeping track of all the latest pros and cons of this popular and successful budget adventure bike.
10 The Retro Vibe Is Appealing
The retro movement is in full swing. People are buying retro-styled bikes in ever greater numbers. But the retro style is yet to fully translate to adventure bikes. There are a few models out there that aim for that aesthetic. Moto Guzzi V85TT comes to mind, as well as Triumph's tried and true Scrambler line. Royal Enfield has seemingly embraced the vintage mentality throughout their entire lineup. Because the Himalayan is not retro-styled to be cool. That’s just how Royal Enfield builds their bikes! They all have an old-school charm, which has a massive appeal, judging by their sales numbers.
9 Impressive Off-Road Performance
Its specification might be on the thin side, but the Himalayan has the ability where it matters. The engine may struggle on the highway, but off-road, the 24 pound-feet of torque and simple engineering will plow you across just about any obstacle, within reason. You may not get there quickly, but you'll get there all the same. It also weighs less than its higher spec competitors, making the likelihood of dropping it far less daunting. And if you do happen to drop it, well its rugged finish, engine guards and low cost won't ding you too bad in the wallet.
8 A Simple Engine That's Easy To Maintain
When you’re in the middle of nowhere, you actually don’t want a hugely complex piece of engineering underneath you. You also don’t want something that is going to let you down every five miles. The Royal Enfield Himalayan’s engine is simple and rugged, and could be worked on by anyone with even a modicum of mechanical knowledge. Of course, you’d rather not break down anywhere, even in your garage, but it’s reassuring to know that, with a few simple tools, you could fix pretty much anything and cheaply.
7 It's Popular So Upgrades Are Coming
The Himalayan is certainly not perfect, but it is already immeasurably better than when it first appeared and this is extremely important. The longer it is on sale and the more flaws and issues are flagged, the longer Royal Enfield will keep fixing things and making it better. It has its quirks but, if you are open to accepting these, then it just makes the experience all the more interesting and, if you master those quirks, more rewarding. If you’re not in a hurry and a premium badge has no importance to you, then why would you not take a long look at the Himalayan?
6 Royal Enfield Priced It Just Right
The Royal Enfield Himalayan is inexpensive to buy - $5,449 versus something like the KTM 390 Adventure, which will run you $7,399. And, unlike the KTM, it is more affordable to maintain. Service intervals are 6,000 miles for oil and 3,000 for valve clearances but, given the simplicity, this is something you could do by the campfire halfway through your trip. It will sip at fuel and, should you bend something, all you have to do is bend it back into shape: that’s the beauty of building a bike out of steel tubing and not cast alloy.
5 It Offers Dull Performance
The 411cc, single-cylinder engine somehow manages to push out a meager 24.3 horsepower which isn’t going to blow away any cobwebs. You’ll hit a brick wall at approximately 70 mph, and you may never actually get to that speed if you were to encounter a hill. It doesn’t seem to matter what gear you are in or what speed you are doing, twisting the throttle only results in more noise and vibration and very little in the way of acceleration. The engine is also fussy which makes long-distance rides tiring. It’s not as if the gearbox encourages gear changes, either: clunky and filled with false neutrals, although the clutch pull is light.
4 The Headlight Is Useless
LED lights are the must-have item now and have made the old halogen lights look terribly dim. But that is exactly what the Himalayan is equipped with, so our advice would be to avoid traveling at night altogether. That is especially the case on the highway, where you need to be as visible as possible. There are options to upgrade to a full LED headlight, but considering the low-cost objective of the bike, you may instead want to simply replace the bulb with an LED one.
3 Wooden Brakes Offer No Bite
A single disc front and rear might not be unusual in this price category, but brakes on bikes such as the KTM 390 Adventure have decent stopping power and good feel at the lever. The single front 300mm disc and two-piston caliper on the Himalayan is simply not enough, with very little initial bite and nothing in the way of progressive feel. And let’s not even talk about the rear 240mm disc and single-piston caliper at the rear. It should be marked with a large red flag saying ‘for emergencies only’ and, even then, probably best forgotten about. Many owners have also complained about the poor performance of the master cylinder, which is an easy swap, but again negates the lower cost reason for buying the Himalayan. The only saving grace is having a dual, switchable ABS system.
2 The Equipment Is Basic
The Royal Enfield Himalayan is built down to a price and that means not very much in the way of equipment: no upside-down forks, tubeless tires, slipper/assist clutch, digital dash (don’t even think about TFT!), riding modes, ride-by-wire throttle, traction control, smartphone pairing, and so on. The latest models do have a very basic turn-by-turn navigation ‘screen’. Yet, with all of that basic simplicity, the cockpit somehow still looks too busy. Perhaps larger dual clocks would fix the issue. On the plus side, all of that analog tech means an easy fix, and you're good to go!
1 The Overall Quality Is Disappointing
All it took was a part flying off the Himalayan in the official Royal Enfield promo video, during its initial release, for the internet to immediately start questioning its quality. Not very high marks, at least for earlier Himalayan models, although it does have to be said that Royal Enfield has reacted quickly to recurrent problems in order to fix them. Overall build quality was very poor at first, so if you are buying used (2019, 2020, and 2021 models) then bear this in mind. Even with 2022 and 2023 models, the paint and overall finish of metal and plastic parts leave a lot to be desired. Rust is a problem and a check over of all nuts and bolts every week is recommended if you want to avoid losing parts regularly along the way. More worrying are cracks appearing in the frame in early models, although RE claims that these problems have been solved. But the cherry on the proverbial bad press cake is the brand new recall for brakes. That one is something an owner should definitely reach out to a local Royal Enfield dealership for.
The upside to all of this bad news, of course, is that the Himalayan is an adventure bike that you won’t mind throwing at the scenery. Yeah, the engine is dog slow, but it's cheap to maintain. It may vibrate you to death on the highway, but will give you maximum joy on local, dirt and gravel roads. And though the fit and finish is what's to be expected from such a budget machine, the overall looks are quite rugged and handsome. This is the kind of bike you'll proudly display all of your destination stickers on for years to come. And who knows, maybe the new Royal Enfield Scram 411 is really what the Himalayan needed to be from the beginning.