2024-on Royal Enfield Himalayan 450 Review | An unintimidating real world adventure and travel bike

Like its predecessor the new Himalayan is built to last. Having been developed in the Himalayas where riding conditions are harsh, its been designed to handle crashes and deal with incredibly rough and unpredictable road and off-road terrain. A large proportion of the components are steel which is a major factor in its heavy weight, but this comes with the advantage of it being tough and easily bent back into shape in the event of a crash. It also comes well protected as standard with additional crash protection available.

Given that it now has a fully water cooled engine with ride-by-wire electronics only time will tell if it will be as reliable as the original air cooled model.

Watch: Royal Enfield Himalayan 450 long-term test

At the time of its release, the Himalayan 450 had little competition in the small adventure bike space. Its main competitor was the Honda CRF 300 Rally and L, along with the likes of  KTM 390 Adventure, Suzuki V-Strom 250, BMW G310GS and Kawasaki Versys 300. However, all these examples were more expensive when first released. Currently, there has been an influx in small adventure bikes, with the likes of Chinese competitors CFMoto releasing the 450 MT.

For 2024 MCN ran a Royal Enfield Himalayan 450 as part of our long term test fleet. It gave us ample opportunity to understand the bike, the cost of running it, and what adventures you can get up to with it.

RUNNING A HIMALAYAN 450 – OUR LONG TERM TEST

By Joseph Wright, MCN Videographer

• Related: Get the look! Check out MCN's list of best adventure jackets

Part 1: First impressions - "The Himi exceeded all expectations with its laid-back demeanour and charm"

Part 2: Off road testing - "To truly qualify as an adventure bike, I wanted to see if it could also handle some light off‑road action"

Part 3: Too clever for purists - "I recently rode the new Himalayan 450 to an owners club rally to get to the very heart of the Himmy adventure bike’s most diehard fans"

Part 4: 3000 Mile European road trip - "The plan was simple: there was no plan! I had booked 12 days off work, a Eurotunnel ticket to mainland Europe, and that was it"

• Related: Get the look! Check out MCN's list of best adventure motorcycle boots

REASONS TO BUY A HIMALAYAN

They’re brilliant fun: The new for 2024 Himalayan 450 model is a brilliant little bike; light(ish), agile, punchy, and an absolute doddle to get the very best out of. Great in both town and country, and capable of light off-road action too.

Value for money: The 450 starts at £5750 brand new, so even straight from the showroom they represent excellent value. Used examples (still in warranty) are starting to appear on the market for £1000 less than that, so a secondhand Himalayan is even easier on the pocket. With average fuel consumption around 50mpg they’re affordable to run, too.

Solidly built: Royal Enfield’s build quality has taken a massive leap forward in recent years, and the 450 Himalayan is proof of that. The engine and chassis paint looks robust enough to stand up to off-road stone chips, while the overall componentry and finish is way better than that of the older 410 model.

Useful tech: The 450 Himalayan comes with enough tech to be useful – switchable ABS (the rear ABS can be deactivated for off-road use), two riding modes (Eco and Sport), smart phone connectivity and an inbuilt sat/nav system).

Entry level adventure: The 450 is the perfect entry level adventure bike; easy to manage, affordable, usable off-road, and the prefect stepping stone to bigger.

REASONS NOT TO BUY A HIMALAYAN

You’re a serious off-roader: If you’re big into exploring the wilder tracks and lanes on offer the 450 Himalayan probably isn’t for you. Its off-road ability is best served on gravel tracks and only lightly mudded routes (you’ll need to upgrade the tyres to something gnarlier if you really want to mud-plug).

You ride a lot with a pillion: The 450 can carry a passenger, but the seat perch isn’t great and the motor only makes 40bhp so the weight of two grown adults with labour the 452cc engine.

The stand out new tech on the bike is the 4” circular TFT dash along with its phone connectivity. It’s gives a clean display with plenty of information available from voltage, fuel range right through to a digital compass – all of which is controlled via a small five way, thumb operated joy stick on the left hand switch gear. There is a mode button on the right hand bar where you can chose between two engine maps – eco and performance as well as switch the ABS to off-road mode. A longer press on the button changes the dash display from a conventional layout with speed, gear and a traditional rev counter – all be it digital.

You can also connect your phone to the dash and by using the Royal Enfield App where you can select your destination it will plan your route using Google Maps, which is also displayed on the TFT dash. You can also connect and play and control music using the left hand joy stick. It’s an interesting addition and will suit many riders, but there are downsides. The first being that for the navigation to work your phone can not be locked which takes a heavy toll on battery life. There is a USB C charging point on the bike which you are forced to use if you want to use the navigation for more than a few hours without your phone battery going flat.

Currently the App does not support GPX files so you would currently be unable to us ethe dash to navigate an off road route like the Trans Euro Trail.

There are a range of accessories for the new bike including tubeless wheel, panniers, additional crash protection and taller screen.

While there are plenty of options available to up-spec the bikes, there are some glaring omissions such as cruise control which would be relatively simple given that the bike is now ride by wire. There is also no option for factory fitted heated grips which seems bizarre given that it has been developed in such a high altitude, cold climate.