Talk about an unexpected flashback! As I throw my leg over the latest version of the Himalayan, Royal Enfield’s do-it-all adventure bike, I am instantly transported from outer Melbourne carpark to upper India mountain pass. It is truly a transition from the suburban to the sublime.
The feel of the bike underneath me is just so familiar, so evocative, that I am taken straight back to 2018, which was the last time I rode a Himalayan… fittingly, in the Indian Himalayas. And it was a decent ride too – many days of high-altitude culture shock, with some of the most amazing mountain roads and mind-bending views you could imagine. It was magic and I fell in love with the Himalayan during the trip, as it felt like the perfect steed for the conditions. Which, of course, has always been the point of the Himalayan project.
What I didn’t know back then was that a small army of test mules for the next model were already racking up some serious miles in all kinds of conditions in the UK, Spain and India. More than five years later, the new Himalayan has finally been unveiled, having gone through an exhaustive design and testing program. This complex approach was adopted because, as
