Royal Enfield already has two models in the 450cc category– the Himalayan and the recently launched Guerrilla. The bikemaker will launch at least two more offerings in this platform in the coming months– a scrambler and an off-road-friendly Rally version of the Himayan. The latter recently broke covers at the 2024 Cuenca rally in Spain.
Now, this Rally version of Himalayan has been spotted testing on Indian roads. From the looks of it, the design of the test mule seems almost identical to the current Himalayan barring a few elements. This suggests that Enfield will most likely offer this model as a separate Rally kit of the existing model.
Royal Enfield Himalayan Rally: What to expect?
The latest set of images show the prototype carrying a few add ons and some new graphics. In addition, the rear fender dons the “Rally” branding. The Rally-spec Himalayan gets a different upswept exhaust, a rally tail cowl, and cross-spoke wheels with tubeless tyres. It is also likely to get a few off-road accessories like handguards as standard fitment.
The test mule seen in the spy shots is seen wrapped in the Hanle Black colour scheme of the Himalayan.We expect the Rally version to be equipped with off-road purpose tyres for proper trail bashing and rock crawling. That said, wheel sizes are likely to remain unchanged. For reference, Himalayan 450 comes with 21-inch front and 17-inch rear wheels with optional tubeless tyres.
As for suspension, Enfield is likely to offer a fully adjustable setup with longer travel at both ends featuring upside down front forks and a rear mono-shock. Braking duties will be carried out by disc brakes at both ends aided by a dual-channel ABS. Switchable rear ABS will be a standard offering along with a ride-by-wire throttle and ride modes
Feature list is expected to remain the same as the Himalayan which gets a fully-digital TFT circular instrument console with in-built Navigation from Google, USB charging port, and Bluetooth connectivity with music playback.
Powering the Royal Enfield Himalayan Rally will be the same 452cc Sherpa series, single-cylinder, liquid-cooled engine that churns out 40 bhp and 40 Nm of peak torque. If it’s offered as a separate Rally kit, we doubt Enfield will make any changes to the tune of this engine. Transmission duties will be carried out by a six-speed gearbox via a slip and assist clutch.
