New Royal Enfield Himalayan 750 Joins HIM-E in Khardung La Ride
Following on from the spyshots we covered earlier this week, Royal Enfield has now published images showing the Himalayan 750 and HIM-E electric prototype
Royal Enfield has sent its top brass to the Himalayas as testing of its HIM-E electric adventure bike and new Himalayan 750 begins in earnest.
While the official names of each of the new bikes aren’t yet known (and likewise, there is no formal confirmation that the petrol bike is indeed the Himalayan 750), it’s widely believed that it is the case, with Indian motorcycle outlets confirming the news overnight.
For now, though, we’ll refer to them as the HIM-E and 750, and as the pictures show, both the new machines look to be very close to being production-ready. To put the new bikes through their paces, Royal Enfield CEO, B Govindarajan, was joined by other staff, including the UK-based Chief of Design, Mark Wells, in a ride up the Khardung Pass. And a proper test that will have been, with the remote mountain route towering 5,359 m (17,582 ft) above sea level.
Starting with the HIM-E, compared to the bike we saw at EICMA in 2023, the latest machine seems to be very close to what we could see on the roads. Only the swingarm and swooping fuel tank look similar to those found on the 2023 machine. ndeed, Enfield’s design team have even tied the design of the bike’s battery pack into the aesthetic style of the Flying Flea sub-brand, launched at EICMA in 2024. The cooling fins of the bike spotted in Ladakh ape the swooping lines found on the Flying Flea FF-C6 and FF-S6, but from there, the similarities end.
The latest prototype, like the mule shown at EICMA, features long-travel suspension with what appear to be adjustable forks and an Öhlins-branded piggyback rear shock. While the front braking setup is hard to fully discern, it seems to use a Nissin caliper paired with one of the brand’s 310mm discs. Unlike the HIM-E mule’s trellis-heavy frame, this version favours CNC and forged aluminium, with the battery and motor acting as stressed members and the swingarm mounting directly to the motor—a typical layout in electric bike design.
Moving on to the 750, which for many will be the more exciting of the two models, there are big changes compared to the existing Himilayan 450. Firstly, this new model seems to wear dual two-piston sliding calipers. The brand or spec of the calipers could change when the bike goes into production, although we’d expect the twin-disc set-up to remain. With Royal Enfield’s 650s all wearing single front discs, this is another hint that this new adventure bike has a slightly spicier engine nestled in its frame.
Like the HIM-E prototype, the 750 also seems to be running a 19/17 inch wheel combo, although the suspension doesn’t seem to have quite as much travel as its battery-powered sibling.
For further information about the two new models, we’ll have to wait, although it’s highly likely that confirmation of both of them - and their specs - we be made public at EICMA this year.
Images: Royal Enfield / Instagram
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Simon (AKA Toad) has been working within the motorcycle industry for more than twelve years, and a member of the motorcyclist family since birth. Growing up around British-built single and twins, it was inevitable that a life on two wheels was on the cards, from a very early age!
