ROYAL ENFIELD has been busy presenting a more globalised front to his business model with a wave of new models and updates making its way over from India in recent years, perhaps the most headline-grabbing was the Himalayan, the first adventure bike it has ever produced albeit one with modest power aspirations.
Nonetheless, it has proven popular and now the Royal Enfield Himalayan is coming up for a refresh with a facelift for 2021, one that will see it receive Royal Enfield's cleverky simple new navigation system as debuted on the Meteor 350.
Royal Enfield Himalayan - REVIEW
A resurrected Royal Enfield really started making waves in the UK after the Interceptor and Continental GT were received with great reception in early 2019, and they followed to do extremely well in the sales charts. The Himalayan featured early on in Royal Enfield’s plans as an affordable adventure bike, and it seems it may be the latest bike given a chance with a new update for 2021.
New 2021 features for the Himalayan?
This starts with what we know from their other models. One of the latest announcements from the now Indian-based manufacturer was the Royal Enfield Meteor 350 with a built-in navigation device using the Google Maps platform - a device that is dubbed the ‘Royal Enfield Tripper’. It works by giving the rider turn-by-turn directions when they input their destination in to the app, allowing for routes to be programmed and waypoints set ahead of time.
This navigation device is rumoured to have been spotted on new Himalayan test bikes by Indian journalists, who also noticed the 2021 Himalayan seems to have received a facelift to make it a touch more accessible for taller riders - achieved by updating the shaping of the brackets around the head cluster alongside a new fuel tank revision.
It’s very likely to keep the same engine, a 411cc air-cooled single cylinder with a SOHC, outputting 24.5bhp at 6500rpm, and 32Nm of torque at 4500rpm.
If the key new feature on the Himalayan is the implementation of the Royal Enfield Tripper out of the box, we’re here for it. It would be mounted to appear as an individual dial on an updated cluster similar to the Meteor 350, so it won’t look out of place visually.
It does make perfect sense to feature their latest navigation gadget on their adventure model, and as a huge selling point it would be the only adventure bike that provides this as standard.
This 2021 Himalayan would then continue on the foundations that have been built upon for the last few years, including past updates that have seen it go from using a carburettor to fuel injection, gaining switchable ABS, improving the side stand, and adding a whole range of new colourways - something they seem to really take a lot of joy from across their ranges. Rumoured for 2021 is a pine green colourway, with a silver, brown and white livery being spotted out and about.
If we do end up seeing a 2021 update to the Royal Enfield Himalayan, you’d expect the Indian market to know about it first, but since they are expecting a launch in January, there’s only so long left of the month we’d expect to know all about a new model very soon.
