New Himalayan 450 now on U.S. website

Bring on the tough stuff.

 The enthusiastically praised Royal Enfield Himalayan 450 adventure motorcycle is featured now on the website of Royal Enfield North America. 

The website lists a Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) starting at $5,799. The current world of economic uncertainties suggests that this figure may go up soon.

The Himalayan 450 has been on sale for some time now in much of the rest of the world, and some aspects of the website seem dated. An inviting video linked to from the website is a year old, and shows only the previous model Himalayan, introduced in 2016.

The new Himalayan 450 packs a more powerful single-cylinder liquid cooled engine than the previous model, and is a new product with many entirely new features. 

Most noticeably, these include a prominent round Thin Film Transistor (TFT) screen to provide an instrument panel's worth of information, plus navigation. Ride modes. Smart phone connectivity. All the toys, as the salesman used to say. 

Big screen puts you in the picture.

The new Himalayan 450 has six speeds in the gearbox, one up over the earlier Himalayan. Some versions of the Himalayan 450 will offer tubeless tires.

Upside down front forks are another obvious upgrade, compared to the familiar Himalayan 411.

Royal Enfield advertises the Himalayan 450 as "just like the original, but more." In fact, according to the spec sheets, the curb weight of the new Himalayan actually is a few pounds (seven) lighter than the original.

The popular Himalayan 411 remains on the website. Also still on the website is its scrambler version, the Scram 411.

All told, Royal Enfield USA has 12 models on its website: five 650 twins, the three adventure bikes, and four 350s.

They are the Bear 650, Shotgun 650, Super Meteor 650, INT 650, Continental GT 650, Himalayan 450, Himalayan 411, Scram 411, Bullet 350, Hunter 350, Classic 350 and Meteor 350.

The 12 models are spread over "only" three types of motor, but when you multiply the models by the number of colors available on each... wow.

It would seem that Royal Enfield has thought of everything: retro classic Brit bikes, laid-back cruisers, edgy roadsters, adventure bikes, scramblers and a café racer.

Royal Enfield website offers something for everyone.

Still something missing?

Well, yes. I'm still waiting to feast my eyes on an actual Classic 650 twin, the powerful retro-Brit standard seemingly available everywhere in the world that I am not.

But I am sure it will not be long now.