[visordown.com] - Is this the Royal Enfield Himalayan

[Ninjette Newsbot]

ROYAL Enfield recently trademarked the name ‘Himalayan’ for a forthcoming new model and now a machine that appears to tie in with its rumoured technical details has been spotted on the road in India.

Caught by a reader of the website motor.vikatan.com the rough-looking machine appears to be a single, but with an engine that doesn’t match the usual 350cc or 500cc motors fitted to the current range of Enfield models. Rumour has it that the Himalayan will be the first of the firm’s bikes to get a new 410cc single.

As the ‘Himalayan’ name suggests, the new Royal Enfield is believed to be an adventure bike in the truest sense of the term – not a fat poseur’s machine but a utilitarian model with rugged simplicity and a modicum of real off-road ability. Again, the bike in the pictures seems to support that view, since it’s got what appears to be considerable suspension travel, particularly at the back where it breaks new ground for the firm in using a monoshock. That might be 1970s tech in most people’s books, but it still puts makes the bike a couple of decades more advanced than the firm’s existing models.

That low-slung exhaust is, we hope, temporary. The bike’s stance would be more suited to a higher, scrambler-style exhaust.

We recently revealed Royal Enfield planned to launch at least three new models in 2016 using two new engine platforms including a parallel-twin.

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