It has now been almost exactly a year since the Royal Enfield Himalayan 450 was launched and now its Rally variant has has been spotted testing in India.
- Bike is running Rally bodywork
- Equipped with tubeless spoked rims
- Gets a different, upswept exhaust
Royal Enfield Himalayan 450 Rally: how is it different to the Himalayan?
Not a lot on this bike has changed since it was showcased along the sidelines of the Himalayan 450 launch in Manali last year. The bike seen on test uses the same Rally kit bodywork that brings in a different tail section although it is not clear from the images if this bike is using the standard split seat or the bench-style Rally seat.
As on the display bike last year, the Himalayan 450 Rally is out testing with RE’s luggage mounted to the tail as well as the tank guards. The design from the front appears to be similar, but the big visual difference is in the exhaust. This is a more upswept unit that should help with deeper water wading and could also be linked to other performance changes happening within the bike.
We recently reported that Royal Enfield is working on its Rally program and that CS Santhosh made his return to competition on a rally-spec Himalayan 450 in the 2024 Rallye TT Cuenca. This was an early stage in the development of RE’s rally bike and it is not to be confused with the motorcycle you see here. The rally project motorcycle will be built with cross country rallies as the focus and that bike will be a highly modified version of the road-going Himalayan with high-spec suspension components and the engine pushing out well over 55hp. We expect to see Royal Enfield’s ultimate goal with this project being to compete in the 2026 Dakar Rally.
The Himalayan 450 Rally variant that will be available to customers will be more of an homage to the competition bike and it will hopefully offer a step up in performance compared with the standard motorcycle.
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