Sizing up the new Himalayan 450

At 6-foot-2, with size 13 boots, Jalopnik's Bradley Brownell rode the new Royal Enfield Himalayan 450 all day.

 Royal Enfield officially unleashed its new Himalayan 450 adventure bike to the U.S. on trails near Park City, Utah. With an MSRP starting at $5,999, initial reviews were enthusiastic. Very. 

I've already featured Jonathon Klein's rave review in RideApart after he rode the Himalayan 450. 

Here are additional excerpts from those first reviews and from Royal Enfield's own announcement. 

"This is a machine that will fit right into any garage and onto any North American road or trail, combining rugged capability with refined design to ensure our riders don’t just conquer their journey—they’ll dominate it." Nathan Kolbe, Head of Marketing for the Americas Region, Royal Enfield

At 5' 4" Staci Wilt of Ride to Food found the Himalayan 450 fit her. 

"The Himalayan 450 is very approachable for shorter-statured riders like myself (I’m 5’4” with a 30” inseam), having a 32.5 – 33.3″ adjustable standard seat height. There’s also a low-seat option available, which I did not have the option to test out. I’m not flat-footed, but I can easily get one foot on the ground with the standard seat in the low position. The Himalayan 450’s seat is also quite narrow compared to the larger ADVs I’ve ridden, which does help." Staci Wilt, Ride to Food

"I liked this bike a lot, and I even liked the tires—but if I was planning to ride off-pavement with this machine, I’d replace them quickly, to avoid the rapidly-heading-one-direction–then-rapidly-heading-another-direction experience. Aside from that, the little niggles can mostly be forgiven because of the price tag of $5,799 in the U.S. At least, I think so. That price tag is in the same ballpark as the Honda CRF300 Rally, Kawasaki KLR650 and Suzuki DR650, and on paper, the Royal Enfield offers more than those machines—except years of reliability on the record." Zac, Adventure Rider

Rob Brooks of RoadDirt finds the Himalayan 450 "beautiful."

"What really impressed me was the confidence that this motorcycle instilled in me. We were ripping through some dirt trails at pretty high speeds. We even took on some technical sections of steep uphill and downhill riding. We crossed through mud that was as slippery as ice, and not once did the Himalayan feel unsettling, or unmanageable." Jared Solomon, TopSpeed

"The bike easily cruised at 75 mph as we rolled up on a tanker. I didn’t think the ride leader would pass the truck, seeing as our group was large, but away he went. A downshift to fifth was necessary, but the Himalayan eagerly accelerated to 85 mph, and the pass was stress-free. I would later discover that with my 5’11” frame at 161 pounds, the bike topped out at 96 mph." Seiji Ishii, Gear Junkie

Notice that the Himalayan 450 is doing this on street tires.

"Another major highlight of the new 450 is its full color Tripper dash, a 4-inch round TFT display that looks like it was pulled from a bike twice the Himalayan’s asking price. We felt the display did a great job of putting all the most important bits front and center (speed, tach, gear indicator, and fuel level) while removing any unnecessary info-clutter from the equation." Kurt Spurlock, Motorcyclist

"The Himalayan is just a touch over 400 pounds, while a new BMW R 1300 GS Adventure weighs in at 593! This is a light and manageable bike on the trail, and when you inevitably drop the damn thing in the muddy rain, you won’t need a helper to lift it back up." Bradley Brownell, Jalopnik

Here, from Big Rock Moto, is how the Royal Enfield Himalayan stacks up against single-cylinder adventure bikes from competitors:

A more comprehensive chart is on Big Rock Moto video.

Here, also from Big Rock Moto, is the most comprehensive U.S. YouTube review I found of the Himalayan 450. This video actually demonstrates how easy it is to pick up the Himalayan 450 after a fall!