In his blog which is published by Times of India, Siddhartha Lal, CEO and MD of Eicher Motors (which owns Royal Enfield), talks about the idea behind the Royal Enfield Himalayan adventure tourer. The motorcycle which has been testing extensively has been revealed through a set of videos ahead of its world premiere in Delhi on February 2.
Mr. Lal says that the Himalayas is the most gorgeous landscape and he has been riding in the region for over twenty years now. He went for his first long ride in region back in 2010 with his friends and got stranded in a small village for several days due to flash floods. The incident sparked an idea for a purpose-built Royal Enfield tourer for the region since the upmarket adventure tourers didn’t quite manage to endure the region.
For starters, the European adventure tourers are expensive, heavy and are designed for riders who are around 6 feet tall. These attributes alone make those products out of reach of 99% of Indians, says the CEO. He further adds that these products require high octane fuel which is not at accessible in the Himalayas. Moreover, the advanced electronic systems that these bikes feature can’t be fixed readily in case of a malfunction during a trip to Leh.
Watch all the 8 RE Himalayan videos here
So in order for a motorcycle to be ideal for the Himalayas, it needs to be affordable, equally capable of fording a rocky river and munching hundreds of highway miles, substantial enough to withstand crosswinds, carry a pillion or lot of luggage, light enough to be picked up easily, start even if the battery is dead, simple enough to mend the broken part by the rider, have high ground clearance and be economical to run. And that is exactly what the Himalayan is all about.
Read his complete write up here.
