MotorScribes Magazine - June 2016

RoyalEnfieldHimalayanreview
LS410&otherbits
No,that’s not a code name for anything – it’s what the
Himalayan’sbrandnew engineiscaled.RoyalEnfield’sengines
haverecentlygonethroughabitofanevolutionalthewayfrom
theCastIronpiecesearlyontotheUnitConstructionbutthe
LongStroke410isal-new.Infactthisone’ssonew thatifyou
didn’tknow whichbikeitbelongsto,you’dneverguessitwasa
RoyalEnfieldmil.Itrevswelandthere’snosignofalazythump
either.
Atthisstage,althosewhobuyRoyalEnfieldsjustforthelazy
thumpingthattheBuletsareknownforcansimplystopreading
furtherand cary on with whatevermundane taskyou were
doinginthefirstplace–thisbikeisnotforyou.
Whatyou getwith the LS 410 single-cylindermilon the
Himalayanis25PSand32Nm alongwithasingleOHC,4-valves
andanoilcooler.Whatyoudon’tgetwiththeLS410 onthe
Himalayan is the elbow-jerking handlebarvibrations orthe
I-have-a-mind-of-my-own mirors that either always show
bluredreflectionsorsimplyturnontheirjointstoadiferent
angle.TheengineersatRoyalEnfieldhavedoneagreatjobin
comingupwithanenginethatisnotonlyradicalydiferentthan
whatthey’vebeenmakingaltheseyears(exceptforthelong
strokebit)butin factisahugeleap forward in being more
technologicalyacceptableto themodernriderwho maynot
necessarilyhaveboughtanREproductbefore.A lotofthathas
alsogottodowiththethroatynoteemanatingfrom thevery
slickupsweptexhaustpipeontheHimalayanaswel.
Thentherearethecycleparts–awholenew chassisforawhole
new enginewhichbytheway,forthefirsttimeinRoyalEnfield’s
history,get’sanoilcooler.Thisnew typeofchassisiscaleda
‘halfduplexdoublecradle’frame.IfthatsoundslikeRealEstate
marketing lingo fora tiny South Bombay apartmentwith a
storageloftandtwobunkbeds,thenweforgiveyou.Inreality
though,itsimplyisoneofthebestbitsontheHimalayanand
somethingwehopeweseemoreofinthefuture–especialy
consideringthatchassiscanhandlealotmorepowertrainthan
whattheLS410curentlyis.
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