World’s first parallel-twin Royal Enfield Himalayan is here

Royal Enfield Himalayan is one versatile motorcycle that can go touring and can also go proper off-roading as well. However, one gripe that most of the people said was the lack of power. People want the 650 twins parallel-twin engine in a Himalayan chassis for quite some time now, but Royal Enfield has not yet given us that option. So, a person in Punjab decided to swap out the engine of his Himalayan for a parallel-twin engine from his Suzuki GS400e. Here, we have a video that has been uploaded by Abhinav Bhatt on his YouTube channel.

The owner of this Himalayan is Manpreet Singh, who is also known as Gola Bhai. This project he started in pandemic lockdown. He found the Himalayan to be a perfect motorcycle, but he felt that it could have had a bit more punch from the engine. Fortunately, he had an early 90s Suzuki GS400e and he decided to transplant the engine from that to the Himalayan. Because it is a different engine, Manpreet had to modify the chassis of Himalayan so that the engine can fit. The mounting points for the engine had to be custom made. As the chassis of the motorcycle has not been changed much, returning back to a stock Himalayan’s engine is also possible.

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The rider states that the engine feels very smooth and there are no vibrations at all. The power delivery is very linear and cleanly pulls till its red-line. The tachometer of the motorcycle is not currently working so we cannot say what the red-line of the engine is. The owner of the motorcycle has said that he has tested the motorcycle at 150 kmph and the engine was not feeling under stress. The engine was able to hold a mere 40 kmph in 6th gear without any fuss and the engine was able to pick-up speed from 40 kmph easily in 6th gear. So, there is ample torque available in the lower-end of the rev-band even in the 6th gear. The 400 cc parallel-twin engine produces 39 bhp of max power and a peak torque output of 28 Nm. It is mated to a 6-speed gearbox. One thing to point out is that is a carbureted setup, not a fuel-injection one. It is running on 36 mm Mikuni carburettors. The exhaust system is from Harley Davidson because the owner had a couple of exhaust lying around with him. The rider also reports that the riding dynamics of the motorcycle does not feel hampered when compared to the stock motorcycle. The engine does not heat up in city traffic also.

The owner says that he has taken the modified motorcycle for off-roading and long tours to Shimla and the motorcycle has turned out to be extremely reliable. The rider says that the fuel efficiency should be around 25 kmpl. The engine sounds throaty and aggressive, which adds to the experience. There are no visual modifications done to the motorcycles except the twin silencers which are there due to being a parallel-twin engine. The owner has covered around 800 km after modifications. It is running a 42 teeth sprocket whereas the stock motorcycle runs a 38 teeth sprocket. The stock Royal Enfield Himalayan comes with a 411 cc fuel-injected, air-cooled, single-cylinder engine that produces 24.3 PS of max power and a peak torque output of 32 Nm. It is mated to a 5-speed gearbox. Royal Enfield Himalayan starts from Rs. 1.91 lakhs ex-showroom.

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