Rumour: Royal Enfield Himalayan launch on March 16

Royal Enfield's highly-anticipated adventure tourer has been revealed and promoted extensively, though an official launch date hasn't been announced. Now, according to a report by NDTV, Royal Enfield will launch the Himalayan on March 16, 2016.

The Himalayan has been spotted at a few dealer godowns though test ride vehicles haven't arrived just yet. The Himalayan uses a half-duplex split cradle frame and gets a set of 41 mm front forks with 200 mm of travel and as a Royal Enfield first, suspension duties at the rear are taken care of by a linkage-type monoshock with 180 mm of wheel travel. The chassis design has been handled by Harris Performance and unlike most adventure tourers, the bike has been made keeping riders of an average height in mind.

Royal Enfield's new overhead cam unit with an oil-cooler has been labelled the LS400 (long stroke 400) engine. The 411cc, SOHC motor on the Himalayan has 2 valves, with a bore x stroke equation of 78 mm x 86 mm. As the name suggests, this is a long stroke engine designed for good low-end torque delivery. The engine delivers 32 Nm of torque @ 4,000 - 4,500 rpm and a moderate 24.5 BHP @ 6,500 rpm. Fuel is fed through a carburettor, though a fuel-injected variant may be introduced at a later stage. Transmission to the rear wheel is through a 5-speed manual gearbox.

The Himalayan tips the scales at 182 kg. It has a 15-litre fuel tank with a claimed touring range of 450 km. The bike gets a 10,000 km oil change interval and a 25,000 km spark plug change interval.

There are two colour options available - Granite and Snow. Expect the Himalayan to be priced around Rs. 2 lakh.