Royal Enfield designed and built this motorcycle in India, for Indians, a few years ago, with no plans really to export it. Why bother? India took over from China last year as the world’s biggest motorcycle market; Indians buy something like 48,000 motos a day (which probably includes lots of scooters and mopeds, but you get the picture – something like 17.7 million a year).
Then a funny thing happened. Royal Enfield opened its first subsidiary in the U.S. a couple of years ago, and hired an ex-Harley-Davidson man (20 years) named Rod Copes to head it up. Rod went, saw, and brought two Himalayans back to the USA two years ago – loaning them out to 75 different riders of varying experience to get their opinions. Their opinions were positive enough that now, after overcoming U.S. regulatory requirements (2018 is the first year for fuel injection), Himalayans are about to start flowing in from RE’s huge Chennai, India, factory.
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Read full post here:
https://www.motorcycle.com/manufacturer/royal-enfield/2018-royal-enfield-himalayan-first-ride-review.html
