Royal Enfield Himalayan BS4 vs BS6: Performance Numbers Compared

Is the BS6 update a change for the better or worse out in the real world?

Royal Enfield's capable little adventure tourer, the Himalayan, received the latest in a long line of updates recently, when it was tweaked to comply with BS6 emission norms. The changes resulted in the bike losing a little bit of power and also putting on a few kilos. To see how much this has affected performance, we've tested the bike and we're going to compare it to its BS4 counterpart.

Acceleration

The 411cc motor powering the Himlayan was already fuel-injected, so the process of updating to BS6 standards likely involved plugging in some new engine maps and welding on the additional catalytic converter on the exhaust downtube. Power output has dropped a touch from 24.5PS to 24.31PS and kerb weight is up by 5kg to a rather hefty 199kg. Despite this, torque has remained unchanged and acceleration figures are actually quicker for the BS6 bike: it's 0.16sec quicker to 60kmph, though at the 100kmph mark its advantage is down to just 0.03sec.

Roll-Ons

It's a similar story when accelerating on the move as well. In the roll-on from 30-70kmph, the BS6 bike is a considerable 0.13sec quicker but in the 40-80kmph run, the difference is a scant 0.01sec. All this seems to indicate that the BS4 bike is stronger in the higher gears, as speeds rise, while the BS6 version is a little quicker off the mark and in lower gears. Quite interesting, since our testing data shows that gearing has remained pretty much unchanged.

Braking

Yes, the updated bike has gained some bulk, so it's unsurprising that it should take longer to stop, but just how much longer it took is what blew us away. The Himalayan BS6 we received seemed to have exceptionally weak brakes with very little feel and bite on offer. As a result of this, it requires an extra 2.7m to stop from 60kmph and a considerable 8m extra to grind to a halt from 100kmph.

So, if the new bike is less powerful, weighs more and seems to have weaker brakes than the older bike, does it have anything going for it? Find out in our detailed road test here.