The Royal Enfield Himalayan 650 has ARRIVED

But sadly it’s the work of Cooperb Motorcycles and not the factory…

There’ve been rumours that Royal Enfield’s quietly working away on a bigger version of its much-loved Himalayan since it was first revealed to the world back in 2015. A couple of years later, in 2017, with the unveiling of its Interceptor and Continental GT, the internet was adamant that the Indian factory would rework the 650cc into a more adventure-oriented chassis. Alas, it didn’t happen. Until now. The team at Cooperb Motorcycles in Northamptonshire has taken it upon itself to go to town on an Interceptor and create this: the Royal Enfield ‘Interlayan’ 650 – and it looks fantastic.

It’s powered by the Interceptor’s (and Continental GT’s) 648cc parallel twin-cylinder engine, which kicks out 47hp and 52Nm of torque, and it gets a 320mm brake disc up front and a 240mm disc brake (equipped with dual-channel ABS), too. But what we’re interested in are the differences. The biggest change is the addition of a new set of front forks to increase travel and ground clearance. There’re also some protection bars on the front (ripped straight from the Himalayan), 19- and 17-inch wheels which are clad with Continental TKC70 tyres, a new fuel tank, a shorter exhaust, a mudguard, panniers, handguards and a windscreen. The only thing it’s missing is a bash plate.

Now for the bad news. It’s not for sale and at the moment Cooperb isn’t planning on selling any kind of kit that would allow you to turn your Interceptor into an off-road weapon. That means we’re back to waiting for Royal Enfield to get a move on and release a bigger Himalayan itself. We might be waiting a while. That said, Royal Enfield is close to releasing a tweaked version of the Himalayan, which it calls the Scram 411. Spy shots show a pre-production version of the bike that’s much more road-focused. Not quite what we want, but it’ll have to do for the time being.

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