The internet is divided.

Some say they love the Royal Enfield Himalayan.

And some say they really hate it.

But in between all of these opinions can we find what the actual truth is.

The actual truth about, whether or not the Royal Enfield Himalayan is a reliable bike.

I have been using the Royal Enfield Himalayan on and off for a couple of years now. I have used it on multiple tours to the Himalayan mountains, from Ladakh to Nepal and North East India. All across the Himalayan mountain range which included mostly off road terrain.
The two main issues that I faced were during a trip to Pangong Lake, the bolt that holds the gear shifter fell out and therefore I wasn’t able to change gears. This was a minor issue that was immediately fixed with a replacement bolt and was probably due to not being checked over an extended period of time.
The second issue was while on a trip in Nepal and I had been riding the bike for about two weeks. There weren’t any roads and the trail was extremely bumpy. The constant bumpiness of the road somehow caused the rear fender to snap off.
At the end of the day it was like installing a fender eliminator kit so it didn’t bother me.
These problems happened in 2016 and 2017 in the local Himalayan models, the BS4 carburetted model.

Since that time Royal Enfield have refined the bike and released a newer export version intended for the western market. It is said that this model is far superior and the negative reports regarding the bike having defects have ceased.
The Royal Enfield Himalayan has definitely improved over the years and has gained a reputation that it is a reliable motorcycle.
A motorcycle that has been used by many to travel to some of the most extreme places in the world.
But regarding my own experience with the bike, I can attest that even though I have faced some minor issues here and there, there have not been any significant problems with the bike.
Especially considering that I’ve ridden it hard, torture tested it and taken it to through some of the most challenging terrains including mountain roads where the altitude exceeded 17000 feet.
Throughout these adventures that at times lasted for months with thousands of kilometres clocked, the Royal Enfield Himalayan has never let me down other than a minor set back for a day.
I have never required any major maintenance or repairs to be carried out on the bike. I didn’t even puncture a tire on the multiple trips that I’ve had on the bike.
The latest Himalayan comes with a 6000 mile, or 10000 km service interval and an addition to this fact, the Himalayan has a very simple design allowing the ability to perform maintenance yourself.
In the case of any major problems arising, due to the simple design it would allow any mechanic the ability to fix the bike if you were stuck in the middle of no where on a long adventure trip.

All in all, I have to say that the Royal Enfield Himalayan is definitely a reliable motorcycle to take on your next long adventure ride. It could serve as a commuter bike to travel to work daily and also something that you can take anywhere on the weekend.
It may not be the most exciting bike, due to the lack of power… but one aspect that it does not fall short in is reliability.