[The Great]

Originally Posted by apachelongbow

If this is where they have reached, I am super excited on their future offering especially the rumored 700cc twin

Originally Posted by apachelongbow

I would gladly buy this bike because it is a cheap (relatively) way of entering the offroad/adventure space, with solid components, not many breakable bits and can be used to tour long distance in immense comfort at 120kmph.

Firstly a BIG thanks for the first hand ride review from the customer POV sir !!

Your above 2 quoted lines made me smile wide in glee.

As an ex CI 350 owner and a current Classic 500 owner this is good news for people like me. I would wait for the 700 twin eagerly now instead of shifting to the Himalayan. The Himalayan's final product outcome, its pricing and the evolution of RE has made me a prospective "upgrader" to the rumoured 700 twin.

I must say the Indian Biker is being taken seriously and the Biking revolution has come a long way.

Cheers to RE !!

[Harshal.Bhosale]

You look at her. She awes you. Clad in her snow-white dress, you can't help but admire the unmistakable beauty that stands before you.

You ask your girl, "how does she look"?
Even the mighty TB500 admits grudgingly, "Yes, she's quite a stunner"!

Then you get a chance to sample her. You thumb the starter, and are greeted by an uncharacteristic growl. Somewhat miffed at the cranky starter motor sound, you decide to reserve your judgement.

You take her out to the street. And are bowled over by it. While she might not deliver the immediate low-down punch that you are used to with your girl, she does pull away handsomely once the revs build up. And my, oh, my, the butter-smooth gearshifts!

You come back and stand beside your girl, all smiles, but at the same time assuring her that no, she isn't going to get any new competition at home!

Or so goes my facebook post on this.

I got the opportunity to ride the bike yesterday at the launch event by one of the showrooms in Pune, and I did come away impressed. My two cents:

The bike looks bigger in the flesh, although the ride height was comfortable for me with both feet resting on the ground (I'm 5'6"). The instrument console was a geek's paradise, with a pleasing combination of analog dials and digital screens (MID, compass) thrown in - and it's all lighted up superbly.
The footpegs are comfortably rear-set, and the handlebar felt wider than my stock Thunderbird handle. It also somehow felt way more lighter than the on-paper figure might have you believe, although that might be because I'm used to the TB's 195 kg kerb weight.

Looks bigger in the flesh:






As mentioned above in my post, the starter motor makes a weird clanky noise in the initial cranking process, but once it starts, the sound was..well, okay/good for me. (I'm not a loud-RE-exhaust person).

Pulling away from zilch, the bike didn't feel as great as the 500cc Classic/Thunderbird does, but once past 2000-2500 rpm, she does pull away cleanly, going upto 80 in 3rd with no qualms whatsoever. The braking is a strong point here, I did manage to test urgent braking maneuvers, including front-biased braking, the brakes and the tires did a good job of stopping the relatively light-weight bike.


The gearbox - I had my jaw wide open in awe of the smoothness of the shifts. It's indeed a commendable effort by RE, the slickness that has never before existed in any of their prior models. Even with more than a year of experience with my TB500, I find it hard to modulate the clutch/throttle to get that just-right smooth gearshift - there's always at least a little jerk. I've in fact made it a fun game I try to play when I'm bored while riding - to get seamless drag-racing type gearshifts from 1st right up to 5th gear; but on the Himalayan, it was a given!

A look at the radiator/oil cooler, thick-looks-like-it'll-do-its-job-well sump guard and engine/gearbox (sorry for the limited angles of view):


The meaty rubber footpegs, rear carrier, provision for mounting accessories (out of the five holes seen on the plate below the rear seat, only two are used - the other three are left free for any attachments one may think of:


I also did a bit of stand-up riding, and found the posture to be absolutely brilliant! This bike is gonna be perfect for off-roading, and why not, it was designed for it. I did try to ride the bike motocross style, with me elbows jutting out, and managed to flick the bike nimbly through traffic.

For some reason, they had disconnected the horn on the test bike, so couldn't hear it, although I'm sure it would be the usual dual-tone one - it's quite useful, you see!

Adding a few pictures of the launch - Platiinum Auto at Fatima Nagar had organized a nice event. They had all visitors who had RE's park their respective bikes diagonally facing the stage in the build up to the imminent arrival of the newest kid on the block. Then they rode the bike down the steps of the showroom (in the true spirit of the bike; and must note, the ground clearance isn't just on paper - it handled the steps brilliantly!) and onto the stage, which felt awesome. They also had some refreshments for the visitors.




Closer look at the headlight, pilot lamp and visor attachment - nothing beats the Thunderbird's corona ring pilot lamp/DRL though!

Originally Posted by rohitz

...

Does anyone around pune knows about this bike being displayed in any pune showroom?

Originally Posted by //M

It is on display at Hridaan Motors at Chinchwad. Test rides also available.

You can also check out Platiinum Auto at Fatima Nagar. Thankfully they didn't send a sales guy to accompany me on the bike.

[dkaile]

👆Bang on KD. You have summarised it quite aptly.

[man_of_steel]

Originally Posted by Harshal.Bhosale

Attachment 1486523

Thanks for the write-up and this closeup photograph of the windshield. The windshield does seem to have 2 adjustable positions with an allen-key!

[barcalad]

Just the kind of comparison I was looking for.

Source - Overdrive

[Karthik Chandra]

Royal Enfield Himalayan - Autocar review

Excerpts

The Himalayan looks a Royal Enfield, retro, adventurous and thoroughly rugged. Like all Royal Enfields, this too is an easy bike to work on. To this end, the Himalayan can be push-started to life should the electric starter pack-up, and you can put on your headlight even with a dead battery.



Practicality goes hand-in-hand with the Himalayan. The front windscreen keeps riders sheltered from the elements, this being slightly adjustable for angle. The Himalayan instruments are neat, sitting upright to face the rider.

You can see speed and engine-speed in analogue format, along with fuel-level and other required riding information, including ambient temperature, twin-trip gauges and average speed for each trip. There's even a compass!



To ride, the Himalayan feels a 'pukka' Royal Enfield, underpowered in some measure, but with nice and easy power delivery that feels torquey, and allows you to chug effortlessly through virtually all riding conditions. You don't need to play the gearbox too much, which shifts with reasonably good feel, in a one-down, four-up pattern.

The single biggest bugbear we faced on our ride, was the Himalayan’s heavy clutch, that lacked the right feel, and gave my forearm an unwanted workout, forcing me to ride the bike clutch less when tired towards the end of our 100km plus run in trying conditions.

Royal Enfield has boldly plunged in to this interesting segment, where most manufacturers turn a blind eye, save for Hero who pioneered and nurtured the segment with its amazing Impulse 150. Even KTM has failed to cash in on its rich off-road legacy, shying from being adventurous in India.

And the Himalayan, although not flawless has excelled, to prove Royal Enfield has got the adventure format right from the word go. This is the only adventure bike in India today, on which you need only to pack your panniers, hop on and head off on your own private adventure, in any weather, over any road, or even no road.

http://www.autocarindia.com/auto-rev...de-400798.aspx

[Impreza]

I booked a Himalayan today - black. The waiting period (bangalore) was informed to be less than 2 months. Let's see when it arrives.

[sanjaykk]

Originally Posted by MileCruncher

+Ves
[list=1]
[*]I'm 165 Cms and even for me the both feet touch the ground.
.
.
.

Thanks for the mention of this, MileCruncher. It answers the most important question that I had. When you say both feet touch the ground, it is like 'just touches' or 'comfortably planted'? I ask this because apachelongbow seems to think people below 5.7 will not be comfortable.

Originally Posted by apachelongbow

.
Has substantial height/length and is a tall bike to sit on. Riders below 5.7 please look elsewhere even if you get on to the riding perch you will end up looking like a kid on a full sized bike.
.
.

[MileCruncher]

Originally Posted by sanjaykk

Thanks for the mention of this, MileCruncher. It answers the most important question that I had. When you say both feet touch the ground, it is like 'just touches' or 'comfortably planted'? I ask this because apachelongbow seems to think people below 5.7 will not be comfortable.

Its not just the toe but atleast 30% of the front foot. And that is the same situation I have on the D390 as well.

[navin_v8]

Originally Posted by Hammer & Anvil

The rider pegs are sturdy for me to climb on- but they are a tad off to the rear. Anyone taller than me will have a lean forward stance / and head down position- so they will have to crane the neck/chin upwards to ride when in stand up mode/ that really sucks according to me . This is ok once in a while to combat a stretch of bad road, but to do standup over off road terrain- for over 4/5 minutes, I am guessing this is not it.

Off road- I wonder how the foot pegs cost them the points in this category. The initial video of CSSantosh crouching and so rightfully picked by the eagle eyes of Amit- this cannot be a ‘good’ off roader as the strain to crouch and then look up is just plain wrong. The pegs are too far off behind, and the causes the rider to lean forward…. You need not own a Tiger, all you need to do is get astride one, punch it into gear and stand up and ride, and you will understand what I mean.

I have observed Dakar Rally motorcycle riders(Marc Coma, Cyril Despres, Joan Barreda Bort, Toby Price, our very own CS Santosh, etc.) using the lean forward stance and head down position on their rally motorcycles which is very close to what an ADV tourer is. They might be doing it for many reasons one being countering the windblast instead of standing straight up. Also they ride in this position for hours, that it is one thing that they are professionals. But there must be some reason as to their leaning forward stance while standing on the foot pegs. I am 5ft. 9 1/2" so will have to observe this phenomenon while taking a test ride.

The low compression engine and the lack of EFI I think depreived about 8-10bhp off this engine and that’s like a crime.

Can you share about the throttle response, this being a carb.

[apachelongbow]

Originally Posted by sanjaykk

Thanks for the mention of this, MileCruncher. It answers the most important question that I had. When you say both feet touch the ground, it is like 'just touches' or 'comfortably planted'? I ask this because apachelongbow seems to think people below 5.7 will not be comfortable.

I said it will make a short rider look funny, like a kid on a commuter bike, never said feet won't reach the ground.
Regarding power it's not meant for high speed cruising, having said that it will be atleast 20k faster in average speeds than other bikes. I rode the tiger extensively, something in the hand, seat, footpeg combination caused me sore back and shoulder muscles within 70kms of smooth highway ride. Didn't feel the same in the Himalayan, but I need to ride longer to comment

[Harshal.Bhosale]

Originally Posted by sanjaykk

Thanks for the mention of this, MileCruncher. It answers the most important question that I had. When you say both feet touch the ground, it is like 'just touches' or 'comfortably planted'? I ask this because apachelongbow seems to think people below 5.7 will not be comfortable.

You can see my post above for a picture of how it looks. I'm 5'6" and was able to have both my feet planted fully on the ground. The Team-BHP news report also reiterates the same:

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 Himalayan launched; priced at Rs. 1.55 lakh

[timuseravan]

Originally Posted by Engine_Roars

The colors:
Attachment 1486771
Attachment 1486772

The bike looks like a quick mod-job at someones garage and not a production version. After my last niggle-filled Classic 500 ownership I am very afraid to touch another RE bike. But still I plan to test ride this weekend.

[Red Liner]

Superb back to back ride comparo posted here by Ravi sir. http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/showthread.php?p=3933898

I really don't like how the mojo looks but now I am forced to look at this as a viable alternative to the himalayan as a daily city commute.

[ranjitnair77]

Originally Posted by sanjaykk

When you say both feet touch the ground, it is like 'just touches' or 'comfortably planted'? I ask this because apachelongbow seems to think people below 5.7 will not be comfortable.

Originally Posted by Harshal.Bhosale

You can see my post above for a picture of how it looks. I'm 5'6" and was able to have both my feet planted fully on the ground. The Team-BHP news report also reiterates the same:

It's not really about the height. Your inseam length decides whether you can flatfoot on a bike.

A rider who 5' 6" tall with a 32" inseam has a greater chance of flatfooting a bike as compared to a rider who has an inseam of 30". You should go sit on the bike and see for yourself.

This site explains this very nicely with various motorcycle models.
http://cycle-ergo.com