[thedragonreborn]

Just plonked 5 nice rounded thousands down for a "Granite" Himalayan.

Kid at the showroom in Bandra insisted on repeating himself (ran the risk of sprouting colourful feathers like a squawking parakeet) that the delivery would not be before April.

Rationale: ABS and BS4 for sure. EFI, perhaps, most probably. To prove his point, he rung another kid in Chennai to "ask". Kid at the other end of the line parroted the same story.

As for the test ride bike, I never found neutral. Stomped on it plenty, but, nada.

[SchumiFan]

Tried my hand on a colleague's Himalayan a few days back. I have never driven a bike that is over 150cc in my life. This was my first venture into RE and big engine bikes.

The initial surge is thrilling but I found the gear shift to be very hard from 1-2. Neutral was an impossible affair. The gear shifts became good post 2nd gear but I wasn't too impressed with the bike's pulling power in the second gear. Clutch was hard as well.

It struggled a lot and very often I had to slow down to 1st to get moving post a speed breaker or a slow down. I expected it to be better considering the bigger engine and performance advantage over normal bikes. If we are liberal with the clutch, it will pickup from 2nd gear itself else one has to downshift to move quickly.

The suspension was a class affair. Soaked up bumps very well. The bike is heavy and it helps when riding on open roads. Although it becomes cumbersome inside the city. Braking was good with its dual disc set up.

I mostly didn't push the bike in every gear and rather rode in a constrained manner. But it doesn't seem to be responding well to such driving. If we rip it in every gear, it rides well. Vibrations were plenty. I had a GS150R earlier and it is nowhere near that in terms of refinement.

One thing that bothered me was how easily this bike skids. The front skid once when going over a speed breaker and the rear when driving over a cement ledge.

Not sure if this bike shares its traits with the other REs. Or if the Classic or Thunderbird behaves differently.

I moved on from bikes a while back. I walk to office and ride the Jupiter when I visit my hometown. But I did try the Fazer of my colleague (second hand one) a few weeks back. While it was not the epitome of refinement, it was not as bad as the Himalayan.

Could be that the REs are an acquired taste. I don't think it is mine. I miss the relaxed thump of the Bullets though. Now most sound like a racket and it becomes horrible in closed lanes with rows of houses in them.

Disclaimer: We were two on the bike. Both healthy

[The_Mad_Hatter]

After 6 months of pondering and 3 test rides, I finally went ahead and booked myself a Himalayan.

I had narrowed down my choices to 3 bikes at the end - the Himalayan, 2017 Duke 390 and the CBR250R. I ultimately ruled out the Duke because even though the new model has an increased seat height, it still seems that it would be a bit too compact for me at 6'2" (32 inch inseam, 82 kg) and me being more touring minded, I wasn't too sure of it's long distance ability or comfort. Plus, the price was a bit north of my budget.

I'd ridden my friend's CBR250R quite a bit and quite liked its styling, seating position and all-round performance, but the torque seemed a bit low to me and ultimately preferring an upright seating position, I passed on that as well.

Having tested out the Himalayan thrice, I found that the test-ride bike initially had a very tough, notchy gear lever 6 months ago, which has now been rectified and is smooth as butter. The power, while decent for most Indian roads does seem a little low proportionate to the engine displacement, but based on the roads I'll be taking I don't think I'd be comfortable or capable of crossing 120 kph for a long period of time, so it's good enough for me. Low-end torque was pretty decent, too. I personally found the instrument cluster quite attractive. The compass reading seemed accurate and everything seemed readable to me. Seating was very comfortable and I'm sure long distances should be a breeze. There was a bit of buffeting on the windscreen, though.

Now I'm coming here after having owned Bullets for 9 years. Not to step on anyone's toes or anything, but I milked as much fun as I could out of the Bullet over the past decade and it seemed more than overdue for a change. The primary reason being vibrations. On my last long distance journey of a total of 720 km round trip, when I went to sleep at the end of the day I could literally feel my entire body shaking. This, coupled with the fact that I had a herniated spinal disc some years back puts considerable strain on my body. On both my CI and AVL bikes, I can't comfortably cruise past 80-85 without stressing out both my body as well as the engine. The Himalayan however didn't vibrate until 120, or until 5500 rpm. Seems like all-day cruising would be a breeze.

Additionally, I do travel back and forth between the US, and maintaining 2 bikes would be a bit cumbersome. So, I finally decided that I'd part with my Bullets and have exclusively the Himalayan in my garage. For me at least, it seems like all the bike I need right now.

The guys at the showroom told me that I should be getting the bike by the first week of April (they were pretty accurate with the delivery date in the case of my cousin's STD 500) and that it should be BS4 compliant. They said that there'd be a 50-50 chance of ABS, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Not sure whether we'd get EFI, though.

Anyway, apologies for the long post. Just thought I'd share my 2 paise.

[tharian]

Originally Posted by The_Mad_Hatter

After 6 months of pondering and 3 test rides, I finally went ahead and booked myself a Himalayan.

.

Congrats on the booking!
What is the waiting period now?
Also is there any concrete info on when the efi version will be out?
I hope ABS is introduced with it too.

[The_Mad_Hatter]

Originally Posted by tharian

Congrats on the booking!
What is the waiting period now?
Also is there any concrete info on when the efi version will be out?
I hope ABS is introduced with it too.

Thanks! According to the showroom, I should receive the bike in the first week of April. They said they'd let me know about EFI in a few days. I'm hoping for switchable ABS too, but that may substantially increase the cost.

[howler]

Originally Posted by thedragonreborn

Just plonked 5 nice rounded thousands down for a "Granite" Himalayan.

Kid at the showroom in Bandra insisted on repeating himself (ran the risk of sprouting colourful feathers like a squawking parakeet) that the delivery would not be before April.

Rationale: ABS and BS4 for sure. EFI, perhaps, most probably. To prove his point, he rung another kid in Chennai to "ask". Kid at the other end of the line parroted the same story.

As for the test ride bike, I never found neutral. Stomped on it plenty, but, nada.

I got the clutch assy replaced on mine as part of the company recall , now finding neutral doesn't feel like looking for a g.spot

[sulivan]

My cousin, with 500 km on his new RE-Himalayan got his entire starter motor kit scheduled to be replaced under warranty owing to hammering like sound while pressing the starter.(The part has to be shipped from Chennai)
The problem cropped up just a day after the first service. The engine oil used was some brand costing just Rs.300/lit.

[The_Mad_Hatter]

I was doing some thinking today and came upon the notion that RE appears to have taken some small design cues for the Himalayan from some existing ADV tourers, one of them being the Kawasaki KLR 650. Apart from the Himalayan's looks being vaguely reminiscent of the KLR 650, their engines' tuning appears to be similar as well.

If you take in to account the ratio of their engine displacements - 651cc for the KLR and 411cc for the Himalayan - (though that certainly doesn't seem the best way to go about it) their power and torque figures seem to be in proportion also - 37 bhp and 24.5 bhp, 45 Nm and 32 Nm, respectively.

With a lot of people complaining about the power figures of the Himalayan, after comparing it with the KLR 650 specs I've begun to wonder whether this was deliberate. Since the Himalayan's intended purpose is more or less the same as that of the KLR, with torque delivery early in the RPM range, it appears that the engine was designed with that in mind, too.

Just my shower thoughts of the day.

[Red Liner]

37 bhp is still reasonably adequate for todays freeways in the country... 24 is meagre.

Ofcourse you can tour with anything you get your hands on... Even a navi. But if you are in the market for a purpose built adv tourer and are willing to splash money on it, the himalayan does feel a tiny bit inadequate when compared to competition. In its own though, the bike is stellar.

Just a bit more power, and none of the reliability issues should do it.

Oh wait, that's the ktm 390 adv. Haha.

[The_Mad_Hatter]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

37 bhp is still reasonably adequate for todays freeways in the country... 24 is meagre.

Ofcourse you can tour with anything you get your hands on... Even a navi. But if you are in the market for a purpose built adv tourer and are willing to splash money on it, the himalayan does feel a tiny bit inadequate when compared to competition. In its own though, the bike is stellar.

Just a bit more power, and none of the reliability issues should do it.

Oh wait, that's the ktm 390 adv. Haha.

I agree that 24 is a low hp figure from the engine, but I was just remarking that relative to their respective engine displacements, both bikes make similar power. One could also argue that the single-cylinder KLR 650 is under-powered as a 1972 Yamaha XS 650 makes 50 HP with the same engine displacement and a new Duke 390 makes 43.

I was just wondering if these engines were tuned as they are specifically so they would fare better off-road, as they seem quite similar in function and design. To me, the Himalayan seems like a Jr. KLR 650.

[tharian]

Himalayn and Bullet 500 will most probably go Efi from April and delivery for those will start too.
ABS due to cost factor on the Himalayn will take a while as per a showroom guy.

[The_Mad_Hatter]

I don't know if EFI on the Himalayan is the best idea. Look at many other bikes in this segment, the KLR 650 (essentially unchanged since 1987) and even the venerable R1200 GS Adventure are all carburetted. Carbs might be better for long distance touring considering their simplicity. A bulletproof FI system should work, but knowing RE there could be some niggles.

Switchable ABS would be nice, but would probably up the price by 15 to 20k.

[tharian]

Originally Posted by The_Mad_Hatter

A bulletproof FI system should work, but knowing RE there could be some niggles.

Switchable ABS would be nice, but would probably up the price by 15 to 20k.

Was my thoughts as well.
I remember how troublesome the Efi unit on the Classic 500 were when first introduced. Hopefully that is the not case again with the Himalayan.
Also with the introduction with Efi, the Bullet 500 has lost its charm. It is essentially a Classic/TB 500 in Standard form.

ABS is something they need to introduce on their bikes at least as an option.
The problem with RE is that they are slow when the market is moving on quickly or they don't want to loose the flow by increasing the prices on their already pricey bikes by adding the ABS.

[navpreet318]

Originally Posted by The_Mad_Hatter

I don't know if EFI on the Himalayan is the best idea. Look at many other bikes in this segment, the KLR 650 (essentially unchanged since 1987) and even the venerable R1200 GS Adventure are all carburetted......

The R1200GS is and was always a FI since its launch in 2004.

The EFI on the classic works great now after initial teething problems. Infact it is used by numerous touring companies in India conducting tours in Leh, Spiti, Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan etc. No one now reports any issues with the bikes. Work like clockwork with regular wear and tear acceptable to such hostile terrain.
I'm not connected to RE in any manner but am to the GS.

[vinair]

Looks like the product is suffering from major quality issues...

https://www.motorbeam.com/2017/03/bi...-way-too-many/

A cousin of mine too owns a Himalayan (was from the first batch) and has already undergone three critical recalls with regards to its engine. In one instance, the bike was almost going to be engulfed in flames due to overheating (after the bike was ridden in thick traffic for some good distance). Company acknowledge this issue and was taken for further investigation, not sure what was the outcome.