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My Himalayan 450's rear tyre tube splits into two pieces!

26th August 2024, 11:02 by Utkarsh Chaudhary

My decision to buy a motorcycle with tube-type tyres was inspired by my experience with my 2017 Royal Enfield Himalayan which only had a single puncture in 45,000 km, 3 rear tyres and 2 front tyres.

BHPian Rudey recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Hi, here's my experience with the Himalayan 450's rear tyre after 4 months of ownership.

1) Had a near miss 4 days after the delivery of the bike when a thick metal wire penetrated the tread and came out through the sidewall on the other side completely missing the tube somehow. I did not even realise what had happened and only noticed the metal piece sticking out 2 days later. The bike had not lost pressure. I figured it happened while riding on the shoulder of the Agra-Lucknow Expressway where they were installing a thick wire-mesh railing to prevent stray cattle from getting on to the road. Someone must have left cut pieces of the metal wire lying about near the shoulder.

The bike had barely done 1000km at this point. Made a mental note to avoid riding too close to the edge of the shoulder as all sorts of debris gets collected there.

2) Three months later, the bike's rear tyre suffered a puncture while coming back from a 1500km trip on the Yamuna Expressway about 10km from the nearest workshop/fuel stop. As fate would have it, this time too, I was riding on the shoulder. I was trying to help a stranded couple on the expressway who had run out of fuel in pouring rain about 10km from the next fuel station. I offered to help by bringing them fuel but it meant that I would have to ride back from the fuel stop in the wrong direction as the nearest exits were quite far off. While riding back, I was trying to be as less of a nuisance to the people going in the right direction by riding as slow as possible and as close to the edge of the shoulder as possible to avoid posing a threat to anyone and being in anyone's way.

As I was riding back I realised that this was probably one of the first rains of the season which meant that all the debris would wash down to the shoulder and once again I was at a great risk of having a flat. The saying "No good deed goes unpunished" flashed into my mind. I reached the couple, gave them their fuel, turned my bike around and had hardly gone 200m when the rear tyre started bobbing up and down. No good deed goes unpunished indeed.

After a tiring day, I didn't want to wait for RSA in the downpour so I stood up on the foot-pegs, moved most of my weight onto the handlebars and the tank and slowly rode in the downpour to the workshop only to be turned away by two puncture guys who were only interested in mending tubeless tyres. Luckily found a workshop willing to work on the bike. When he pulled out the tube we were both surprised to see that it had split in half. Here are some pics:

The culprit.

Seeing that I was in no position to refuse, the workshop guy asked for an exorbitant amount of money to source a replacement. Once we had agreed upon a price, he got in his car and said he'd be back in an hour.

MX Boots make a great table to kick up your feet while you wait for your puncture guy to bring you a replacement tube.

The guy came back in an hour with a 120/80-R17 tube. As I had expected, there were no replacements available for the 140/80-R17 tube the Himalayan runs. He said the tube would get me home. Having already ridden 550km that day and being tired, wet and stranded 200km from home, I decided to give it a shot.

He cut up my old tube and laid it down between the tyre and the new tube as he thought it would protect against any further punctures. I doubted it but let him do it. The new tube worked fine with the only problem being that the old cut up tube changed the balance of the whole wheel and caused vibrations at speeds above 90kph further slowing me down after having lost 3 hours already.

Got home and called up Royal Enfield ASCs in my town and nearby cities. They all said they do not keep tyres and tubes and that I should try some tyre shops. Given the unique size, I am sure no tyre shop keeps a 140/80-r17 tube. I am still looking for solutions online as I would hate to have to travel a few hundred kilometres just to pick up a tube.

In conclusion, I'd like to say that I love my ride and the decision to buy a bike with tubed tyres was inspired by my experience with my 2017 BS-3 Himalayan which only suffered a single puncture in 45,000km, 3 rear tyres and 2 front tyres. The tube splitting into two could have been a result of me riding the bike after the puncture for about 10km. This could happen to any bike and I consider such hassles a part and parcel of being a motorcyclist.

But Royal Enfield could have done a better job of providing spare tyres and tubes to the ASCs considering they are selling a bike with a unique tyre size and it is easy to completely destroy the tube because of or after a puncture. Other than the above mentioned tyre troubles and one case of the joystick not responding after riding in the rain, the bike has been trouble-free and an absolute joy to ride.

And yes, if I see a couple stranded on the expressway again, I'd still help them but would make sure that I do not ride on the wrong side of the road again and that I avoid the shoulder like the plague.

Here are some more pics of the bike: