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-   -   The 1st-gen Royal Enfield Himalayan thread! (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motorbikes/174324-1st-gen-royal-enfield-himalayan-thread-15.html)

Congrats on the bike and black does look beautiful.
Out of interests, which was your previous bike that you used to ride?

A 2012 Classic 350 was my earlier bike.

Mate first of all congrats on buying the RE Himalayan. You were for sure wanting to ride it which is depicted by your Odometer.:thumbs up
This is very true, +1. Exactly what I felt while taking the test ride.
Now that's what I am talking about. The Himalayan is all about Torque and it is spread beautifully in the bottom and mid range torque band. I don't need to tell you about running in as you are a former RE CL350 owner. If RE motorcycles are well run in then they will go on for years.

Ride Hard and Ride Safe mate.

Congratulations Blazkowicz for your prized possession! I am planning to replace my Avenger with A Himalayan. After 3 test rides, I completely agree with points 2,3 and 4 mentioned by you. Specially, the ride and comfort is just too good, and so is the seating stance.
I test rode TB500, Desert Storme and Himalayan back to back, and Himalayan was most comfortable by a huge margin!

How did you feel about the braking? And how is the headlight throw, if you got a change to ride at night.

So far the braking feels good but I haven't done over 60kmph as I am still running in the bike. The throw is quite good as the headlight is mounted higher up compared to most other bikes. The only thing is that the headlight doesn't turn with the handle which takes a little getting used to.

I can confirm that the welds are much cleaner in the new lot. I observed this on a brand new display bike at the Baner showroom

Hi,

Sorry for going off topic. Mods please delete/move if required.

Isn't this the case with all new bikes? Or is it applicable more so in the case of RE motorbikes? If yes, then why so? Also, the Himalayan is supposed to be an all-new engine, isn't it? Should it be compared to the older REs?

Just curious. Thanks in advance!

Regards,
Neel

Running in is essential for all vehicles but for REs, the mechanical tolerances are much higher, so a good run in is more essential. Also, the average lifetime of an RE is much higher than other bikes.

The Himalayan is definitely a new engine, the biggest change being that it is an OHV engine instead of pushrod. Nevertheless, it is still manufactured on the same production lines as other REs, so does inherit some characteristics of the UCE engine in terms of how it is made.

Mate you've asked a very nice question. Actually when the UCE motor was introduced it too was very different from the older CI's and AVL's. It was all aluminium, hydraulic tappets, higher compression ratio, integrated gearbox, new improved oil pump, and many more... the only similarity was the pushrod in all the engines.

From my experience of owning the Tbird UCE 500, Tbird AVL 350 and Bullet CI 350's, as rightly mentioned by Blazkowicz mate I have learnt that RE engines have high mechanical tolerances, meaning the engine parts as well as the gearbox use heavy duty parts which are almost industrial like. They seldom get damaged and keep going on forever(case in point my 1961 Bullet G2 350 and 1969 Bullet B1 350 both are on their original engine and gearbox with most of the inner parts still having life left in them). I was lucky while buying my second hand 2004 Tbird AVL 350 from an equally enthusiastic owner who had ridden it with utmost care. Even today when I ride the AVL Tbird which is almost 12 years old it still feels tight and does its job very well. The previous owner told me he had it run in for about 3K kms. Coming to my Tbird500 UCE I observed the same phenomenon where I was running in till about 3K kms. The result no engine leaks, no overheating, no premature failures till date after almost 2 years. RE Himalayan too shares the same pedigree(being from the same family) even though being an all new engine. The fact that RE suggests oil change at 10K kms speaks volumes about engine parts and gearbox which are heavy duty.

RE is like many other products from the post independence era where Indian companies got in collaboration with foreign companies to manufacture and build products. Some other heavy duty products that share the same story as RE are namely Ralli(India) Wolf(UK) electrical drill machines, Taparia(India) Bahco(Sweden) Hand Tools, ALCO(USA) DLW(India) Diesel-Electric Locomotives, Crompton Greaves(UK India) wide range of household and industrial products, Willy's(USA) M&M(India), Rootes(UK) Lambretta(Italy) API(India), etc. Most of the Indian companies(and many more I have not mentioned here among which some are now defunct) still carry the legacy of the heavy duty engineering of their technical partners to this day. Even though the products have changed completely but they still retain that heavy duty nature. I hope you get my drift...

Bad news for people in Delhi. The second lot carrying around 42 Himalayans met with an accident en-route. Deliveries might get delayed further. I am absolutely disappointed with this as I had planned a Leh trip in June and wanted to break-in before heading out. What do you guys reckon I should do? I was hoping that this new lot would have a better weld quality as mentioned by someone in this thread earlier.

That's quite terrible! If your bike was a part of this lot, then I do believe the company would still prioritize the deliveries of these customers. What is the dealer saying?

Also, just out of curiosity; does anyone know what the company does with these bikes?

Got in touch with my dealer again today, they have confirmed that a back-up truck has left from Chennai and is mid-way now. Fresh lot would reach Delhi in another 4-5 days. So I am guessing delivery would be delayed by 1-2 weeks. Fingers crossed.

I belong to the Mutineers MC - Meerut. We are primarily a Harley Davidson Club. Some of us are planning to take a motorcycle trip to Leh this August. After going through this review and considering all pros & cons, we decided to go for the Himalayan for the Leh trip. It should be easy to ride and easy to repair just in case something happens!

We went to Shree Mahadev Agency, the RE dealership in Sector 10 Noida for a test drive with cheques in pockets. We had almost made up our minds to put our money on the Himalayan for this trip.

Filled the test ride forms. Submitted our respective driving licenses. All set for the test ride. Surprise! Surprise!! As soon as I sat astride the bike, a guy pops with helmet in hand and insists on riding pillion. I have bought almost a dozen bikes in my riding career which includes a few Super bikes, but never did anyone insist on riding pillion! The normal procedure is that a dealership guy accompanies you on another bike for the test ride!!

Tried reasoning with this Lady who was the Manager at the dealership. Even she kept on insisting that since motorbikes are meant for two people, therefore we should not have any problem with a pillion. She actually had no knowledge of motorcycling or whatsoever!

Reasoned with her that others will stay at the dealership while each one of us takes the test ride. She could also keep my car keys, which is more than 10 times the cost of her Himalayan, as collateral. But she would not budge.

The final blow was when she said that the car could be a stolen vehicle! Never in my life had such a humiliating experience at any automotive dealership!!

When the Sales Experience is like that, I wonder how the After-Sales would be like!

There goes the Himalayan!!

That is really is quite humiliating. How in the world is this dealer selling bikes at all? But I really don't think you should judge the bike/company based on an individual dealership. Are there any other dealerships in town? Call ahead and make a visit.

You must take a test ride of this bike!

I guess there's one more dealership in Noida, SOLITAIRE AUTOMOTIVE in sector - 63. Though I have no idea as to how good they are, you can call them beforehand and make it clear as to what your expectations are from them and their test ride.

Or if you can go till Delhi (it might be a bit far because I think you're based in Meerut, if I am not wrong), you can try the company showrooms in Khan Market and Select City Walk Mall Saket. The company owned showroom guys are generally more professional in their behaviour in my experience.

Hope you have a good ride! :)