[man_of_steel]

Originally Posted by rahulkodinya

- Front wheel balancing (After I hit a really bad pothole, brake pad was rubbing against disc. Went 2 times to Service center to get that fixed, but still there is a slight rubbing)

For a disc brake setup the pads will always be in contact with the disc, though it won't create any resistance while on the move. Pretty surprising that you noticed it after hitting the pothole. What (Sound/resistance/other) made you notice the rubbing?

[rahulkodinya]

Originally Posted by man_of_steel

For a disc brake setup the pads will always be in contact with the disc, though it won't create any resistance while on the move. Pretty surprising that you noticed it after hitting the pothole. What (Sound/resistance/other) made you notice the rubbing?

After that pothole incident, I noticed a 'hum' sound from front wheel for speeds >80. It was similar to the sound worn wheel bearings. Later found it was a scraping sound coming from disc brake assembly and appears only in certains positions of the wheel. After balancing it has reduced a lot.

[nasirkaka]

However, the biggest issue being faced today for RE Himalayan owners is the lack of refinement and cheap quality parts resulting in breakdowns (The stator coil) and hard gear shifts due to lack of refinement in clutch & gear assembly. Can't believe customers in 2016 have to deal with these probs in a motorcycle.

Stator coil issues and RE go hand in hand since the days of machismo 500, most of which had these issues. Could be something to do with long stroke engines?? not sure. It even failed on my 350 machismo when i had it.

- Front wheel balancing (After I hit a really bad pothole, brake pad was rubbing against disc. Went 2 times to Service center to get that fixed, but still there is a slight

Not at all trying to point at you, but the issue with these adventure positioned bikes is that sometimes we take the tag a bit too serious and go fast over all kind of terrain thinking the bike will take anything. Himalayan is still built rugged, a lot of my versys group people have tried some adventure ( read going into big potholes at higher speeds) and have come-out with dented alloys and other damages. Whatever the breed of bike, a bit of CAUTION always helps.

[sdubey23]

Originally Posted by nasirkaka

Stator coil issues and RE go hand in hand since the days of machismo 500, most of which had these issues. Could be something to do with long stroke engines?? not sure. It even failed on my 350 machismo when i had it.


Not at all trying to point at you, but the issue with these adventure positioned bikes is that sometimes we take the tag a bit too serious and go fast over all kind of terrain thinking the bike will take anything. Himalayan is still built rugged, a lot of my versys group people have tried some adventure ( read going into big potholes at higher speeds) and have come-out with dented alloys and other damages. Whatever the breed of bike, a bit of CAUTION always helps.

On the stator coil issue: With RE, i'm sure its a coil quality issue than long stroke considering our past experiences.

On Versys: I don't think Versys is an offroading machine. Its more of a road bike, a highway tourer which can handle some bad roads provided the rider exercises due caution while riding on such roads. It is not meant to be taken completely offroad or even 'ridden hard' on bad surfaces.

[vittalnrv]

Dear folks, am in bit of dilemma here and request mods if needed to move my post to appropriate thread.

I've been using my ninja 650 since 2014 for my daily commute between my home and office. Round trip of 30kms in dense traffic. The bike feels top heavy, frying hot and attractive!

Recently test rode both Himalayan and CL500, my height being 6.1", I fell in love with the 500 for it's neutral posture and performance. But, was also swoon in with the imposing looks of Himalayan. My primary usage commuting within city.

I may zero in on CL500 due to it's FI advantage, appearance mods scope, performance tuning with the likes of RaceDynamics , RedRoosters.

I will keep my 650 for short bursts during weekends.

Kindly educate me on ownership scope of Himalayan compared to 650 and CL500

[nasirkaka]

Dear folks, am in bit of dilemma here and request mods if needed to move my post to appropriate thread.

I've been using my ninja 650 since 2014 for my daily commute between my home and office. Round trip of 30kms in dense traffic. The bike feels top heavy, frying hot and attractive!

Recently test rode both Himalayan and CL500, my height being 6.1", I fell in love with the 500 for it's neutral posture and performance. But, was also swoon in with the imposing looks of Himalayan. My primary usage commuting within city.

I may zero in on CL500 due to it's FI advantage, appearance mods scope, performance tuning with the likes of RaceDynamics , RedRoosters.

I will keep my 650 for short bursts during weekends.

Kindly educate me on ownership scope of Himalayan compared to 650 and CL500

No experience with owership of Himalayan, but will share my thoughts from C5 ownership perspective. Especially when its Bangalore as your city, half of which has off-road track instead of roads, the Himalayan makes more sense. C5 does not show a LOT of difference in real life even with all those mods. FI is more expensive to maintain esp when from RE as the system consists of fuel pump, injector, ECU, all sensors etc all of which are more expensive to maintain and less versatile compared to a carb which is a much simpler tech and can easily be fixed by a road side mechanic. Infact, a carb also gives a lot of freedom to tinker with the performance based mods. So when it comes to RE, its not always "new tech" is better. I have burnt my fingers along with the entire wiring harness on my first gen CL500 with FI. Also, even if you able to make the bike fast by performance mods, what will you do wit frame and brakes?? that frame is not designed for speeds. Comparatively the continental GT and Himalayan fares better with frame, although they are very heavy. If i was in your place, i would have gone for the H between the two, try multiple test rides on both and take your call.

[Sridhar K]

Finally got my Himalayan snow white delivered on Saturday. There were delays due to TN political situation, impact of cyclone vardah (RTO was not working for almost a week) and then due to me being out of town.

Have done close to 200 kms in the last three days and enjoying the bike pretty much. a few niggles that I can note
a) A whistling (a whisk..whisk.) sound at lower RPM from the engine when it gets heated up (Is it tappet noise?). Have seen this noise in TB350 that my neighbor owns.
b) Misfiring especially when releasing the throttle. Need to take it up during first service

Initial feedback which is very consistent with what most have written here as well as in their ownership thread. Thanks for all the people for their reviews which helped in deciding on this vehicle and the do's and don'ts

My own observations
1. Good ride quality and handling. Handles bad roads very nicely. Broken tarmac no problem
2. Decent break (not so great) . Rear is sharper than the front
3. Very good riding posture and visibility due to the height, like driving an SUV
4. Height is not a problem. My legs touch the floor comfortably. I also got used to getting on and off the bike without the seats fouling with my legs, which I was my biggest worry .
5. Gearing is tall. Need to downshift to first often when going through speed breakers
or taking turns on the road
6. Gear shift is precise but takes a lot of effort especially from 1st to 2nd . Finding neutral is a challenge but I am getting used to it.
7. Being in the running-in period, finding it difficult to keep it at 3K RPM especially considering the tall gearing.
8. Headlight is pretty good though it was pointing a bit skywards. Got it adjusted by FNG mechanic
9. Travelled quite a few kms sitting on the pillion seat and it is pretty comfortable. My wife and friends said the same thing.
10. Driver seat is good though I felt that TB's contoured seat is a lot better. Got the seats covered with a rexin cover at a local lining shop as the matt finish was looking very dull. The seat could have been a bit wider though for my liking
11. Rear view mirror is very flimsy and small. It also vibrates when revved. Planning to replace with Avenger street's mirrors.
12. Got the handle bar slightly tilted towards me to make it comfortable for me
13. Clutch is not very tight but not too light either.
14. Instrument console is pretty good though tacho could have been bigger
15. Compass seems spot on
16. Welds are not greatly done from a looks perspective. Finish on the tanks edges were a bit rough as well.
17. Finish of the silencer is not great. Lot of rough edges which made me wonder if the silencer was a old one.
18. Fuel gauge does not seem to be accurate below half tank.
19. Tyres are pretty good for most roads
18. The front windshield plastic is already scratched even with me washing.
19. Sri Venkateswara bike Zone in Pallikaranai: Experience was so-so. Post booking, had to follow up several times though they were quite accommodative with my change of booking from TB350 to Granite Himalayan to Snow white. Time of delivery, there were several hard water spots on the vehicle. Key were looking dull (not shiny). They were not keen in selling accessories be it an helmet or crash guard despite me showing interest. Finally bought a full mask THH Dot certified helmet. The service center said that they have filled 1.5 litres but before I could ride 5 kms to a good petrol bunk, it ran out of fuel. Was very irritating. The vehicle had 46 kms on the odo (trip to RTO and test drive) and guess they did not fill petrol after the RTO visit.
20. Crash guard is not available anywhere locally. The guy at Amman accessories in Sanatorium had the crash guard but not the fittings .

It has ignited my dormant passion for riding a bike which became dormant once I bought my diesel car. Apart from commute to office, hoping to take it out on small trips around Chennai during the weekend.

[timuseravan]

Originally Posted by vittalnrv

Kindly educate me on ownership scope of Himalayan compared to 650 and CL500

I don't have any experience on the H apart from a longish test ride. I used to own C500. For strictly city commute, there is not too much difference in both. The H has advantage of more comfort especially over our city "roads" while C500 has the fantastic low down torque which is great is slow moving traffic. Off course both come with RE "reliability". The bikes as manufactured keep having some problems all the time - so I would not recommend any mods whatsoever.
Have you considered the mojo or d200. IMO both are better options for city riding depending on your riding sytle.

[Urban_Nomad]

Himalayan launched in Australia for $7190

https://www.rushlane.com/royal-enfie...-12181592.html

Kind of old news but don't remember this being posted here

[Sridhar K]

Update on my vehicle: Engine issues within 200 kms on the odo.

Dropped my vehicle at the service center today to check on the whistling noise and mis firing and they suspect a problem with the engine. Since the vehicle had done 220 odd kms and noise is from the engine, they want the company guys to come and inspect the vehicle before confirming anything per the mandate from RE. They said that this the second vehicle recently with a similar problem and in the last case, RE changed the engine itself.

RE Reliability at its best

[timuseravan]

Originally Posted by Sridhar K

Update on my vehicle: Engine issues within 200 kms on the odo.

Dropped my vehicle at the service center today to check on the whistling noise and mis firing and they suspect a problem with the engine. Since the vehicle had done 220 odd kms and noise is from the engine, they want the company guys to come and inspect the vehicle before confirming anything per the mandate from RE. They said that this the second vehicle recently with a similar problem and in the last case, RE changed the engine itself.

RE Reliability at its best

Start emailing and pressurizing RE and dealer right away. A friend had an engine problem with his new TB500 and RE took close to 2 months in replacing his engine.

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by vittalnrv

I may zero in on CL500 due to it's FI advantage, appearance mods scope, performance tuning with the likes of RaceDynamics , RedRoosters.

Well, I have owned a C500 for a while and did a few test rides of the Himalayan

I wasn't too impressed with H as an overall bike (biggest grouch was the low power). It's a comfortable bike to ride and very different from rest of the bullets for sure but, it takes away the lineage of original bullets. I would have liked the H if it had more power and better overall quality

This should be a choice ONLY if you plan to do longer trips

But, for your city needs look no further than the C500 which is a powerful machine and much more pleasurable to own and ride. A simple twist to the throttle is enough to bring a silly grin on your face

Just get them better tyres (stock if i am not wrong are MRF, move to Michelins or something similar and see the difference in ride and handling)

Maintanenace would be similar on both motorcycles being an RE but, I feel C500 is much better built than the H

Btw, my C500 was also the first bike on forum to get a RD chipset

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motorb...-team-bhp.html

And, my Classic 500 ownership report can be found here with most of the info you might be looking at buying and owning this motorcycle

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motorb...umps-home.html

Goodluck and take a well informed decision

[Sridhar K]

Originally Posted by timuseravan

Start emailing and pressurizing RE and dealer right away. A friend had an engine problem with his new TB500 and RE took close to 2 months in replacing his engine.

Thank you. The service manager mentioned that it will take time to get sorted but did not realize that it will take that long. I have already written a complaint to RE and they have responded that the Territory service manager and the regional service manager will be calling me. Will keep following up daily from now on. Paying the price for skipping the PDI prior to registration. Did PDI of all my cars but missed this due to my tight schedule.

[sharkbait]

I have been following this thread for a while and I am surprised that no one other than the one guy mentioned the launch of the FI + ABS version of the Himalayan that was launched at EICMA 2016 in Nov this year.

Having contemplated about scoring a Himalayan as an upgrade to a 2003 AVL Thunderbird 350 for a long time, the FI ABS version really piqued my interest. I did a 1400 kms (rental) road trip from Bangalore to the western ghats and back and had a blast riding the Himalayans then. I can only imagine how much the bike would benefit from the addition of ABS and fuel injection.

Here's a snippet of an image of the bike off the internet



I tried getting more details from a dealer here in Mumbai, but he claimed no knowledge on any launch dates for the country.
Anyone else knows anything about this or tentative dates for launch? I am quite keen on scoring the Himalayan, but was waiting on the G310 GS until i discovered the news of the launch of the ABS + FI Himalayan at EICMA.

Thoughts?

[Sridhar K]

Got my vehicle back today. RE engineers, who inspected the bike said that there is no issue with the engine. The SA said that they had made a few adjustments, cleaned air filter, torqueing of bolts. I could notice that they have played around with the idling.

Drove around 20 kms and noticed the whisk whisk noise is not there anymore. The misfiring has come down quite a few but not completely gone. The vehicles revs a bit more freely now.

Will be riding more over the weekend and hopefully things the whisk whisk noise does not re-appear. Wondering where to arrange for the crash guard