[deepfreak15]

I had gone to Acclaim Motors (Yelahanka, North Bangalore) on a Saturday afternoon and asked one of the sales guys for a test ride, all he asked was to see my DL and told me to write my name, number and address on a form. When he handed me the keys he asked me to be careful with the bike. I had to tell him my life was more valuable than the bike and would indeed be careful!

The Bike:
I own a Duke200 so my layman's assessment would be a direct comparison with my existing bike. I am not going to talk about the fit and finish as that has already been discussed before. On tarmac the bike feels pretty decent and performance felt almost at par with the D200. But there were a couple of distractions that prevented me from making any great observations with respect to performance and brakes. a) The windshield kept vibrating a lot! (bike had done about 4K Kms) b) The dealer had removed the rear-view mirrors, which I realized a few seconds after I started my ride!! I cannot ride/drive any vehicle without a RVM and that spoilt the test ride for me as I had to focus more on what might be coming from behind. That said 100 kmph came up fairly quick.I get wind noise on my D200 at these speeds however on the Himalayan it was more pronounced and had a booming effect and was loud enough to drown out any exhaust note. The bike did not feel heavy or unwieldy.

The Revelation!
For you guys in North Bangalore if you notice the road below the elevated highway from the airport , it looks exactly like a testing ground for an off road bike/car. Boy was it a joy on the Himalayan. Standing up on the pegs was never so easy. I do the same on my D200 but I have to shift my feet a few inches and then stand up .Try doing that a day after you have done a heavy leg workout, by the time your muscles react to your brain input the bad stretch is over (Somehow I dont think this will be a problem on the Himalayan). The way the D200 is set up, when I ride standing up over bad terrain at a fair clip the rear starts bouncing around and I have to compensate by shifting my body back. However it was butter smooth
on the Himalayan. This bike is just meant for these roads.Period!

The Dealer:
Oh my! Lack of enthusiasm (maybe because it was at 3:30pm). There was a guy wearing a t-shirt that said " RE crew" on it. When I asked him what material the seats were made of had no clue (reason I asked, the material does not look like it can take any abuse, felt like felt).When I asked him why the windshield vibrates so much and why there were nuts missing from the battery cover he quickly pointed out that he was not in charge of the Himalayan sales and asked another salesman to look after me and that guy had no clue why he was in the showroom in the first place . The moment I got down from my test ride a group of guys who looked like friends of the salesman showed up and the keys were handed over to them, no paper work was done (unlike my case) which left me wondering , if something did go wrong with the bike (I sincerely hope it doesn't) wouldn't the records show I was the last rider?

Verdict: Would I buy the Himalayan
Hell YES! I would have paid the booking amount right then and there, waited for the said 100 days, taken delivery of the Himalayan, sold my D200 and bought one of the 390's Duke/RC (No point keeping the D200 in the same stable as the Himalayan). So what stopped me ? The dealer did not care. I stood for a few minutes waiting for the sales pitch but there was none. I smiled sweetly at them gathered my gloves, helmet and walked to my bike and no one bothered to even ask if I was interested in picking it up or any other RE motorcycle. So guess I will find an RE dealer who is enthusiastic in selling me a bike.

Query: Most auto journalists have complained the bike needed another 10PS , how easy/difficult is it to get an extra 10PS out of the LS410 once purchased?

[AnniHilat0R]

Can anyone tell me whats the rough waiting period for the Himalayan in Maharashtra, Mumbai/Thane to be specific. Unfortunately, I am away on company work and cant cross-check with my local dealer. Thinking of buying one as a gift for my old man !

[Gordon]

Last I heard it's four months.

[P.S.]

3 months as per friend living in thane. He'd gone for TD a few weeks back

[AnniHilat0R]

Thanks a lot for the reply Gordon and P.S. Appreciate it !

[nasirkaka]

Query: Most auto journalists have complained the bike needed another 10PS , how easy/difficult is it to get an extra 10PS out of the LS410 once purchased?

It will be anyone's guess as no one is really tried performance mods as of now, but based on my C5 experiments, i guess one should be able to extract a few extra horses at first stage by changing the carb to a Non-CV, flat slide type with appropriate jetting and tuning which would also improve the throttle response and put on a free flow intake and exhaust. Someone willing to go a bit extra could explore possibilities of a bigger piston with dedicated sleeve, boosting the compression, etc. LS410 inspite of being a new engine appears to be not too complex and very shortly guys like indomotard will do their own R&D with respect to improved performance. There seems to be scope, would depend on how far one is willing to go interms of spending time, effort and money.

[ku69rd]

Originally Posted by nasirkaka

guess one should be able to extract a few extra horses at first stage by changing the carb to a Non-CV, flat slide type with appropriate jetting and tuning which would also improve the throttle response and put on a free flow intake and exhaust.

A Flat slide will be suitable for those hi-revs and will for sure hamper your mid range. Am sure any experienced tuner can make the running much better with just the right jetting. For these bikes I would put my onus more on Initial & Mid Range rather than outright top end.
If it reaches a 115 to 120 with relative ease am a happy man.

Originally Posted by deepfreak15

The Dealer:
Oh my! Lack of enthusiasm

HSR has been my regular go to dealer and find them thoroughly good..

Any idea when the deliveries are beginning?

[san9jay]

Got My bike back after its 500km first service.

I had complained about the following things:-

- Missing bolt on the Himalayan logo
- Cold engine starting issues
- Very loud tappet noise
- Weak front brakes

The dealer arranged for the bike to be collected from my residence and dropped back.
Cost of the first service was Rs 957/- which included an oil change and oil filter change.

Happy to report the issues reported were all taken care of (except the front brake issue, which I guess is not unique to my bike) and the bike is running much smoother now. The tappet noise is history.

Overall very happy with the customer service from Enfield and the work done in the first service.

/sanjay

[surjaonwheelz]

/sanjay

Oil change + oil filter = 957 < RE 350 service charges! This is strange as oil change interval was said to be 10,000 kms. Did you find out which engine oil they used? Can you upload some pics of the owner's manual about the vehicle maintenance schedule and jobs.

Happy riding!

[Urban_Nomad]

^^ Almost all bike manuals suggest the first oil change @1000 kms. Subsequent changes would be whatever's listed as the service interval

[rahulkodinya]

Thanks Sanjay. How much warranty is given by RE? Any provision for Extended warranty?

[Jude300]

And finally, we get a good comparo here. Happy to see that Himalayan gets a thumbs up in the comparision.

Comparo: Royal Enfield Himalayan vs KTM 200 Duke vs Mahindra Mojo

[petrolhead_neel]

Also, as many of us here were interested about the Rev'It Darcha series of riding gear, here are links of the reviews by Shubhabrata Marmar of Overdrive:

Pants:
http://overdrive.in/features/product...-darcha-pants/

Jacket:
http://overdrive.in/features/product...darcha-jacket/

Regards,
Neel

[abhishek46]

Originally Posted by san9jay

Happy to report the issues reported were all taken care of (except the front brake issue, which I guess is not unique to my bike) and the bike is running much smoother now. The tappet noise is history.

Hi,
I am curious to know, what did they do to get rid of the tappet noise?

[san9jay]

Originally Posted by rahulkodinya

Thanks Sanjay. How much warranty is given by RE? Any provision for Extended warranty?

Twenty four months of warranty. No idea of extended warranty

Originally Posted by surjaonwheelz

/sanjay

Oil change + oil filter = 957 < RE 350 service charges! This is strange as oil change interval was said to be 10,000 kms. Did you find out which engine oil they used? Can you upload some pics of the owner's manual about the vehicle maintenance schedule and jobs.

Happy riding!

First service at 500km.

Service interval every 5000km

Oil change every 10000km

I have attached a few of the relevant service Manual pages