[aahlawat]

Wait for the Africa Twin, But I suppose your budget is limited.

In my opinion, go for the Himalayan as it is a motorcycle which is easy to work on, Plus Royal Enfield have no issues regarding parts. (They have a shop in leh!)

Having ridden the himalayan, i can assure you that the motorcycles chassis is SORTED. It is built to ride pavement as well as the dirt, and if I was looking for a dual sport bike under 4L, it would be my pick.

The Mojo began as a sportsbike, And turned into I dont know what. I would not recommend it.

[Red Liner]

Purely to choose between the two, I would recommend the himalayan too. It's a get and go bike, very utilitarian, and throw anywhere and pick it up bike. Honestly it'd a bike that I wouldn't mind throwing down a cliff and walking away from. If I was on a budget and didn't care for an aspirational value, this is THE bike to go for right now.

Ofcourse there's a lot of loose talk about the ktm adv 390, but it'd just that, loose talk. Since you are only heading out for an adventure in 2017, I suggest you wait for the himalayan to sort it's niggles out, as well as for any news of other adv tourers in the market. Might serve you good.

[Siddy]

Out of the two, I would recommend the Himalayan. The low end torque is just perfect for trials, it is a purpose built motorcycle and would be ideal for the Leh trip.

But, if you plan to ride from Indore all the way, then the highway ride would be really boring. I don't expect the RE to ride at high speeds comfortably (reason - low bhp's), I could be wrong here (I've ridden the Himalayan for short distances only).

The seating position would be ideal and the long suspension travel is just what you need. You can carry lots of luggage easily and travel comfortably.

I don't think there are any new launches coming up in this segment in near future. The KTM 390 adventure is not confirmed yet.

Regarding the Mojo, it's not really a adventure tourer, its more of a normal tourer. The GC is pretty less to go on trials, wheels are a standard 17 inches, has alloy wheels which a no-no for off-roading and the suspension travel is standard too. But it would be fun to ride on the highways.
Test ride both the bikes back to back and finalize! Happy buying!

[BeantownThinker]

Why don't you expand your options to include the Versys 650? Or as someone suggested you can wait for the Africa Twin.

My suggestion will be, do a test ride of the Himalayan, the Mojo, the Benelli, the Kawasaki Versys and the Tiger XRx. It does not matter if it is in you budget or not for you to do the test ride. Once you do this you will know for sure what is it exactly that you want and how far are you willing to stretch your budget to get it.

Also since you will be doing leh-ladakh on a bike, buy the bike early and get used to its behaviour by going on short to medium distance rides.

Hope this helps.

[rahulba]

I'm not sure which all bikes you have checked/tested so far but would suggest you to include CBR 250 in the list (if not considered already). It is one reliable proven piece of machine in touring community. I have been through that dilemma recently and picked up CBR 250 due to following reasons.

1. ABS (missing in mojo)
2. Alloys and tubeless tires (missing in Himalyan)
3. FI engine (missing in Himalyan)
4. Proven reliability. There are cases of people using it for more than 1 Lac kms and it's still running fine.
5. Quality product

In terms of seating position, other two have an advantage over CBR 250 but it isn't that CBR 250 has an aggressive seating position to make you uncomfortable. And after riding CBR 250 for close to 2k kms, I can easily say that it's much much better than famous tourer RE Bullet Electra (which has pathetic soft foam seats IMHO).

So I would suggest you to take time (since you have plenty) and test ride all possible options and then decide (who knows you might pick KTM after that ).

[amit_purohit20]

The reason for selecting a bike out of the two bikes you have mentioned should not be going to Leh.

The reasons should be - Am I going to off-road? Am i the guy who off-roads in the true sense? It means jumping your bike, both wheels in the air blah blah etc etc.

Himalayan:
1) Real off-roading.
2) Want comfortable pillion seat. (This is only if you are going to Leh with a pillion)
3) You want loads of space to tie your luggage and you carry a lot of luggage on your trips, like camping gear, Photography gear etc.

Mojo:
1) Better vehicle for a once in a year trip to Leh v/s the kms you drive on paved roads.
2) Refined and better engine.
3) Tubeless tyres are a boon especially in Leh.

My choice would be Mojo base on practicality and based on the miles you would spend on paved roads v/s off-roading. Also very few people do real off-roading and carry a lot of luggage with them. (I have to truthfully admit I have not driven the Himalayan)

On looks and meant for purpose the Himalayan beats the Mojo down.

[phamilyman]

Originally Posted by farhadtarapore

Pics please. Seriously.

In order to avoid cluttering this thread - I posted it on - http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motorb...handlebar.html

It rides beautifully. The cornering doesn't feel as "connected" but it manages the curves just as well as earlier

Total cost ~1000-1200.

Coming back to Tanuj's question - I would also suggest something different although its no longer considered "sexy" - the Karizma.

Its a proven tourer - works well on all roads, has next to zero niggles. It is really reliable and has been thoroughly tested even in rallies like raid de himalaya by many many folks. It is low on power, but is otherwise an inexpensive reliable package that is a solid performer on a limited budget.

[Hammer & Anvil]

The wish list would be
The Himalayan remapped to produce torque closer from 1800 onwards and the peak torque at about 3500-4500.
I have nothing to say about other bikes.
I love the brand and the tours that RE undertakes- Bhutan, Leh, Rajasthan and the manner in whic they conduct the RM in Goa every November- and therefore am biased towards owning a RE product.

[rohing]

At the end of the day, a bike is a personal choice and also depends on usage patterns and terrain. We have a riding group that has a Himalayan (mine), Dominar, Thunderbird, Avengers. We do atleast 1 trip a month which is approx. 700 km roundtrip and usually covered in 12 hours. In addition, I ride the bike to office every single day in Bangalore traffic. Given this usage pattern, the Himalayan is hands down best bike in the pack.

1. 4 lane highways: Dominar dominates here for sure but Himalayan definitely manages to keep up. We ride hard doing 110+ sometimes hours together. The avengers fall behind and struggle.

2. State Highways: The Himalayan are equal here. If the state highway is bad then Dominar quickly falls behind

3. Everywhere else: The Himalayan surges way ahead of the other bikes - there is no comparison period.

We tour the western ghats mostly and really bad roads, waterlogging, slush etc. is quite common. In such conditions, esp riding in the rain, Himalayan is very confidence inspiring.

Then we get to the post 5pm zone - when we have covered 500+ kms and tired and wet and your rear is sore to say the leasr. This is the time all my friends really beg to ride my bike. Even after the long drive the HImalayan keeps you comfortable.

Obviously, every horse has it course. But for the usage pattern above, there is no other bike to beat the Himalayan at this price point or even at 2 lakhs higher.

[ashwin1224]

Just finished a spiti ride on my duke 390. I was leading 5 himalayans, admittedly my bike has minor mods to improve it offroad, but no where did the bike miss a beat. On the off roads, the bike flew like a bird, on tarmac it is amazing unquestionably. I did bust both my oil seals but I topped them with fork oil once and then got em fixed at Manali.

People do say that the duke is not for offroading, or touring, or that its limited fuel tank is a deal breaker. All of these are valid points. But you dont get a bike for logical reasons. You get it coz your heart loves it. Everything else is secondary. You can make anything work. There was an RC that did the spiti circuit with me as well. Its as they say, its not the ride, its the rider

[The_Mad_Hatter]

Originally Posted by ashwin1224

People do say that the duke is not for offroading, or touring, or that its limited fuel tank is a deal breaker.

Coming from a company that's known probably more for its off-road bikes than anything else, I'd say that the 390 does have some traces of its heritage. You can see

here

where the reviewer says that the D390 feels like a Supermoto.

[IshaanIan]

I recently had the chance to sample a friend's RE Himalayan that had just got back from the service center. So I though't I'd put down my thoughts here:

Riding the bike feels like sitting on a tall chair; quite a commanding view and although I prefer sportbikes, I enjoyed being able to see far ahead and not having cars block my view when compared to my riding stance on my RC390 where I have to literally stand on the footpegs in traffic to see what's going on. I also found the motor to be much much more refined than all the other Royal Enfields and I felt the brakes to be pretty responsive too. The speedometer was floating up and down though and was only accurate to +/- 10kph (bringing up memories of scooters from the 90s like the luna) which was odd and I just put that down as a sign of Royal Enfield's infamous quality control. Has anyone else experienced the same with their Himalyan? I found the gearshift also to be a bit vague but the clutch felt very nice and light. As far as performance goes, I have to say that I was a bit disappointed. The engine is clearly tuned for more low-end torque as it felt out of its comfort zone redlining in every gear and overall I thought the bike felt about as fast (in terms of sheer straight line acceleration and speed) as an R15 but at the same time it didn't like being revved out so it felt a bit slower actually. Suspension was sublime everything that has to be said has already been said. I literally spent the last leg of the journey searching for potholes and other bumps to go over on the side of the road

Overall it was quite a fun bike but I would personally pick something like the Dominar for touring. As although I can appreciate the ability to tackle bad roads and fly over bumps that went unnoticed and go mud plugging, I live for the moments on smooth tarmac and the Dominar is definitely a much quicker bike there. Sad to see sales of the Dominar go so low though. I have a feeling they should have just named it the Dominar instead of adding the 400 badge. The aam junta reads 400 and expects "modern" KTM 390 levels of performance with absolutely no sensitivity towards different applications and various states of tune. So I feel this could have given it somewhat of bad press amongst the general public.

In the end, if given a choice between the two, while I'd choose a Dominar, I'd totally understand why someone else would choose a Himalayan. Not something I can say of Royal Enfields' other models though

[Pahadi.Officer]

Now that we have the KTM Adventure 390 in the market, I suppose this thread warrants a relook.A question to set the ball rolling, what would be recommended for a beginner tourer?
1. Himalayan BS6
2. KTM ADV 390
3. Versys 650?

[jaysmokesleaves]

Originally Posted by Pahadi.Officer

Now that we have the KTM Adventure 390 in the market, I suppose this thread warrants a relook.A question to set the ball rolling, what would be recommended for a beginner tourer?
1. Himalayan BS6
2. KTM ADV 390
3. Versys 650?

You might want to add the Suzuki VStrom to this list?
1. Himalayan BS6
2. KTM ADV 390
3. Versys 650?
4. Suzuki Vstrom 650

[cool_dube]

I am in the market for a tourer, with absolutely no intention to indulge in track riding or dirt biking. Of course, the bike should be able to handle bad roads (or no roads) leading to good destinations, with aplomb My budget is strictly restricted to INR 4 lac.

Now, as per most media reviews, the latest (read 2021) iteration of RE Himalayan is the most "evolved" version of the motorcycle till date, with most quirks and quality issues ironed out. That makes it a real VFM proposition at ~2.7 lac on-road here in Bangalore, IMHO.

The only other option that is playing out in my mind is a pre-owned Kawasaki Versys 650, if I can get one in good condition within my budget. How likely am I to get one here, in Bangalore? Assuming I do, which of the two should I go for?

Thanks in advance for your inputs.