[ishan12]

Originally Posted by Jaguar

Keep dreaming. The current Himalayan is around 1.9 lakh on road. The 400 cc version will be at least a lakh dearer.

Originally Posted by ash22

If RE listens to its customer's feedback and fixes the niggles and come up with a quality Himalayan, 400CC ADV within 2 lakhs on-road is still a worth buying.

The current Himalayan is already 411CC. Did you guys mean Himalayan 650?

[navin_v8]

Having been riding RE's from all genres (CI's type G2(1961), B1(1969), LX(1996), AVL(2004), UCE(2015 Tbird500) since past many years, I have never been stranded EVER, except for once when battery on my brand new Tbird500 conked off while on a long ride. Not the bike's fault per se as the Exide battery was faulty.

Out of all RE bikes that I own, G2 and B1 have been the most reliable and easy to fix despite being oldest of the lot. AVL runs like a charm and starts in 2-3 if not 1 kick. UCE Tbird500 has been taken to the hell and back and not even a single puncture as yet and engine ticks like a Japanese quartz watch. My 96 CI model too runs well and like other older bikes have seen replacement of speedometer due to age. All the bikes have run considerable amount of KM's and continue to serve me well like Tharian's Electra does. While all these bikes continue to use the same chassis which dates back to 1950's design with very minor tweaks to their design. They are very robust and can take a beating.

Coming to the Himalayan. Like I mentioned in other thread I still feel RE should have stuck with tried and tested round tube design instead of this box rectangle contraption. If RE can add plates on either side of box chassis where it meets the round tube head then I believe it will give much needed strength to the chassis.

Noraly from Itchyboots channel did say that her steering cone set bearings failed twice which is kinda premature at every 11000 KM's out of her 36,000 odd KM's. She managed to fix a local bearing while riding through Kazakhstan which according to her is still holding up well.

I know this may sound a bit weird but is there a way where one can reinforce the chassis on their own by welding plates on either side of the box section to make it strong. Engineering and metallurgical experts please chip in with your thoughts.

[gkveda]

Those who have run RE without issues and without stranded in mid of road, beware of your bike. You may have got a lemon.

Original RE won't have this bug. They are designed such a way that, at least once a 1000 kms, it strands in mid of nowhere.

This is from one of my cousins. He does not have membership here. But, when he read this thread, he requested me to post above. So, posting on behalf of him.

But, I have seen first hand, his agony. Also, the owners who meet regularly at mechanic shop when I was there along with him and bike, have given similar expressions

[adrian]

The Himalayan was advertised as a bash-able motorcycle by RE itself with their motorcycle testing videos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn_mSxu2fvg

In the above video, you can see the front shocks fully bottoming out transferring the energy of the landing to the frame.


After the failure of the first batch, I wish RE had worked on their front shocks and come up with something like this to strengthen their Himalayan Chassis.




Instead they came up with this joke




Royal Enfields were once made like a gun...sturdy and unbreakable. But now it is just taking advantage of the cult status it once had. What proof you need for this - Compare a 2009-2011 RE standard Bullet and a 2018 Bullet side to side. All that the latter has is aesthetics. Earlier standards had their exhausts mounted to the chassis at two points (in fact three if the bend pipe silencer joint is taken into account). But in 2019 models, the silencer is dangling from a single point. One can find out several examples like this which scream of cost cutting and lack of quality. I ride a 2011 RE Standard and it has never let me down or stranded. I would never ever sell it. But like several others said, that will stay the last product I bought from RE.

[ashwinprakas]

I once got the opportunity to ride a fairly battered RE Himalayan for a short distance, it was the motorcycle ridden by Bikerni Shiny on which she had completed her K2K ride on.


Photo: Mathrubhumi Daily.
Source: Shiny Rajkumar - The ‘Bullet Queen’ who rode to the Himalayas

I could list a hundred reasons to hate the motorcycle including the consistent quality misses and the beating this particular piece had gone through but the way she rolled was spectacular, the center of gravity was super low, lower than anything so tall I'd ridden at the time, and the torque! Felt like she was rolling coal!

And other than the bent parts the motorcycle was running flawlessly, though RE takes care of the motorcycle for Shiny as she is a sponsored rider.

Which makes me wonder, if it were't for the consistent misses this would've been something to look forward to when the time was right.

Though with Sid being taken over by someone more qualified in automotive engineering I'm still hopeful about the future of the Himalayan, though again only time would tell.

Regards,
A.P.

[Rajiv0909]

Originally Posted by 2000rpm

Anyone here with an RE with 100000 kms on the ODO without being stranded? I think with my Unicorn and CBZ, I have never been stranded, even with a 2001 CBZ. (combined running well over 100000)

REs are the blondes of the biking world - Irritating and dumb, but, who cares as long as they are droolworthy!

Pegging 2 against one ? How many of these 100K were off the road? 50K on H and counting with at least 35K off the road and the balance trying to get off it. With temperatures ranging from -10 to 45 and altitudes of the highest motorable roads.

Blondes are much more fun than the girl(s) next door

That said, I know of at least 10 Hs that have developed issues and all of them have been through extreme riding conditions

[2000rpm]

Originally Posted by Rajiv0909

Pegging 2 against one ? How many of these 100K were off the road? 50K on H and counting with at least 35K off the road and the balance trying to get off it. With temperatures ranging from -10 to 45 and altitudes of the highest motorable roads.

Blondes are much more fun than the girl(s) next door

That said, I know of at least 10 Hs that have developed issues and all of them have been through extreme riding conditions

My comment was on the overall quality of the RE bikes and Himalayan (being a RE product) inheriting the manufacturing flaws because its an RE Product. Technically all Indian bikes are abused given the condition of the Indian roads but given the expectation from a adventure bike, the bike has a higher benchmark to beat, which I dont think the Himalayan does. After all, the name is Himalayan and not the Sahyadri-an

[Ameya Janvekar]

Originally Posted by 2000rpm

Anyone here with an RE with 100000 kms on the ODO without being stranded? I think with my Unicorn and CBZ, I have never been stranded, even with a 2001 CBZ. (combined running well over 100000)

REs are the blondes of the biking world - Irritating and dumb, but, who cares as long as they are droolworthy!

Hi

Was just going through the thread. I was a proud owner of a 2003 RE Electra which I ran for about 80k kms till around 2015 maybe before selling it due to my knee problem. The only times was stranded was due to punctures, that too exactly thrice. & as all will agree a puncture & a brand have no relation at all. It can happen to a humble Russian Lada to a British Silver Ghost.

Tried a hand on many bikes, was inclining for a Bonnie but finally keeping all in consideration settled for a Himalayan. I Know they are as different as gourmet cheese & desi chalk, but the sheer fear of being stranded with something as basic as puncture on a Bonnie, made my decision to go in for a Himalayan.

I did have a 500UCE for about a year in between & it was no way a BULLET.

The Himalayan feels more better in most instances expect maybe the lack of a torque kick that is observed in the 500UCE.

My friend still has his 2005 CB Bullet 350 & is in no mood of selling it.

[VijayAnand1]

RE would pretty much be in tears, if it weren't for the recent 650 twins. The company seems to be still built by old timers, and dinosaurville manufacturing facilities. If you see some of the posts of the factory tour, it surprises me with the level of "woh mera ghar hai" type laid back working attitude. Now, that's all good when it comes to employees' work ethics and what not. But, the dark side of it is, RE doesn't want to improvize.

They work like madmen to create something, and once they've done that, it's shake hands and sulk in the fact that they've created a masterpiece. Done! RE's are the Govt Jobs of Motorcycles, they are slow, full of slack, pittery pattery, full of noise, yet somehow delivers.

I think the cult following of RE will never wane, in fact it will indeed worsen with time, and the current stats back them up.

I own a Himalayan BS4, and in my 7k plus of ownership experience, I haven't had any major troubles whatsoever, apart from replacing my console for fogging issues, which was done promptly by the RE. Apart from that she's running fine.

The chassis weld definitely has "TONS" of room for improvement, so are chassis fastener treads, they are very brittle. A little bit force, and baam, you end up screwing the threads. The bolt/screw quality are surprisingly good, but the threads in the chassis aren't. The welds at many point are nothing but gross tack welds, weld bubbles/porosity and it shows prominent cost cutting, and the testament to that is in the real world evidences we see.


I am surprised and proud, how RE was able to create such a lovely chassis and equally disappointed, how they lacked to astuteness to take it for granted and weld it with cardboard thickness - throughout.

It happens for some, it doesn't happen for some. But the fact that, it can happen to anyone, anytime is the crux of the matter.

I can go on and on about my observations and experiences. But, I'll stop it at that

Cheers!
VJ

[VijayAnand1]

Interestingly, this video is at the right time, and explained by the Hemant Dharbar. A nice chap who manufactures his own stuff and quite a hands on guy, and worth a watch.

Practically, spot on and detailed video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjAKfi9wnXE

Cheers!
VJ

[RedTerrano]

Interesting discussion this.
Though I stopped biking around 2006 (used to ride a RE Bullet back then) thanks to my interest in travel and adventure, I have been following a Dutch lady's journey from India back to the Netherlands. A fantastic route of 36,000 KM...on a RE Himalayan
Her bike seems to have fared rather well on the arduous adventures

https://www.itchyboots.com/route

[aadithsince1980]

Originally Posted by RedTerrano

Interesting discussion this.
Though I stopped biking around 2006 (used to ride a RE Bullet back then) thanks to my interest in travel and adventure, I have been following a Dutch lady's journey from India back to the Netherlands. A fantastic route of 36,000 KM...on a RE Himalayan
Her bike seems to have fared rather well on the arduous adventures

https://www.itchyboots.com/route

Well said

Just to put things in perspective, for all the Himalayan bashers who may have unfortunately got themselves a ‘Lemon’ off the RE production line, here’s some news.

My brother used to work for Nomadic Knights, a motorcycle touring company run by a British gentleman whose clients are all from the UK, the main reason being the pound to rupee conversion rate! (Trivia: Sad but true, no Indians are welcome on these tours even if they can afford it, for the owner had some previous bad experiences with our ‘Good Behaviour’).

Anyways, getting to the point, the British gentlemen/owner owns a fleet of close to 40 Himalayans that have been put through the worst of Indian roads, all the way from Khardung la pass in the Himalayas to Kanyakumari countless number of times! And, apart from basic niggles he and the other riders (All from the UK) literally swear by the reliability of the Himalayan!
In fact, many of them have even rated the Himalayan over the motorcycles they use back in the UK!

Now my brother and I have started our own touring company called the Garage Tourer. And you guessed it-The motorcycles we chose to use- The ‘Himalayan’!

As the saying goes- NEVER JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER!

PS: Mods, I’ve used the names of the companies since am part of it and there aren’t any issues in using the names (Apart from the owner’s name, who wants to keep it discreet).
Also do note, am in no way trying to use the forum to promote the companies. Thanks!

[Jaggu]

Originally Posted by RedTerrano

Her bike seems to have fared rather well on the arduous adventures

https://www.itchyboots.com/route

And she is rather careful with the bike, so I guess it is the usage that matter. If you are careful with the bike it should work well. But then again when you are on an adventure ride, things may not be fully under your control. And whatever said and done since Himalayan is pitched as an adventure tourer, little more strength added at design will help. Personally I love the bike having used it in Leg, but will stay far away from owning it due to silly and niggling issues and uncertainties.

Most frequent issues reported (and faced by friends), coils going bust, cone going bust, clutch plates needing replacement at 15k intervals (this is as per manual), are all painful if you are on a long trip to unknown.

[IndigoXLGrandDi]

I had received the following video over WhatsApp in August 2019.
Royal Enfield Bullet Vs TVS XL accident.

https://youtu.be/DbIk1Av2EQo

Don't how much true it is.

[alpha1]

Originally Posted by IndigoXLGrandDi

I had received the following video over WhatsApp in August 2019.
Royal Enfield Bullet Vs TVS XL accident.


Don't how much true it is.

We don't know:
1) whether there was a collision between Enfield and TVS
2) whether the collision was the cause of Enfield's plight
3) whether Enfield's condition was caused by some other obstruction in its path