[Nilesh5417]

Originally Posted by aviator1101

I agree. The initial hype for the event and then the kind of environment they created by introducing the e-Himalayan and then pointed at the 452 and said "today's day is this bike's day" and then ended almost abruptly was a complete anticlimax.

Attachment 2527857
Even the poor CEO kept struggling with his mic and poor audio for most of his part, to the extent that the availability dates were not heard clearly by the audience and he had to repeat the same.

Hilarious part was when he said it will be available in India from November 24, some people would have thought he meant "wait till November 2024" and skipped a heart beat.

Anyways, give what excuse you may, the event lacked content and was way below what customers expected.

Hope the bike lives upto the promises made.

This event was unlike recent RE launches which were polished. Too many gaffes, issues today. But even if everything worked well as designed, what else was to share except the date of price reveal and availability?

[ram.iyer95]

Noticed in one of Abhinav Bhatt's recent YouTube uploads that the bike does 80kmph at 4000 RPM in 6th gear. I was checking a lot of YouTube videos to find out the cruising RPMs in the top gear, and this is the max that I could find. I guess we can extrapolate that 100kmph would be anywhere around 5000-5500 RPM, which should translate into a relaxed cruise.

[aviator1101]

Originally Posted by ebonho

Lets call a spade a spade. Himalayans break. And many have broken. Pretty spectacularly across the country. Stories on social media abound.

Unless you have similar stories of the KTMs (the Triumphs being admittedly too new) I think that is a gloss over of a very uncomfortable historical fact.

Sir, with all due respect, I would like to state a few facts. Before I do so, let me clarify that I do not mean any offence to the senior members who have commented on the topic earlier, nor do I intend to cash in on patriotic sentiments and support something wrong or sub standard.

Firstly, most manufacturers have had a bad past, either with quality, or financial stability, or something or the other.

Triumph as we see it today, went broke at one point of time and had to be rescued by a British businessman. They even suffered from leaking engines to such an extent that their engineers made a planned visit to Japanese production facilities to learn a thing or two about modern engines.

The much talked about KTM went almost bankrupt in 1991 due to poor sales and their management was transferred to a consortium of creditor banks.

Even the original Royal Enfield company had to shut shop in 1971 and the legacy was carried forward by the Indian offshoot.

But that's not the point. What matters is how they have overcome their problems and survived. And since Siddharth Lal has taken over the reins, there has been no looking back for RE. Today, from a company once rescued by a tractor manufacturer, they are a globally recognized brand.

Coming to quality and chassis breakage issues
2021 Tiger Rally pro frame breakage issue has been covered in this article. Please read at the link below :
https://www.advrider.com/f/threads/2...n-bdr.1563187/

Who says KTMs don't break?
THEY DO. Kindly watch the video below.

https://youtu.be/fRh9PdvEbfk?si=_BiaZ8CAZTIt6L9r

We don't come to know, lot of things are shoved under the carpet. Anybody who has faced an issue with these brands and suffered at their hands will tell you a completely different story.

In India we get what is called the baby KTM family with 390 being the highest displacement. And these bikes face scorn in European markets as being made in India. It's sad but a fact, let's face it.
The bike which many members are praising here has been mocked off by a British gentleman rudely in his channel again mentioning it as Indian made.

https://youtu.be/PUcnNjUECEw?si=ATv1sJba8DLZ0FWt

No doubt it is good, maybe better than many competitors but if we play down our home grown products, who will promote them?
Whatever comes with a foren label is not always good.

There have been no reports of Himalayan BS6 chassis breakage reports, whatever be the method to rectify. So why play down a new product which is yet to prove itself? Give it a chance at least. I've booked one. And I'm happy I did. Even if it breaks down, at least the service support/coverage that I'll get from RE pan India, no other brand can even dream of.

To conclude,
I'm not saying X is bad and Y is good, or vice versa
My only humble request is : a brand new product has been launched. Let's not kill the child in the cradle.

Once again, apologies in advance, if someone is hurt from the contents of this post, the intention was absolutely not so.

Regards and safe miles.

[Gordon]

This thread is not about the old Himalayan, and the new has no common parts with the old model.

I don't see how KTM is making it's way in this thread, especially when no one has even taken a test ride yet of the New Himalayan.

If the intent is to increase KTM numbers, I'd be very happy if prospective buyers are convinced by these arguments and buy a KTM and join the KTM community. At least they'd be out of the Enfield community.

I see no value add any more in this part of the discussion.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by ebonho

Let us not go overboard in our brand love and adulation as to not see the obvious.

To someone who has not been involved in this conversation actively and just catching up on a lot of these posts - looks just the opposite to me! Equating the old Himalayan to the new one and then those to old Bullets and repeating the same again and again - I think is just refusing to let go off the old stereotypes (that may be rightfully built over the years from your experiences, but are your brand perceptions and bias nevertheless).

This frame doesn't look anything like the old one and Royal Enfield's engineering prowess and quality levels have improved significantly over the last 8 years since the original. Still, if some one is apprehensive, the best would be to wait it out!

Those who can take the risk will test it for you.

All said and done - if Royal Enfield gets the price right - all the brands that are being compared against here - will have a very tough time! I'm hearing bookings being done left, right and center in biking groups - this bike is kicking up excitement like I have never seen in recent times (may be on par with the launch of the original Duke 390 or the Interceptor 650!)

[VijayAnand1]

A neat little walk around of the Himalayan 450 with panniers and accessories and the 450 Rally from EICMA.

Notice the dual shade paint sparkle on the fuel tank of the Hima 450, neatly done along with the radiator guard, crash bars.

The Rally versions seems to have a full metal bash plate and a single seat as opposed to semi-metal and split seat on the Himalayan 450.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lE0C3uDZ6BI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ggqypi49ZQo

Cheers!
VJ

[ebonho]

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[rich_heart]

I have booked Hanle Black. There was no options or information on what what are the different variants. Maybe it was because this is a pre-booking. I hope I get a chance to change model in case I find other better.
Eagerly waiting to experience it in person in Goa, Motoverse 2023!!

[Karthik Mathur]

Not to beat a dead horse, but the script of the launch was quite poor.

Heck, if we were to make a drinking game of doing a shot everytime they mentioned the Himalayas, even the most hardened sailor would be drunk within the first 5 minutes of the presentation ��

[am1m]

Originally Posted by ebonho

Let us not go overboard in our brand love and adulation as to not see the obvious.

Sadly Doc, the days of Dilip Bamji are over.

Not just in the case of RE or bikes in general, customers all over are now paying their hard earned money, getting the short-shift from brands...and then perplexingly doing free PR and defending brands online! Undermining the bad experiences other consumers have with brands and making it easier for a brand to get away with almost anything.

It's the era of perfect marketing and my old ad bosses must be cursing that they weren't born a few decades later to take advantage of such a marketing/brand susceptible era!

The biggest usp of a forum like Tbhp for me is the bad experiences people can share. In fact I joined up after the strong stance Tbhp took on a Skoda dealer issue. I was proud to see the forum didn't back down even when some idiot company rep came online and tried to threaten the forum. (From that to fan boys defending chassis breakages!) IMHO, bring on the bad press. Brands have millions to spend on advertising and lawyers. Let them do their own PR, why should we?!

And even one chassis breaking is a shame, whichever brand, however old the model!

So speaking personally, thank you for reminding us!

(BTW, I have a 16-year old RE too- it's taken me to all literally corners of the country, mostly solo or at most with another bike for company. I love the bike...but I don't see why I have to love the company that made it!)

Originally Posted by ebonho

This is like my old Bullet buddy stubbornly telling me (about his Himalayan ... he rides a KTM Adventure now) ... "lekin MERI Himalayan perfect hai!"

Reminds me of a ride to Rajasthan in 2012. Rode to Pune from Bangalore, where another buddy was supposed to join me on his shiny new Bullet. Found his battery had some issues (a known issue with that model). So there he was on the eve of a ride, all our plans to be changed, bike basically a lump of metal and still he says "Whatever, it's still a Bullet!" Bullet fan boys are something else. And I went solo on that ride!

Anyway, like someone already posted, let's count ourselves lucky that there are so many willing to pay to be testers for the first lot of bikes. We can take a call after the first batch.

Personally, I'm looking forward to the new Himalayan.

[live2dream]

Have the bookings of the rally variant started? I couldn't see any option of the same in the booking portal.

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by live2dream

Have the bookings of the rally variant started? I couldn't see any option of the same in the booking portal.

A possible launch later next year.

[nasirkaka]

This new Himalayan 450 launch strategy, staggered over a long time, was interesting and something different to begin, but feels too stretched now. I lost interest in the EICMA launch yesterday.

It all started with leaked (purposefully?) images of the production ready bike, followed by leaked (intentionally?) pics of color variants, followed by more pics showing accessories, tubeless spoke rim on some models, etc etc. Then we had their Instagram handle teasing us with snippets of a fleet of new Himalayan being riding across India. In between we had videos by vloggers like itchy-boots, getting to ride the bike and sharing sketchy information.

Then came their big gathering at Manali with all the auto journalists being invited, to touch and feel and show the bike, but cant speak under embargo. This was followed by specs leak (intentionally?) and a bombardment of videos from vloggers and journalist who could now share the specs, but could not share their thoughts, under "EMBARGO".

We also had the official RE video launch some time in between, of the FINAL TEST and the launch event party at the Manali hotel. And yesterday was the international launch at EICMA. I wonder why did they have to cover the bike under sheets at EICMA to reveal, when the whole world is (or at-least i am) already tired of seeing similar images, sketchy and repetitive information and nothing new, for eg, the cost of the bike and its variants.

On top, we had added confusion on different equipment shown such as whether tubeless spoke setup will be available in India, what about their arrow exhaust, what about the rally kit? what about adventure kit, and single seat / double seat and plethora of accessories.

Meanwhile bookings (pre ?) have opened up without much clarity on available product variants, forget the price. And this not the end. 10th is when the embargo lifts and journalists can share their "opinion" on the bike, so more wait. There is more to be revealed few weeks down at motoverse/ rider mania event, where most likely we may get clarity on price.

As an interested party and prospective customer, this whole revealing exercise of the new Himalayan is been like a mental load (torture), with info coming in bits and pieces over a prolonged period of time. I am already feeling tired and overload with information on the new Himalayan without actually the information i really want.

[Raskolnikov.R]

Originally Posted by sudeep.pandya

As an interested party and prospective customer, this whole revealing exercise of the new Himalayan is been like a mental load (torture), with info coming in bits and pieces over a prolonged period of time. I am already feeling tired and overload with information on the new Himalayan without actually the information i really want.

Sensory overload. And for no tangible reason.

I can't remember who started the idea of releasing a few pics, then the launch without the pricing, and then the pricing for the lower variants, and then for the top ones.

RE has taken the whole shebang to a whole new level!

And in the process, diluted the whole experience of a new model reveal.

The bane of 30-second attention span is affecting our whole purchase experience.

[gtx2]

Originally Posted by Raskolnikov.R

Sensory overload. And for no tangible reason.

I can't remember who started the idea of releasing a few pics, then the launch without the pricing, and then the pricing for the lower variants, and then for the top ones.

This has become standard everywhere, you get to be in news cycle for longer.