[WhiskeyTangoFox]

Trip to Ooty

Hey all! My friends and I went on a trip to Ooty over the weekend, a much-needed break from our schedule. Our plan was to take the BLR - Mysuru - Bandipur - Mudumalai - Ooty Route for a distance of 280 km one way.



Day 1

We started off at around 6:30 a.m. from RR Nagar. The initial part of the journey was fairly straightforward, taking the Mysuru Expressway (Kind of). We weren't particularly sure about whether the enforcement against two-wheelers on the expressway was already underway, so we took the service road on the side of the expressway for the most part cause, well, hefty fines aren't something we wanted to risk


Luggage Setup

My luggage setup consisted of the Viaterra Oxus Tank Bag, the Rynox Nomad Saddle Bags and my friend's Rucksack/Tailbag on the rear rack. The total weight of the luggage on the bike was around 18-20 kg. I wanted to load the bike up this time to understand its handling dynamics and also get a fuel efficiency reading.

Stopped at Mysuru, at Tegu Mess and had some authentic Kannadiga Non Veg Food for Breakfast. Unfortunately, I didn't click any pictures of the food as we wanted to eat and move immediately, but IMO, the food there was pretty good and worth the slight premium.



After a series of long and arduous checkposts, we got to go through the beautiful Bandipur Tiger Reserve and its sister forest, the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve. Wonderful roads, beautiful scenery. My only complaint was that there were too many speed breakers The constant acceleration and braking did take its toll on the overall efficiency.


Foothills of the Nilgiris

We reached the foothills at around 12:30 p.m. and began ascending the 36 Hairpin Bends. Wasn't really an issue for the Himalayan with all that torque. Mind you, this was Rider + Pillion + aforementioned Luggage. Most of the ascent was done between the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Gears. The weather was mostly sunny until almost at Ooty, where it started raining heavily.

We reached our AirBnB and parked the bikes, freshened up, and decided to head out post lunch. It had just stopped raining, and we thought Pine Forest would be a nice place to head to. Was a beautiful ride there with that evening Sunlight and post-rain smell.


Tall trees encompassed the area, and there were loads of monkeys there as well

There was also an absolutely stunning lake adjacent to the forest, truly mesmerizing.



By the time we were done taking pictures and walking around, it was pretty late and most of the attractions were to close soon; hence we thought we'd try and head to the Ooty Boathouse. We couldn't go boating as it had closed, but we did walk around the area a bit.


Serene Atmosphere

[
Late Evening

After a little bit of shopping (I bought the famous Ooty Varky from Impala Bakery, and I would highly recommend it), we headed to a nearby restaurant
(Kailas Parbat) for a light Dinner and called it a day.


The Himmy looking like an absolute stunner

Day 2

On day 2, we were greeted by more rain , so we just wore our rain gear and headed out


Beautiful view from our Room


Lovely twisties, with a beautiful scenery

Our first stop was at the Tea Estates of Ooty, stopped to take a quick photo.



We continued and stopped at a couple of viewpoints to take some pictures.


Ngl the rain gear does make one look way more chonky than one is


"Looking at the Tea Estates"


That view though

We continued on to the Emerald Dam, and had a nice walk around.


Emerald Dam

Our next stop was the Avalanche Forest. Beautiful roads to get there, scintillating ride. The ride through the hills genuinely helped me clear my head.




Lot of Pine Trees here as well XD


Beautiful Water Stream, with ice cool water

After this, it seemed like it might rain again, so we headed down to the town for lunch and then walked to the Rose Garden.


Was a calm and peaceful place

After this, we had our dinner and called it a day XD

Day 3

Day 3 was all about travelling back. We were supposed to leave at 10:30 a.m. however, my oh my, did that not happen. We headed down to Moddy's Bakery to grab a quick breakfast before heading out. The food was great, slightly pricey, but not ridiculously exorbitant. The sky started to get cloudy, so we decided to get back, load up the luggage and leave ASAP. However, we first got rerouted by Google Maps to some isolated and deserted area which NGL looked very creepy. (Stick to the main roads, guys, DO NOT trust google maps). After turning around and finding the correct route, we got caught in very bad traffic, and to top it off, it started pouring. We managed to reach the room, change our clothes, load up the bags and get going at around 12pm, but the traffic was very, very bad. We took almost 3 hours just to exit Ooty, and we reached Mysore only at 5 in the evening. We had to endure ridiculously heavy rains all through Mudumalai and Bandipur until Mysore pretty much.


Quick Break at a Reliance Trendz Parking lot close to Mysore after the rain

After this, we saw that two-wheelers were taking the expressway, so we said, "To hell with it," and took the expressway anyway. I reached my House at around 9:30 p.m Lesson learnt, leave early on a Sunday

Fuel Efficiency Figures

Fuel Fill-Ups

1. Full Tank Prior to Leaving for Ooty - Odo at 8155.2Kms
2. Topped up the Tank after reaching Ooty on Day 1- Odo at 8409.6 km (+254.4 Kms) | Filled 9.17L
3. Topped up the Tank at Mysuru on the way back to Bangalore on Day 3 - Odo at 8671.7 km (+262.1 Kms) | Filled 8.88L
4. Topped up the tank once I reached BLR just for a FE Reading - Odo at 8811.02 km (+ 139.32 Kms) | Filled 4.41 L

Keep in mind the Himalayan has a 15L Fuel tank, and indicated reserve kicks in at around the 5.5- 6L remaining mark for me, meaning I can do around 150km more (For a F.E of 30kmpl) on Reserve alone. The tank went into reserve only before the second fill-up, and the remaining fill-ups were purely precautionary.

Mileage Figures

1. BLR to Ooty, Full Luggage and Pillion, Cruising at 80kmph on the Highways, plus uphill ascent, forest roads etc. - 27.74kmpl
2. Within Ooty with and without a pillion periodically and Highway cruising until Mysore, with a pillion and full luggage cruising at 80kmph - 29.52kmpl
3. Mysuru to BLR on the expressway, full luggage and pillion, continuously cruising between 80-90kmph - 31.59kmpl

Total Average Fuel Efficiency - 29.61 Kmpl
Total Fuel Cost (Excluding Initial Full Tank at BLR) - 2313 Rs

Overall, was a pretty nice experience, barring the heavy rainfall throughout, but yes, I had a fun time with the Himmy XD. Cheers Folks!

[WhiskeyTangoFox]

Originally Posted by WhiskeyTangoFox

Trip to Ooty

Total Average Fuel Efficiency - 29.61 Kmpl
Total Fuel Cost (Excluding Initial Full Tank at BLR) - 2313 Rs

I forgot to mention the total trip distance - 694.9 Kms

[masterChief007]

The red and black himalayan and interceptors look really nice, btw you got a matching rain-gear too !! The emerald dam area last time when I visited in my Aspire (few years back) was really good place to be. Far away from the town and comparatively less tourists. I have been planning a toy train ride there for past 10 years but never could make it yet

[100Kmphormore]

Total Average Fuel Efficiency - 29.61 Kmpl

Nice trip! This is the actual FE of the Himalayan. I was surprised as few months earlier you mentioned 35 kmpl+ which is impossible on expressways.
On my recent ride to Mantralaya, I got 320 km on 9L of fuel, which was single lane Gooty-Mantralaya-Gooty with a 40 km local round trip, 80 kmph max. After that, decided to have a little fun with a diesel Creta who had been driving in a superb fashion and served as a guide for me in the dark to avoid unwanted surprises, which extended to 2 hours of 100-120 kmph cruising constantly only slowing down for speedbreakers. Reserve turned on at outskirts of Chikkaballapura, 194 km later, took 8.8L of fuel, matching the similar FE figures i had gotten on the Bengaluru Chitradurga stretch.

[bhansali_hardik]

I was able to extract 34+ kmpl on the himalayan with a pillion and luggage in Leh, while doing the various circuits. At first it seemed like a calculation issue, then while re-tanking multiple time the avg stayed always above 32+ it vastly depends on the way we ride, but to get such figures in those terrains blew me away, if you do not accelerate/brake and maintain the sweet spot this machine is capable of churning great avg.

With the classic 350 which I had (2010) I used to get 40+ as well when ridden carefully and 36+ always no matter how!

[neil.jericho]

Originally Posted by 100Kmphormore

Ghata is at nearly 15000 km, fresh from a ride to Mantralaya, Kurnool this week and an extensive overhaul of the suspension, brakes and clutch plates at 14042 km - which had burnt - was a damn surprise. I had no thought of getting her checked that much in detail, since my only complaint was the bad brakes, swingarm noise and hard gearshifts, she was also due for an oil change.
Zoheb of Art of Motorcycles after a check ride had indicated rear suspension sag, front fork nosediving upon braking, and tappet noise, and dismantling the bike apart sent me pictures of the clutch plates, burned and in no way to be used. He recommended to change the clutch plates, do a complete service (5950 - worth every penny for every 10000 km on the Himalayan), and a suspension and brakes overhaul, apart from regular oil and oil filter change etc. (switched to fully synthetic Motul 7100 from the 5100 that i used last time - doesnt feel much different to be honest). the wheels had a slight bend and was balanced and aligned.

Originally Posted by 100Kmphormore

Got it done for Rs.15800 (quite pricey!) and the bike certainly feels different. However, I do not know if this will be my city/touring bike anymore. The heating, lack of speed and good brakes, this sort of maintainance requirement for so less a package is a dealbreaker.

100Kmphormore, Im really surprised to hear of burnt clutch plates within 14,000 kilometers of riding. The Himalayan is a pretty robust platform. Perhaps the premature wear and tear is down to your riding style?

The servicing costs for the Himalayan, if the bike is well maintained, are very wallet friendly. However, a heavy handed riding approach can lead to unexpected expenses piling up in a jiffy. On a bigger bike, the damage to the wallet will be exponentially higher!

[100Kmphormore]

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

100Kmphormore, Im really surprised to hear of burnt clutch plates within 14,000 kilometers of riding. The Himalayan is a pretty robust platform. Perhaps the premature wear and tear is down to your riding style?

The servicing costs for the Himalayan, if the bike is well maintained, are very wallet friendly. However, a heavy handed riding approach can lead to unexpected expenses piling up in a jiffy. On a bigger bike, the damage to the wallet will be exponentially higher!

I am with you on that! Like I mentioned it was a surprise to me too! It may be due to daily city usage and heating and has occurred on several himmys around 15k mark according to what Zoheb tells me. The oil changes and inspection has been on time, only different practice what I used to do, thanks to my earlier bikes was to short shift and ride which I am not doing now. I used to go upto 5th, doing 60 kmph on straight city roads since heating was less and marginally better FE, but on advise of workshop do not exceed 3rd now. Else my other bikes haven't had required anything more than oil change and lubing and regular maintenance. Zoheb has given me the best speeds to do in which gear in city and am following it to the T. Its been around 1000 km since the replacement, Will anyways get it disassembled and checked to confirm if it's indeed me or the bike

[WhiskeyTangoFox]

Originally Posted by masterChief007

The red and black himalayan and interceptors look really nice, btw you got a matching rain-gear too !

Haha of course, I think that this colour combo is one of the best looking on the Himmy tbh. I got the rain jacket with the Explorer V3 Jacket, and it luckily was of a matching colour xD

Originally Posted by 100Kmphormore

Nice trip! This is the actual FE of the Himalayan. I was surprised as few months earlier, you mentioned 35 kmpl+ which is impossible on expressways.

Thanks! Although do keep in mind the FE figures on this trip are for Rider+Pillion+ About 18-20kgs of Luggage+Weight of the Saddle stays. Only about 50kms of the 694 km was without a pillion, while the rest was with a pillion. The ascent up the hill and all the highway cruising was with full load+ pillion. While going to Ooty, I maintained around 80kmph and while coming back it was between 80-90kmph.

If I was going solo, I'm sure I would have easily gotten around 34kmpl at such speeds. Heck, I get between 28-33kmpl in the city

Originally Posted by bhansali_hardik

I was able to extract 34+ kmpl on the himalayan with a pillion and luggage in Leh, while doing the various circuits.

Agreed, constantly maintaining the throttle input at that sweet spot gives a very good FE. Plus the bike has more than enough torque to haul itself and a pillion and luggage up some fairly steep roads, albeit pretty slowly,

[bhansali_hardik]

Originally Posted by WhiskeyTangoFox

Agreed, constantly maintaining the throttle input at that sweet spot gives a very good FE. Plus the bike has more than enough torque to haul itself and a pillion and luggage up some fairly steep roads, albeit pretty slowly,

True, I was not in a place where I would have sped in those passes and non existent roads towards chang la and other parts, that made me comfortable. But the way himalyan gobbles up the bad roads while giving decent on-road experience and with those FE's this is purely a touring dream. (The only issue as well for this bike if the weight and power ratios) low end torque is
only saviour.

[100Kmphormore]

Ghata went for her 15000 km check service at Kwality mobikes, kadarenahalli, yesterday. The personnel were strictly instructed to only fix the below and not touch anything else, as it was just fine after Zohebs work except for
a. Speedometer vibration between 3k to 5k rpm - not fixed
b. Tappet sound which was there since 10000 km but i was not aware of what it was - the irritating fich-fich sound amidst the engine note.
c. Rattling numberplate at the rear - no screws, have ordered. Wah!
d. The rubber boots coming off - saar, adu normal. Wah Taj!

Regarding the tappet noise, certainly didnt even open to check the decompression valve and timing chain that the technician Raju mentioned (how and why he said this after just putting his ears to the engine - clueless). Does anyone know this Raju at the company operated BTM outlet, where he mentioned he was working earlier? Gave a piece of my mind today to the supervisor who had no idea why he said I could collect the bike the previous evening, 5 mins before closing (thank god for call logs. He denied calling me!) when it wasnt fixed even after a day. The guy comes with a Db meter, it reads 72 db and says 78 is the minimum the company will consider. Asked him to replace the engine head tappets under warranty and he said he cannot if it doesnt show 78. Just decided to take it back as i was fed up. They insist to bill Rs.118 as consumable and washing charges at which i lost my patience. The bike had been standing outside in the rain, all dirty since the previous evening. I may not bathe but she will remain spotless is my policy and these service folk make it a bloody joke of security and cleanliness (I even saw a rat outside the building, once). They say its mandatory to charge and they kept it inside the building while closing (will have to verify this.). Mentioned that and firmly said wouldnt pay a penny because of their lacklustre job and wanted the bike back.

Gave a 1 star review on the review email and was contacted by the RE customer service team, gave a detailed account of all the above. Hopefully, something will happen

[masterChief007]

Originally Posted by 100Kmphormore

Regarding the tappet noise, certainly didnt even open to check the decompression valve and timing chain that the technician Raju mentioned (how and why he said this after just putting his ears to the engine - clueless).


Gave a 1 star review on the review email and was contacted by the RE customer service team, gave a detailed account of all the above. Hopefully, something will happen

After I read this post just for curiosity sake I went to see the tappet adjustment for Himalayan in youtube. And man it's a lengthy process of opening millions of nuts and bolts. This reminds how simple it is to work on the cast irons, where TDC can be detected just by the ammeter flick and the adjustment can be done directly without tinkering with the fuel tank.

Maybe the technician didn't want to do all that work without being able to charge you for it. However RE didn't disappoint you in disappointing you
Brings back the memories when I used to take my bike to the sermon-prone RE service center technicians of yore. Too much talk and too little work.

Best to get it worked on by AOM, they do decent work there.

[WhiskeyTangoFox]

Blind Spot Mirrors

Added a tiny but significant improvement to the bike. Pretty much all vehicles have a blind spot, and the Himmy was no different. The new mirrors did help significantly, but my shoulders did cut off a small portion of the view and the blind spot, in my case, was right next to the bike on both sides. Hence decided to get these blind spot mirrors. We already have the same product on our car, and it has been great for the 5-6 months that it has been installed, so I decided to purchase the same product for the Himmy too.

Link: https://www.amazon.in/gp/product/B08...?ie=UTF8&psc=1




It is fairly wide, is mounted on a swivel and is adjustable too. I would definitely recommend this product if you're looking for something similar.

Cheers!

[WhiskeyTangoFox]

Ride on Air Seat Cushion

Hey Al!

The only regret I have had with regard to the purchase of my bike was not picking up the RE Touring Seat During Purchase. The reason being that if I were to purchase the same now, the stock seat would be lying around occupying space for no reason, and from what I've heard from my friends who use the RE Touring Seat on their Himalayans, the comfort it offers over longer distances is unparalleled.

If you are getting a new Royal Enfield, I would recommend that you purchase the Touring Seat along with the bike without a second thought if you plan on riding for anything more than 60-70 km.

The Stock seat leaves my butt sore after about 100 km of riding. Of course, the mileage on this will vary depending on the user's weight, wherein lighter users will be able to ride longer.

Hence, I decided to check out the world of Air Seat Cushions, and the two top contenders were the Fego Float and the Ride on Air ADV Sport Alpha, with the former priced at Rs 2100 and the latter at Rs 2499, both in the same range. Both of them had great reviews, and I opted for the latter primarily because I thought the shape looked more at home on the Himalayan's narrower seat.

I ordered the same from MotoCentral link below:

https://motocentral.in/products/ride-on-air-adv-sport

Got the seat after about 4-5 Days. However, the seat wasn't all black as advertised and has a red stripe down the middle, as you'll see in the pictures below. I don't mind it too much as it matches the colour of the bike, but I would have preferred an all-black seat.


The Seat Came in a neat Box


The Box Contained, One Seat with an attached Hand Pump/Deflator. The Straps for mounting and an instruction sheet


The Seat is well ventilated




I'm not a big fan of the way the hand pump looks on the bike, but I did sit on the bike, and it doesn't foul with my leg in any way. I sat on the bike and found it to be fairly snug and comfortable, but I have to ride it for longer to be able to give you a solid review in terms of distance riding. In short the Pros and Cons as of now, are as follows:

Pros:

- Snug and Comfortable Fit
- Looks Fairly Decent
- Good Quality Material
- Secure Fit onto the Seat, minimum movement
- Pump is very easy to inflate/deflate on the go


Cons:

- No Rain Cover, although if you are sitting on it, it won't really get wet
- Floaty feeling, will probably get used to it
- Not very Aesthetic Hand Pump
- Constant worry about theft, which is why I'll not be using it for my daily commute

That's all for today Folks! Cheers

[WhiskeyTangoFox]

Gear Update: Back Protector

Hey Folks, I use a Royal Enfield Explorer v3 jacket, which I think is great VFM, with the exception of two glaring disadvantages. One, there's no Back Armour per se, just a thin EVA Foam Pad and two, there isn't a provision for Chest Armour. However, you do get an integrated and removable thermal liner and rain liner included, which does put it at par with its competitors from the likes of if you do decide to purchase it with liners.

To illustrate;

RE Explorer V3 - Jacket w L2 Elbow, Shoulder Armour, EVA Back, Rain Liner and Thermal Liner - Rs 8950 (If you Add an L2 Knox Back Armour from RE It'll come up to Rs 11,750)

Rynox Tornado Pro 4 - Jacket w L2 Everything including Chest - Rs 8950 (With the Rain Liner and Thermal Liner it'll come up to Rs 11940)

Viaterra Miller - Jacket w L2 Everything including Chest - Rs 8000 (With the Rain and Thermal Liner it'll come up to 11900)

This means that they are all in the same ballpark. If you were to choose between these three now, I would recommend the Rynox or the Viaterra due to the added protection, but the tornado wasn't available anywhere when I was purchasing mine, and the miller is a very recently launched product. Although, I must say I don't regret my purchase and am pretty happy with the Jacket.

The jacket has been great so far, and I have used it for all rides documented on this thread, with the exception of the Kunigal Ride, which was before I purchased it. It has been great in terms of comfort, and the dual zip mechanism is an absolute boon when it gets hot.

I was planning on getting the Knox L2 back armour initially, which has a fairly steep price of 2800Rs. However, I stumbled on the Safetech Viscoflex Armour, which is the same armour used for the Back, on the Rynox Tornado Pro 4. Hence I picked one up from the Mototech Store online. Very reasonably priced at Rs 1500. Link below:

https://mototechgear.com/products/sa...level-2-medium



I picked up a Size M for my Size L jacket (slightly smaller, doesn't really move around too much, but I would recommend you get the Size L protector). I left the EVA Foam Pad inside while installing it to keep it secure, hardly feel it while wearing the jacket because the EVA foam pad is ridiculously thin anyway.


The Armour is CE Level 2 Certified (EN1621-2:2014)


Size Comparo between the armour and the Foam Pad

The Jacket isn't too heavy altogether. With All the Armour, EVA Foam Pad and the thermal Liner, it weighs just 2.6 Kgs which is totally fine IMO. I'm yet to go on a ride with this installed, but I'm pretty sure it'll be fine.

That's all for today folks, cheers!

[100Kmphormore]

Ghata came back from the service center!
She's mostly alright, just a few things to confirm with Zoheb before I can reattach the exhaust back so that things do not worsen. It's a bore to ride without the lovely Powerage exhaust note.

To give a recap I had mentioned the issues in my previous post (for new readers) to the Kadarenahalli service center, who were unhelpful at best. The poor ratings given got me a callback from the service center to tell me that the same center GM would like to talk to me and solve the issue. This is a guy who was "unavailable" when asked about the shoddy work. Had a call and the same 72 db nonsense and some more repeated for the other issues, and the ticket closed. Escalated it to Siddhartha Lals eicher email ID and a heated talk with a senior customer service manager after several rounds of email exchange got me to Sajith Pillai, the area service manager for Bengaluru stationed at Babusabpalya. He assured to resolve the issues under his reportee Shyam, the service manager and get the bike to the BTM brand store by his technicians.

What is worth mentioning in this saga is their serious lack of adherence to their sense of time or mine or proper communication. For instance, I had to wait 5 days to talk to this Sajith and a week before that of repeating the same thing to nearly 6 customer service agents (the lousy kadarenahalli service center executive had the wrong phone number in her email signature). I would have fired the agent on the spot if she could not care to mention a phone number correctly or maintain her own SLAs. Even today, my WhatsApp messages to Shyam go unanswered and had to call and ask an update every day, inspite of me explicitly asking for it.

Their Analysis was the timing chain had gone bad, the chain and gasket tensioner assembly was replaced under warranty. I asked to change the engine head entirely as I did not want the bike away for another week since it was my daily use bike, they said they could not without proper justification and they could only do that for present. Fueling had been irregular in hot weather since some time and the fuel pump too was replaced. Regarding Speedometer vibration, they changed the unit entirely and noted the old speedometer reading in their records.

As of now after 25 km of usage the bike feels much better to ride. The fin sound is still quite loud when the engine runs hot but the tappet noise has reduced by 50%. At cold start there is no fin or tappet sound. Fueling has improved vastly and there is no lag or jerk during acceleration. Guys do not run in reserve at all even though you have 6 ltrs left. Fuel up immediately once the Trip F starts flashing. Speedometer vibration is not noticeable as before though little bit is still there, not irritating. Will have to go to the highway to confirm. The rear numberplate was screwed down.

All I can say is do not go to RE service centers for any sort of maintenance except the brand operated stores. They are very helpful and will give a better experience compared to the numbskull dealer operated centers.

[quote]Perhaps the premature wear and tear is down to your riding style?[\QUOTE]
Neil, this was due to an improperly adjusted clutch. I got it adjusted by Zoheb and the shifts are largely trouble free now. I did not know much about the mechanicals when I first noticed it at around 5000 km, when it came back after it's second service from the RE service center. They had not resolved it at all and other owners experience taht the clutch was hard did not help matters. It was only when I took it to the Art of Motorcycles workshop 9000 km later was I told of this. Regular oil changes took care of this hard shift issue, if it did ever happen in my previous motorcycles. This is my first mid segment bike and a long learning curve and more to go.