[rahulkodinya]

You said that details of the accident is not available... but you passed the verdict on quality.
A head on collision with 100 kg metal or fix structure could be equally devastating...

[Rajiv0909]

Judging by the damages and the direction of both vehicles, it appears like a case of a very fast moving scooter hitting a relatively slow moving ( or turning) H. It would be speculative to conclude that the shearing off was an engineering issue

[Viju]

Originally Posted by Hammer & Anvil

The accident details were not available when I posted the pics-

If most details (other than assumptions) are available now, please post them here.

Originally Posted by Hammer & Anvil

and the reason for posting the pics is that all new owners will start posting their reviews within the coming days.

Originally Posted by Hammer & Anvil

Without a dent on the rim- the breaking of BOTH the tubes,shows the shearing off, indicative of poor metallurgy and/or a poor miscalculation of what longer down-tubes mean in terms of stress on the knuckle.

I totally agree. Only wish you had posted this comment along with the pictures.

Please don't get me wrong. The first motorcycle I ever owned was a brand new AVL 350 Machismo from the very first batch, and at the age of 18, I learnt the hard way how poor the engineering and QC of Royal Enfield was. I spent almost every weekend at the A.S.S. where incompetent mechanics did various experiments on my bike. After 2 years of frustrated ownership, I sold it off and got a first gen Pulsar 180. I have owned 17 more motorcycles after the A350 including 4 RD350s, but never an RE.

I am really happy to see RE doing something different after 5 decades - with the UCE, CGT and now the Himalayan. It has worked out well for the company and I am excited to see RE gain popularity like never before!

But as an engineer working on motorcycle development, I will not put down my hard-earned money on an RE till I see that they have actually become masters in core engineering and quality control. Till then, there are plenty of options out there.

End of rant.

[Rajiv0909]

Additional details on the accident

http://gaadiwaadi.com/first-royal-en...hennai-521929/

[mayankk]

Who done it again?

After Speeding Mercedes Kills Delhi Man, A Mystery Over Who Was Driving
NEW DELHI:
http://www.ndtv.com/delhi-news/delhi...y-teen-1338883
Mercedes was zipping down road at 100 kms per hour: Cops
Police desperate for CCTV footage, none found yet
Owner's driver confessed, then retracted, claim cops
At nearly 100 km per hour, a Mercedes came speeding down one of the wide open roads so common in Delhi's Civil Lines area and hit a pedestrian crossing the road around 8:30 Monday night

Sidharth Sharma, 32, was flung nearly 15 feet into the air according to eyewitness on the spot. After he crashed onto the road, he was moved to a hospital where he died of his injuries.

The Mercedes went over a footpath and its front tyres burst before it stopped.

The driver managed to run away along with those travelling with him.

So far, the police have not managed to obtain CCTV footage of the accident. But the police have registered a case of negligent driving amounting to murder against unidentified men.

Eyewitnesses have told NDTV that the men in the car appeared under-age. The owner of the Mercedes has been identified as Manoj Aggarwal. His driver told the police that he was responsible for the accident, but has allegedly retracted his confession, claiming that he had been pressured.

Before running into Mr Sharma, the Mercedes narrowly missed an accident with two motorcycles, said eye-witnesses who saw two bikes chase the car before the crash. But the bikers have not been identified.

[Viju]

Originally Posted by mayankk

But the police have registered a case of negligent driving amounting to murder against unidentified men.

The owner of the Mercedes has been identified as Manoj Aggarwal.

Wonder what stops the cops from arresting the owner of the car in such cases! It is his car. He is supposed to know who was driving it. Is it that complicated I wonder!

[hemant.kamat]

Cop, wife killed in road mishap in Bicholim taluka in Goa. Airbags would have saved them. Please don't skimp on essential safety features like airbags & ABS when you buy a car. You can always add a music system or power windows later, but not airbags & ABS.

[raghu.t.k]

Originally Posted by mayankk

Who done it again?
.....

The Mercedes went over a footpath and its front tyres burst before it stopped.

The driver managed to run away along with those travelling with him.

....
His driver told the police that he was responsible for the accident, but has allegedly retracted his confession, claiming that he had been pressured.

....

If it was indeed his minor son behind the wheel, it would be good precedent if the father and son to be prosecuted, while the son should considered as a major. He is already 17. Another father has lost his son, whom he had brought up for 32 years.

Looks like the infamous Salman's SUV case is having many admirers, and hope this merc was also not driven by a ghost, with all declared innocent.

[tanwaramit]

Originally Posted by hemant.kamat

Cop, wife killed in road mishap in Bicholim taluka in Goa. Airbags would have saved them. Please don't skimp on essential safety features like airbags & ABS when you buy a car. You can always add a music system or power windows later, but not airbags & ABS.

This case is clearly non implementation of under run protection bars on the truck. This is something law specifies and should be there. Any other sedan would have been fatal for the occupants as well.

More info on the same - http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...rtant-you.html

Not to discount on the fact that cars safety features are very critical, however, it may not have that much impact in cases like above.

[racer_m]

Originally Posted by hemant.kamat

Cop, wife killed in road mishap in Bicholim taluka in Goa. Airbags would have saved them. Please don't skimp on essential safety features like airbags & ABS when you buy a car. You can always add a music system or power windows later, but not airbags & ABS.

Maybe overtaking gone wrong on the narrow 2 lane carriageway. The Wagon-R is totally on the right lane!
I doubt the Airbags would help as the whole A-pillar has been wiped clean and ABS too would be useless as he would have no place to steer away.

The only thing which could have prevented is low speed and careful driving.

[navin_v8]

First of all let me make it clear that this post is without any prejudice against any particular brand regarding front fork shearing off during an impactful accident.

Some examples where the front forks break off during an accident:

http://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/1132..._crash/?ref=mc

http://forums.bmwmoa.org/showthread....-Forks-Failure

http://www.wesh.com/news/4-injured-d...crash/38375164

http://www.motosport.com/blog/25-mos...r-at-the-track
(see the last image)

Our very own TeamBHP "Accidents in India with Pictures" thread is strewn with such accidents. As someone rightly said one cannot generalize about the brand or the motorcycle with just one incident that too involving a high speed accident.

[Jude300]

I agree with navin_v8 and here's my take.

I am not Sherlock Holmes nor a die-hard fan of RE though I have booked a Himalayan. However, looking at the pics I can clearly see that this is not a simple accident where two motorcycles just collided. The Dio seems to have got damaged really bad as the steel rims are bent and the fork badly out of alignment. Based on the news report and the pics, I think the scooter guy has directly hit the forks of the Himalayan at high speed (not the wheel as there is no damage seen there). The dent in the Dio's wheels suggests that it was the point of worst impact. Imagine the speeding scooter hitting directly on your fork. The rest of the story is simple science of physics. With longer forks it only adds to the way science works. I would rather say that it is better that the fork breaks on such accidents as it will be taking most of the impact and the rest of the bike and rider is safe. It will be much easier to put the bike back in running condition.

Consider Honda City for example. We may say it is made of light metal and by just using your index finger you can create a bad dent on the panels without much effort. But it has been designed so wherein the vehicle takes much of the impact and keeping the passenger safe. Note: It has a 5 star safety rating.

Rationally thinking, it is too early to pass judgement on the quality of the fork. Also forming a generalised opinion on the bike based on other older models from RE would not fit in here. This one is a new breed with whole lot of engineering gone into it. From the pics, it is clear that the Himalayan has a broken fork but all other parts seem perfectly intact. I believe its just how it should have happened.

I might sound prejudiced but this is how I see it. I own an Ecosport and a similar accident happened when Ecosport was launched during the media drive and the Ecosport was badly damaged. There were lots of criticism then and many of my friends advised me not to go for it. I went ahead and bought it as I was convinced that the accident was not because of the car but the driver. I can tell you, the car is simply superb and has run 41000 km without any issues. Same applies to this case. I am convinced that it is not a quality / build issue. This is applies to all bikes with long travel front suspension and this is more of science and can happen to the most expensive / best built bikes in the segment.

[virgopal]

Driver takes blame before making a quick U-turn
Shades of the trial of the hit-and-run case against actor Salman Khan were witnessed in the case when a driver working for the family claimed responsibility for the accident, said the police.

This sudden twist in the Civil Lines hit-and-run case took the investigators by surprise. The police, however, busted his claim by confronting him with counter questions. The driver backtracked when he was informed that the victim Siddhartha Sharma had died.

“Early in the morning, the driver visited the police station and claimed that he had hit Siddhartha Sharma. We suspect he was tutored by the father of the accused,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Madhur Verma.

“It is here that he got a little confused and we sensed that he perhaps was not even present at the accident site, let alone having caused the accident. It seems he was told to take the blame by assuring that the victim will survive and he will get away with a lesser punishment along with the promise of a reward. We are probing further,” said Mr. Verma.

A statement released by Sharma’s friend Divya also said that the owner and a few others arrived at the hospital where the victim was undergoing treatment and were unrepentant for the wrong doing. This, however, was not corroborated by the police who managed to contact the owner only on Tuesday.
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper...cle8439399.ece

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by tanwaramit

This case is clearly non implementation of under run protection bars on the truck.

Mandated under run bars at the rear are far and few right now. Those that exist are either so flimsy, or so badly installed, they may end up killing people when they fall.
Side and front are a distant dream.

[nasirkaka]

Why are we getting carried away with FOR or AGAINST Royal Enfield or Himalayan in this thread??

An accident happened, someone shared a picture as a piece of information (relevant on this thread as its about knowledge sharing on Himalayan). Now it is up to us to deduce whatever we have to. Dont think anyone can say FOR SURE it was either cos of bad materials, or because the impact was too strong. No two accidents are alike, and it would be futile to guess how it happened unless there is a video or something. Also, from the shared links, its clear that any bike including big foreign brands have had their downtube sheared. What i do want to understand is like cars, do bike go through crash test? If not, simulating crash tests will definitely help improve and manufacture safer products.

When 390 was launched, a lot of cases of cracked alloy were reported, and explanation given by company was that it could be related to improper air pressure. Now a days, we dont hear much about cracked rims, could it be that KTM addressed the issue with modified materials, is anyone's guess.

Lets hope companies do pay attention to these incidents, analyze them and use the findings to help better their products.