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3 years with a Royal Enfield Himalayan: Ownership experience

Rightly so, I used to call her my White Horse, now I call it Junk Metal; transition from “her” to “it” has been gut wrenching, for it’s a lovely bike to ride on. Only if it starts and runs when you need it the most!

BHPian thepilgrim1424 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

My White Horse, RE Himalayan BS IV 2018 - ownership saga

Intro

It’s been a dream of mine, to ride kilometers after kilometers, with a song like “Old Town Road” running in the background

Yeah, I'm gonna take my horse

To the old town road

I'm gonna, ride 'til I can't no more

The Himalayan ticked all the boxes for me in that sense. The riding position, comfort, basics of the bike, its ability to take me places, not so expensive maintenance and easily repairable. It was a vehicle that could take care of all requirements for me be it touring, mild off roading or daily use to commute to office.

Ain’t that a head turner!

Rightly so, I used to call her my White Horse, now I call it Junk Metal; transition from “her” to “it” has been gut wrenching, for it’s a lovely bike to ride on. Only if it starts and runs when you need it the most!

So, this is not a typical review of the bike but an ownership experience, the thick and thin with RE’s kith and kin.

I have also come to see that its either a hit or a miss with the Himalayan. Mine’s a miss for sure and so are a couple of my close friends’ and relatives’.

So, this thread is limited to the 2018 Model of BS IV version of my Junk Metal.

Prologue

I have used rental bikes for a few rides and of all the bikes, I must say it’s been a pleasure to ride the RE Classic and Hero Impulse. Be it on an open tarmac or a beaten track, it has always taken everything that is thrown in its stride. Though not in the same category of bikes, the seating posture that the Impulse offered or the lazy riding with a good amount of low-end torque which the RE Classic had, these were the two bikes that impressed me a lot. I am not a huge fan of high speed anyway, so I always wondered what if these two were combined.

Then the Ladakh ride happened and the RE Classic impressed me to the core! So much so that I decided to buy a RE! The thing to note here was that I have always used “rental” bikes and never “owned” a RE myself. Then there were rumors of the Himalayan being in the pipeline followed by its launch. I must say, I was on cloud nine! That is when I decided to buy the Himalayan. I however opted to wait for some time after hearing about the initial ownership experiences. Looked like someone in RE forgot about the testing phase before launch, suddenly remembered and said, “oh hey, let’s do it on the customers”!

Test ride and Booking experience

After that, I kind of got busy with my business, the end of it, start of new job, changes of job and other things. Himalayan took the back burner and the wait got longer. By then, there were news of BS4 models coming by and that the company had “taken care of” all the “niggles” that came out during the testing phase (on customers) in the BS3 version.

So, with renewed hopes and the new job kind of settling in, I went to the nearest RE showroom on Rajkumar Road near Navarang theatre for a test ride. I was with my brother and signed up for a test ride expecting to take my brother along to get his inputs on pillion comfort. The lady at the counter sarcastically declined the request and told me if I wanted a test ride, it will be with the mechanic riding pillion and a pre-determined route which was full of traffic. If I wanted to know the pillion comfort, he can ride the bike and I can sit as a pillion. I took the test ride, and the mechanic was sitting as if he was holding on for his dear life and pulling the bike sideways many a times. The experience was bad, to put it in simple terms. My brother also told me that the lady gave some taunting looks when I left for the ride which kind of left a bad taste of the whole experience.

My brother then suggested to try the CVS showroom near Cauvery Talkies and so we did. The salesperson who attended to me asked for the license, made note of details and handed me the key to the bike parked outside. I asked if he would accompany and he said only if I insisted! I then took my brother along for a short ride. Feeling unsatisfied, I asked if I can take another ride, a little longer, the salesperson happily agreed telling there are no other test rides scheduled and we can indeed take the bike for a spin again. That, I must say, was the best test ride experience, totally in contrast from the earlier dealership! They also made note of the feedback on hard gear changes and the engine going breathless sometimes. He mentioned that the bike had been used for a rally and had not got serviced, hence the issue. He offered a ride again the following week when the bike would have been serviced. I agreed and went with my wife for the final test ride. Took a long test ride again only to return happier, but with the same feedback of the engine going breathless. I was worried and checked if it has got some engine issues for which he mentioned that the bike was abused in the rally and hence may be the issue. He also mentioned that all the issues in the bike were ironed out with the BS4 release. I took his word (also since both my brother and my wife gave very positive feedback on pillion comfort), no reasons to doubt and made the booking in March 2017 for a Snow-White color with a promise of delivery by May, a perfect Birthday gift for myself I thought! In the hindsight, I now realize that I was signing up for stage 2 of the testing phase.

May came and went but no sign of my bike though deliveries had started. I got a little busy with my work and couldn’t follow up with the salesperson. Then in October, I started getting mails that I had requested them to postpone the bike delivery. I called the salesperson, but he didn’t answer nor did he call back. I messaged him only to get redirected to another person who conveniently ignored my calls. This happened for another month and in December I again got a postponement mail when I decided to visit them personally. When I met him, jokingly asked him if the bike is only named “Himalayan” or do I need to go to Himalayas and do some meditation to get the bike delivered! He got the drift, didn’t utter a word, took me to the adjacent building and introduced me to some random person, told me to talk to him for anything further regarding the bike delivery and left! That was the last I saw him. I had never seen any salesperson treat a prospective customer that bad. It was the very same person that ensured we had a great test ride experience, hard to believe but the scenario had changed. But I was in a hurry to get my hands on my bike and decided not to pursue that matter. There were promises made but only to receive another customer-opted-postpone mail. I dropped a mail to RE with all the screenshots of follow-ups and showroom visit details and asked if they are willing to sell me a bike. Wrote the mail on 13th Jan 2018 and the bike was delivered to me on 30th Jan 2018. The Area Sales Manager of RE gave me a call and arranged for the bike. I had to wait a bit further since I insisted for a 2018 model. I must acknowledge that the response from the company was swift and they were helpful!

Continue reading thepilgrim1424's experience for more insights and information.

 
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