The Royal Enfield Himalayan ,great value.

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Mike54
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Re: The Royal Enfield Himalayan ,great value.

Post by Mike54 »

frenchy3 wrote: Tue Dec 11, 2018 6:07 pm
nathanm wrote: Tue Dec 11, 2018 5:06 pm Whatever. I heard KTM have asked Royal Enfield to develop their next Dakar bike.
At least it would make it to the finishing line :D :D :D
You do know that KTM have won the last 17 Dakars in a row..
Barftone
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Re: The Royal Enfield Himalayan ,great value.

Post by Barftone »

Well mine came and has now gone! Maybe my motive for buying was different from others. I saw it and thought I'll have one at that price. I liked its looks and no nonsense approach. I have other adventure bikes to play with and a good offer from a friend pulled it away. So it lasted 5 months and a couple of thousand miles. Would I recommend one?....Yes definately for the many reasons stated around these threads. Nathen is truly riding the socks of his one and Enfield should give him a new one and support him to ride round the world on one. It did run out of puff at about 60 which was a touch frustrating at times but I took it out on a couple of good trail/road runs...went on a bike rally...and commuted daily on it and it was a fun bike bike to ride literally anywhere. Do I miss it...strangely not but its a great bike if you want a genuine allrounder...Would I buy another...yes if it suited my purpose, no problem. Now a DR650 engine in there and it would still be in the garage.
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Chris S
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Him

Post by Chris S »

Just picked mine up last night - as fresh and white as the snows of Annapurna.
Would feel more confident if it said 'Honda' on the tank, but it is what it is and ticks a lot of boxes.
Got a juicy desert mission lined up for later this winter.
nathanm
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Re: The Royal Enfield Himalayan ,great value.

Post by nathanm »

Welcome to the club Mr Scott.

The UK Facebook owners group has some bits and bobs on it, as does the advrider.com thread.

Pre-emptive greasing of the steering head bearings seems a sensible way to go. Mine's in for a re-grease and a new head gasket which seems to have blighted a few UK bikes. Not the end of the world and it turns out that the head gasket was probably on its way out at the start of the US trip.

There's some uprated suspension from YSS I'm looking at but maybe it works best when you leave it cheap and just accept it for what it is. I personally think it's a much better bike out of the crate than the G310 GS but it'll be interesting to see how you go on it. The worst bit is the first 1000 miles or so when it all feels a bit tight and buzzy.
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Landsurfer
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Re: Him

Post by Landsurfer »

Chris S wrote: Fri Dec 21, 2018 8:10 pm Would feel more confident if it said 'Honda' on the tank, but it is what it is and ticks a lot of boxes.
So more confident of a bike made in a soulless Chinese factory by people who, understandably, don't care ?
Or made in India by a workforce that live and breath their product, who are proud of the UK based input of their development team, who will work to support their product through the world.
like Honda used too ... 20 years ago ... :roll:
Go Out. Take Risks. Live.
“ No chains shall sully thee, Thou soul of love and brav’ry “
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Chris S
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Re: The Royal Enfield Himalayan ,great value.

Post by Chris S »

Yes plan to do all that over the hols, Nathan. Enjoyed your frank reviews.
Will set aside a weekend to lower myself into the advrider thread.
Will watch the gasket too. I take it it aint just loose headbolts?

First owner was a fan of yours and has done the first 1000 miles for me.
Feels very smooth but is it not too high geared in 1st?

Saw the YSS emulators - forgotten what they are/do.
Would be up for a shock or a spring, if needed.

Much more my sort of bike than a 310.
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Re: The Royal Enfield Himalayan ,great value.

Post by nathanm »

Chris S wrote: Fri Dec 21, 2018 8:56 pm Yes plan to do all that over the hols, Nathan. Enjoyed your frank reviews.
Will set aside a weekend to lower myself into the advrider thread.
Will watch the gasket too. I take it it aint just loose headbolts?

First owner was a fan of yours and has done the first 1000 miles for me.
Feels very smooth but is it not too high geared in 1st?

Saw the YSS emulators - forgotten what they are/do.
Would be up for a shock or a spring, if needed.

Much more my sort of bike than a 310.
Ah good stuff buying a second hand one. Makes good financial sense and saves that niggly 40mph advisory for the first 300 miles.

There are a couple of external bolts on the left side of the block that sometimes do need nipping up as they can weep a bit. That was done at first service on mine but I'm not quite sure what the score is with the head gasket. There was sometimes a bit of a 'clack' on sharp pick up off the bottom and just started doing it before leaving for the US. They fitted a new cam chain tensioner and 6000 miles later it had increased in volume and regularity. I took it in the other day and the mechanic at Cooperb, who I would recommend to anyone, immediately diagnosed it as the head gasket. They've got it in for a week or so and I think whilst it's in pieces they're going to examine the camshaft and a few other bits and bobs to see how they've worn with some miles on the clock. Mine has been neglected a little bit service wise. I've always done the oil at 3000 miles but have found the valve clearance to not move a great deal so haven't checked it that often.

I think the YSS stuff is a new set of internals for the forks and an uprated rear shock with preload dial. All I'd really like is a bit more ground clearance as i find I catch my feet quite a bit in ruts. Cooperb had some fork extenders in the works and were looking to make a new linkage for the rear but I think they were having some troubles with either side stand or chain fouling movement. Something along those lines anyway, but maybe even just an uprated shock would help. I've got mine set on max preload but there's still a good deal of sag. I find with luggage on the overly long side-stand makes it sit a bit upright and I have had it blow over away from the stand side.

I've definitely got used to the speed of mine. I was on the motorway the other day and it was sitting at 75mph and unperturbed at 80. It's just overtaking on A or B roads that take a bit more planning. There's a guy on the US forum trialling a power commander thing who reckons it works wonders but I'm still a bit sceptical personally. Whether Hitchcocks will do a big bore kit for it further down the line I don't know. It'd be nice to have a bit more go but then I find it works really nicely as a package and I wouldn't want to spoil that. I did try a demo bike the other day which had some uprated pads in (not sure what brand) and that did seem to give the front brake a bit more bite than stock. Keen to get mine back and give it a good run out to be honest.
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Re: The Royal Enfield Himalayan ,great value.

Post by Jak* »

Has anyone else noticed that the bottom frame rails have holes in each end. This does not seem a great idea to me. I sprayed a load of ACF 50 down mine.
Cheers Jak
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Landsurfer
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Re: The Royal Enfield Himalayan ,great value.

Post by Landsurfer »

Waxoyl moment ?
Go Out. Take Risks. Live.
“ No chains shall sully thee, Thou soul of love and brav’ry “
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Womble
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Re: The Royal Enfield Himalayan ,great value.

Post by Womble »

or Dinitrol would be better, a bit more 21st century :)
Enfield Himalayan... apparently they're Marmite... not keen on Marmite, but like Vegemite
YBR125... the little adventure steed of awesomeness
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