Yeah that makes sense. I used to love my VStrom as a mid range tourer. But there is no way I’d have spent an hour trying to ride back and forth along a 12ft piece of 4x2 in the garden as I did this evening 🤣🤣
Also practiced doing rolling dismounts and pulling away from standing alongside the bike 🤣🤣
(Basically the things she goes over in this vid: )
I joined up with a group from Facebook yesterday, a Himalayan group for an organised ride in Shropshire.
Never met them of course and arriving at the service station meet point I quickly felt massively out of my depth! 😳
There was only three of them and actually only one on a Himalayan.
His Himalayan was absolutely awesome looking. Big knobblies, loads of navigation stuff, single high front guard etc. Sounded mint too with a Lextek pipe.
I was bricking it to be honest looking at their bikes, having only had my bike two weeks and last week being buried up to my waist with it.
I had the standard tyres on which are little more then road tyres.
Be gentle with me!,I said.
Well, it felt like we must have been down every single track lane and byway in Shropshire. Luckily it was pretty dry and so the tyre situation could have been worse. A lot of really overgrown singletrack, trying to keep it on line, some really steep descents that I would blast down on the MTB, but on a 200kg motorcycle with road tyres and abs that I hadn't worked out how to turn off, it was frikkin scary!
Did a crazy steep uphill too, which afterwards the guy leading said he went into and then suddenly remembered that I was behind him with limited experience and road tyres 😂
I actually got up it really well, and I honestly think that a lot of the skills you have in MTB transfer over well.
Absolutely knackered at the end of the day. Their pace was a bit high for me to enjoy all the absolutely gorgeous places we rode all around the Long Mynd area. I normally have to take loads of photos on rides, but only got the chance for a couple on this.
Anyway, incredibly impressed with how the bike handled it all. It made absolute sense here. Ground clearance could do with being better, better tyres obvs, and more practise needed.
The bike made slightly less sense on the 1.5hrs of motorway home.
Much harder when you're tired and need a cup of tea. 😊
Ah wicked. That looks like an awesome day out.
I’m just doing the dogs before heading out to a beach or three 🏍️ 💨
Do you know what high guard he had fitted?
No, just looked like a fairly standard trail bike mud guard really
Just stopped for a pasty and ice cream at Swanage 😋
Filtered down the chain ferry queue and got on as the ramp was about to be lifted 🤣😎 Beautiful.
That was a fun ride. Another 250 miles. Real mix of everything from rutted byways to gravel, to C roads, B roads and A roads up to dual carriageway.
It was literally only the dual carriageway it was out-gunned but that’s fine as it’s not too hard to plan a funner route.
I purposely aimed for a 2 mile section of ruts on the way home across the Plain (one that I used to hate on my XTZ) and the garden drills are definitely paying off. Even after 6.5hrs in the saddle, I was able to clear them no bother.
The only annoying thing was worrying about my pegs rubbing the sides in places but mainly because I’d compromised and worn ankle boots.
The only slight issue to sort is a rattly heat shield type noise. It made me sound very uncool through the towns 🤨 🤣🤣
Easy loose bolt to find and tighten. Hopefully will be cured now.
I took the full pannier set today and I’m glad I did. It meant I could lock literally everything I was wearing other than my cycling shorts and T shirt and go for lunch un-encumbered by hot gear.
I remembered to take my cheap fake croc things too to wear.
The only annoying thing was worrying about my pegs rubbing the sides in places
Yeah, ground clearance isn't the best.
I've ridden motorbikes most of my life but always hated biker gear, so never had boots or anything. Now though, I can see how they are a must riding ruts etc, so got a pair the other day.
Ah nice one. Yeah it almost feels inevitable that you’re gonna drop what is a pretty heavy bike on your lower leg at some point and I’m still getting over the last time I broke both my fibulas 🤣
I need to make a puncture plan too. When I changed tyres I put sealant in the old tubes as a ‘maybe it will do something’ option.
I like the idea of some 45g co2 cartridges if I can find some. But with tubes it would mean carrying:
-Enough decent tools to get the wheels off.
-Tyre levers
-puncture repair kit and/or two inner tubes
And
-2x 45g co2 cartridges and or an electric pump.
A not inconsiderable bundle of gear.
One idea I saw and liked is just taking ten big cable ties to hold the tyre on the rim to get you back to civilisation.
Realistically, the state of the ByWay network means you’re never *too* far from a road (I’ve got RAC cover with my insurance) so whacking a few cable ties on and limping out to a main road should be achievable most of the time.
I need to make a puncture plan too. When I changed tyres I put sealant in the old tubes as a ‘maybe it will do something’ option.
I like the idea of some 45g co2 cartridges if I can find some. But with tubes it would mean carrying:
-Enough decent tools to get the wheels off.
-Tyre levers
-puncture repair kit and/or two inner tubes
And
-2x 45g co2 cartridges and or an electric pump.A not inconsiderable bundle of gear.
I've got a couple of these tool tubes that you can get from ebay etc for around a tenner.
They're pretty good.
I actually smashed one of mine off the other day when I fell into that trench above up there.
But until then, I had a spare tube in there (you can get away with one spare tube, as it'll do either wheel in an emergency despite the different sizes) and a couple of tyres levers and a small bike pump(hard work but no reason you'd not get enough in to limp away)
Mind you, I've not changed a motorcycle tyre myself before so I imagine it's an absolute mare of a job compared to an mtb.
I had the tool tubes mounted behind my pannier racks but that might change as I have bought a cheapy universal pannier rack off ebay because I don't think I need something so elaborate for just medium sized soft panniers, plus I may take them off when not in use.
Accidentally ordered the Lextek silencer today too after following the Himalayan fitted with one at the weekend. Oops.
Oh yeah good shout on the tool tube 👍🏻
Changing the tyres wasn’t too bad it seemed. Easier than the XT rims.
Not a quick fix though.
Out again on the Ridgeway this evening. Working on loose gravel rather than ruts.
This time I was in second gear and aiming for the deepest gravel patches I could find and really trying to keep the bars relaxed.
I was consciously trying to grip the bike between my legs whilst ‘steering’ (I know, I know, you can jump up and down on a foot peg as hard as you like and it does not technically change direction without a counter-steering input but you know what I mean 🤣) with my feet/body weight and keeping my hands and arms as light as possible.
I mean, don’t get me wrong, this is bog standard stuff but it felt really good and for the first time since starting to play around on ADV type bikes I was able to have a bit of fun and go where I wanted rather than nervously bumping along on top. I was riding sections way faster and cleaner than I ever have before.
Obvs pride comes before a fall so I just need to keep a lid on my expectations and remember getting me and the bike home intact is always number one priority but it was definitely fun feeling like I’d actually gotten better at something.
Sounds great.
I went for a quick blast on mine, just on the road, but then I couldn't help myself and went down this byway I know. It's horrendous in winter because of (who else?) 4x4s, but just about passable this time of year.
No kit on or owt, but it's so nice being able to do these little off road bits on what would otherwise just be a road ride.
One minute I was riding down an overgrown path with ruts and across a field, next I was in the next town in Saino's picking up some Houmous 😂
🤣🤣🤩 Yeah they’re definitely like motorised gravel bikes in that respect. (At the 1x and 650b end of the spectrum 🤣)
A little numberplate/tail tidy change trying to use all of the original bits from the bike.
Original look of numberplate and tail tidy with Enfield panniers (not my bike)
Royal Enfield pannier racks removed as I intend to get more minimal ones as I only need soft luggage plus they get in the way of the rear fender numberplate mounting option.
Removed tail tidy and removed numberplate light.
Drilled a hole in the back of the numberplate light assembly, allowing me to bolt it to the fender with the nut hidden by the tail tidy. Wiring routed through original hole, tiny bit of material ground out from numberplate light to allow cable to lie flat the other way.
Indicators relocated up to the fender.
Tail tidy cut down to just longer than where it bolts to the fender via two bolts at the side.
New 7x5'' plate drilled for two bolts fairly low down so that access to the nuts is possible below the end of the tail tidy.
Approx 10mm rubber spacers between the plate and the fender to stand it off from the numberplate light wire that's laying behind the plate.
Job done. Looks so much better imho, and only a little bit illegal with the smaller plate. 😊👍
Nice! I like that 😎
I can't stop going for little rides down little lanes 😊
Really enjoying the bike, much more then I thought I would, what with the engine down sizing.
Yeah, it definitely defies logic.
I clicked on the tool tube with a lock bracket and didn’t realise it was the bigger size so I’m not actually sure I can find a home for it 🤦🏻♂️🤣
May replace an ammo pouch on the front rack with it.
More mucking about in the garden earlier. Walking alongside the bike whilst inching it forward with the clutch, balancing the bike off of its stand and moving all the way 360degrees around it with just finger pressure, right side dismounts, full lock circles and that sort of stuff.
Then I thought sod it and took it to fill it up with petrol via about 5 miles of Byways each way 🤣
There’s a little ‘whoop’ section and I could barely get the front to lift on the throttle. To be fair, my XT didn’t used to either so I ended up fitting a smaller front sprocket on that but I’m not sure I want the Himmy to be any slower 🤣
There was one moment where I came into a turn a bit hot and grabbed a handful of front brake without thinking but the ABS cut in which was kind of good and kind of bad as it of course started accelerating again 🤣 Prob best leave the fuse in for now 🤣
Sounds like you're getting some good skills practise in. I recognise most of what you're doing from that video the lady did. Worth doing I reckon.
Prob best leave the fuse in for now 🤣
I don't believe you can just remove the fuse on the Euro 5 bikes as the ECU wotsit is different to the older bikes.
I've tried the sequence for turning mine off but no idea if it worked or not. It resets itself every time you switch the engine off though annoyingly.
Yeah I just want some muscle memory so when things go pear shaped up a narrow, bramble filled lane with angry horse riders or in front of a load of 4x4’s or any other scenario- I can get out of a pickle smoothly and quickly 😀
Ah okay- I know Fortnine does it to the Scram in that dunes vid but not sure which engine he was reviewing.
I can get my ABS cutout to work. Ignition on, hold button for 5 secs, release, start engine.
But that’s rear brake only.
This vid has some variations on the same ideas too.
I can get my ABS cutout to work. Ignition on, hold button for 5 secs, release, start engine.
But that’s rear brake only.
It's pretty annoying really as I found them other day while riding with the group, you tend to kill the bike and restart it quite a lot.
Quite often you'd have gates that were slightly downhill, so you'd want to leave it in gear and kill the engine so you could leave the bike on the sidestand without it rolling away.
Resetting the abs every time becomes a pain.
Does it reset if you turn off the bike with the kill switch but don’t turn off the ignition switch?
Does it reset if you turn off the bike with the kill switch but don’t turn off the ignition switch?
I don't know actually. When I figure out if mine turns off or not I'll give it a go (don't seem to get the abs light flashing thing you're supposed to get)
I really liked the carrying capacity of the Royal Enfield pannier racks, but they are really for hard cases, which I don't intend to use. Soft luggage is safer off road and a bit more versatile imho and so I was looking out for some more minimal luggage support.
Found these on eBay for 15 quid..
When I got them I thought they looked crazy small out of the box, and they are of course much smaller, but fitted (to the two threaded mounts on the gusset plate thingy) they actually look ok.
I imagine I'll have to come up with something on the panniers themselves so that they span the bars well and fit securely but happy with the minimalist look, free of luggage, and they are surprisingly nicely made for 15 quid.
Nice one! Flying through the mods.
I’m waiting for things to become necessary for now rather than looking for trouble 🤣
I think I would like to explore the shorter links and a higher seat but not got the budget until next year. There’s cheap longer links on eBay but not cheap shorter ones annoyingly and the Hitchcock ones are quite pricey.
I could do with a better helmet first maybe. I love the inner black visor and lift up front on my Caberg but Strewth is it noisy compared to my HJC!
Fun 35 mile loop this evening. Probably 12-15 miles of byways I’d say. No skillz goals- just ride everything as smoothly as possible.
Succeeded for the most part.
But why is this thing so much fun? I can’t really put it into words still but I had a smile on my face more than any bike I’ve ever owned.
Finished on the two miles of ridgeway ruts and it was amazing how much better I was able to ride them after just a week or so.
At one time I panicked and had to stop and restart again but then I shifted my butt back a bit, which meant I was following the bike and letting it follow the ruts and bingo- straighted the rest.
Need to get better at stopping for a piccy.
Sounds lovely.
I'm just off out this morning to do some bits of the Fosse way down past Cirencester and whatever else I can find.
Can't stop riding it at the moment.
I'm a bit paranoid about getting a puncture though. That would suck. 😊
Great ride in the Cotswolds today starting down at the end of the Fosse Way, up to Cotswold airport, then up to Sapperton, then basically working my way north towards Cheltenham, ticking off as many green lanes as I could muster on the way.
Some challenging gravel climbs and rocky descents and fantastic views.
A lot of the trails I had already been down on the mountainbike so had a good idea of how rough they were.
The climbs are a different story though. Momentum is your friend! 😊
Just leaving my house
The Fosse Way
Easton Grey
A section of the Fosse now closed to 4-wheel vehicles due to the ford splash getting too popular and historical site damage.
A ford on the Avon. I went and had a look, thought it looked pretty deep, maybe nearly wheel height in places, but maybe it would go. Started walking back to the bike with trepidation, then 3 blokes on enduro bikes came along, didn't do it, and that then made me bottle it 😂
Ducking and a diving
Steep, rocky, technical climbs that look flat in photos.
Sunken lane descents
Another climb that was really loose and difficult, but looks like your granny's garden path in the photo.
Brilliant day out. Maybe 8 hours riding Billy no mates. 👌
Cracking pics 🤩
Nice road ride to a mate’s BBQ today. Chose mainly B roads but a few faster A roads around Marlborough and Devizes.
It’s the first bike I’ve had that notices a headwind 🤣
But again, stuck it on a few local byways on the way home and even braaaaped around the farm where I work to check on something on the way home. Grinning from ear to ear as usual 😀
Some 'spy shots' of a new Himalayan in MCN. Liquid cooled twin OHC, 4 valve, 450cc/40bhp apparently. TFT screen and full LED lights. A bold attempt to steal even more sales from the Japanese and European brands? At the cost of losing sales to those who love the pared back, utility bike for few beer tokens vibe? Be interesting to see how this affects sales.
That's an interesting rear wheel basket arrangement.
Could maybe be used to chip some tatties on the move 😉
It also looks like it has a version of Kayak's pannier bump bars at the rear of the seat frame.
Nice to see the tank protection team,pushing a bold new look. 😃
The new version looks like a totally different kettle of fish to be honest and might be a fair chunk more expensive. They could conceivably sell it alongside the current model at a higher price.
I think the price is what makes the existing one so compelling.
The old Suzuki Samurai I had aged 18 is a good comparison. Yes it was slow and underpowered but it was also a huge array of cars in one. It was as small and nimble in town as a city car/small hatchback, as good off road as a defender, capable of keeping up with traffic on all but the fast lane of a motorway but it was also cheeky, cool, a convertible and had real character and this is the same.
However, I wouldn’t pay a grand more for 16 more horsepower. I’d buy something else for that money. You’re into tidy used F series BMW’s or Honda CRF’s once you get towards £6k.
If they can keep the price the same, I think more people will perhaps be convinced by the package with more power but I’m not sure it will actually be a ‘better’ bike at the minute.
Very difficult to tell but it looks like it's a departure from the current one and what I love about how the current one looks.
Would be nice to have a little more power for the road rides, but not if it's going to look like your run of the mill bulbous, top heavy, transformeresque adventure bikes.
Wait and see.
All that's true. I hope it is an actual replacement at a similarly competitive price. There are much better options in the next bracket up so it'll be less appealing in comparison.
The 450 is one of the reasons I'm not marching around to Manhattan's to buy a new model. I think when the 450 comes out it will plummet in value.
I'm still keeping an eye on used ones. There's loads available for good money.
Now that I'm at work and not on my phone I can read the MCN article and it says "it is likely to sit alongside the current model, rather than replace it entirely".
Well that answers that question.
I'm still gonna buy a used one once we've had our garage door replaced. Then I'll demo a 450 at Manhattan's to see what I'm missing out on. I still think I'd just use the Himalayan as a first bike to get some NCB in the bank. Then start looking at CRF's or EXC's and stuff.
More repetition on the local loop tonight. Feeling better every time. Managed to yank the throttle hard enough to lift the front on a few whoops and possibly even catch some micro-air one time 🤣
Other than getting fuel half way, I never dabbed once (obvs was lucky on the junctions on the main road bit).
I think the two things that have clicked is one- separating your body from the bars and learning to tense up when you can’t help it by squeezing the bike between your boots rather than locking or tensing your arms. And the other is in ruts, when I feel my body weight getting ahead of the bike, using the throttle to put the bike back in front of you- night and day better than rolling off in a panic and magnifying every bad thing you’re doing wrong 5x.
The local Common is quite poorly signposted in places and even after riding, walking and working in there for 13 years now, I still found myself starting a track with a red sign and coming out with a Bridleway or footpath sign once or twice🤣
I technically can be in there for work so I have an excuse if challenged but it meant riding some fiddly little singletrack bits which was awesome practice.
Another interesting development is something Jonathan from the Trainerroad podcast used to mention which is actually- the stony water channels can actually be grippier than the smooth sided chalk or clay either side and I found myself often aiming for bits I used to avoid.
Taking the footpeg rubbers off tonight helped a lot too but I may keep looking for some wider and longer ones.
Will be great if some of this transfers across to the gravel and mtb too 😀
Did my larger loop this evening, in reverse to mix things up.
Was expecting it to be slippery but if anything it was grippier! Proper hero dirt.
Hoped to film the little front wheel hops over the whoops but sadly the memory card filled up despite saying it had an hour when I left.
They were filled with water tonight which helped clean her off 🤣 It looks tame Vrs my buggy and the wife’s Landy.
My old secondhand MX boots are definitely not waterproof 🤣 The rubberless footpegs were much better tonight even when the boots were dripping wet.
I think the two things that have clicked is one- separating your body from the bars and learning to tense up when you can’t help it by squeezing the bike between your boots rather than locking or tensing your arms. And the other is in ruts, when I feel my body weight getting ahead of the bike, using the throttle to put the bike back in front of you- night and day better than rolling off in a panic and magnifying every bad thing you’re doing wrong 5x.
You can steer a lot with your feet. I was practising this Saturday. Shifting your weight through either peg it's surprising how much you can get the bike turning and taking the emphasis off gripping the bars.
Had a lot of rut practise too and was really trying to look ahead which of course helps massively. When you look down at your front wheel you immediately start going off and then overcorrecting. Looking way ahead, almost as if there is no rut, really helps to keep you straight (same for MTB too)
That in combination with weight shifts through the pegs makes everything way more relaxed.
I've got my 3000 mile service this morning at Cooperb near Northampton.
It was under 2k when I got it and close to 3.5k now I've been riding it so much.
I was going to ride to it but they're supposed to check the valves and for that you need a cold engine so I'm taking it in the van instead.
Oil and filters too.
I cleaned it the other day in readiness for its service. Looks way better covered in mud! 😂
Yeah for sure! Yesterday I had a bit where the front rode up out of the centre rut and by staying back on the pegs, I was able to just let it slot into the left hand rut, ride crossed up for a bit and then eventually the rear followed. Definitely some muscle memory from doing that on the 4x2 in the garden helped 🤣
Dabbing really works too. If I felt myself over balancing, I just purposefully tapped off of the ground to re-centre the bike, barely dropping drive.
I've been watching a few TET vids lately and have the "Southern" GPX file on my Garmin, just need to find time to ride some of it. I don't think I can get to Dover and far enough back home in the time I have available at the minute so I may have to duck in half way along initially.
Well, the 3k service hurt a bit. £275 😳
The mechanic came out holding the air filter and asked me if the bike had been underwater 😂
Um... Yeah, I said.
It's getting used for what it should be used for, he said.
Blimey though. Was expecting maybe just nudging 200. So far, this cheap bike has cost me a fortune.
I think it'll appreciate new oil and filters and a general bit of TLC though.
Think I might do my own servicing from now. Not sure if I've even got any kind of warranty to preserve as a second owner anyway.
