Royal Enfield Himalayanists

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 😀

@kayak23 , great photos 🖖

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 4×2 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.

Yeah you should get the full life of the warranty 👍🏻

It doesn’t need to be dealer serviced, any vat registered garage can sign the book for you.

That’s about what our local place was gonna ask for the 300 mile service on a new scram!

I’m actually really glad I went the Himmy route now. Especially as I love the front racks 🤩

Put the tool tube here in the end. If I had the higher rack, I reckon I’d have had plenty of options at the back but as is, there’s nowhere that doesn’t foul either the top box or the panniers but I’m quite happy with this I think.

Nice little evening razz around the locals.

ABS

Does it reset if you turn off the bike with the kill switch but don’t turn off the ignition switch?

After a firmware update by the dealer during my service, I can now successfully turn off my (rear wheel)ABS. Seemingly it stays off as long as you don’t turn the bike off by the key.
I stopped the bike a few times using just the kill switch and it stayed turned off.
It does blink constantly though which is a bit annoying.

Ah nice one. It seems the regulators want it as hard as possible to ride without ABS so the flashing light is to remind you you’re being naughty 🤣

To be honest, I find using the rear brake so hard with the MX boots on that I rarely bother anyway.

Your bike looks ace with that tail-tidy 👌🏻

I’m thinking of painting my screen for a bit of a Dakar look. Maybe black with a green Dakar logo on the front 🤣

To be honest, I find using the rear brake so hard with the MX boots on that I rarely bother anyway.

God yeah. There’s just no feel is there. I’d much rather have a rear brake on the bars like an MTB. Really difficult to feather the rear brake down steeper rocky slopes when you have so little feel under your foot.

I’m thinking of painting my screen for a bit of a Dakar look. Maybe black with a green Dakar logo on the front

I might get an old receipt machine or something from a shop and a couple of old tablets and zip tie them up there to look all Dakar 😂

The guy I rode with round the Long Mynd the other week was using a road book to navigate, a la Dakar.
(He did also have an OS map on a tablet)

I’ve never really paid attention to them before now but I see they use them in events where you have to navigate and ride and tick off checkpoints or whatever.

Sometimes it’s hard enough to navigate with an OS map when you’re in the middle of a load of fields with a hedge in front of you etc.
Must be really hard tallying What’s in those road books with what’s on the ground in front of you.

Yeah road book rallies really appeal to me I must say!

I rode to the beach this evening. Can’t say the motorways on the way down were fun- I hoped they’d be gridlocked to be honest but it was clear all the way.
A and B roads back were good though. Headlight wasn’t too bad. Wonder if someone upgraded the bulb already. It just needs adjusting down a touch I think.

I may fit some LED driving lights just for the craic though.

Panniers worked as planned. Was able to lock and leave everything behind bar my fishing stuff and beachwear 😎 🏖️

Absolutely brilliant 90 mile loop today I put together in os maps and used my little Wahoo Element Bolt on the bars to navigate that I normally use on the mtb. (Should have smashed a few Strava sections!)
Worked really well.

Found some really lovely and fairly long sections of gravel track from my hood out to Northampton way.

Only fell off once 👍

Restored some faith in a couple of horse riders by stopping well away from them and switching the engine off until they were well past me.
The lady said some other bikers had zoomed past them recently so they were delighted with me, which was nice.

Stopped at a country park on the way back and litter picked an area strewn with takeaway packaging, Red Bull cans and balloons (Nox gas abuse?)

Home just in time for the rain to start.
Love this bike.

Looks awesome 🤩

@kayak23 just thinking out loud- did you specify the oil and filters to be changed at the 3000 mile service?
Service manual says just check level at 5000km and change at 10,000.

Yes, I opted to include an oil change.
It wasn’t really that clear beforehand what was included but they did oil and air filters, changed the oil, lubed various pivots (so they say) and the valves etc.

I have to say, it’s running smooth since the service.

Ah wicked. Prob a good plan 👍🏻

Started early at work today and got everything done in good time so I decided to ride away from home to around Alton and pick up the Trans Europe Trail route and then after a few hours I’d be nearly home again.

I plugged the route into the Tripper for Alton and had a nice ride down there following the pseudo road-book symbols.

Once there, I got a bit lost trying to locate the route as a couple of roads were shut.
But eventually my Garmin loaded the route and I hit Start on there- and began following the red line.

The first lane out of Alton was probably the most technical of the day! A steep sided cutting with boulders and steps. I paddled one or two bits but once I forced myself to relax and commit- I made it up the rest no problem.

The TET is obviously a fair bit of road linking the small remaining fragments of ByWays but any time it felt annoying, a fresh trail would appear. There was everything and anything from single track to deep sand to fast gravel. Some of the sections were miles at a time, some a few hundred meters.

I was having a blast. Totally immersed in either the Garmin, the terrain, the road or the views.
I occasionally drank from the bottle in my ammo pouch but otherwise didn’t stop. Just kept going.

Whilst I hadn’t recognised any of the places it went through, I don’t really know Hampshire anyway but I was a bit curious about the West Sussex signs.

Yep, you guessed it! I had gone away from home at Alton 🤣🤣

So I fired up the tripper again and it actually found a few nice roads back to Basingstoke. Loads of bikes out.

Quite a funny mistake in hindsight but at least I’ve ticked off 50 miles of TET and can have another day of doing the original plan back this way 🤣🤣

The leg of the TET I did. Whole day was about 140 miles.

Quick pit stop.

Freddie Dobbs summing up the Himmy quite well here.

A little nod to the ultimate inspiration for my love of bikes with chunky tyres. And to take the edge off the black screen.

Also, whilst I’ve enjoyed riding for the pure enjoyment of it, I also bought the bike to help me get out and do other things (hence exploring the push bike mounting options).
I used to love kayak fishing from a flipper-powered Galaxy sturgeon but the sheer weight of the thing and the hassle of trying to make sure I can get to the beach and back in time to fulfil my commitments to all the animals who rely on me means I used it less and less and finally sold it.

But I miss being out in the sea on warm flat evenings when the bass could be on the feed so I’m gonna give some SUP fishing a go.
And thankfully it just about fits on the bike (like a tall pillion 🤣).
I don’t mind that it’s slow on fast roads because the ability to filter means I can always get back in a set amount of time, even if the roads are gridlocked.

The bike is a great limiter in gear too as my kayak rig got stupid in the end (trolling motor and up to 5 rods 🤣🤣) so I’ll stick to taking the absolute minimum.

Cool.
I quite often go Supping using my old bike. I’ve not done it on the Himalayan yet and actually, it may be a little trickier.
Reason being I wear the Sup bag like a backpack and on the old bike the seat was relatively flat. On the Himalayan it’s a good step up so may put the massive Sup bag a bit too high.

I’ll give it a go too.
I also used to blow the Sup up via a 12v inflator connected to the battery (bike idling)

Awesome!! I need to look at an inflator. Took me about 6 mins to pump by hand to 15psi but I’d rather have the energy for SUPing instead 🤣👍🏻

Yeah, I mean it’s totally doable by hand, but my Sup goes to 20psi and I want me bed after pumping that up by hand 😂