Royal Enfield Himalayanists

Back on the TET today. Another 58 miles completed. A much higher percentage of lanes in this segment I reckon.
I knew it was going to be wetter after this weeks rain but I was surprised by how much was pretty well drained.

I rode okay at times but a few rutted sections when the soil was clay were a bit tricky.

Twice I went to switch ruts and got completely cross rutted to the point I had to get off and lift the bike over using the pannier racks, whilst letting it drive up and out.

I finished up just 20 mins from home (about as close as it gets) so am already looking forward to doing the next 50 or so miles away from there- that may even get me out round the Salisbury Plain section.

Nice 👍
Wouldn’t mind joining you on the Salisbury plain bit perhaps 😉

My stock rear tyre was almost bald so I got a set of TKC80s but fitting them, I managed to pinch the tube on the rear a few times.

Man, it’s so much harder than MTB tyres!

Anyway, thought I’d patched them well and set off to a bike shop to get some new tubes. On the way there the rear went completely flat and I coasted to a stop.

I had levers, a patch kit and a tiny bike pump on me but thought hey, I’m an AA member so called them.

Long story short, I waited around in a minging dual carriageway layby, littered with human excrement, for about 4 hours only to have several AA people not be able to fix a tubed tyre and not be able to recover a motorcycle with their vehicle.

In between waiting I had managed to whip the wheel off and check the tube for leaks in a muddy puddle, couldn’t find any leaks and concluded that the slime in the tyre must have sealed the small leak.

I didn’t trust it enough to ride it though but after waiting so long for what I thought was finally my recovery truck, only to be told by the guy that nobody had told him it was a recovery, just a repair, but that he couldn’t repair a tubed tyre anyway, I decided to take my chances.

Rode the bike the 20 odd miles home, crawling along at 30, in constant fear it would suddenly go again. 😐

Made it luckily. Definitely going to sort out a bit of a better puncture fixing set up to keep on the bike though.

Rode the bike the 20 odd miles home, crawling along at 30, in constant fear it would suddenly go again. 😐

Made it luckily.

And I’ve just checked the bike after leaving it yesterday and the tyre is flat again so yeah, I WAS lucky to make it back it seems 🙂

Bloody hell! That’s another adventure and a half!! 😱🤣 They are a mission to get on that’s for sure.

I have 2x spare tubes now so am carrying both of those when off road or just one on road, some old school patches and glue, two tyre levers, 2x 45g co2’s and a bike pump 🤣 Makes a tubeless conversion with some JB-weld seem tempting 🤣🤣

Yeah that would be great to have some company 👍🏻 I know most of the TET plain/Stonehenge bits but some are new to me.

Might be worth investing in something like this

https://motorcyclepartswarehouse.co.uk/mpw-race-dept-portable-motorcycle-tyre-changer-bead-breaker.html?gclid=Cj0KCQjwqs6lBhCxARIsAG8YcDjWULHqFLuOWNLYaW2Qa5ZJPK65SunQycJR8KHyrZkr988d-Cyu-NUaAm2kEALw_wcB

I’ll struggle to fit that in my panniers I reckon 😂

Yeah part of my reasoning for fitting them myself was practice. I did give in and use a G clamp that I won’t likely have with me but otherwise I made sure I used tools from the bike.

After my experience at the weekend, I’m determined to get my puncture mending kit up to scratch.

I’ve got two tyre levers, I’ll carry a spare front tube that’ll do both ends in an emergency, I’ll carry a patch kit, maybe a tin of tyre weld stuff as a 1st port of call and then something to inflate it as well as the tyre weld.

I had thought that I would go down the C02 canister route but apparently it takes about 8x16g canisters to get it up to a decent pressure. Maybe just the little bike pump is better as it just works, albeit slow.

You can get little inflators now that connect to the battery so maybe that’s a better idea?

All of that I reckon I could have in a tail bag that I can just leave on the bike.
Since I changed the standard pannier racks to these minimal ones, I don’t really have anywhere to put those tool tubes now.
It’s a shame that on a bike like this, the storage under the seat is woeful. I had loads of room under the seat of my GSX750, but on the Himalayan, you just about have room for a couple of Mars bars 😐

The main takeaway from a lot of the tube replacing videos I’ve been watching, is that number one, you need to get the bead of the tyre into the wheel well so it has room to go over the rim on the opposite side.
All this I know from MTB tyres.

The other thing is not to take your levers past 90 degrees when levering the tyre on as this tends to be when the tube can get pinched.
That was defo my mistake before.

I’ve taken the tubes in and out a few times since that first time and going by that technique I’ve not pinched one.

Yeah I used to carry a can of Holts on my XT.

And a 12v inflater with all the casing removed to save space is a good shout.

I got a handful of the 45g co2’s as they still had the same thread as the bicycle ones but Fortnine reckons they will basically do a tyre good enough. So two will be ample.

I tried a trip out with the SUP tonight. The ride down to the beach was fun as I hit some traffic and enjoyed filtering. But then the forecast was miles out as usual and it was really windy. Magicseaweed.com had said it was easing off but I’ve experienced their lies on the kayak loads of times so I guess I should have known better than to trust them before riding down.

Anyway, in for a penny, I tried pumping it up and reckon it takes 300 pumps to hit 15psi. And only the last 60 are tough going. Then after I realised the old couple on a bench weren’t going anywhere at least until I had dunked myself in the sea, I waded out through the breakers and set off on my knees.

It was pretty windy and choppy- there were loads of windsurfers out and even a couple of plain old surfers. After a bit, I tried to stand up and wiped out totally. This was going to be hard!
By the time I had remounted the SUP, I was two groins farther down the beach! Eventually I got the hang of the paddling though and managed to propel it back upwind of where I started by a groin or so.

Long story short, I did manage a few paddle strokes stood up but wiped out within a couple of minutes each time.

Good re-mounting practice I guess.

Anyway, then I realised I had lost my phone!!! The waterproof phone case lanyard that comes with the SUP had broken. Not even at the safety latch but just snapped! Thankfully the Himmy key isn’t electronic so I had caribiner’d it to my PFD.  If I had been in the car then no doubt the key would have been in the pouch and thus gone too!

So I gave up and was really pleased with how quick and easy packing up was. I still had a few checks to do at work as well as contacting O2 etc so I wrung the bike’s neck coming home.

But with the SUP-bag adding drag, I was barely able to break a speed limit 🤣 By picking off a couple of cars into and out of each village, it was still way more fun than driving would have been but I wish I had packed an extra coat as I was  fairly wet under my textiles and even the Himmy can go fast enough to cause a chill 🤣

I think the term ADV is well over-done but I’m loving the backyard-adventures this crazy little “mini-ADV” bike is encouraging me to do.

Sounds brilliant 🙂👍
If I wanted to pop to the coast for a swim it would take me about 3 hours! 😭

The same roll top dry bags you get to strap to the Himalayan crash bars, I would get one of them and use it as a deck bag on the sup to keep valuables in.
I use a dedicated kayak deck bag on mine which is brilliant for all that stuff.

I’ve used those lanyard phone pouches myself and yeah, the moving about you do, especially getting back on the board can really pull on the neck straps.
Nightmare you lost it 😐

I imagine filtering felt a bit sketchy with the sup on the back!

It wasn’t too bad to be fair. I have the preload cranked up fairly hard so I guess that helped limit the amount it could push me around. On the way down I had it upright as pictured above but coming home I tried it on its side, and then it was still no wider than the panniers and no taller than the top box. There was more surface area causing drag that way but being lower, it felt more stable I think. The panniers are handily the same width as the bars so you can judge gaps pretty well.

In hindsight I should have tucked the pouch inside my wetsuit but I had it between my T shirt and wetsuit and I guess the lanyard was so long it got caught against the board when re-mounting. I’ve only really lost the trade in value as was due an upgrade (and now have full insurance 🤣).

Will look at other options for sure- something that can fit under the bungees, get leashed to a D ring and survive a capsize. I think I will definitely hedge my bets and have separate versions for keys and phone though- I’m still pinching myself at the luck that I actually thought to keep them apart 😮‍💨

Christchurch area is about 2hrs for me the scenic route or 90 mins on the main roads. I don’t mind it being that far if I know for sure that’s how long it will be- hence the bike plan. It kind of removes the traffic and parking issues. I can rock up down there at peak time if needed and know I can 99% get a free motorbike parking space within 200m of the two main beaches I’ll likely visit.

I was thinking the other day how it’s like a secret loophole being a biker isn’t it 🤣 Barge to the front of queues, park for free, ride in the bus lanes and generally act like an entitled lord of the road 🤣

I’ve really not had a good few days tyre-wise with the Himalayan.
Today, shit just got real 😳

Drove over in the van to pick up some new tubes this morning after my nightmare at the weekend pinching the tube while changing to the new tyres, and came back to the bike to fit them.

Thought it would be rude not to go for a quick blast down a couple of lanes half hour away. All was good. Liking the TKC80s.

Coming back, on a dual carriageway again, doing about 60mph, the rear tyre goes flat again but more rapidly this time. I had a big, big moment and fishtailed a bit but then the bike was sideways, speedway style, but somehow I managed to bring it to a stop without hitting the deck, and pushed it onto the verge, all with massive trucks bearing down on me. 😳😳😳

I tried a can of Holts tyre repair foam I had with me but it just splurted out everywhere! Obviously the puncture was bigger than I thought. Took the wheel out once more to have a proper look and found a MASSIVE concrete screw in the tyre!

My brand new tyre! 😭
It had pierced the tube in two places and pretty much destroyed it. Brand new tube lasted about 2 hours.

Luckily I had a new front tube with me so I put that in, pumped it up a bit with the bicycle pump and limped it home.

Scary stuff, and from now on, I think I’ll be the most puncture-paranoid-prepared Himalayan rider out there! 😂

Hold my beer!

Jings kayak,the puncture gremlins have really got it in for you just now 😲
Glad you saved the speedway slide,that must have been efin scary .
Only had an ‘instant’ flat once ,something I don’t want to repeat.
You are certainly upping your tyre changing skills 😉 👍

Strewth!!! Glad you’re okay. Hopefully that’s your puncture bad luck used up now 🤞🏻

Really liking these adventures and I don’t ride a M’bike, still on manual peddle cycles:) Was going over Wrynose today and spotted a Himalayan as the guy stopped to let me pass, managed a very quick chat and he said it was great for riding over these type of passes and it was sunny day! Maybe think about bike test….

Was going over Wrynose today and spotted a Himalayan as the guy stopped to let me pass, managed a very quick chat and he said it was great for riding over these type of passes and it was sunny day! Maybe think about bike test…

Cool. Yeah, us Himalayan riders are all pretty friendly 😊

Mission complete 😎

Had a cracking evening. Only caught 3 schoolies but had great fun chasing them around. Even managed to stand up without falling in for a bit 🤣

Is that the standard screen plus the extension?
How do you find wind noise/buffeting?

I have a cut down screen that came with mine but I feel like it directs the airflow right in my face and causes a lot of wind noise.

I want to try a standard one but seemingly most people remove them for the same problem.

Yeah. It’s pretty noisy. No buffeting but just a real racket. The extension definitely helps but on certain wind directions it’s still bad.

I had the same problem on the XT, VStrom and GS1150 to be fair. I don’t think upright bikes can ever move air cleanly.

Oddly, if you stand up at like 50-60mph, it’s absolutely silent! You can hear the engine whirring away and everything. Then as you drop back down into the dirty air it gets louder and louder.

Oddly, if you stand up at like 50-60mph, it’s absolutely silent!

Exactly that!

Weather not looking great this weekend. Was hoping to do a bit more TET. Perhaps link up where I’ve gotten to so far to the Plain. Not sure how far that is as I can’t find a quick and easy way to measure a small section of a bigger GPX.

The more videos I watch about riding adventure bikes (I’d definitely class the Himmy as a mini ADV bike more than anything else 🤔 ) in muddy ruts the more I realise there is seemingly no technique that eliminates random unplanned dismounts 🤣🤣

If I decided to do some winter ‘laning I think I’d whack a more aggressive front tyre on.

Currently mid crisis 🤣

A bungee came loose on the Plain and my coat got caught in the chain!!!  Thankfully I was able to hold it as it locked the rear wheel solid!!

Managed to strip her down with the tool kit and remove it but the swing arm is knackered. It had pulled the spacer half way through the swing arm to the extent that the wheel won’t go back in.

I was able to reassemble without the calliper but it wasn’t safe to ride as the disc could in theory hit the swing arm if the wheel moved along the axle.

Thankfully a farmer stopped and offered me the chance to leave it his farm so I walked two miles to the main road and mum is now taking me home so I can get my Landy and trailer to recover it.

A quick look makes me think a swing arm isn’t too dear so as long as all the other components are safe, I doubt I’ll claim on the insurance.

TBC…..

Made the mistake when going to get it of leaving the keys at home 🤣 Was fun getting it on the trailer with the steering lock on 🎉

Blimey. That sounds pretty hairy. 😳
Lucky you didn’t get pulled in!

I’m on holiday up in Scotland.
I walk around like I’m ok, but inside I’m missing my Himalayan 😂

Nah, bad explanation sorry. I had taken it off and strapped it to the back rack 🤣

Awesome 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Have fun 🗻

So only 24miles of TET ticked off today. It was mostly fiddly ruts and one completely overgrown track but the Plain was just starting to get good when I FUBAR’d myself 🤣

I basically started where these guys started and rode 24 miles of what they did in this vid:

Wow! ASM auto recycling is some place!!! It’s got its own area code I reckon 🤣
Drove up here on the off chance I could get my hands on the swingarm despite the eBay purchase not being fully processed and they were all over it.
Home now to refit 🚙 💨 🏍️ 🔨 🔧

Nice one. Got any pics of what you’ve actually done?

That’s the damage.

New swingarm all fitted.

Crikey. Well done getting hold of and fitting the new one. 👏

It was only £95 and came with lots of bits and bobs off the back end so have a few other handy spares like that stupid annoying back wheel spacer that hates staying in place 🤣🤣

Another mini-adventure chalked up 🤩

Whilst not yet appearing to be a problem, one of the worries removing the front hugger was the threat of stone strikes on the headlight.
Well, that’s the rough excuse for getting a cool headlight guard anyway 🤣

The only thing left to do is fit some LED spots.

So from bog standard, she now has the following crap bolted on:

-Rear pannier racks and panniers.
-Topbox
-RE handguards
-Oxford heated grips
-3 ammo pouches
-1 tool tube
-screen extender
-usb power socket
-gps mounting bracket
-headlight guard
-Conti TKC 80’s
-quadlock bar mount with anti-vibration adaptor

(And the screen has been painted and the lower fender/hugger removed.)

I guess I could pursue the shorter links and fork extensions to raise her up a bit and maybe get a higher seat but that’s out of budget for this year I’d say.

I saw a Himalayan the same as yours visiting Dunnet Head, the most northerly point on mainland Britain a couple of days ago.

Had a nice bit of Himalayan chat with the couple who’d ridden it up from Yorkshire and owned 3 other Royal Enfields.

Was nice to see amongst the glut of GS’s

Cool! I saw another green one on the way to the beach on Wednesday.

Back on the TET. Was sat looking at a deep puddle in Bulford Ranges with no obvious escape route when two KTM adventures appeared behind me.
They assured me they’d ridden it earlier so I followed them through and despite a few unseen obstacles, we all bounced through unscathed 🤣 Onwards….

Wow. That is some route round the plain and surrounding areas. Lots of variety of tracks from Singletrack to 50mph gravel. I pressed start where I broke down the other day and pressed stop when I hit the first main road after following a Byway down off the plain and it was 81miles! And I reckon 70 of that was off road.

It’s funny. All week I lust after T7’s on YouTube and look sideways at my bike like it’s not really up to the job. And then I ride the Himmy off road and realise it is actually the real deal in its own way.

It wasn’t too slippery out on the chalk thankfully, although my one near miss all day was losing the front at 20-25mph and saving it with an instinctive flukey dab.

I was relatively brave with the puddles after this morning but there are hole’s on this route that regularly swallow jacked up Discovery’s! Luckily you can get round most of them. One was deeper than I thought and as I dropped into an unseen hole, it made the bike stall! Luckily it started again in an instant 😮‍💨

I wouldn’t want to ride that route with too much more standing water about as a lot of the puddles have raised sides by 2-3ft so could in theory hold enough water to make them unridable.

I was pretty happy with my riding today. Ended up going well in the ruts and was able to pick and choose my line pretty successfully. The only limiting factor was ground clearance but I managed to ride out the few times my pegs and boots made contact.

On my four outings I think I’ve done  50, 58, 24 and say 80 miles of the TET Southern gpx now.  So 212 miles out of 569. The next leg is still only half an hour away from home (to reach where I left the route today) but after that, it’s gonna require a lot of traveling each way. But it’s a fun goal  to tick it all off this Summer/Autumn if I can.

Sounds mint. 😊👌
Need to get down to that area myself.

I’d happily ride it again with you. Would have been way more fun with company 👍🏻