Royal Enfield Himalayanists

Enjoy the bike sharkattack, keep us updated on your adventures

Oh I will, I don’t know anyone else who’s interested!

Nothing to do now but wait. I hate waiting.

Whoop whoop 🙌
That’s great news @sharkattack. Well done you 👍🏻

Local

Perfect pics as ever 🤩

I rode to the beach yesterday. I love the new gearing. It makes it a much more viable all rounder.
Then today, I rode across the Cotswolds on some stunning B roads near Nailsworth. I went to an MX session at Lee Dunham Racing.
He was a nice bloke and we got on well. I was upgraded to the KX250 (?) in his van when he saw I could ride rather than the 125 he had ready.

First up we did laps on a grass circuit. I just instinctively tried to ride it however I liked so he forced me to slow down and do the drills properly. First seated laps, then standing laps, then purposefully braking with both brakes before each corner (even though I wasn’t going fast enough to brake 🤣) then braking whilst standing and finally standing on the straights, braking whilst standing, then transitioning to sitting with a leg out through the corner.
After a chat, we moved to a smaller, more technical circuit for the same drills. And whilst he still picked me up on a few things, it was becoming less like I was badly rubbing my head whilst patting my tummy 🤣

There was one small straight with whoops and I started picking the front wheel up off of the first one and trying to land it on the second.
A few laps later, I was slow to stand up out of the corner so lifted the front off of the second whoop and landed it on the third.
Now going too quickly for the corner, I remembered he wanted me to brake 50/50 front/rear but the big motocross boots made feeling the pressure hard so I locked up on the loose dirt-marbles and low sided it 🤣🤣🤣
I bent the gear lever but once he saw I was okay, we straightened it out and carried on.

After more chatting (I think a lot of his clients must struggle with how physical it is as he was amazed few breaks I wanted 🤣), we moved to the big, 1 mile circuit. It was really rutted and what wasn’t rutted was loose marbles. And what a time I had 🤩
I really loved it. He probably only said ten things all through that session but each one was exactly what I needed to hear to progress from where I was now riding comfortably to where I could push myself again.

The biggest breakthrough for me was in the loose turns. When the front is getting loose, I always feel like I want to lean back, straighten my arms and lever the bars round. All three are of course recipes for disaster. He got me sat right forward, with bent arms and if I felt the front sliding, I was soon moving even further forwards with even looser arms, to weight the contact patch which made a massive difference.
The last lesson was the difference between corners with berms and ruts, where you can lean with the bike, and flat turns where you need to get your body weight forwards and to the outside of the turn. He straight away knocked about 30s off my lap times with that tip.

Lee is almost exactly how you’d imagine a (late 30’s?) retired ex MX champ to be but he’s also a really good teacher. His lessons were pitched perfectly at my ability (gauged from basically nothing to go on), he ramped things up in a really satisfying and rewarding way and he never made me feel stupid (even when he had every right to 🤣).

I only got a few accidental bits of air off the jumps on the big track but loads of satisfying power wheelies.

My bike felt so alien when I got on it 🤣 I get why the MX/enduro boys gave our ADV bikes a funny look the other day now 🤣🤣

Highly recommended.

That sounds mint. 😊👌
I did a KTM enduro day a couple of years back but it sounds like you got some really good one to one tuition 👍

I did a motocross experience day last year at Doncaster motopark and it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done on a bike. I thought I was going to boss it after my trials experience where I was actually pretty good.

Firstly, riding in deep, soft sand is bloody horrible! You have little to no say in where the bike goes you just have to stay loose while the front wheel skates around all over the place so turning the throttle is terrifying.

Alternating torrential rain and blazing sunshine meant every part of the track felt entirely different on every lap so it was impossible to learn the track conditions.

Riding in big, stiff boots. I couldn’t feel a thing, I spent all my time unable to change gear.

To top it off my whole body was aching for days afterwards. No wonder good riders are absolutely ripped.

So yeah, after a lifetime of being motocross curious I was left bruised and humbled. I’d love to try it again but definitely on a different track. The conditions really dominated the experience and I couldn’t even think about learning to ride the bike properly.

p.s. There was a service cancellation in the workshop today so they got my Himmy ready to go. When I got the call I was miles away in IKEA. Gutted. Should be on the road tomorrow.

Yeah I’m glad this wasn’t sand, that sounds terrifying 🤣
Good luck tomorrow, can’t wait to hear all about it 👍🏻

My mum and dad got me a 4×4 experience day at Thruxton through Red Letter Days for my birthday but that sounded 😴 (and basically what I do at work) so I swapped it for this and am really chuffed I did!

I’ve got a pair of Michelin Trackers to go on the Voge now but everything is drying out so I may hold off fitting them until I’ve finished the Dover section 🤣

I was going to wait but I figured fronts last a long time so this Tracker should outlast the original rear and the new rear Tracker.

It’s not a million miles away from a Rocket Ron 🤣

Just collected the bike an hour ago. It was pretty scary riding it off the forecourt straight into mental traffic after 18 months off the bike. Had a few wobbly moments, stalled it a couple of times. If I had to do my Mod 1 today I’d fail instantly.

No pictures yet, I’ve just been cruising around the streets close to home but we have similar topology to San Francisco so it’s still hard work.

I’m just chilling out until the traffic calms down and I might go out tonight. Weather forecast for tomorrow is pouring rain and thunderstorms.

I gave it full throttle a few times on the way home while I was being followed and the Mrs said she didn’t notice!

Go on then, just one picture. I’m just as excited about the brand new garage door

Ripe for some modding 🤩

Ripe for some modding

The door yeah?

🤣 No- that lovely blank canvas of a bike 🤩

I found an awesome set of special forces pouches in the porch earlier but I can’t find any more homes for them on my bike 😞

(Although I might put a grenade pouch on the gps bar for loose change 🤣)

Or grenades 👍

I deliberately bought a clean, standard bike so I could start from scratch with it. The only mod it has is heated grips which were awesome tonight.

I couldn’t resist going out but I was a bit alarmed by how sketchy I felt earlier. I said I’d just go to a nearby car park and do some manouvres. Which I did. Nailed lots of U turns, figures of 8, got myself reacquainted with clutch control.

Then I blinked and I was at Stanage Edge.

What a night. I realised it’s over 20 years since my first bike lesson so I’ve been waiting a while for this.

Then I remembered why I never pedal out from home anymore. There’s basically no nice way to get back other than traffic chaos. So I threw myself into it and mingled with the boy racers and Uber drivers all the way home.

Things I need…
1) A method of fixing punctures before I get stuck with a flat somewhere.
2) Breakdown cover. So I can get home if the whole thing blows up.
3) Some kind of luggage. Probably Lomo bags for the front rack. I really want to carry a camera and a packed lunch at least.
4) A disc lock or similar for securing it outside work. If I can find a regular spot I’ll leave a chain and padlock in place.
5) A mount for my phone that will also work with the Garmin I plan to buy. The Royal Enfield one looks good for £50.

I was planning to ride it to Bolehills tomorrow to spectate at the 40th birthday jam but the forecast says thunderstorms. We’ll have to wait and see.

I’m full on with puncture gear at the minute. My kit consists of:
*Enough tools to remove both wheels. (The RE toolkit was excellent! The Voge needed a few additions).
*Tyre levers
*Two tubes
*Old fashioned patches and glue
*Holts Tyre Weld
*2x big Co2 cartridges
*Hand pump
And weighs a good few kg. It doesn’t even all fit in the big tool tube.

I added breakdown cover to the insurance for £60. No off road cover as such but will retrieve from anywhere a standard truck can reach.

I really like top-boxes for ‘luggage’. My 30l one will take my jacket, gloves, trousers, dealer boots, extra waterproof coat, extra water proof trousers and lock fairly securely when I go out on the paddle board. (Helmet locked to the front wheel).
Or will take helmet and gloves, jacket and trousers if I’m doing something else.
The RE panniers were also amazing. Narrow enough to fit inside the width of the bars but pretty big.
I actually miss those.
Then I had the ammo pouches as day to day storage on the front racks. On the Voge, I unbolted the rear rack so I could actually slide the fixed belt loops over the metal bar.

I need a disc lock too for my insurance (crazy dear on this V the Himmy as it’s new new I guess). I’m taking a huge padlock and chain from work at the minute but it’s a pain.

I had a quadlock on the bars and one of the bolt on Indian GPS rails on the Himmy. (Basically replicated on the Voge).

(More awesome pics- you two must be related 🤣) 📸 🤩

Looks beautiful Sharkattack. Once you get used to it, maybe we can have a Peak STW Himalayan meet! 😊👍

I have this Alarm Disc Lock https://amzn.eu/d/0fuw1ih
Very loud when set off, which i often do when putting the cover on and forgetting!

A few good bits for the Himalayan at Enfield Accessories.

Great pictures.

Huuuge day today. 140 miles of motorway to Dover.

Then 142 miles of TET to finish off the Southern GPX.

Then 110 miles of motorway home again 😮‍💨

Over 12 hours altogether. There was a lot of road work on the TET but some fun bits too. The rain meant the chalk near Dover was lethal. One bit near an airfield at Chalksole felt like if I dropped the bike, I’d need to slide down on my bum for ten minutes after it to retrieve it 🤣

That bit I was nervous as heck so I switched her off, stuck out both legs, parked it in the rain rut and slid down on the levers. My feet never gripped until the bottom!!

Another special bit was some weird marshes full of sheep and grass cut for hay between the dykes and rushes. That was fun until I had to wade through slurry back at the farmers cow yard to reach the main road 🤣
I managed to drop the bike on that bit too. I went to do a cowboy dismount and the side stand sunk out of sight 🤣

The finale was about 5-6 miles of Salisbury Plain type gravel in the SDNP. THAT was super fun. 3rd, 4th and 5th gear and trying to pop the front over pothole-puddles.

Need to decide which bit to tackle next. I reckon it will be some of the Great Western Trail 🤔

That looks like a mega day out. Not sure my backside could handle 12 hours in the saddle yet.

I didn’t get out yesterday because it kept peeing down on and off all day long. Also before I go too far I want breakdown cover and there’s a half price sale on the AA so I’ll be sorting that out later.

I’ve got some Lomo frame bags on the way. That will be all I need for days out in the short term.

Then 142 miles of TET to finish off the Southern GPX.

Sounds great that. You’re certainly getting sections ticked off.

I was actually going to go out on the mountainbike yesterday, but last week when I first started that section of the TET we did, I smashed my left foot into a big branch on the side of a muddy rut.
Hurt like hell at the time but I kept riding and have been on my feet all week with mild hobbling.

Hurt a lot overnight Friday, enough for me to cancel mountainbiking with the thought of foot on pedals so I went out on the Himalayan again, which is easier as I can stand more in the arch of my foot. Makes sense to me anyway 😂

I’ve put together most of my rides just by looking at the Trail Riders Fellowship Green Road Map and plotting a route on OS maps.
This time I headed out towards Worcester and around Bredon Hill, an area I love from paddling on the Avon and mountainbike.

Nothing too taxing here but some beautiful sunken lanes and several water crossings. Couple of fairly deep bits too.

Had a great ride and mostly managed not to whack my foot off anything else.
Think it needs an x-ray to check I’ve not fractured owt.

Lovely sunken lane near Morton under Hill.

Just before the first water crossing. I had a quick scout and went for it. I reckon it got near the top of my wheels but not too bad.

Another ford. Shallower this time.
The section of lane previous to this has been absolutely destroyed by 4x4s. Unbelievable how much damage they cause.
I always feel a little bit ‘people in glass houses’ criticizing them, but the damage they do is off the charts compared to a motorcycle or mountainbike, horses or walkers. You can see why nobody particularly warms to off-roaders and motorcycles tend to get lumped in with 4x4s 😔

Schmokin!

The ONLY place I go for my tile and bath needs!

Nice bit of Nordic skiing.

Ha mint! That looks great 🤩

I have to say, when I tried to get into it with the XT660Z ten years ago, I found these Ebay MX boots so clumsy and unwieldily that I really didn’t get the point of them. But this time around, I kind of ‘get it’ a bit more and realise that your feet are literally part of the machine!
I won’t say I’m used to them but I was able to ride all day in them without too many mis-shifts and no low sides from excess back brake this time 🤣

Hope yours isn’t damage too badly 🤞🏻

I was trying to figure out how to implement the stuff Lee taught me but the bike is so different, it’s hard to ride up on the fuel tank in the same way.
The engine bars, whilst a cool stock feature, actually stop me putting my feet where he taught me. I’m not mega convinced they are doing a lot other than holding my spot lights so I may remove them 🤔
I was definitely trying to be less lazy on the brakes and force myself to use some proportion of each rather than just the front. It requires a whole leg movement to find the rear lever so it is more tiring but you can definitely feel how it pushes the whole bike down and helps you find grip.

I kept reminding myself how, by the end of the lesson, I was actually accelerating down the hill towards a loose, off camber turn because I ‘knew’ how to stop the bike in time to turn it in but on ‘blind’ trails that you haven’t ridden before, I still find it really hard to commit!
I’m definitely trying to force myself to stand up for anything that scares me which is counter to what I want to do which is sit down and stick out the out-riggers 🤣

This is the limit of my tinkering today. We were in Hathersage this morning and there’s a big sale on at Alpkit.

I liked the look of this Hiplok D lock and its ability to clip onto stuff.

Hopefully it can do 2 things. Not vibrate itself loose and disappear down the road and also prevent my bike from being nicked from work.

And for less than 20 quid I thought I’d try out this dry bag. I can stuff a lot of warm clothing into it. Or a sleeping bag. Also it’s hopefully bright enough to wake up a sleepy Range Rover driver before they rear end me.

Not sure how I’m going to strap it down yet. I might buy the passenger seat blanking plate. I never intend to carry a passenger and it gives a nice flat surface for strapping stuff like this to, lower down than the rear rack.

I’ve noticed how pricey all the pannier options are so I’m not keen to go ‘full send’ just yet, I’ve spent too much money this month. I’ll be looking out for used ones but there’s no hurry.

I’ve just got a decent length of bungee shock cord. I’ve tied a loop in each end.

Under the rack you’ve got those peg things which you can hook an end to, wrap it around your bag criss-crossing and onto another peg.

You can see it in this picture, there’s 4 black loops welded onto the bag which you can thread a strap through. So it can’t just slither out and vanish.

I’ll have a closer look at my rack in a bit. I’ve got loads of bungees lying around.

Cash haemorrhaging away here as well 🤣
Just bought a Knox Urbane mesh jacket thing. It’s probably not as slim as the Adventure Spec super shirt but the more I looked at pics and vids of the SS- the more I didn’t like it.
This one is still amazingly heavy with all the armour but I guess I can pick and choose what to include for local riding. Maybe just leave the elbows in if I’m only really worried about abrasion.

Then I had to replace my gloves as I noticed a large hole in mine yesterday. Which to be fair, are nearly 20 years old and will still do as spares.

Whilst I was in there, I also picked up a pair of Rock Straps after a rave review from the ‘Lightweight Adventures’ on YouTube. They’re just really thin, small friction straps but with a clip in the middle and loops at each end. So you unclip them, loop each end round any kind of frame, handle or hole and back through themselves, clip them back together and then pull tight. You can apply 15kg of pressure to some ridiculously tiny piece of material so it is really neat and tidy.
Yesterday, my dry bag kept annoying me by slipping forward with a bungee (it couldn’t fall off altogether as had clipped it round a frame), and of course, a bungee strap did for my rear swing arm on the Himmy too 🤣

https://rokstraps.com/pages/rok-moto

Damn I forgot about Rokstraps, they look great. I just bought some generic luggage straps in Aldi for £2.99!

50mm wide nylon webbing straps with massive plastic buckles. They look alright I’m sure they’ll come in handy.

As others have gone a bit off-piste- my son has just done 7000km around Europe on a Honda CG125.

Seemingly only GS riders don’t wave back.

Wow, that’s awesome Dogbone.
Passed my test on one of them 😊

That’s awesome 😎 👏🏻 🗺️ 🏍️

He’s 18 and passed his test 3 months ago.

Back in the day his grandad rode a BSA bantam to Greece and I rode a MZ251 to Oporto. He’s just finished his A levels and wanted to do something similar.

Amazing. Must have been a bit of a worry mind.

Go on then, I had time for a quicky. Just went from town up to Fox House pub and back. This is my first tiny taste of bouncing around away from the tarmac. Beyond the gate is Houndkirk Moor but I’m saving that for another day when I’m up for a challenge.

Much happier today. Fewer dumb mistakes and silly wobbles. Actually enjoyed it a bit.

Used the Tripper on the way home. Seemed to work alright and do exactly what it’s supposed to do. Not sure what it would be like trying to follow it in a strange area due to the minimal information.

The good news is my posh new lock didn’t vibrate itself off the rack and disappear even though I absolutely 100% forgot to keep an eye on it as intended to.

Lovely 👍🏻 🤩
There’s something special about the freedom of a motorcycle (that needs special gear, a special license, can’t stand up on it’s own and exposes you to the elements ☔️ 🤷🏻‍♂️ 🤣) that doesn’t really translate into words.

I think it’s just downright FUN sitting on an engine and going VROOM VRoooOM! 🤣

The tripper was ace. Totally superfluous if you have your phone on display but I guess you can run a different app whilst the tripper still shows your turns. It was also FUN to follow in a way google maps isn’t.

Looks lovely Sharkattack. There’s some mint trails up that way for sure.

Picked the nearest bit of the Great Western Trail today and set off! Partly because it was drier on the trails, partly because I was always roughly aware of where I was and partly because I love my new gloves and Urbane shirt- I had an absolute blast! I really really enjoyed it.
There was more off road than Saturday but it was quicker type stuff so average speed was still 21mph.

Apart from having to stop, mentally reset and then start again on a set of ruts- I felt nice and confident today. Really gelled with the bike. It is definitely harder to get the front in the air than the Himmy thanks to less torque low down and longer suspenders but when it did it was great fun.

The roads from Dorset back home were chocker with tractors and their tail backs so I had a crazy two hours of overtakes and filtering to get home. Pretty 😴 now, be glad to get back to work 🤣

Just a few pics today, I didn’t go anywhere scenic. Headed towards the Peak but it was predictably rammed so went north and ended up at Deepcar then headed home. Did a few nice, swoopy B roads followed by lots of heavy traffic.

I’m home alone this week so I was out for ages as I didn’t have to rush back for anything. Finally just cruised around casually without feeling like a noob.

Spotted my first Himalayan rider and exchanged waves. Exciting stuff.

Abused the credit card a bit when I got home. That’s the last of it for now though, just wanted some useful bits to start off with. Pics to follow obviously.

Oh, and couldn’t resist trying this for size…

This is just a couple of custom components away from being an actual thing.

I was out for about 4 hours today. I was glad to get home, my backside and my hips were finished. I bought a full tank of petrol for about £12 and I’ve used about a quarter of it. That feels like good value for money.

I went the long way to Matlock then got lost going along every interesting looking road I could find. Went up and down some of the steepest and tightest roads I’ve ever come across. Some of the downhill switchbacks had me sweating a bit and fumbling on the controls. The worst thing is that no matter how tight the road is and how bad the visibility, delivery drivers in big vans still go full speed everywhere.

Found an abandoned petrol station. Obviously you’re going to stop for a pic.

The sky was pretty menacing but somehow I stayed dry all day.

The only annoying thing about being a bit lost was I had to keep stopping to check the map. I need some kind of mounted navigation solution. The Tripper is crap, it’s never worked since that first test ride.

Back to reality tomorrow but it’s been a nice break from work. Undecided about whether I’ll ride there in the morning.

Awesome! Looks fun. The old petrol station is cool 😎

It’s funny how, as I get older, I keep discovering that stuff isn’t what you think it is (hopefully that makes sense in a minute).
So, I always thought green-laning on motorbikes was about braaaping about, lots of balls, very little skill and risking life and limb with very little thought going on.

But this time around, (ie actually taking the time to try it rather than have a go and give up!) I’ve realised it’s an insane amount of motor-skill and coordination! It’s actually far closer to Trails than Enduro I’d say.

Getting out and riding technical roads and lanes that you never would on a big bike / road bike is I think why these little ADV bikes are so addictive. By encouraging you into tricky spots, you can’t help but enhance your general riding skills.