Royal Enfield Himalayan

That’s a shame, especially considering how much you seemed to love the bike.

But sadly… it’s not exactly surprising either.

You really can’t go wrong with a Honda for such use. I think you’ll grow to love that too.

The only downside is that your tools might go rusty.

You’ll meet the nicest people though !

Indeed mate I really loved riding it which is why its a real shame but these things happen. At least the dealer is doing the right thing was working on it more than any of the Nortons as it was becoming one issue after another.

With the trip dad and I are doing next year, Iceland, Norway and Morocco it's gotta be absolutely solid reliability wise the himmy was worth a try but now it's time time a bit of Honda reliability an as you say haha I might as well sell my metric tools lol

An yep dad an I were joking about that old saying the other day.

Unfortunately that's 3 out if 3 Indian built bikes that have gone back with major issues in the run in period 2x 390 advs and a himmy.

I know it’s too late, but did you consider this:

I did indeed mate but I need something more trail focused for the routes we are thinking off,

In the heavier class of bikes it'd be a tough call between a vstrom 650xt, t7 or the transalp. The flip side being the Transalp is nearly double the cost of the 300 rally and less capable as a true go anywhere bike. Everything has it's pro's and cons though. if the split of riding was 90% road 10 light trail then the vstrom 650 xt, t7 especially and the transalp are good. For the trip weve got planned it'l be about 60-70% off road so the 300 rally is the better shout

norton_rider said:

I did indeed mate but I need something more trail focused for the routes we are thinking off,

In the heavier class of bikes it'd be a tough call between a vstrom 650xt, t7 or the transalp. The flip side being the Transalp is nearly double the cost of the 300 rally and less capable as a true go anywhere bike. Everything has it's pro's and cons though. if the split of riding was 90% road 10 light trail then the vstrom 650 xt, t7 especially and the transalp are good. For the trip weve got planned it'l be about 60-70% off road so the 300 rally is the better shout

Click to expand...

Looking forward to the ride reports !

norton_rider said:

Just to add to this the Himmys been rejected due to a multitude off issues so is being replaced with a Honda crf 300 Rally great to ride but very unreliable unfortunately which was a shame as it was let down by the quality of components.

Click to expand...

Wow, that's a bit of a shocker. What were the issues?

When you say "Rejected" what does that mean, you got a full refund?

CRF300's are great bikes, but personally I cannot imagine doing long day in the saddle on one.

EDIT: After some quick research It seems the CRF300 is indeed a good choice ( but anyway I'm sure you did your homework first)

Sorry for the slow replies everyone been a Really crazy week.

The notable people worth watching Cliffa are Austin Vince, he uses a 250l currently and they took xr400s to the Sahara in an amazing film called mondo sahara thats on amazon video to rent or buy

An itchyboots if you havnt heard of her is super worth a watch she's currently in Morocco having gone through southern America on hers.

It should be interesting as with the ktm 390s the himmy an the crf300 that's 3 out of the 4 semi lightweight travel bikes that we've had without going into full on Enduro options or the husky 710.

The biggest appeal of the Honda is the bulletproof engine so all being well should be a reliable platform for the trip the suspension is it's weak point though.

I can't cover the issues at the mo as it gets collected this Friday but the Himalayan has gone back under our consumer goods acts which protect us as purchasers in the uk if there's issues or something isn't fit for purpose the dealer up to now has been great and understanding about things that happened that shouldnt have with it an have accepted rejection which means a full refund.

All being well I should have the Honda really soon as its ready to collect.

Sounds to me like you dodged a bullet. You are SO definitely doing the right thing with the Honda. Can’t wait to hear more about your adventure !

According to some reviews I saw, folk are basically saying that the Honda suspension is ‘designed’ to be upgraded, ie Honda had the choice of adding £800 to the RRP… or fitting the cheapest possible stuff and allowing folk to use that money to upgrade to their spec.

I have no idea if it’s really that bad or not, but it would be worth looking into before you embark.

Yep the suspension is meant to be bad it's better I think that they did it that way in some respects as you can spring valve etc for your usage, I'm going to be fitting full Rally raid stuff at level 1 that keeps the height low it's interesting to read about on there website, just got the nod that the himmy is picked up tomorrow so hopefully if the funds clear as planned should be going to pick the Rally up Saturday can share a few more details on the plan for the trip after that.

norton_rider said:

can share a few more details on the plan for the trip after that.

Click to expand...

Yes please !

Doesn't sound good for the Indian built bikes.
Makes me wonder if there are a lot more with issues, but we just don't hear about it.

Glen

worntorn said:

Doesn't sound good for the Indian built bikes.
Makes me wonder if there are a lot more with issues, but we just don't hear about it.

Glen

Click to expand...

No serious issues with mine although it only has 1700 miles on it.

The new Indian built Goldstars are selling like hotcakes. It will be interesting to see how they hold up.
The engine/trans is by a proven design by Rotax, that should help a lot.

Glen

worntorn said:

Doesn't sound good for the Indian built bikes.
Makes me wonder if there are a lot more with issues, but we just don't hear about it.

Glen

Click to expand...

Over 15,000 Km on my Himmy, zero issues apart from a failed battery.

Friend of mine just did a tour in Nepal, had a blast and they were on Himalayas (of course?)