Tiffany Coates (thank's for the heads up Paul) has posted on Facebook about her very positive experiences of doing
1500 miles through the Himalayas on a Himalayan without any bother and loves the bike. Amongst the responses a
guy says that two bikes in his group had frames break and goes on to add that they had about 17000km. up and had
neither been been off roaded or carried luggage which is something i find hard to believe tbh, as lot's of people have
done high and hard mileages on these bikes without frames breaking. These stories seem to take on a life of their own
and it ends up with you not knowing or being able to find out, the full story. The same thing happened when the GS fork
issue story broke. You could have been forgiven for thinking they were all failing when, they weren't. I have had a look at
mine and there isn't any more gusseting around that area and mine is an 18 plate but, i'll not be losing any sleep over it.
However, i will be adding a full frame checkup into my home servicing routine
There's another Tosser may be coming over to a Himalayan, i spoke to him last night and, he's got a test ride this morning
Still loving mine
Tiffany Coates on FaceBook said:
I lost my heart to a Himalayan
The two-wheeled variety rather than the two-legged I hasten to add!
Last month I spent several weeks riding a Royal Enfield Himalayan, and I was lucky enough to have this opportunity whilst riding through the Himalayas themselves – the mighty mountain range for which it was created and named after.
As many of you are aware from social media, I had a wonderful time with some great people exploring incredible landscapes (and scaring myself at times) and now I’m reporting back about the bike itself.
My riding experience in India (apart from when I’ve ridden Thelma, my 1992 BMW R80GS) has always involved riding a Royal Enfield Bullet 500cc - which is a classic amongst motorcycles. This time things were a bit different as the factory have produced a bike which is better able to tackle tricky terrain, off-road and water crossings. I had a lot of fun with it – not least because it’s the first Enfield, I’ve come across that it’s possible to stand up on the foot-pegs and use properly off-road – what a joy!
I travelled 2400 kms on it from the heat and dust of the plains (46°C) to the snowy cold of the high mountain passes (-5°C) and everything in between.
I found the bike very comfortable to ride, the 400cc engine was enough to tackle the tarmac and overtake other vehicles on the highways as well as cover long distances. I was impressed at the fuel consumption it has a 15-litre fuel tank – I was getting well over 300kms from one tank and still didn’t need to re-fuel. After the trip and all those miles of riding, I was surprised to discover it weighs 190KG – I thought it was much less than that, it handles like a lighter bike and I can easily pick it up myself (though to be fair, after Thelma, just about any other bike feels light!).
The racks are great for attaching luggage, with a number of anchor points for bags – I used Giant Loop’s Rogue Dry Bag (17 litres) and two Possibles Pouches (3.5 litre each) as well as their Fandango tank bag. I particularly enjoyed the digital compass on the dash as I usually carry a compass with me.
I know the earlier models of the Himalayan had some problems, but these have been ironed out with the result that it’s a low-cost bike that is ideal for travelling. In the UK I think they retail for £3999, while in India they’re about £2600 (no doubt someone can tell me what they sell for in the US). Nathan Milward had one and rode it for 16,000 miles – track down his review if you’d like a more comprehensive look at the bike.
I thoroughly recommend it as a great all-rounder.
Many thanks to Royal Enfield for the opportunity to ride in the Himalayas.
I presume you have added the quote from Tiffany, Paul, Ta
It's just come to my mind that, a few years ago Triumph suffered frame breakage on their Tiger 800XC and, in fact, said they shouldn't be used off road iirc.