Re: Royal Enfield Himalayan Launched at Rs 178872/- On Road Mumbai!

Ah Damn.. This is sad NEWS.. If they do upgrade the engine, won't the cost of the bike increase? and all the Testing gone in vain?

Re: Royal Enfield Himalayan Launched at Rs 178872/- On Road Mumbai!

,Well,bajaj v15 is also facing the same issue.

RIDE HARD RIDE SAFE

Re: Royal Enfield Himalayan Launched at Rs 178872/- On Road Mumbai!

Spotted the RE Himalayan with a test rider from RE in Kanakpura road, Bangalore yesterday around 4PM. I was coming back from office in my ZMA.

It looked like that guy was riding it hard from long time in different terrains. The bike was not very clean and chain was loose and bit rusted. I can't say the bike looks beautiful, But it looked like it is built for a purpose and it will serve it. The instrument cluster looked great but the wind screen doesn't look like its of great quality. The rider was around 5.8 - 5.9 and the seat height looked perfect for him. The handle bar is tall and the stance seems very comfortable for long rides.

When the motorcycle was approaching me from behind, I thought another ZMA with RC exhaust is around before looking at the RVM.
No, It does't have the thump like the classic 350...neither it is too muted like the TB. The exhaust sound was very similar to my ZMA's.

It should have sufficient amount of initial and mid range torque as we both started from a empty signal together and were going head to head before we found some traffic and he disappeared leaving me behind . Well...I never tried to catch him as well

From the way the guy was handling the motorcycle, I felt it is really light or the person was skilled enough!!!

Note: I don't encourage street racing!!!

Re: Royal Enfield Himalayan Launched at Rs 178872/- On Road Mumbai!

For those who are interested watch the video. Ignore the marketing bits and go to the last 10 minutes.



The locations are breathtaking ....

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Royal Enfield Himalayan will be available in Bangalore for Rs. 184,316 (on-road), in Kolkata for Rs. 181,517 (on-road), in Chennai for Rs. 175,840 (on-road), in Hyderabad for Rs. 176,580 (on-road), in Pune for Rs. 170,362 (on-road) and in Navi Mumbai for Rs. 171,065 (on-road

Re: Royal Enfield Himalayan Launched at Rs 178872/- On Road Mumbai!

Toook a quick test ride yesterday. Bike looks tall and intimidating. But once you hop on the saddle, you definitely feel home.
Seat is hyper soft. I was accompanied by showroom guy weighing nearly 80kg as a pillion. Handling is great but coming from duke200 and R15 background, the bike feels heavy and less agile. Yet great handling even with pillion.

Suspension setup is amazing. Tires offer nice grip on concrete road as well. Breaks are great too but rear provides no feel at all. Nonetheless it does its job well.

Engine - Well hard to explain what it was since I'm used to high revving short stroke engine. I definitely need another test ride to explain it better. Well but let me make an attempt.

You start in first gear and move on. You immediately look for power and aggression which is missing. You start blaming RE, where is bloody power and what so not and you realize that you are at 40kmph in 1st gear with heavy pillion and rpm is just 3k. Engine is relaxed, no vibes, no urge for upshifts.

In a shocked state you change to 2nd gear and again start looking for power and aggression. In no time you hit 65kmph. Engine is still relaxed, no urges for upshifts. You change to 3rd gear and story continues.

Well in search of power and aggression, the torque and tall gear ratios went unnoticed. But you forget that's what allowed you to do 40kmph in 1st gear.

Its hard to digest. Bike is totally non intimidating. Engine is very smooth with no vibes at all.
Gears are hard though. May be because bike was brand new. After 1st service should be fine. Stock exhaust is calm. No thump at all.

Front and rear fenders, side panel and cockpit is made up of fiber but quality is way better. Extremely flexible.
Overall build quality is impressive.

Great work RE...... finally you have managed to attract riders who have been RE haters for so many years.

Will test ride again. This time unbiased..... no high revving setup in mind.

Re: Royal Enfield Himalayan Launched at Rs 178872/- On Road Mumbai!

Knowing Royal Enfield, I'm pretty sure that the OTR of 1.78L will not hold for more than 3 months for Himalayan. Even my C500, which is supposed to be selling only in single digits, had a price increase of around 8000 between my booking in Feb, 2015 to delivery in July, 15, so I guess for Himalayan also they are going to continuously increase the price every 6 months.

However, I got to see the Himalayan (no test ride sadly), yesterday, and it feels well put together and I feel would sell even at 2.5L OTR.

The seats are like a simple foam type, and very soft and comfortable to touch. It felt much better than the leather on my Storm. However, how well they stand the time and abuse this machine is intended for is something I would like to see in long term reports.

The rear Ceat GrippXL 120/90 -17 tyres, look chunky and give a great stance to the machine.

Front fender and mudguard, side panels, rear mudguard are all FRP, but felt well put together and felt like they bend easily , but will not break easily.

Without a rear fender (tyre hugger) and combined with chunky block pattern of ceat, I feel sorry for the poor bloke who has to ride behind the Himalayan in rains. He is gonna be drenched in muck.

Re: Royal Enfield Himalayan Launched at Rs 178872/- On Road Mumbai!

Ok, so this time RE has named the bike Himalayan and then didn't provide a kick start. The engineers in RE are Geniuses (Sarcasm). So now we have a carbureted bike with only electric start and it is made for Himalayas. As a matter of fact I live in the heart of Himalayas "Mussoorie - queen of hills" to be exact, and we get a ton of snow every winters. It is so cold that the diesel in buses, jeeps and Mahindra Maxes freezes into jelly and drivers light cardboard fires under the fuel tank to get them started early in the morning(5-6 o clock). All the carbureted bikes have to be kick started(several times, might I add) with choke ON and even Fuel injected bikes take 2 or 3 cranks of starter. Why I am telling you this?? Because in no way this Himalayan is going to start with an electric start in the morning of December or January after a -5degree cold night, trust me on this, you need a bloody kick starter. And forget about places like Kullu, Manali and Auli which are snow covered all year round. If anybody does buys it and wants to really come to Himalayas - Fair warning bro - it wont start before 11 in the morning after it has been in the sun for 2 hours and the temperature is about 5 degrees which still is really cold.

Re: Royal Enfield Himalayan Launched at Rs 178872/- On Road Mumbai!


hi all

good to hear words of appreciation for this new RE.
let me see if i can squeeze a test ride today.

bikes are present here in delhi showrooms....... they won't be selling ?!

Re: Royal Enfield Himalayan Launched at Rs 178872/- On Road Mumbai!

Delhi's NGT is your friend. Since Himalayan is only BS3 spec, they have banned it's sales in the national capital.

RE would bring out the FI version to help emission norms and that way cold starts would be handled too.

Re: Royal Enfield Himalayan Launched at Rs 178872/- On Road Mumbai!

As per BSmotoring that could be in April 2017.

Royal Enfield launches the Himalayan at Rs.1.55 lakh

A Tale Of Two Bikes: Himalayan & Mojo

Today, I test-rode Himalayan from Sri Velavan Motors, Greams Road, Chennai, mainly to see whether its windshield would fit to my Blue Bird. Yes, I think it would, with some modifications. Here is my FIR:

















Pros:

* The build quality and fit-and-finish are the best of all Royal Enfield models.

* Windshield, metallic piping for brakes, gear indicator, good rear-view mirrors, provisions for fitting panniers, cans, bags, etc.

* Rear carrier to carry more luggage.

* Light-weight off-roader with sufficient ground clearance.

Cons:

* Being a six-footer, I did not like the location of foot-pegs for the rider. I was not at all comfortable during the test-ride unlike the ones with Thunderbird 500. My inner voice says that I won't be comfortable during long mega highway cruising too.

* No kick-starter.

* Fixed headlamp on the frame.

* Gear-shifter does not have heel-pusher.

* Carburettor-engine. No electronic fuel injection.

* No ABS.

* Single horn.

















Perhaps, Himalayan is suitable for the Himalayan rides and off-roading only and definitely not meant for city-commuting and highway cruising, IMO.

Here is my FIR on Mojo: http://www.xbhp.com/talkies/motorcyc...ml#post1207011

So, coming to the two-lakh rupee question, which one I like more?

Mahindra Mojo.

Will I buy Mojo, if so, when?

Maybe, Mojo will succeed my Thunderbird 500; but not in the near future.

Re: Royal Enfield Himalayan Launched at Rs 178872/- On Road Mumbai!

AFAIK Cb Hornet 160 is the only BS-4 compliant bike amongst 150cc's, so I fail to understand on how the other vehicles are sold?

Re: Royal Enfield Himalayan Launched at Rs 178872/- On Road Mumbai!

I think its a good touring bike from RE . With good after market mods it can fit the bill for any one looking for a tourer.
Lack of ABS is big negative . Would like to read some ownership threads before taking a call on this.

Re: Royal Enfield Himalayan Launched at Rs 178872/- On Road Mumbai!

Hi All, A quick update from my end. I managed to take a test ride of the Royal Enfield Himalayan yesterday. It was a short test ride (<3 KMS). The bike looks big, tall and intimidating when resting on the center stand. Royal Enfield has opted for a minimalistic look this time. A functional Center Console with lot's of information. Probably the best one from Royal Enfield so far!! The seats are well cushioned and has a soft feel to it. The up-swept exhaust doesn't have the traditional thump of Royal Enfield but then this bike is not meant for following traditions!!! The ride was more or less vibe free and I couldn't manage to go beyond the 3rd Gear but one thing that stood out for me was the torque. I was doing 40 KMPH on 1st Gear...!!!

Overall a solid bike purpose built for touring. Should be comfortable on any kind of roads (or no roads as the punch line says)!!! But this is certainly not a daily purpose commuter bike ... IMO...I am not sure if this could be the only bike for someone...again this is my personal opinion...

Kudos to Royal Enfield for introducing such a product in the Indian Market... I'm sure this bike would be a big hit with touring enthusiasts and young bikers !!!

Few things I noticed...

• The tank was heating up at the sides...When I enquired, I was told this bike was being extensively used for test rides and that's why it was heating up!!! But the ride was a little uncomfortable due to this..

• The frame at the front of the bike (where one can install jerry cans) is not part of the standard fitment.. It has to be purchased as an accessory... The price of that frame is still not announced..

• I was told that the mileage would be around 25 KMPL...

Hope this update would be useful to all of you...

Re: Royal Enfield Himalayan Launched at Rs 178872/- On Road Mumbai!

Is it a big minus since it does not have a kick start or does it have any other technology that copes up with this drawback ??