Re: Tourer for rough roads, RE Him. CBR250, Fz150, Duke?

@JamesBoatwright well, Hindi is just for the north, if you plan on coming south, English & Hindi might fail you,

Just a suggestion, why not buy an Indian bike, tour India & then go up to Nepal? that should give you less trouble right also it might be cheaper in India than in Nepal without the import taxes etc.

BTW, just a suggestion, make a note & have contacts in every state (the xbhp offline G2G threads might help you find a contact at every location) so that someone can guide you & give you a place to crash in case things didn't go as planned.. always have a backup plan.. all the very best for your trip mate..

I personally loved the RE Himalayan, since BS$, I've heard it's going to be launched with a EFI.. so that should sort some issues out.. I personally tour on a pure bred track bike.. so like others have mentioned before, we improvise with what we got.. I loved the Pulsar RS 200 on the highways, just an opinion, but for dual purpose, the Himalayan makes more sense, so does Mojo, built good..

one thing I noticed about bikes, they are all made good, just your maintenance, riding style & a little bit of luck matters. When I picked up my bike, in the same lot (one of the first batches when delivered), everyone complained of issues, but till now, so far 2 years & I still feel that my bike is solid built & she never gave me any issues.. she still runs good.. so, you got that there..

Ride safe. and please don't forget use the "checklist" down on my signature when picking up the bike so that it's closer to perfection.. it's a big list & insist on checking them all, let me know if I missed anything that can be added to the checklist..

Re: Tourer for rough roads, RE Him. CBR250, Fz150, Duke?

It seems like Indian law doesnt allow a foreign national to buy a bike in India.
I have toured almost all places in South India and have passed with a mixture of Hindi, English and sign language.
From what I have experienced so far, there is a fair chance of cops stopping you, if something about you or your bike is out of the ordinary. For example a full geared up rider, an exotic bike, excessive baggage in the form of tank and saddle bags etc. Having a bike with a foreign number plate is a sure shot way of getting stopped.

Re: Tourer for rough roads, RE Him. CBR250, Fz150, Duke?

This I can confirm. Also, in the rural areas, they will let some livestock like cattle or a chicken on the road on purpose and when you hit it, they will claim "heavy damages" and even your insurance can't be claimed. Someone will come in your way on purpose and will demand money like a lot. If they find out you are from a different country, it's even more scary for the money you might have to shed to get out to the local gang, the cops also would be working with them for a fair share of the cut. So yeah. Try to go in a group. Not alone. Try to avoid the smaller routes and shortcuts. Stick to the main national highways. You will be mostly fine.

Re: Tourer for rough roads, RE Him. CBR250, Fz150, Duke?

Hahaha! Awesome. I speak zero Hindi, and will be wearing full gear as I always do, (I've low sided four times, and broke the knuckle plate in one of my gloves last time; I spent zero time recovering because I had full gear!) my bike will have lots of bags, and a huge red Nepalese plate! I am not looking forward to getting all the paperwork in order, but it sounds like it will be essential, as I will likely be stopped.

I really hope I can avoid any corruption, like gangs and police working together, but I'll take my chances. I am hell bent of trying this, and even if someone was waiting at the airport in Kathmandu with a gun planning to kill me I'd still get on the plane. Thank you for the heads up though! I had sheep, and chickens as a kid, so maybe if that happens I can offer to bring them replacements from nearby, and I would; I've got no problem buying and selling farm animals, it'd bring back childhood memories. Hopefully I can dodge the animal "jihadis" as I've seen them called on here, and avoid that whole scenario.

Re: Tourer for rough roads, RE Him. CBR250, Fz150, Duke?

RC = registration card, right? If so this will be a Nepal thing, that I can handle fairly easily.

Road tax document: I believe I can just pay this at the border, but I may have to go through the licensing agency; more research to come on that.

insurance: I think this should be pretty easy, I think I can just get insurance either in Nepal, or perhaps through a third party in India, but I foresee little trouble here.

visa, passport, border check: All green for "go" there!

driver's license: This is why I'm writing this reply; I think legally I need an Indian license to operate a bike on Indian roads for an extended period of time, for this I need a "permanent" address in India. Anyone have any input on this?

Anyone out there want to split utilities with me for a few months? Hell, if the bills in total monthly are 13,000 rs (200 usd) or less per month I'll pay them outright. I need my name on a couple of power bills, and internet bills, otherwise I'll have to get into a lease on an apartment I won't actually be using.

Re: Tourer for rough roads, RE Him. CBR250, Fz150, Duke?

Can't you get an Indian friend or acquaintance to buy the bike for you in their name in India? That way you'll get more bikes to choose from, won't attract undue cop attention (as a Nepal-registered bike might) and also save some monies to boot.

Re: Tourer for rough roads, RE Him. CBR250, Fz150, Duke?

From Horizons Unlimited:

"Buying a motorcycle in India

US$500 will buy you a decent local 150ccm motorcycle in India. I've just been through it and travelled through southern India on a 4 year old Bajaj Pulsar. Also there is a decent market for 2nd hand bikes so you get most of your money back when you sell the bike. BUT, and that is a big BUT, you can only sell the bike in the one state in India where you bought it. Changing registration from one state in India to another is incredibly difficult and no one will buy from you for a decent price if the bike is registered in another state. Apart from that buying and selling is surprisingly un-bureaucratic. You will receive a chipcard which is the registration. And usually the bike comes with current 3rd party insurance - so get the certificate.

Important part:
As a foreigner you can not register the bike to your name. But you will get a transfer certificate where the previous owner signs that the ownership of the bike was transferred to you, even though registration remains with the previous name.
And another thing: foreigners can only own used vehicles, not brand new ones.

How you get the bike across international borders - I don't know."

The more I look into it the more I am considering it. I don't know anyone in India to start with though, furthermore possession of a signed title is effectively ownership, which means if someone took my signed title, like say a crooked cop, there goes my bike. But maybe it's different than how I am interpreting what I've read? If someone has bought and sold enough bikes to weigh in on this, please let me know.

Even with my uncertainty about the process, and concerns about the title, seeing RE Himalayans for 1.4L ($2,177) is very, very, tempting. Right now I'm looking at Duke 200s for 4.43L (~$7,000), three times the price (!), well the RE Himalayan is ~5.6L in Nepal!

Were I to buy an Indian registered bike I might try for an FZ25, or maybe a Duke 200, or just carry a full tool suite, torque wrenches, you name it, and go for the RE...

Re: Tourer for rough roads, RE Him. CBR250, Fz150, Duke?

Hello. Please buy a used duke 390 from delhi and begin your journey like this gentleman here http://advrider.com/index.php?thread...00417/page-421

This guy has absolutely nailed adv riding in india, nobody has done what this guy has done here on any bike, period.

Get a duke 390 and be on your merry way. Service dealerships galore, the bike is phenomenally reliable (get the 2015 iteration used), and parts are cheap as chips.

Please open a separate thread to get local help from xbhp members to help you buy a duke 390 of 2015 or 2016 vintage with low miles, there are plenty of boys here who will be more than happy to come forward and help you buy this.

If i were i your position, i will NOT consider any other motorcycle to tour across india on the cheap, fast, and reliable.