Royal Enfield Himalayan | First Ride Review
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- Опубліковано 21 бер 2024
- Royal Enfield Himalayan | First Ride Review
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I have one of these which I purchased recently and agree with what you say. The front brake is terrible on the road, but for off-road riding it makes perfect sense because a sharp brake would throw you off.
I have a Honda sports bike in the garage that can achieve the top speed of the Himalayan in first gear so I should be disappointed with the Royal Enfield, but I actually love it. I like its lazy character and the thump of the single cylinder engine and wanted a classic design without the reliability problems and this bike is great for just enjoying the countryside on a 1950s style plodder.
PS. I pulled my headlight down about half inch and now the lights are fine. Perfectly adequate for the performance.
I literally picked up my Hamalyan yesterday. I plan to use it for street riding and it's a perfect bike for that. Very happy with it.
Had mine for a year now and put 4k of pleasure riding on it. Absolutely love the thing and you even get used to the weak front brake after a while as your riding style adjusts. There's a few changes in the 2023 model - stainless bolts throughout which address those rusty ones you spotted. Also, the Tripper bolt-on nav is missing from many models as they had supply issues. Hope the 2024 252 model is as successful. Improvements: a 16t front sprocket improved motorway riding a lot, dropping rpm at 70 down to around 5200 instead of 6000, and a Fuelx Lite has smoothed out the engine and made low-end pickup a bit stronger.
It's a forgiving, reassuring and friendly bike that's like a big shaggy dog that wants to go on adventures with you - just as an ADV bike should be, and costs a quarter of the usual big end middle-aged adventure rider bikes.
that's great real world info - Respect!
You're right. Most people in India use the rear brake so the bike is made to have a strong rear brake as opposed to the front
most of the bikews r cheaper in india so we get squeshy brakes
Love from Assam 🇮🇳😘🙏🏽
£3799 new! An absolute bargain👍🏼
I am hankering after one of these as a characterful contrast to my other two more powerful machines. Along this comes the comradeship of the R E club & the majic is complete! 👌
@EnglishBikerDan the valves on the 411 I believe are screw type and are less troublesome to fiddle with yourself and with such a simple bike an enterprising rider of moderate confidence could probably pick up a service book and do it themselves.
I really enjoy owning one of these. Great fun. A very capable and forgiving bike for long distances too.
Good review, it's a great practical bike, I already own a Classic 350 in Gunmetal grey, which I use more than my other bikes since I've had it , but I keep thinking of one of these as well and as you say they're on a great offer at the moment, but I want to also have a look at the new 450 Himmy, it looks great in the black and gold colours.
Sorely tempted to get one. The scram 411 can also be got for the same bargain price, but the himmy is better looking
Had one for a year and put a 16t front sprocket on it to reduce the revs at higher speed. It made a slight difference but not enough to stop it being tiring on a long journey. Also put SBS pads on the front brake and that improved it a little. In the end, I was missing more horsepower too much and got rid. I've had three big singles over the years and the himi felt like the least mechanically refined. They have their charms though and can be had for not much money.
Will be interested to see your review of the new one. I am fairly interested in that one. Lovely review, thank you
They should definitely bring back the 411
I’m looking forward to the new Himalayan motorcycle. I agree with the front brake on the version you have tested. I think it must be the worst brake on any motorcycle I rode, including some bikes from the 70s and 80s. Although I bet it improves a little with different brake pads
Cracking little machine Dan, re braking you are correct a bit of front and back is the way to go and it’s fine
Currently selling @ £4000 it's an absolute bargain and does 90% of £16 - 20k bikes .....not every everybody wants a big heavy powerful bike with the price tag to match.
I'd personally recommend the ktm 250 adventure, it's a road bike not an adventure bike, you can get 30km per litre on it. But sadly ktm in their infinite wisdom have decided not to make that engine available in the global market...
If the 250cc engine was available, you could've had the Duke 250, ktm 250 adventure, svartpilen and vitpilen 250.
@@sidharthkm5030 They wouldn't have sold in Europe/GB.
Except it dosn't really do 90% of the 16-20k bikes.
@@grtbgfwheels, check. Highway speed capable, check. Off-road capability not wasting 30 hp on spinning a wheel, another check. Doesn’t burn as much/more gas than a car, check.
I’m not seeing what it doesn’t do….
@@grtbgf do you own one?
Was a little disappointed it wasn't the new 450, but as usual, a great, refreshing review of an excellent bike. You really brought it to life in a way other reviewers haven't quite. Nice one, Dan. 👍
Thank you! I'll be at the 450 launch in a week or so. Vids soon. 👍
About time 😊
The newer 450 one really had my eyes, really good design
bought mine for 3000€, insane value
Being a 411cc I guess that takes it into the over 400cc road tax bracket? which seems a shame for the sake of 11cc. With the new water cooled one now available it will be interesting to see how much these will go for 2nd hand.
I was very tempted but ended up with a CL500.
The scram 411 also looks good…however Enfields service intervals are pretty gash if you are a daily rider…(I don’t hold a car licence).
CL isn’t the best looking I except…but it sure is a brilliant wee B road blaster
As a Himalayan owner...the CL500 is definitely the better choice as your sole vehicle. The Himi's service schedule is an absolute joke.
Great choice. You can make the CL500 look a lot better with a couple of mods. It isn’t a bad looking bike from stock. I wish they’d update the dash though. It’s a sweet little 500cc parallel twin engine that will never let you down and has enough about it to have some fun.
@@Geshmaalyeah the service intervals were the deal breaker for me being honest. Which is a shame really because some of the Enfields are truly stunning.
@@Steve-motorcyclesvery true. Mines is more of a winter hack, the cb1000 only really comes out when the salt buggers off haha.
Yeah the dash is rubbish but it does what it needs to I suppose.
Certainly holds its own definitely!
@@YammieBobber999 I got the cb750 Hornet for my all year commuter. Although, I was tempted to get the cl500
The front brake works better for the slow of road part of its character…but on road yes it’s a bit wooden..
My Himalayan is coming up to 3 years old, its a daily ride to work bike, which it excels at, it's cheap to run easy to service, coming up to 18k miles, valves have not needed adjustment, best modification is to fit 1 tooth extra on front sprocket, it makes cruising at 70mph better, worst thing is feeble rear rack, mine cracked with top box fitted so welded in some braces. Dont think I would change it for new 450 , unfortunately with tubeless wheel version and full luggage kit its going to be in the region of £7k..
The only problem I've had (which was today) was that the bike stalled just before the top of a rock and dirt hill, and it fell head down wheels up. Twice. Picking it up twice on that angle and loose track left me completely spent.
"A very honest bike"! Unremarkable in every sense, but there is a lot of appeal to bullet-proof simplicity. As much as we covet the larger engine in the new (2025?) model, I think many minimalist ADV riders are going to snap up the left over 2023's without liquid cooling, throttle-by-wire, etc.
valves are 10'000km
oil is 5000km
you are either referring to India's initial batch, or first services which early on require a valve check
you can also do oil every 10k, it will run just fine on horrible oil (and fuel) but i personally recommend frequent oil changes on ANY bike, and the himmy does it under 20min on its center and sidestand, easily, and comes with the tools required, apart from a bucket
I am very sad re didn't continue with the looks for the 450 version, this one looks much more like it has character, meanwhile the new one just looks generic
Noraly had a hard time picking up the 411 bike if she fell with all her gear on it. She liked the 450 much better with the extra power. Now she is back on a Honda again (Alaska). ....Sal : )
I had to pick this one up a couple of times, it was not easy! I'll be riding the new 450 soon!
If she had a hard time picking up the 411, she completely failed with her 300L in Africa (BC it's so tall) - luckily some guy a heard her engine stop and walked up the track to help her. The weight being low down helps stability significantly.
I know a few people waiting to buy the new 2024 Himalayan 450. Yet still no news on the release/purchase date. What's Royal Enfield issue? Production problems? Demand too much and can't produce the number needed? It's kinda weird
Need to clear the stock of the old one which will be next to impossible when the new one launches?
@@BikingChap anyone know how many new 411's are around? I asked one dealer and they had all colures available
@@DontuseGoogleorWiki I'm sure people do but they'll be keeping it quiet. A real pain if you've just bought one at full list price, these discounts will kill residuals, certainly in the short term.
Agree with others that the poor front is better for off road. Also both brakes have the same disc mm to wheel mm, so effectively the same braking power, but your leg can provide more pedal pressure than your hand = better back brake. That's my theory anyway!
My dream bike 😍
Lmao
Get one! They're cheap, and fun.
I've owned a Himalayan for just over a year and ridden it about 5k miles and i have one major point of criticism:
The build quality and service intervals are a joke.
Valve inspection, throttle body cleaning, swing arm pivot inspection and steering head adjustment every 3k miles - absolutely ridiculous. If your Himalayan isn't your daily driver - fine. If you commute and tour on your Himi - awful. I had my steering head bearings fail at 4k miles - abysmal. Any other brand you'd expect to get to 16k miles without even thinking about these things. Owners forums will say "it's in the owners manual to check the bearings every time you ride off road" - absolute tosh. This is meant to be a simple and robust bike but you genuinely have to baby it. Ludicrous.
So glad you commented this, I think people have some very unrealistic expectations for this bike. It's not a quality piece of equipment, and it's sales reflect that. Think it was less than 40,000 units in the US all of 2023 - terrible!
What build quality issues, specifically? I'm very happy with the quality of my 2023 model, and service it myself which only takes an hour or so.
@@digdilem things not screwed on properly from the factory so having fasteners rattle loose within first 300 miles, lots of threads aren't straight and they've literally just welded nuts behind the holes rather than tapping threads, ambient temp sensor has stopped working, rear brake light stopped working, swing arm pivot over-tightened from the factory so that was binding up, running light plastic cover broke off and was rattling around inside the headlight, another mystery rattle from within the speedo, steering head bearings failed at 4k miles, bike takes 2-3 goes to start or cuts out randomly at times. There are more defects I could list but I got bored of typing. Most aren't fatal but I personally don't like having a new issue crop up with my bike every month or so.
Props to you if you can inspect your intake and exhaust valves, inspect and lubricate your steering head bearings and inspect your swing arm pivot and rear suspension linkage bearings all in the space of an hour. and you're happy doing this every 3k miles.
@@Geshmaal All due respect, but I have a super budget lifan xpect dualsport, it costs $2,200 new in the US and it doesn't have anything like the problems you listed. Really puts things into perspective.
The new ones look so much better
New one looks shite.
hence why these ones are getting massive price reductions. I bet they're still not making a loss.
the new 450 isn't in keeping with tradition - it's pushing towards the horrid KTM GS look that I hate. Modern ADV Bike look like a kids Origami class product
@@DontuseGoogleorWiki but which tradition is that? The 411 is pig ugly if a worthy, low speed, workhorse. The 452 is far, far nicer looking and the only styling oddity, to my eyes, is the lower line of the tank which just looks weird coming along near horizontal then kicking upwards. Even then it looks light, lean and useful in a way A GS could only dream of.
No
This does rather smack of "Oh blimey we can't shift these for love nor money with the new one launching soon, quick get some glowing reviews up on UA-cam to help shift the last few container loads" ;)
Nope. It's as I said at the start of the video. I asked to test this as I'll be riding the new one soon. So I need to know how the old one will compare.
@@Englishbikerdan fair enough. The fact that multiple dealers have magically been able to drop the price from 'over five grand' to under £3,800 for a brand new air cooled Himalayan when the new one was only a few hundred pounds more but has 65% more power tells us all we need to know. I await the glowing review on the new one with interest. :)
Only problem for me and it pretty much applies to all modern bikes , its 20-30kg too heavy . Too go off road confidently you need sub 150kg weight in my opinion .
CRF300L is the bike for you then!
The weight is useful on the motorway in cross winds, though! And it's an adventure bike, rather than a trials/enduro - designed to travel rough roads rather than pure off road. That weight has made the frame strong - very few issues with it despite it being used for heavy loads, aside from some weak welds on the very first models. I ride 80/20 road/green lanes and it always gets me there, but pure enduro bikes leave me well behind.
5k , I just brought a new one for 4k
trust me bro your indicators are off
You can never be sure! 🤣
this is not for sale in india anymore😢😢 even though it has that cult following still.
Riding motorcycles is a privilege IMHO…
That’s an odd idea. They are simple, cheap, practical transport, long the choice of poorer folks worldwide.
@@Vapourwear - yes that’s what I mean. Riding any motorcycle is a privilege, including the Himalayan.
Production of this version in India has ceased.
Decent bike, but I'd prefer the Scram 411, not that that's particularly relevant. I wouldn't buy any RE, though. Nick
I bought the scram... it's bl00dy awesome
Its weird, you are reviewimg a bike whose production is already stopped😅
and he explained exactly Why he was doing that....
You are 8 years late to the party 🎉🎈😛😂
Ah but you can never be late to ride a great bike! :D
I’ve owned a Himalayan Scram 411 for about 10 weeks now and I can honestly say it’s the most overrated, overhyped motorcycle there is. People love to say that this bike/motor has so much character and I’ve come to the conclusion that they have no idea what that word means, don’t know what else to say about it, or have never ridden another motorcycle.
If it’s your 1st bike, you need a cheap commuter, you want a cheap 2nd or 3rd bike, or your favorite ice cream flavor is plain vanilla and you consider salt a spice then yes this is the bike for you.
I will say that the suspension is very good for its price point, and I find it’s breaking front and rear to be good with the front actually being better than the rear. I wasn’t impressed with the rear brake off road.
Perhaps you're expecting too much from it. I think they're great for what they are.
What's wrong with vanilla icecream😅😅😅
Sorry but it’s ugly, only my opinion you understand
it's in keeping with the whole RE thing - I hate modern Origami bike - love this