New beginnings - Himalayan Dreaming

Well, Happy New year I guess?

I left my last blog post rather abruptly with the news of my new arrival, just like an expectant father, I had the call that my new Himalayan was ready and I shot off down the road to the lads at Cooperb Motorcycles to pick it up.

Since then I've been ill over Christmas, frantically riding over New Years eve and day to make up for the lost time and the mileage it needed for it's first service, had the service and pressed the Himalayan in to service as my daily commuter to work (hence the delay in this post), it's even been on some short off-road forays on the weekends!

All told I've now covered near on 700 miles since picking up what I dub my 'Cooperb Edition' Himalayan (more on why I refer to it as such below). So, what's the verdict?

I won't hark on about the bike's specifics too much, there is so much information out there on the Royal Enfield Himalayan already, by many more experienced riders than me and whom I took advice before taking the plunge myself. If you have to know I'll leave it at this; yes it is slow, but not as much as you'd think unless you're on a dual carriage way or motorway, and the breaks are a little softer than what I'm used to, but by no means as bad as some reviewers make out. What I will say is how much the bike amazed me, in some unexpected ways.

Mindset - Now I've been riding for 12 years (I feel old writing that, I'm still under 30, just!) and I've never had a bike that has made me realise just how beautiful our fair little island is, I've always bemoaned that I have no 'epic' scenery around where I live on the boarder of Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire and how I'd have to slog for hours on highways to reach the rolling hills of Wales or vast plains of Europe, however I now realise you have to be unimaginative and dull or live in the centre of London to think this to be true, wherever in the UK you live.

This can-do attitude bike gave me the mindset to explore what I DID have nearby and by Jove! We DO have some amazing scenery. A quick look at the map to see where the nearest unvisited back roads were, pointing the Himalayan in the general direction and in no time I was exploring quaint little villages, single track roads (reminding me, in places of those I rode along during the NC500) and navigating by old-fashioned white countryside signposts. Now if I had done the same exploration on one of my previous bikes, like an SV650 or a Street Triple, I'd never have been able to enjoy gliding past ornate buildings constructed in 1800 and something and chocolate-box thatched cottages as I'd be too busy looking out for horse muck, mud and bumpy roads to have paid any attention to any of this. The Himalayan just makes these back roads so tame, it soaks up the bumps, doesn't spin up the rear easily (24.5 bhp has something to do with that) and makes the whole experience feel like you're on a cruise liner on calm seas.

This harks back to a video I saw a while back when I originally was considering the Himalayan (before the ill-fated purchase of the KLE 500) of one of the Royal Enfield big-wigs giving their best marketing spiel about wanting to create a basic bike in a world where technology keeps taking over and wanting to bring back the real essence of riding, re-introduce people back to how we all first felt when we got on a motorbike, to the feeling of excitement, freedom and the urge to explore. I actually now really think he believed in what he was saying and you know what? I don't think he's wrong, I think this is something they have achieved in a fine fashion with the Himalayan.

Confidence - I purposely bought the Himalayan as I intend to travel to Morocco and didn't want to miss the opportunity of being able to follow the unbeaten path, should the opportunity arise. Obviously, I also lack any off road riding experience, so wanted a bike that wasn't all teeth and snarls, as it's likely that I'll spin up the rear in a loud roar and park both it and myself parallel to the dirt. Likewise, I didn't want something that looked like it was on steroids with bulbous bodywork which had high chance of cracking or shattering when the inevitable crash occurs. In both of these respects the Himalayan excelled, not a lot to break and like a thin sumo wrestler, not a lot of power to throw me to the dirt - I'd have half a chance of not ballsing up the first time I turn a wheel on the loose stuff. All of this, also not forgetting the low seat height and forgiving suspension really gave me the confidence to give some rough stuff a try, both mentally, not thinking about how much something is going to cost me should I bin it, and physically, the bike soaking up the shakes-rattles and rolls like an Elvis Presley impersonator and compensating for my poor riding skill.

I suppose I should throw a little disclaimer here somewhere now that I've really hammed up my unexpected romance with the Himalayan. I think you need to be in the right mindset to own this bike, if you enjoy overtaking easily with a twist of the wrist or the giddy feeling of accelerating up to the speed limit like a cork out of a champagne bottle, then this isn't going to be for you and I DO genuinely miss both of those things. I was so worried about the lack of speed when I took the plunge and was really worried that I wouldn't like the bike, regardless of all the common sense it made for what I wanted to do with it, however it all kind of comes together when you're on country roads, back lanes, off road and is liveable on anything that's not wider than a dual carriageway. It picks up to 40 mph quick enough for pulling out of junctions (though you do need to be a bit more patient for a gap), up to 50 isn't too bad either from there, you just have to work (it baby!) a little through the gears and keep it in that sweet spot, moving up towards 60 and 70 is a bit wait even in the sweet spot though and anything more is just revving the motor, though it will go a little further.

When it comes to off-road it's been interesting to see the mind games at play for the guys on their 'big boy' adventure bikes. One friend has a Triumph Tiger XCX 800 who came on a couple of the small, short trails with me and due to the weight, power and out-of-the-box tyres it came with I found myself feeling like a mountain goat waiting at the end of the path for him (admittedly this was the first time he took it off tarmac), the other friend is coming to terms with why he bought his KTM 690 Adventure, to take it off road, and is having some serious thought about chucking some knobblier tyres on it to give it a try as it's still a little too shiny to get scratched.

Someone else (Lee - you might have seen him in some of the KLE 500 pics) is currently looking at getting a bike to join me in Morocco and is toying with his options, he is happy that there may be some misadventure that dings the bike, however with this in mind isn't looking to outlay a ridiculous amount for something that is going to be used for it's purpose. He is torn between getting an old Honda Transalp or something new (possibly not the Himalayan), however this throws up why the Himalayan is great. The Transalp is going for about £3,000 for about a 12-15 year old bike with something in the region of 25,000+ miles on the clock, the competition is either lacking in ability, be it fuel capacity or off road capability or is at least a couple thousand more than the Himalayan once kitted out with luggage and things like crash bars. A Himalayan may be called the 'boring' choice, but when you are an average Joe like me it's hard to justify spending over ten grand for a loaded-up Yamaha Ténéré for something you intend to put in the line of fire.

What was refreshing is that I didn't have to pay over-the-odds for customisation for the bike, there are plenty of places out there offering parts online and I was lucky enough to sit down with an experienced Royal Enfield dealer who live the brand, Cooperb Motorcycles. Both father and son who own the business ride Himalayan's themselves and really bought in to the Himalayan's ethos, as such they have a rather comprehensive selection of both Royal Enfield parts, aftermarket parts and solutions, it was great to get some advice and guidance on the pros and cons of the different options available, which may best serve my purpose and how I intend to ride the bike. I ended up being able to put little touches on the bike like a headlight guard (to protect the light, but it's really just because it looked cool), fender raisers for extra mud clearance, braced alloy bars because they are more durable in a drop and soft Kreiga luggage - to be fitted once Givi ship the rack. It's not only Cooperb that offer parts either, they were kind enough to fit a phone/GPS mount with USB charging ports on the bike for me too, but this was online from Enfield Accessories and so far has done me right, so there are lots of other affordable customisation options out there if you look hard enough... one of which I'm saving to share with you once it arrives. I should mention I'm not in cahoots with the boys at Cooperb, but feel it's important to share good information where possible as there are some cowboys out there, some of which I've fallen fowl to in the past.

I've never had the flashiest of bikes, but I can't recall ever having so much interest in a bike I've owned previously. Since owning the bike I've been accosted by a handful of people eyeing it up and asking questions about it, even with one guy pulling over on his oldskool cool Yamaha TTR 250 to chat (for what turned out to be an hour) whilst I was taking a picture of the Himi (above). This to me seems an odd experience for such a mundane budget bike and I know it's a very Marmite bike based on looks, but it seems to get a thumbs up in that department more than I thought it would too, either some of them are good lairs or no one has had the heart to tell me it's ugly... yet.

So as you may have guessed by now - I'm surprisingly loving life with the Himalayan at the moment, I think it's a bit like that medicine you have as a child, once you get over the bitter taste of loosing the power, you feel better for it in the long run. Almost a month on, I really feel that I've made the right decision for what I want to do and I think this is largely to do with where my ambitions lie with motorcycling right now.

I'll post another update later this month with some more motorbike related waffle about my plans for the year, any shenanigans I've been on and any other ramblings I see fit.

Thanks for reading

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