Hello =) I am Oso and I have just come back after 5 months and around 11000 km on the Himalayan, around Himalaya and then down to Goa through Deli/Rajastan/Maharastra, and I have to say that the bike which I bought in Vashist in Kullu valley (and which was the first one to be reg on proper plates there..) is a bike with some good potential and the general building quality is far better than the Bullets I have used earlier years.

The gearshift is really "clunky",the electrics are good until the first service and thereafter worse and worse after each time a R-E mechanic gets his hands on it, since the training on the Himalayan in the different service stations is very bad or non existent, which means that your bike will miss parts/have broken parts or just having many things hanging after each visit to the Official R-E Service centers..

But..if you know a bit of mechanics and have the patience and determination to deal with unknowing staff, it can still be a good ride... The riding position is more adventure-orientated than any other R-E and therefore also the control of the bike, maybe most of all in the Himalayas and f.ex.Spiti valley or the road to Udarpur, where the word road is a very stretchable term.. and after 40 - 50 km on gravel the size of a fist or more, the Himalayan is a far better option than the bullet!

Also in the desert it performs quite well as long as you let out a bit of air from the tires.. My bike took some proper beating in the mountain and survived quite well I must say, the rear tire blanks out quite quick and is quite a bit more expensive than other standard tires on the Indian market, and you MUST carry at least one spare tube to both front and back since the dimensions are new and therefore also more or less non-existent on the many tire wallas through India..

I got myself a larger jet for the carb in the mountain and that helped a bit, but on 4-5000 meter height, it is a one person bike at best.. I have a friend in Germany that in this moment are working on a new more powerful cylinder etc for solving some of these issues..

And yeah, the electrics...The Himalayan is the Indian Adventure bike...with NO KICK START...so you would think the set up would reflect this, but it does not..so when the mechanics are servicing your bike it is quite the norm that the bike come out with some cables hanging loose, since this was not such a issue on earlier R-E models, but on this one it is !

I started my trip from Naggar in Kullu valley direction Goa on the 6.th of nov 2016..which was the day the money transformed in to toiletpaper at best, and when the electrics stopped working 100 km outside of Delhi, I discovered that you can actually drive the Himalayan with flat battery for at least 700 km without problem as long as it is daylight and you don't stop the engine unless you have people around that can help pushstarting the bike or a rather steep hill around...

I made the trip with increasing tension, and I must admit that my relief was great when a friend (that works with R_E and speaks hindi..!) bought it from me in Goa.. so to sum it up.. The Himalayan is a fine ride as long as you don't have any major issues, and if you want one, get a repair manual so you can get to know the bike since the mechanics dont...

Oso