I watched a RU-vidr from India remove the centre stand, luggage rack, lower fender, tank guards, and other smaller redundant pieces to bring the total weight to 164 kgs!
Brilliantly honest and common sense musings as all ways. Cheers Nathan. I bought a new 411 at the great price that the Moto GB group are doing them for in March. I don't have any regrets, I love it.
I do get tired of negative comments from people who have never ridden this bike , it is what it is , its not a high price high power bike its affordable and will sell to people who accept it for what it is.Good review and well balanced comments.
Good insight. Your constant re-visiting and questioning of the same points is helpful, slowly but surely creating a balanced picture! Due to the weight thing, I'll stick with the G310GS Rally Raid 2 upgrade.
This will be more customisable than the old one and will definitely get its fare share of admirers. Like the old one, expect this to slowly gain popularity as the actual owners get comfortable with what this can do. Here in ind, abhinav bhatt has managed to shed around 20 kgs or more to make it considerably a trail bike & it's lighter and feels faster on the trails even. So it will totally depend on the individual what they want with this one. While the previous one was limited in touring context (hp) and focused on exploration, this one will fairly present as stock the choice to do both and improve on one if you want to use if for a specific purpose only.
Could save 4kg by fitting lithium battery. Just need waking up when cold. Never trickled charged one I fitted to Harley1200 sportster in 3 years and that says a lot. Kudos to your mate for refitting the tool tube! Cheers 👍
Difficult circle to square, light weight or reasonable cost. I get the sense they’ve pretty well done that with the focus on price. I’ll need to try it for myself to decide. Overall I like what they’ve done. Then there’s the 411, which is now amazing value while stocks last😁
Fab stuff Nathan - it's certainly growing on you, love your objective thoughts on what's good, what's less so, and where you see it going (and yes, like others probably the best and most informative reviews on adventure bikes).
Another well balanced review Natham, good questions are asked and answered! It's prob carrying it's weight in a different way to the 411, but now has addition weight of radiator + the water remember every litre of coolant is a kilo.
Hi Nathan. Great practicle reveiw as usual. Ive got the 411 and love it for all the same reasons as you. Pulled the fuse on ABS in the first week i owned it after a bad off road experience and its been out ever since apart from when shes serviced.
Great reviews... tbh my 411 is bloody fantastic. I have it with a 36t rear sprocket boosterplug and cam and it pulls well low down and sits at 65/70 just fantastic. I am thinking of the 452 just for longer days getting down to alps next year but 2 up probably. But tbf my 411 does that too and wife is happy on the back, although the 452 does seem tohave a far more generous seating area and im not small. Lets see... not in a massive rush to get rid of my 411
Now then, you said if you love a bike on a test ride. It is likely you won't like it long term. Basically this was a test run!!!! Saying that, I would take advice from you anyday compared to mainstream garbage. Another fine review. Keep up the good work Nathan
As a 2022 390 Adv owner, I’ve finally realised that the OFF-ROAD mode holds after power cycle, which has compensated MTC and off road ABS (rear disabled). That is a game changer now. I had been rattling through the menus to do ABS and MTC manually after a kill switch/power cycle. The only thing that I’m not keen on the new Himalayan is the rear light built into the indicators. If you are riding off road they are likely to take an impact, then you could have no rear light. If I went down that route I’d need to bodge up some conventional rear lighting
Having had a Himalayan 450 road test only, thanks for showing what the bike is capable of when off road. Not something I will be doing but then again many GS Charlie/Ewan fans never take their GS's off road. Still waiting for delivery on a tubeless Hanle Black (maybe next month!) but coming 'down' from an bmw R1200RS I found the bike light enough but not too light for road use, light bikes can be skittish on a long ride and I prefer a heavier stable platform anyway.. How long I keep both bikes will be judged once I can compare them against each other after a few months ownership and more miles travelled.
Nathan, thanks. I can dream, but truth to tell I will not be spending out on a new bike for my minimal mileage, and I would not be happy with the weight of the new (or old) Himmy. But it sounds like RE have a wonderful bike here, and your opinion is the one I would trust on how it’s performing in all its contexts. The other thing that would stop me is that I like to fiddle with my machines, make new (better?) parts for them, change them to fit me and do what I want (not others), so I’ll be sticking with my Serow and Innova! But the new Himalayan is a temptation after seeing you ride it and hearing your opinions. Les
Did 77k on my innova. New exhaust and was still in great condition ridden 365 in every weather. Gear indicator and electric start gave up. Gear I dicator was full of water easily cured. 130 mpg 55 mph
Well it’s past the Heartbreak hill test…however for me if I was wanting a green lane it would be the ccm for me every day of the week …but I’m five six. For adventure …. Road work which is what I have my Himmy for I need to have a go on that lower seat when it appears and ride the demo again then it’s got even more miles on it as the vibes were a put off for me. As you say they’ve made a great bike good … good for what the jury is out let’s see how many have extended adventures on this model. Enjoyed the content thank you
Great stuff Nathan, Thank You. Will be good to see your thoughts when the CF Moto 450 MT turns up. Given you already have a Voge 300 Rally any chance your contact can loan you a Voge DS525X. Curious to know whether that should be in the 'also consider' category. Keep it up, you are producing solid and valued opinions.
I have the same (or very similar) tool tube as Jono. Same bracket snapped clean off within a couple of hours of light offroading. Useless! 😅 I enjoyed the disclaimer at 4:30 also the irony of you missing a turn whilst talking about not paying attention, is not lost on me.
There's a city within Montreal that bans motorcycles after a certain hour. I'd forgotten about the new sound outs, but could be with convertibles too. If you ride a sound system, they should be forced to have an automatic sidestand.
a function of more suspension travel to match the higher performance engine to give more ground clearance and result in a unavoidable higher c of g? test rode one yesterday first RE bike so no baseline tar only, coming off a GS12, crf 250rally for context and much more in the past. small screen= cold winter ride, good seat and ergos, silky box, horrible vague initial throttle but very good fueling, good suspension only a basic test, engine not super smooth ok performance probably me but felt a little soft from the original crack open, yes it does lean a bit on the sidestand but a thicker foot would solve that after a couple of hours with a hack saw and drill perfectly possible it would be a asymmetric shape for clearance. The bike would suit me 85% of the time, it ticks box's well like the crf does(different box's) on paper, but riding bikes is'nt just ticking box's, there is more needed for me, the crf does'nt cut it either, and I ride with others who have bigger guns so not right now. I can see a time when i may have a Himalayan though. You seem like your fighting yourself over your opinion at the moment. Always worth a listen thanks for the vid.
Interesting. Sounds from your thoughts it’s a decent bike. It’s the price point compared to the 411 which is maybe is the challenge and where the expectation is different.
Does the new engine feel tight? When I first got my Voge I was surprised at how the engine was so unhappy pulling at lowish revs and in fact I had to adjust the revs I was using before changing up. On the road I had planned to use 4000 revs max but that just didn’t work so I took it up to 4500 which was much better. It was interesting to see how quickly the engine freed up. After five hundred kilometres and an oil change it was much happier pulling the lower gears and once the 1000 km service was passed it was really good. I would imagine that the 452 Himalayan is likely to begin to feel torquier once the engine has a few miles on it. Talking about the Voge every time you started about the the weight or the surface getting a bit tricky I couldn’t help thinking that there’s no way I’d choose the Himalayan over the Voge as a trail bike.
I am sat here thinking that that car driver was approaching thinking “Why has that motorcyclist in front of me suddenly disappeared into the hedge ?” 😂 The top heavy design of this bike ( possibly a consequence of having to package the water cooling gubbins ) does make silly dropsies off-road more likely IMO. On uphill hairpin bends I think that the less than 100% linear ride by wire throttle response could also cause problems, when you need instant, linear throttle response to pick the bike up instantly. I could see myself toppling over because I didn’t move the twist grip enough to get the required movement from the throttle bodies.You would probably develop a feel for it but I think that there would always be an element of guesswork involved. Given the vibes at 50+ mph with this bike, I came to the conclusion that CURRENTLY the 411 is probably still the better all-rounder. And I agree. Not much need to deactivate ABS unless you need the locking of the rear wheel to create a braking berm on loose or sandy surfaces 👍 Cheers Nathan, ER.
@@user-hx4bz6hm2t Hi Kevin. No, we never got the KLR 650 in Europe as far as I am aware. I've certainly never seen one. I think it never passed the emissions here. From what I've heard about them though, they are hefty beasts ! The Himalayan 450 with a full tank does feel quite top heavy though. You notice it even when you try to right the bike when it's parked on the side stand. The 411 is nothing like as bad. Cheers Kevin, Garry
Great review, I had been musing over this bike Nathan, but I bought mine last week, and tbh needed an honest review of what the capabilities of the bike was off road, green lane-ing , and your review has helped me so much, in that I made the right decision, and all on stock tyres, btw where did you get your gloves, and where are all those magnificent lanes.
Thanks Syd. Hope you enjoy the bike. The lanes are in north Devon. The gloves I found on a roundabout near my house. I thought they were klim but turns out they're from Screwfix I think
I think RE have pulled a blinder here. It’s a totally different bike but will appeal to some of the current riders of the 411 himmy and draw in some new customers and/or even new riders. I wonder if it still comes with the riders club welcome pack of goodies? 😅
The problem being it has moved out of the "classic" niche and into a market segment with a lot of good competition where customers who have no hankering for the idiocyncracies of old technology are looking for modern performance and don't care about history. For the Indian market I get why they built it but for Europe and the USA it's going to be a hard sell for sure, I live in Germany and have never, ever seen any RE's of any kind on the road, not even at the German adventure bike festival. I'm an older rider (71) but no way I'd give up my selection of older KTM's for the Himalayan, the weight alone is a killer, I'll put up with poor road manners when I can buy a good used 500 EXC for the price of an RE. Get it down in the 130kg area and I'd think again.
@@jimtitt3571 Yes, I don’t think much attraction from KTM owners. Not surprised RE doesn’t sell very well sausage side. Not really made for the autobahn !
Had a test ride the other day and absolutely hated the throttle response lag especially when shutting off it seemed to hang on the revs for ages. Really put me off I wonder if the fly by wire throttle really needs more work?
Yeah there's a video isn't there where a chap did that. Loses the functionality then without the rack and centre stand. The front racks I'd ditch if they were holding the indicators up
Ooo.... good question. Early days. But at the minute probably the 411. Easier to work on. More manageable. And more 'proven' ie. faults are known with it.
@@nathanthepostman interesting! I'm torn over which one to get. Can get a 411 second hand for around £2.5k or new version for £5.5k. New one doesn't seem worth the extra £3k
@@Mandem909if I didn’t already have one(411) and was in your position I’d got for a second hand 411…. Lots to choose from. Ride that for this year and over winter and then look at the 452 in March 2025 when there will be more choice, maybe a few second hand ones( don’t buy from that bloke in Devon ) and possibly some tweaks done. Regardless they are a great platform for adventure
Price point I would guess. It's £3k less than the KTM and that buys you a lot of lighter materials. The drs a good shout. I guess that loses a lot of the tech weigh a modern bike needs and it's also more trail bike than adventure bike. But I agree, it's a bit tubby
I think where you are taking it you need a different bike for that ,the Himalayan is designed for the bitumen and gravel roads like in the mountain roads in India it’s not the bike for wet single tracks I think you need a dirt bike for that mate ,jimmy Australia
In Central Scotland there are a lot of roads like this (and riding off-road is explicitly forbidden) but unfortunately a lot of them are getting paved over. My favourite grassy, muddy country lanes are getting a coating of smooth tarmac sadly. On the plus side though city roads are continuing to disintegrate so I get my fill of potholes and gravel there. Even more exciting, some sections of motorway built in the last 10 years have potholes and gravel now too!
I cannot get past the looks. You can stick lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig. I'll be selling my 411 for a CFMoto 450MT.....let's see if I've made the right call....
