Royal Enfield Himalayan 450 | 10,000 miles of epic on- & off-road adventures | MCN long-term test
welcome to MCN and the Royal mfield Himalayan 450 also known as the himan 450 if you are certainly based from India this is part of our 2024 long-term test Fleet and Joseph here has been the owner of the bike for the last eight months he's done an awful lot on the bike and we're just going to basically chat to him about his experiences over that time what's been good what's been bad so Joseph hello mate how yeah eight months you've had the bike y I've obviously followed your progress you've done a lot on the bike yes give us a bit of a rundown of you know the main sort of type of riding that you've done so far yeah so in the 8 months just shy of 10,000 Mi on this bike okay uh I've actually had two separate himalayans in my time but I'll come on to that in the uh 10 bad points but I've used this is kind of like a 50/50 travel bike Road and off-road I've probably done every Green Lane in Eastern England um I've done a 3,000 uh mile tour of Europe yeah uh 12 days and yeah just basically I've I've met up with a lot of 411 owners of the previous model yeah uh Himalayan and just seeing what they were using the bike for and I'm just trying to completely replicate that which is a bit different for me because I've come from sports bikes but from the tests that we've done when we've always done small capacity adventure bike tests I've always thought that just makes so much sense as someone like myself on an A2 license yeah but yeah I mean just tell us about that because you really have it's a completely different bike to what you you know your your own bike you've actually bought a couple of years ago your zxr 400 yeah so yeah definitely been into like sports bikes and you know and for me that's when I think of motorcycles that's still what I think of and where I have put my own money but obviously they're very impractical things especially a 90 sports bike so having something like this a travel bike which is kind of the definition of being practical yeah it's been a yeah it's been a welcome change this year and it's opened your eyes to a lot of things it sounds like you a lot of different riding that you well certainly wouldn't have done on your cars that yeah yeah definitely I mean Offroad I think um obviously I like doing track days and I've just thought can I get that same kind of adrenaline rush but slightly less risk slightly more kind of accessible from doing Green Lane in an Offroad and have you we'll get into it that will come into it um yeah if this is the bike right bike for it or not yeah we we'll come on to that in the points so I'm really interested in this because I've actually done a fair bit on this bike I was on the launch out in the Himalayas on the bike and uh I've also done a few group test on the bike so is a bike I know well so I am actually and and we've ridden together on it so I'm actually followed you on your 690 I'm quite intrigued to uh to to hear what you've got to say so right without further Ado okay so we're going to start with the pros yeah no particular order just kind of yeah we'll start with the first one here so fatigue free ride you're saying it's comfortable riding position effective screen limited vibrations and that is that is equated to being a good Touring bike good touring machine if anything I mean this is a travel bike big miles no fatigue and they've done an absolutely amazing job of that I mean I'm only 5'8 but the kind of geometry ride or triangle if you like is just set perfectly for someone so for example when I did that European tour I smashed out here to Switzerland in the first day and you know what I mean we're talking 14 hours on a Motorway and absolutely fine only stopping for fuel and this bike is just for a single cylinder The Vibes are actually really manageable for someone like myself right okay that's impressive and what was it like actually on the motor I mean what sort of speed could you s comfortably cruise that it's not a GS it doesn't have cruise control and but compared to the previous model the 411 I mean you've got double the power here with the sherper 452 and that does mean that you can go on motorways Cru comfortably at Motorway speeds or a little above me yeah you're not at at the absolute limit you accelerate still a little bit for overtakes and stuff like that yeah okay okay that's impressive really because I mean like 4 hours on any motorbike is a that's a long day it's a big day exactly yeah but it can handle that kind of stuff and the seat is worth mentioning you guys on the group test had the rally seat and this is the standard seat and the rally seat is really as you would think is very uncomfortable and this standard seat is super plush and cu the rally seat you could really f the of structure underne whereas yeah I didn't I mean like I say we didn't do we didn't do crazy mileage on the launch but we did have still have long days and I don't remember it being any sort of an issue so interesting so handling it sounds like you've done a lot of road miles and I know the trip you did in in Europe you know would have a lot of twist Alps panes it was yeah hair pins and okay so handling you've got a relaxed low long geometry coupled with quality sh suspension which I agree with mean the bike's confidence when cornering and it also say it holds the line well yeah I mean it took a little bit of getting used to with a bike like this cuz obviously you're so used to riding sports bikes where you breaking into a corner loading up the front of suspension but on this it's it's a completely different thing it's it's all about kind of flowing lines and I think the fact that it is low quite heavy and it's not the most premium suspension but it's really good for this kind of package and it's the ability to just kind of hold a line feel stable and the confidence to you know what I mean get on the throttle basically so okay yeah it's not Sports B handing like it's sharp and quick it's just super nice and flowing neutral is how i' explain it yeah I mean really low center of gravity I think that that that's the real sort of key factor to that I mean yeah I think suspension you know you say it's not premium it's obviously not adjustable is it got no adjustability but I remember being quite impressed by the by the way you know it's obviously a heavy bike and it it well yeah so okay right sharp re a break strength of the rear brake helps keep the bike way in check and improves the handling same that one you can tell Chris northover was involved with the production of the rear brake on this it's um obviously it's a heavy bike and I don't really haven't really used Too Much rear brake before but on a bike like this which is you mean edging on 200 kilos having a really really sharp break which I'm guessing is a they use a lot of rear break in India don't they and and they're riding there but it's kind of the ability if you're coming into a corner to kind of steady the bike and it is it is super sharp and almost get this feeling of being able to move diagonally with the bike and turn in a lot easier and I'm glad it has it for the weight of this bike right and it is also a bit of a criticism of the front brake because it's just not that enjoyable of experience but the rear brake definitely makes up for it so you you really do find you're having to use them in conjunction definitely and even more rear break than I am front just because of how effective it is right okay so interesting okay um modern retro Dash so round design the bike offering a modern F whil it's also delivering clear concise data and app connectivity yeah the only grip is the indicat symbol are too small what you just leave them on to you yeah I mean we've been riding in a couple of times you gave me a little you know and that's my excuse the fact that okay but no it's definitely user error that last point but I would like to just see the symbols a little bit bigger on the uh on the dash but everything else about that Dash is perfect right I liked the previous model you with the cers you know proper analog but that with the phone connectivity it is really really good for a 6,000 motorcycle to have that kind of Dash and it suits it just down to a te and you don't think it's I guess coming from the 411 I sort of thought it felt almost too modern for the bike but you obviously don't think that yeah I I really want those features that that it's able to give me so I understand the point but I think that is this bike it's like it does what the old bike did and it has that kind of charm to it and bit of kind of um you mean it's not too modern but then like the dash where you want it to be up to date really are and it is concise and helpful okay so uh utilitarian looks uh off our styl and substance B looks unique in its class and crash protection is effective what have you have you discovered that J just on a couple of occasion I haven't been launching this bike into the scenery I have been new to riding Offroad and I can confirm that crash protection the front is welcomed and I like the way that that makes this bike look it's quite beefy it's quite chunky and um yeah I I'm a big fan of the uh crash protection right and you've added the B blasters on as well yeah I mean they've been just superb the Le like within the first week I've bent the lever and that's I need and since you've had those on have you had no issu it's it's been great not an expert I regret that okay okay and no even though like I say it's not like you've been crashing your brains out on it but because of the riding you've been doing you you have been it's been dropped a few times I guess to say have you caused any damage you bent anything no the only things that have gone would be the rear brake pedal and lever sometimes Bend but they do Bend because they're still they'll just bend straight back exactly uh it's those kind of exposed bits but uh that will come on to my bad points as well as they're a little bit exposed and you say uh it looks unique in in class yeah yeah I it's just not trying I don't know another bike that looks like this they haven't they haven't copied anything I mean if you look at maybe CF Moto 450 Mt you can see where they've aimed at where that's taken St whereas this is they've done their own thing they haven't tried to make it a big adventure bike because it's not you know what I mean and I like that for okay and you said that it cleans cleans nicely especially the wheels yeah I mean I'm a massive fan of this Hammer black color scheme gold wheels yeah they just a pleasure to kind of clean and come up really nice not kind of you know I mean for a 6,000 motorcycle having nice gold shiny Wheels is yeah I mean like you say you've done a bit on it and it is you know you it a clean for this and it's come up well though you know especially you're riding this time of year you know bike and Green Lane this getting cake um off-road confidence so bike has a wide range skill range great bike to learn Offroad um and offer something for more skilled Riders yes I am talk about yourself wh I've seen you doing group tests I mean look it's you know mean it's not an Enduro bike no but someone like yourself probably can get quite enjoyment about it like the 411 an experienced rider can ride this it's a bit of that fun challenge but it is exciting but then on the other end of of the spectrum someone like myself never done a Green Lane but having a bike where you see a a byway and you go you know I'm actually just going to give that a go and I think that that's what this bike does really really well it's the you're a new Rider you want sure footag something that's not intimidating it's perfect for that it is confidence inspiring there's nothing nothing scary there's nothing outrageous like everything's quite soft on the whole the bike and and you and it grows with you you know what I mean if you want to push it a little bit until a point it's going to come with you yes and I think you need to look at our small adventure bike test you doing laps on this or there's a video of Chris North over in a rally with this bike and it's like well okay there's more to go yeah yeah and um seat adjustment so seat could be changed 20 mm higher and lower within seconds of moving a bar under the seat and I guess that's a that's a good asset for the type of whatever type of riding you're doing exactly I know a lot of Adventure bikes will probably have this but it's a simple thing under the main seat you remove a bar 20 mil down and that is the difference between feeling confidence Offroad when you're new and not and then also let's say you're doing a big motor was thing you can raise that seat up and just increase the kind of angle at your leg and there you are that's that's more comfort so simple things like that it really that that quick to do is it yeah yeah you can do it in seconds so yeah great that's good isn't it yeah okay and then um you talk about the versatility of the bike specifically with reference to the tires your you've used in the bike I can see you've got through so Force you've had for sets of tires on the bike so start with the the the original OEM tire what they see see it see it grips what they like I mean we we're quite often I find disregard the the standard tires and we say they're terrible but you know this isn't a sports bik you don't need chemical adhesion to the road but this is a 37 horsepower bike that tire is perfect fine for this bike unless you want to do off-road it's got a lovely profile really enjoyed it it wore very well um but yeah just trying to take that tire off road especially at the start of the year when the conditions weren't great yeah you know I mean you just yeah we we ran those tires on the launch and uh and it was dry and they were and they were absolutely fine there was soon as a bit of rain and you're just it's just impossible with this kind of weight to to keep that bike in check yeah sure okay so next up you went for the Anarchy wild so what was the motivation for that and how did that so yeah that that kind of slip in uneasy front feeling like it's going to fold everywhere Offroad went for a 50/50 anak wild I think that was your suggest um great Tire kind of all around obviously it's a nobly tire so you don't get kind of like you you're not throwing into the corners but you're never doing that anyway on this kind of bike uh my only criticism of the an is they just wor so quickly got so hot on the center line and the rear just I mean I think I came to AB with yourself and I think I just it was like having a slick in the middle and just you no on the outside just because what sort of miles did you get out of those you think uh probably coming up to 2,000 so not sure quite where that stack for about a nobly tire but yeah I mean it's not it's not disastrous but but I'd say after about a power their edes yeah okay so yeah not not amazing yeah exactly yeah okay um so next up you went for the danlock trail match meridians and what was again what was the motivation for that sport yeah this is for the European trip so when I did my trip I didn't do any off-road I was riding with um my mate who doesn't do off-road and I just wanted the best profile best kind of grip I could get from you I mean a Road tire and the Meridian was the thing that I thought suited that the best um and Flawless tire for for the road you mean in the Alps and stuff just it just just beautiful complimented the bike really well no compiz at all for the road right okay okay and then you went back the other way and uh the MERS and jro Trail XD daer yes so that's a 80202 we've got at the moment yeah um they came out this year uh this bike has some uncommon tire sizes with a 14080 on the rear um they made 17 it's a 17 it's just a weird size yeah is um and yeah M have brought out this tire and like things that I couldn't do before that tire has allowed me to do right we we did a day at um Souls plane yeah really really wet clay chalk W exactly following 69s I was going to struggle but that tire gave me the best chance and I think the best compliment I can give these tires yes they're brilliant off-road as you'd expect but they're very fun on the road quite like the feeling of a nobly on the road if you look at that front tire it's actually got quite a lot of coverage you know what I mean so things are break as well and it it definitely gives the bike kind of a very light flickable feeling but the only problem there would be if you were a brand new Rider maybe you wouldn't like that kind of instability you get but if you're someone maybe is used to that it can be quite fun yeah I I hear what you're saying no they generally have for quite a lot of grip but they just don't give you that sort of confidence no you don't want there's a lot more movement and like you say that can be uh a little bit daunting yes but yeah they're the tires I ran I don't think I run any of them to complete completion except from the anaki Ws like these are lasting well though aren't they those probably they've worn so much better than the anak wilds and they're an 820 and I think they're um I don't know if this the right word omnidirectional but you can flip them around get that edge back right okay and then an important one so value and dealer Network so £ 6,100 admittedly it's a big increase in price over the 411 but it's a lot more of a bike as we've already discussed and the dealer Network I guess is quite yeah I'm going to come on to why that's important but on my European trip I may have had some issues um and I was able to in Switzerland Italy you know what I mean get to get to a place where they could help me and 61 how how do you think that sort of Compares with the market and yeah I think I think it's super competitive on PCP it's a more affordable bike and when I look at stuff on the fleet which I know is definitely not a comparison at all but the last video we filmed was on that Harley-Davidson uh CVO paname I'm thinking I think that's £24,000 I'm thinking you could have four Himalayan just I don't know why you want four but yeah I hear but it's it's that kind of thing do I think this is a quarter B no I don't you know what I mean and I think in terms of fun that I've had on this I'd have more fun on this than a yeah than something like that so that would be my yeah yeah okay what do you what do you think about the the price of this and how this sits especially with the lightweight oh not lightweight but uh small capacity adventure bike class yeah I mean we're obviously seeing the Chinese bikes you the CF Moto come in even even cheaper but I think for me I think it's priced about right I mean I think it it's definitely competitive price I mean the obviously the original 411 was like 4,000 when it first came crazy money and obviously this is a significant step up but like we said it is a significant step in terms of the capabilities of the bike and the engine so you know like like you say with the dash and there's a lot of there's a lot of decent quality things on the bike the shower suspension Etc and in like an Indian market this is going to be this is very very attractive thing so um yeah I think they've hit the the market well with this bike right okay yeah right so uh moving on to the cons Joseph um so the first one I'm I'm going to do order that so the first one is uh is white yes this is so what does it weigh at in at 196 curb weight y that is just for me that is just silly kind of way you feel that all the time from moving it about on the road especially Offroad um I think they missed a massive trick and the thing is this is the same weight as the previous model which is I think their kind of claim with it but still when you comparing it to other bikes yeah that weight is just a lot and I'm not sure if you'd agree you know what I mean but that's kind of middle weight adventure bike he kind of kind of well yeah I mean I guess that's the same sort of weight as a ten 700 exactly egg yeah yeah okay okay and I like to say we were going to it's not on your list but we got to mention this sideand yeah because um I don't know if you can see from the C from the angle over is just so Lent over so you really are reminded of the weight of the bike literally every time we you come to get on the bike a little bit Yeah and I've tried to do things like I took off the rear um rail here took off the uh what is it the center stand couple of extra bits that bolted on but I'm saving like 10 kilos and there's things like the racker would actually quite like yeah yeah quite useful um and I just think so I think people need to have the conversation withs buy something like the uh Royal Enfield gorilla or the Triumph Speed 400 if you're not doing Offroad because that weight it's a lot yeah yeah to to carry around with you I mean Playing devil's advoca here it is you know it's made a still it's designed to last for a long time it's designed to be dropped picked up dropped picked up and everything's bending back into place it's got you know these aren't like it's token crash Protection full on it's full on Crash protection so there are a lot of you know you you can you can look at it either way but I agree with you you know when whenever you try and ride it that little bit quicker yeah especially Offroad you know you really do do notice the bulk of it and I guess with it being you know the small lightweight Adventure B Class it doesn't really kind of kind of fit yeah I got a chance um to do a bit of MX this year and obviously got to ride a really focused um you know I mean off-road machine which was half of the weight of this and it's just amazing what you can get away with without that weight because as a new Rider a small kind of mistake can lead to something quite big on on a heavy bike whereas on a light bike you're able to correct that instantly and it doesn't even phase you so that's yeah like you say with the off-road this is yeah the weight right okay um lack of charm so compared to the 411 the 450 LX character the 411 was the the tractor whereas this is a Jeep it's going to be quite a hard point to explain but I did a lot of uh rallies with 411 owners and lot of ride outs and what I mean by this is that old bike was I mean the story of that old bike was people went to ABR for test rides yeah you know I mean everything was taken all the expensive stuff and that uh the previous 411 Himalayan was left people took it out thinking I'll give that a go and we're like you know what actually that's the answer that's you know I mean fun cheap you know what I mean reliable and does what you want to do people had it as their second bike because they had a GS that they didn't want to take off road yeah and then they went you know what actually I'll have that as a little play thing and it had that kind of chug fat you really long throat motor really long yeah and I almost think for the UK Market is this a little bit too nice for that second play thing you know what I mean if you've got your GS would you buy this or do you know what mean or would you buy a crf300 you know what I mean or that kind of bike yeah okay so yeah I think um I I just when I've ridden with 411 owners I get the impression that they really didn't want this bike they were very happy with what they had from Royal Enfield so that's what I mean by that okay okay um but I mean I guess we we sort of touched on it this you know you're you you're sort of judging this as an off-road bike and it is but it's like like it's a travel bike isn't it that's how used it's like a go anywhere type motorbike rather than if you would just if you had a van and you were putting a bike in a van to go and ride off road yeah this wouldn't be the weapon of choice but if you're going to ride somewhere and then do some off-road when you get there then exact changes changes things a little bit okay um so reliability uh limp modes two press bikes suffed issues due to faulty throttle position sensor causing the bike to enter limp mode so where did this happen and how often big a problem was it so uh so the first part I need to make sure I explain this correctly so the first bike I had after 4,000 mil um I was just riding along one day on the motorway pulled into a Petra station pulled out and the bike was I had half power it was in in some kind of protective limp mode um and that was a week before I was about to go on this huge European trip right so I basically said to Royal Enfield stuck in this limp mode is there any chance you can either fix it or give us another press bike for the trip um and they gave us a new press bike um complet like you know 500 miles or whatever on it uh took on the trip and then on day two of my European trip as I was just approaching the wall of the Swiss Alps the bike went into lip mode again and I remember I think I called you I was like I don't know what I'm going to do because I'm in the middle of nowhere can't get up the hill I can't get up the hill um what a nightmare and um for the following four days of my trip in the Alp every 150 miles the bike would go into limp mode for for no reason and I'd have have to pull over disconnect the battery spam the ignition and that that' fix it um so then I went to when I went from the Swiss outs to Milan to get the bike fully fixed they advised it was the throttle position sensor changed the entire unit up here and that did completely get rid of the that you know I mean that for the rest of the trip it was absolutely fine I was impressed with how Royal Enfield dealt with it it did seem like priority number one for him right okay but for a new bike to have that kind of problem on two press spikes yeah that's that's strange seemed a little bit strange to me um yeah I'm in still kind of working with Royal Enfield about what that problem why the throttle position center kind of went yeah uh I don't know I could be the only 450 owner that had be interesting to know if anyone had problem yeah that was for me reliability is a massive thing with a travel bike and that kind of problem wasn't great but since it's been fixed since they've changed that unit it has been absolutely fine and that has been the only issue mechanically with this it's a component yeah I don't know yeah exactly but like you say when you're stuck on the side of the motorway is it's everything it's your world and that was my holiday as well um and like there was a couple of situations I think we went through the the longest tunnel in in Europe and literally with the first minute of being in this tunnel like a half an hour tunnel the bike entered limp mode single Lane and it was just like this is just dangerous at this point so um yeah it's uh something I wasn't too pleased about yeah and and you lose your confidence in the bike and you which is you know anxiety ining exactly okay um so yeah gearbox so Force neutrals um he's saying you can forgive the gearbox not being the smoothest it's a budget bike but false SS between fifth and sixth are super jarring yes jarring is a term I was um but yeah so I'm I was lucky that I've had two press bikes that I've done 4,000 Mi you know I mean on each and both of them suffered the same problem which is kind of like a loosening off of the gearbox after about 2,000 miles aw initially it was okay initially they were fine yeah and then I just so I think over time yeah they've uh loosened off a bit and I've just noticed I do clutch a shift up and um yeah on the top of the box between fourth fifth and sixth you if you're wearing a bulky Adventure boot you know what I mean I was just always getting these kind of false neutrals yeah right okay which on a bike where you're using the gearbox all of the time and you're constantly shifting is jarring it's just like I ruined that so fourth and fifth as well as fifth and sixth yeah exactly so mirrors um mirrors are quite simply pointless yeah uh no vision over 40 m hour what's what's that down to but the angle or so the The Vibes of the bike are quite good you know I mean for the rider grabbing on the bars they've obviously damped it quite well I just think these are quite a budget element right and mean far away from the bike just they just Vibe and you just get swirls so you can see the see something is behind you but you don't know what it is just so much VI you just touch him it just goes as yeah so I think uh if I had the bike for any longer I'd put uh Double Take kind of mirrors on for the off-road element as well as having something that's a little bit sturdier basically right okay yeah no fair enough um fuel range like isn't enough to Warrant how often you're filling it up eom mode isn't drastic enough fuel cap doesn't stay open when filling up really that yeah so I don't know if this is down to the uh side stand and I'll show it a closeup on the camera but um it it just closes so I know that's a small thing yeah but surely someone's got to be testing stuff like that yeah um but then what I mean about the fuel range and so this is what's what's the tank 17 L 17 L and I've seen on forums people saying they're getting 240 M out of it this is what they they Royal Enfield okay if you say under 5,000 revs the entire time and you you know what I mean keeping it in your pants everywhere then yes you can get miles like that but as soon as you think you know I mean I'm going to use what this bike can do you know I mean going up to 8,000 revs every now and then yeah it just drops off an absolute cliff and like so I was riding with um my mate on a GS when we did that European tour and it just felt like I had half the range of that was not a 1200 that was no that was a small 800 yeah and um yeah I mean like there's times where I'm having to think about it 150 miles I just think I wouldn't say the bike so the point really is I don't think the bike is exciting enough you know I mean to Warrant visiting the pet 17 L isn't bad for a 37 breake horsepower bike but it's interesting you mentioned that when we did the ride I was on my 690 which is obviously a much more highly strong motorbike and when we filled up I think I put less fuel in to get back than this so yeah it's a weird point I think but there'll be people for 450 owners that will be completely disagreeing with me but for the way that I ride and doing off-road and stuff it just seems like you're filling it up all the time and like I've got a zxr 90 sports bike that struggles to get three figures but I'll fill that up all the time and I I love it you know what I mean whereas this I just don't think it's got that kind of thing I'm like yes yeah I want to go again it's just like yeah pain exactly okay um low and wide pegs feet feel exposed and get ripped off pegs when in ruts due to insufficient ground clearance limitting and that is a limiting factor for off-road users yeah okay so yeah like I say I've been doing so much green laning and the bike is capable you know mean you can get anywhere on it and even when we rod with yourself on a 690 obviously massive skill difference but other than that I think the part where I just lose sight of you is you come up to a really deep rut and um the the pegs are just so low and wide that your feet are just getting ripped off left right and center the gear levers getting hit on the side of ruts so there's there's people that will not take this bike off road and that's not going to phase them but for me the limiting factor of an off-road machine is the the pegs are just too low and wide and I know that when we done um our group test that one of the Riders Chris he had he had his foot ripped off as well so so you ride so in like this and it's just yeah it's not great for ruts as a new Rider this thing to struggle no I completely agree I mean you just look at the bike and you can see how kind of where they are on on on the frame and how those sort of hangers bring them quite low and like you say they are wide which I guess gives Comfort yeah you can wait the pegs nicely and all yeah I had that when when we did the lightweight adventure bike test I I had my uh I I caught an edge yeah and uh and you're off yeah and once you've done it once you're like okay now I'm just constantly aware of it and R where you need to have a clear mind and just you know what I mean relax it's just not what you want yeah and and your feate of vulnerable and that's never never a good thing exactly okay um so long gearing sweet spot for green Lanes is right between first and second gear leaving you work in the gearbox constantly lazy revs in second coupled with aggressive rear break is a recipe for stalling yes I can uh so this is something that I thought was user error new Rider uh Offroad and I thought I'm I'm stalling the bike quite often and it's because you don't want to be screaming the bike out in first but it doesn't have the Chug factor in second and then so you're riding low revs in second you go to tap the rear brake and because it's so aggressive which is good for on the road but for off-road it just has this tendency to just to stall the bike and I thought that was me and I kind of ride around it but then when I saw that you did it and we've got it on video I could not could get away with it in going it back I was like okay actually um so I'd be tempted to change the gear in but then I'm like then you're just going to ruin it for the road it is that 5050 travel bike for me you could probably go one twoth off the front or something just to kind of help a little bit but yeah you wouldn't want to be do anything too drastic because like you say you yeah everything's a compromise exactly um but yeah that's just a little Point uh mud collector the mug gets trapped around the rear shock area and builds up with a lack of runoff adds weight to an already heavy machine and it's difficult to clean so I know well yeah so I mean I'm Green laning in November and December in the UK it's not pleasant if you're on fire tracks and it's the middle of summer you're not going to encounter this no but um this section here where you've got the uh the catalic converter and this shock just builds up with mud like ridiculous like 10 kilos worth of mud there's no it's all just sort of flat isn't it everything's just there I've got a photo that we kind of demonstrated better than I can explain but it's just ridiculous it's like and like I say it's already a heavy machine and I felt like I was carrying around 10 kilos of mud in that part way okay and it's not yeah we we' we've touched on this with the tire side of things but wheel size you think is a con because of what it's just restricted your tire choice and it's all just down to that 17in rear M just for the record mainly off-road bikes off-road Focus bikes will have an 18in rear and if you look at any tire manufacturer the range of tires which you've going from an 18in rear is vast whereas a 17in off-road specific tires you you're quite limited I guess exactly it's yeah it's yeah exactly think you've sum that up perfectly um yes you can take this bike from a road bike right to a you know what I mean off-road bike but there's not a lot of choices there's not a lot of competition between uh tire manufacturers and stuff just because people aren't offering it like I say mitas are the only people at the moment that I'm aware of that do that kind of 8020 super off-road tire and think in the comment section if you know of any other tires cuz I look so much for tire options for this bike and it's just hard to find stuff yeah because when we did the lightweight adventure bike test we got the Bridgestone ax41 I think you might have had to go to a 130 or something like that to make it work yeah and and yeah and that was hard to find because we wanted we wanted the same Tire on all bikes was a controled tire but getting something that you know was from a 21in front to 17in rear and an 18in rear was yeah was was difficult and that was a 50/50 tire so not not dedicated Off Road tire no of course um but yeah I mean we obviously have to nitpick with these bikes and there'll be people that have this bike and are using it in a different way that absolutely those problems don't come up but for someone like myself who's used it 50/50 Road and Offroad there is a couple of Niel there along the way okay well I mean yeah I think that that's a very good point actually you know we are in a very fortunate position here at MCM where we get bikes to test for sort of you know 6 Seven 8 9 10 months even of a year we live with we do the things we want to do with them but you know we're all individuals as Riders so you know what I want to do with a bike may be different to what you want to do on the bike but I think what's been great about your test you know you've really embraced having this motorbike it's been a different thing for you you've really embraced it you've done pretty much everything on it from you know some quite gnarly Offroad to laps of ab Festival right the way through to you know the big tour and and and traveling abroad so you kind of sort of almost done it does do everything it does do everything yeah and there's not many bites that could offer that much everywhere you know what I mean no that's very true yeah the Comfort at the price point and the capabilities so million dollar question Joseph would you buy it I would not no I think um obviously I'm a 24 year old you know I mean um and I think for me i' I mean it's opened my eyes to off-road which I thank it for because that is just so fun and anybody that is thinking about doing off-road it is like yeah you really enjoyed it smile his face still doing it up until like December in in the UK but what I'd say is for me I would sacrifice the road comfort of this it's too comfortable for someone like myself I don't need that level of Road comfort for a 40 kilo weight reduction and a little bit more kind of off-road biased I think for me just because of how much I've enjoyed it's not the bike basically it's just not the right bike for me basically but if you're someone that's looking for that kind of value kind of Advent little adventure bike this is great it has been really fun just not the right bike for me okay and then so just just before we wrap up obviously you've done thousands of miles on this bike as well you've been riding with me what about yourself how how how do you feel about it because obviously you were really really excited um before the launch you know what I mean we speak the reason I wanted this bike as a test bike was because of how excited you were for it you know and thinking it could be the the unicorn of the class yeah how do you think it Stacks up I think I think we've hit the nil on head earlier where we talked about it being a travel bike rather than an adventure bike rather than an off-road bike I think it's it's it's a sort of bike that's going to be easy to live with yeah you're never going to be it's never going to you're never going to open your garage door and be completely blown away by it but you're going to like the fact that it only cost you six grand yeah and I think I think as a package it's a it's a very good all round package you just need to if you're a more focused Road Rider it's not the bike to have if you're a more focused off-road Rider it's not the bike to have yeah it's really is a real sort of compromise for me personally the thing I struggle with is the weight of the bike I just I just feel like you know my my my thing's kind of off-road the more riding I if I if I'm riding I'd rather be off road than the road now to be perfectly honest so the the way I just find is that he's just a bit too much of a compromise given that there are alternatives that weigh significantly less so you're not traded in your 690 for one of these just yet I won yeah maybe another 20 years um well that's um I think a really great sort of summary from someone maybe a lot younger than our normal sort of MCN leadership and viewers so it's really great to hear hear that passion I think I hope you agree that Jose's got for riding motorbikes and the fact that he's embraced a whole new sort of genre of machinery and enjoyed it so um I hope you've enjoyed watching please check back for more of our 2024 long-term test sleep videos
2024-12-19 22:20
