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What issues have you had at 5K

Andyb

Well travelled
Location
UK
Jerk - it is clear that thankfully others do not have the same experience as you……..but you do rent them out.
What exact problems do each of your 6 bikes have?
My feeling FWIW is that the Himmy needs a bit of fettling to get everything sweet. Which an owner may do.
Perhaps difficult with hire bikes.
If any consolation, I once hired at great cost a 650 honda in NZ. It was terrible, worst bike I ever rode. It had been on hire and pulled to one side, vibrated and just felt sick.
 

Philos

Well travelled
Location
Australia
The latest issue I had with my 2021 Euro 4 Himmy was, when check tightening a few bolts, I found the RHS rear (upper) triangle shaped engine support bracket had a rear bolt that was stripped. I drilled out the nut on the frame, bought a longer bolt and a nyloc nut and put those on instead. I still have clearance behind the bolts when the throttle is turned. It does the job.
 

HimalayanPete

Well travelled
Location
Norfolk UK
Jerk - it is clear that thankfully others do not have the same experience as you……..but you do rent them out.
What exact problems do each of your 6 bikes have?
My feeling FWIW is that the Himmy needs a bit of fettling to get everything sweet. Which an owner may do.
Perhaps difficult with hire bikes.
If any consolation, I once hired at great cost a 650 honda in NZ. It was terrible, worst bike I ever rode. It had been on hire and pulled to one side, vibrated and just felt sick.
I get that feeling too. I think the early Himmy build quality was poor. The latest bikes have been improved significantly. However the Himmy needs a lot of love and fettling to get right. It is IMHO needs owner maintenance.
 

BruceH

Well travelled
Location
MA/NH
Had the relay issue around 6k miles, fortunately had 2 spares after the warnings on here so just replaced both without bothering to troubleshoot.

Other than that, completely reliable.
 

kreygmu

Well travelled
Location
Scotland
I have 6 2019s all with about 5K miles on them and its just been one problem after another. Only 2 running currently. The rest have fuel issues, low compression, smoking, etc etc etc.
You have enough bikes here for a data set that people could look at without having personal attachment to any one of the bikes to get defensive about, pretty interesting. Do you have records of maintenance for each of the bikes and issues that cropped up and at what mileage? This would be a really cool case study on the reliability of these bikes when properly maintained but also ridden regularly and fairly hard.

I think the real downfall of the Himalayan is that it doesn't hold up consistently when used as a daily rider, and people point to power as the main issue with the bikes but IMO the power is fine, they just need constant repairs and pampering.
 

Bluestrom13

Well travelled
Location
- - 'Coventry'
"I think the real downfall of the Himalayan is that it doesn't hold up consistently when used as a daily rider".

Mine's done 12K + in 2 years. Most rides are a minimum of at least 60 to 70 miles each way, with a 2 to 3 hour coffee stop in between.
I don't thrash it - It was bought knowing it's limitations. It performs as well, or better than, other 'cooking' air cooled "big" singles that I've had over 50 years of riding.

By which I mean that it handles 55 to 65mph roads with ease. Motorways were not invented when this technology was.
No issues other than a dud (worked intermittently) indicator switch.
(Oh, and a puncture in a 300 mile old tyre).
Maintenance done (by me), at RE specified intervals, with exception of oil changes, which I do at 3K, not 6.

I have a mate who's 2019 bike has 30K+ on it, that gets used most, if not all days. And with minimal (home) maintenance. "Scruffy but sound" is his description - (of his bike)....
 
I'm at 7000 and change km and have had no real issues: The booster plug fixed the idle problem. The Hitchcock performance cam has resulted in a noticeable power improvement. Yesterday I filled up with 89 octane instead of the 92 I normally use and the bike seemed to run better...no pinging sounds upon accelerating. No issues yet with steering head bearings or chain. The bike continues to feel like new to me. It is a '21 model. Of all the bikes I've owned over the decades, this one is my favourite.
 

kreygmu

Well travelled
Location
Scotland
"I think the real downfall of the Himalayan is that it doesn't hold up consistently when used as a daily rider".

Mine's done 12K + in 2 years. Most rides are a minimum of at least 60 to 70 miles each way, with a 2 to 3 hour coffee stop in between.
I don't thrash it - It was bought knowing it's limitations. It performs as well, or better than, other 'cooking' air cooled "big" singles that I've had over 50 years of riding.

By which I mean that it handles 55 to 65mph roads with ease. Motorways were not invented when this technology was.
No issues other than a dud (worked intermittently) indicator switch.
(Oh, and a puncture in a 300 mile old tyre).
Maintenance done (by me), at RE specified intervals, with exception of oil changes, which I do at 3K, not 6.

I have a mate who's 2019 bike has 30K+ on it, that gets used most, if not all days. And with minimal (home) maintenance. "Scruffy but sound" is his description - (of his bike)....
Yeah some bikes are definitely fine, but lots aren't, which is what I meant by not holding up "consistently" - it's sort of a lucky dip as to whether you got a good one or not. It might also be down to personal expectations, but having bearings fail at <5k miles isn't good in my book.
 

Dartymoor

Well travelled
Location
Devon, UK
Thanks to all the responded....just worried about being in the middle of nowhere and have a fuel pump or relay go out with such low mileage on the bike. Would carry spares if there was an indicator that these fail early.
I think if you genuinely are travelling in the middle of nowhere, and can't rely on friends or a recovery service to get you home, then carrying a variety of common spares is prudent - regardless of the make and model of bike. I think the Himmie scores better here than most bikes since it's so basic and has so few electronic parts compared to most modern motorbikes. It can't fail if it doesn't exist!

I'm slowly building up a small cache of parts even though I'm rarely more than a day from home, but mostly so I don't have to wait for replacements if something does go.
 

Andyb

Well travelled
Location
UK
I would hazard a guess that the consistency of the bikes varies less than the consistency of their owners and how they use their bikes!
As an example - headset bearings. On some bikes they will be checked and readjusted……some bikes will only be ridden in the dry……some bikes will be used in all weathers and on wet salty roads…….some bikes are jumped…..some bikes only go on tarmac………
 

wyorado

Finally made it
Location
CO/WY
Intermittently the bike struggles to start or cuts out just after setting off (not done anything specific to address this other than trying to give the bike longer to warm up)
My '21 had a brake caliper recall that I got taken care of today at the dealer who sold me the bike. While I was in there they said there is flash for the ECU that corrects the notorious idle problem and asked if I'd like them to do it at the same time. It's free so I said why not. Bike started first time as I was leaving and over the course of the day while I ran errands. It's supposed to be ~40F tomorrow morning so I suppose that will be the real test.


Regarding the original thread topic. No major issues. I added the hitchcock loom to fix the parasitic draw which was annoying but hardly a show stopper. Just had brake caliper recall completed which frankly was just an excuse to get my new brake pads put in for free since we don't salt our roads in this part of the US :)

I ride my bike 95% on dirt roads and clean it maybe once or twice a year at most FWIW.
 
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wyorado

Finally made it
Location
CO/WY
Bike started first time as I was leaving and over the course of the day while I ran errands. It's supposed to be ~40F tomorrow morning so I suppose that will be the real test.
Bike started first try with the choke lever engaged this morning. Once I got to town I didn't use choke and it fired up first time every time. Highly recommend getting that ECU flash at the dealer if you have a similar year.
 

Andyb

Well travelled
Location
UK
FI engines do not have chokes.
The lever speeds up the idle.
‘Choke’ is the simplest name for it but RE actually call it a Bi-starter. Whatever that is. Semantics.
 
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wyorado

Finally made it
Location
CO/WY
If we want to be extra pedantic my owner's manual calls it a MANUAL BI STARTER (CHOKE). Going forward I will accept no name for it other than that with the choke part explicitly whispered in lieu of the ability to add parenthesis. ;)
 

RotorWrench

Well travelled
Location
USA
I think if you genuinely are travelling in the middle of nowhere, and can't rely on friends or a recovery service to get you home, then carrying a variety of common spares is prudent - regardless of the make and model of bike. I think the Himmie scores better here than most bikes since it's so basic and has so few electronic parts compared to most modern motorbikes. It can't fail if it doesn't exist!

I'm slowly building up a small cache of parts even though I'm rarely more than a day from home, but mostly so I don't have to wait for replacements if something does go.
WARNING! LONG POST WITH PERSONAL OPINIONS!

While I agree that for long or epic journeys it would be prudent to carry some primary spares, there are a number of RTW type journeys documented on the internet, and probably more not, where the issues we're discussing never materialized. Most of those travelers praising the reliability of their Himalayan, equaling or exceeding their previous bikes.

I think we all know that complaints and issues of products on given forums are extremely disproportionate to total ownership experience, evidence showing that most owners are more likely to take time out of their lives to complain about a product rather than praise it. The exception being enthusiasts or fanboys.

I've been on several motorcycle and a couple of tech product forums where it was common to see a new member pop up, ask for advice or voice a complaint with a problem they were experiencing, then disappear until the next problem. That's OK and normal for forums, being what many use forums for. That rarely holds true for owners with good ownership experiences. It's very unlikely an owner will join a forum to post a praise or recommendation for a product, usually due to their good experience not impacting their lives like a bad experience does. We all love to complain and tend to be more vocal and sharing when we're pissed off or disappointed in something than when we're pleased with it.

Then there are those of us that have a passion or serious interest in a product, join a forum to either or all, learn, share, assist and contribute to the overall knowledge and experience base of a product, often benefiting ourself as much as others. This type of owner, unless a fanboy, will usually share complaint as well as praise in deserved manner, sometimes with maybe a little bias 😉.

Getting back to the original point, I do a lot of long distance or long duration camping on my bikes and over the many years I've come to embrace the adage "light is right". I try to carry only what's absolutely necessary. So rather than carry a lot of spares and given the questionable quality or durability of several Hima components, I prefer to replace them now with reliable or track proven components rather than deal with a potential failure on the trail. Never a guarantee I know but definitely lowering the likelihood of failure considerably. That's my preference and I know it doesn't work for everyone. I'm big on preventive maintenance over what I call reactive maintenance 😊.
 

RotorWrench

Well travelled
Location
USA
Speaking of spares, does anyone know of a non-OEM fuel pump replacement? I've read of a couple of guys replacing the pump motor with a Honda one but it took some modification.
 
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