Gold, I'll just try to make my way to Santa Monica or Venice. Most of the hipster cafe racer wannabes are there, they'd be the first to go in an apocalypse anyway, and I'm sure I'd find an ample supply of Triumphs to pilfer for parts. I'd swing by the one or two RE dealers I'd pass on the way, and ditch the bike if I found a more suitable Himalayan. And, from watching the Itchy Boots videos, I'd know what extra parts to grab off of the shelf for it before I leave the RE dealership.
Noraly switched to a Honda CB500X for her European segment and is now in South Africa on a Honda dual sport. Her two RE's were really torture tested in Asia and South America and both proved quite reliable.
Nice! For the price I have been wanting 1 since they first came out. My brother is from india and we were supposed to ride there before he passed away on his bike. I figured the first royal I would ride would be there and then hold out for the 650 version to add to my collection here. But it looks like covid slowed up the release of a 650 Himalayan
How have you liked it?? I heard there were a few upgrades for 2021
My issue is being just outside NYC I have to take the highways for a few hours in May direction to get "Adventuring". So the larger motor is really the only thing that would make sense for me. This is the kind of bike you need in Maine, more miles of trails than roads in Maine
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(02-11-2021, 03:31 AM)Gone in 60_imp Wrote: [ -> ]That's cool! I have a ton of respect for the Himalayan after watching Itchy Boots' YouTube channel. If you haven't heard of her, watch her season 1, where she rode one from India to Europe, and Season 2, where she rides one throughout South America.
She just left for Africa i believe but is doing it on a honda CRF250 rally i believe now. She has a cool channel!
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Fortnine's latest video; he sent 1st oil change oil to an automotive test lab to measure the contaminates.
Royal Enfield beat out all comers. A real shocker. Royal Enfield is doing something right.
Yea, interesting vlog. Lots of questions posed for me. What oils are the manufacturers using in the factory fill? I presume the milling machines used to make the engines will use recycled oil so that’s never going to be super clean. Bits of plastic, fibre and grit is pretty awful though. So, should we all dump the oil ASAP, and ignore the first service schedule? Well done RE
(03-14-2021, 01:48 PM)Rboe_imp Wrote: [ -> ]Fortnine's latest video; he sent 1st oil change oil to an automotive test lab to measure the contaminates.
Royal Enfield beat out all comers. A real shocker. Royal Enfield is doing something right.
Apart from the awful Chinese result are the rest of the manufacturers just a reflection of the age of their engine manufacturing plant? Some correlation to that might of been helpful to give the results some context.
Keep in mind, each manufacture only had one data set. So, it does raise some interesting questions.
I have no idea what oil they use for break in. When I worked at a Honda dealership WE added the oil. So, dealers choice. But manufactures may be adding the oil themselves.
In any event; the testing lab was looking at particulates so that should take the oil type out (unless you have a sample of virgin oil, it does not make sense to test for amounts of copper, al., etc). But I bet we can safely assume fibers, wood chips, metal bits and who knows what else were in the motor at manufacture and from wear and tear during break in.
Now if some one could increase the data set it may tweak the ranking a bit; in any event, Royal Enfield does seem to have upped their game. Good for them and good for us, as customers.
The other thing that crosses my mind is will OEM oil filters capture the foreign bodies and remove them from circulation anyway? In which case maybe things aren’t as bad as first thought. There surely has to be some bedding in even though manufacturing, metallurgy and tolerances have improved considerably over recent decades.
(03-16-2021, 01:55 PM)Rboe_imp Wrote: [ -> ]Keep in mind, each manufacture only had one data set. So, it does raise some interesting questions.
I have no idea what oil they use for break in. When I worked at a Honda dealership WE added the oil. So, dealers choice. But manufactures may be adding the oil themselves.
In any event; the testing lab was looking at particulates so that should take the oil type out (unless you have a sample of virgin oil, it does not make sense to test for amounts of copper, al., etc). But I bet we can safely assume fibers, wood chips, metal bits and who knows what else were in the motor at manufacture and from wear and tear during break in.
Now if some one could increase the data set it may tweak the ranking a bit; in any event, Royal Enfield does seem to have upped their game. Good for them and good for us, as customers.
Indeed, it certainly perks the curiosity to consider more investigation (especially for Chinese manufacturers - which they will improve on!).
If the filter worked, the oil would be fairly clean. So I suspect the oil filter on the Chinese bike may have worked, then clogged and the bypass valve kicked in - and we're left with unfiltered oil in the test.
A test like this really begs to have the filters pulled and inspected too.
But, manufacturer supplied filters (still not known about the oil) and first break in oil change; it is what it is. For the Chinese bike buyers; I'd be very concerned and checking the oil (and maybe trying to upgrade the oil filter) on future changes to see if things improve.