@mick-boon after the purchase, you still had to do the alignment, correct? You mentioned “almost finished”.. what’re you having done to it?
@mick-boon after the purchase, you still had to do the alignment, correct? You mentioned “almost finished”.. what’re you having done to it?
I did not have to do anything, it came properly aligned . They drove it 100 KMS to make sure everything was as it should be before shipping.
I mentioned almost finished because they were building it for me, and it was at the stage where it was almost but not quite complete.
PS All I had to do when it arrived was remove the indicators and paint the silencers black. For some unexplained reason the did not want to ship it without indicators.
I mentioned young Dennis was taking a tour in India.
He organised for 10 to do a couple of thousand klm tour with bikes and backup.
It was quite the success apparently.
@brstr cool 😎 I wouldn’t have the guts to ride on the streets of Calcutta (where I am now), Pune/ Bombay (where most of my employees are)… the good thing about riding in India is that it gives you really good training on slow speed, off-road“ish” bike control, most tarmac really is what we could call “off roads”.. and anything outside the city is simply dirt roads. With a normal bike (max 250 CC) I *might* have the guts to attempt it, though.
hahahahahah
EDIT - on a side note, next July I’m planning on doing the UMLING la pass route.. max 8 days.. if any of you guys are interested, I can be a decent translator (not as much help on riding though).
@brstr cool.. bypassed the ghats a bit, but took the greener route. Hope they enjoyed it!
Every one of them have crash bars, there has to be good reason for that.
I can't make up my mind if you really are a useless motorcycle rider as you claim to be, or your pants are on fire.
I suspect the latter.
@mick-boon I *think* they’re all (my fav). Royal enfields!! so crash bars are, by default, needed.. cos they’re stupid heavy for no reason.….. but … but… for a dirt poor boy growing up in India, REs are (and still are) a dream come true..
Honestly, it’s so much better to ride sub 200CC bikes in India.. plus one doesn’t look like an ant sitting on an elephant.. but for foreigners, those sub 200 CCs would be toys.. insulting even..!!
REs hurt the goats and cows so much when you run into them on the streets (invariably).. but so much better when you hit other vehicles on the street.. shew! You’re the biggest guy around !!
@mick-boon Now, I have almost 70 hours of riding experience.. I practiced for 10 hours on blue ridge parkway (pretty awesome place.. I was staying at a farm) before touring for a week across Costa Rica.. but I still proved myself pretty useless even with practice one rainy night this October when I attempted a short cut to go up the rocks to reach my lodge that was only 5 mins away.. it was so embarrassing.. single track.. mud and rocks everywhere but I was rushing to my beer.. and I fell, got stuck under the bike with the metal panniers cutting through my leg.. thank goodness one guy lifted the bike off of me.. it was, again, a stupid heavy RE Himalayan!! Grr 😠
Short answer - pretty useless rider, but I am up for any route anywhere in this world (by myself, I won’t risk my kids’ lives).
Oooh you guys wanna do Costa Rica for a week? It was a pretty cool week of riding..
Crash bars don't do much at all to protect in a real crash, but they are great at protecting the bike if you drop it at low speed. There are lots of gravel roads where I live, and it's easily done apart from when you drive a sidecar combination.
Riding on maintained gravel roads is no fun, I hate it.
@mick-boon Holly cow! BTW, do you guys load your sidecar rigs in reverse on the trailer so that the heavier part is to the front of the trailer? I saw a video where the trailer sways too much if there’s more weight on the back. I found a bear track trailer in fort Myers as well (smaller version).
@mick-boon i must say that on those 3 days that i had the rental Himalayan, having crash guards gave me a lot of confidence that i won’t total the bike if I drop it. At high speeds.. (Himalayan doesn’t go beyond 75 mph as I discovered)… meh, no protection needed other than a living will that I already have (transfers the kids plus maintenance money over to my friend).
