On road I had no complaints and on gravel it was happy days with a decent and secure pace easily maintained . A decent part of the Himalayan ’ s ease of use is the low 825mm seat height . In the age of most Adventure bikes being extremely tall the modest seat height on the Himalayan has wide appeal . Not just for short riders either . On challenging terrain being able to paddle effortlessly is of major benefit , even if it ’ s just to help maintain balance in a tricky spot around the edge of a bog at zero speed . While perhaps not ultra-cool style-wise , a quick dab or even a paddle is way cooler than toppling over into a festering , bottomless bog hole . I ’ d happily take the slight dent in pride over the drama of a downed bike , stinking and cold wet gear , time wasted and loss of enjoyment every time . The spec sheet lists four ride modes , but to my way of thinking there are two . Performance mode , with or without ABS and ECO mode , with or without ABS . Both power modes offer full power , but ECO is less responsive .
they perform very well . At the rear a linkagemounted , almost horizontal monoshock with spring preload adjustment has 200mm of travel . Ground clearance is a reasonable 230mm . The suspension action is well damped and solid , offering a generally controlled and pleasant ride . At no stage did I pretend it was an MX bike and try to overdo it . Ridden as its design intends – a small capacity Adventure bike … the chassis and suspension are surprisingly competent . The front braking is taken care of by a single large 320mm disc with a twin piston caliper . It ’ s a decent enough front brake with good feel and well up to the task of stopping the Himalayan when required . The rear also has a decentlysized 270mm disc with single piston caliper . It works great . There is dual channel ABS that has reasonable intervention levels across a wide range of surfaces and of course , off . The 21 / 17- inch wheel sizes offer plenty of scope for tyre selection from full road rubber to full knobblies which is excellent .
ERGO ’ S The ergo ’ s are a bit old school , but quite comfortable when sitting . Standing is okay , but it doesn ’ t have that ultra-modern , slim , smooth
SUBSTANTIAL CHASSIS The Himalayan ’ s chassis is a steel tube twin spar design that looks very substantial … possibly more substantial than is strictly necessary . Certainly , it should withstand the rigours of hard use . Up front , Showa USD 43mm cartridge forks with 200mm of travel are non-adjustable but
50 KIWI RIDER