Himalayan an Classic 350 reborn

savingclassicmotorcycles

savingclassicmotorcycles

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Feb 6, 2011
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Hey everyone hope we are all doing good :) just a quick one anyone ridden a Himalayan or Classic 350 gonna let my big GS1200TE Rallye go in the new year and considering getting one of the two for my modern bike fix to sit along the Norton's for some overland riding and a bit of green laning.

Thinking off maybe an older British made Bullet to.
 
norton_rider said:
just done a deal on my gs for a Himalayan so should be interesting :)
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I've had a Himmy for 3 years now and love it. It won't pull your arms out of their sockets, but they are still fun. The real gripe I had was the seat, so I changed the foam and cover for a Seat Concepts DIY upgrade. They do two types, standard and tall. I got the tall, but if I were to do it again I'd get the standard height.

seatconcepts.com

Product Result

seatconcepts.com seatconcepts.com

I also fitted a TEC cam, which supposedly gives a 20% power increase. It certainly feels livelier. TEC do other upgrades as well....

Performance Parts – TEC Bike Parts

www.tecbikeparts.com www.tecbikeparts.com

Here's my install thread..

Himalayan 20% (proven) performance increase for less the £200

Yes it's true apparently. A better cam (made in England) for the Himmy which gives 20% across the range. Search the internet, very positive reviews Currently on back order, but I am defo ordering one, along with the free flowing air filter...
www.accessnorton.com www.accessnorton.com
 
Thanks Guys :) will do hoping to do some trips on it in short order.

Was actually just looking at the two different seat concepts ones cliffa bit tall an what's your inseam if you don't mind me asking.

Hopefully should have it next Sunday can't wait :)
 
norton_rider said:
Thanks Guys :) will do hoping to do some trips on it in short order.

Was actually just looking at the two different seat concepts ones cliffa bit tall an what's your inseam if you don't mind me asking.

Hopefully should have it next Sunday can't wait :)
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My inside leg measures 33" and I'm 6'1"



I have the RE panniers so it's very tall when leaned over on the sidestand, so trying to swing my leg over the bike is pretty difficult, especially if it's parked across a slope ( which is common here), and the tall seat makes it even worse. I didn't actually find it overly comfortable either as it still had a slight forward slope, causing pressure on my man bits, so I took the cover back off and trimmed about an inch from the bottom rear of the foam and put it back together. It's much better now. My advice is to see how you get on with the standard seat and then go from there. Looking forward to seeing some pics and getting your feedback. Is it a new one?
 
Thanks mate yep I've got the RE Panniers coming to as at first most of the trips will be hotel stops very similar height so that's a good point I might pop down to CooperB and see if they have both that I can sit on.

I'll give the standard one a whirl for a bit :) yep it's a new E5 in Lake blue so gotta run it in etc before I can get a full judge of it but I'll do a full thread when it arrives and videos as hopefully if it works out dad might be getting one or a Scram then we can both look at doing the Iceland / Norway trip we really want to do.
 
I gotta ask, regarding doing an Iceland / Norway trip, haven’t you just got rid of the perfect bike for that kind of thing?

Why swap a GS for a RE for such an adventure?

I’m not criticising, just interested.
 
Hi Eddie it's a very fair question :) and one I deliberated over there's two adv guys who's videos are worth a watch which echo my own thoughts after having 3 gs's Nathan Milward who did Iceland on a 1200gs an rtwpaul who did it on a very lightweight ktm which is basically a race bike that he converted for adv riding.

Nathan said he would never do it Iceland on a GS again due to the weight, he's got some videos on YouTube about it that he did through lock down and rtwpaul said when he was over there he was the only light bike everyone else was on big bore adv's and when he saw everyone on the ferry back they all said that he had chose the right bike and they hadn't. If it was just Norway You could do that on anything but some of the routes I want to do in Iceland require something a bit more manageable.

The other flip side is the weight of the GS was causing me issues again with my shoulder, I'm perfectly OK with something around 200kg but anything near 250 then luggage is just pushing it now for me, only ended up doing 300 miles on the GS in 8 weeks an ended up out on the Nortons all the time.

Few other things as well the cost off parts is considerably different the headlight or a tft + wiring is nearly the cost of a complete engine for the Himalayan, same goes for the ESA shocks which are another pricey bit. Where as the Himalayan is so basic after the first service an if everything works out in the first 3,000 mile period I'll service it myself. The cost off servicing on the beemers isn't cheap an if you don't have the Approved used warranty it crashes the price used so decided to let mine go while it's still got it all remaining.

Carnet costs is another thing to for when I go to other countries outside the EU which is a huge crazy amount on the Gs.

It's also interesting alot of the trips are done on smaller cc stuff, apart from a few who do it with big bikes.

+ a load off other bits I'll cover in the video next week getting close now should have it on Sunday :)

The other bikes I fancied were the 300l or 300 Rally Honda, or a dr650 Suzuki but unfortunately we don't get the DR any more.

Then it comes down to experience on the individual bike to what moves the soul the most so to speak.
 
That makes perfect sense to me !

The GS is awesome, but the weight has always put me off (so far).

Did you consider things like the new Aprillia 660 ADV? I’ve not ridden one but was staggered at how light one felt when I sat on one recently.

I had a CCM GP 450 a while back. It was a clever bike and the dogs bollox on paper. But it had an awful engine, basically a race engine, no good at all for what I wanted. Such a shame really cos otherwise it was pretty much perfect. And British !
 
I've actually still got my first bike which was an Aprillia nightmare getting parts if they arnt in stock in the UK took 3 months to get when I needed them that's in my Bedroom next to the bed lol. Its going to be interesting, we nearly had the right bikes in the ktm 390 advs but both got rejected at 147 and 269 miles with so many issues it was a joke mainly with the displays on them which ktm have no fix for.

It did prove to dad and I that 200kg single cylinder seemed the way to go for us, then on the flip side as well having tons of power for the off road stuff or gravel roads is OK but it's nice to have something manageable.

With the gs I found I wanted to wind it on all the time and I couldn't with it being so fast. So hopefully with the low power Himalayan I can feel like I'm the one making the difference in the riding if that makes sense similar to our Nortons.

For context this is the 29th bike.
Modern adv wise I've had r1200gsa te 2014, vstrom 1000xt, f800gs, modern Bonnie, vstrom 650xt (so far best) ktm 390 adv *rejected* 1200gs te Rallye an now the Himalayan.

Itl be interesting if the Himalayan doesn't work out I've got a few ideas I'd probably build something based on a Dr650 Suzuki or a Crf or Wr Yam.

Something tells me though that the Himalayan will tick the boxes though but time will tell already ordering bits for it haha, the new 450 looks interesting but the amount of tech that's supposedly coming on it worries me if the ktms are anything to go by :)
 
norton_rider said:
I've actually still got my first bike which was an Aprillia nightmare getting parts if they arnt in stock in the UK took 3 months to get when I needed them that's in my Bedroom next to the bed lol. Its going to be interesting, we nearly had the right bikes in the ktm 390 advs but both got rejected at 147 and 269 miles with so many issues it was a joke mainly with the displays on them which ktm have no fix for.

It did prove to dad and I that 200kg single cylinder seemed the way to go for us, then on the flip side as well having tons of power for the off road stuff or gravel roads is OK but it's nice to have something manageable.

With the gs I found I wanted to wind it on all the time and I couldn't with it being so fast. So hopefully with the low power Himalayan I can feel like I'm the one making the difference in the riding if that makes sense similar to our Nortons.

For context this is the 29th bike.
Modern adv wise I've had r1200gsa te 2014, vstrom 1000xt, f800gs, modern Bonnie, vstrom 650xt (so far best) ktm 390 adv *rejected* 1200gs te Rallye an now the Himalayan.

Itl be interesting if the Himalayan doesn't work out I've got a few ideas I'd probably build something based on a Dr650 Suzuki or a Crf or Wr Yam.

Something tells me though that the Himalayan will tick the boxes though but time will tell already ordering bits for it haha, the new 450 looks interesting but the amount of tech that's supposedly coming on it worries me if the ktms are anything to go by :)
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An "apprillia nightmare" never heard of that model!???
Sounds cool though 🙂 👍 😉
 
norton_rider said:
Just the original :) passed my test then I stuck it next to my bed 12+ years ago lol
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Probably best place for it out of salty weather
My mates son has moved on to an mto7 but he's keeping the apprillia
I repaired a few bits on it for him
IE engine cradle and the bottom of a fork leg
It's eaten several starter motors! 😅
 
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