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Hello from south west UK

tom_himalayan

Getting there...
Location
London
Good morning and welcome from south west UK!
I took receipt of a RE Himalayan BS6 last July. Last year was busy for me so still only 100 miles on her at the moment. I will get the 300 miles service interval on her in early spring and then after first service planning some touring & camping trips to the hills of Wales and up to Scotland.

Spent the last few weekends on her fitting an electrics relay and heated grips & applying ACF50.

Whilst I am saying hi would love any guidance or tips on the following if you have experience:
- Recommendations on spotlights / aux lights for the Himalayan BS6
- Any concerns using ACF50 on the Himalayan (apart from the obvious keep disks & tyres protected)
- Recommendations on areas & routes in wales for some motorbike touring & camping

Very much looking forward to meeting you all and being an active member on the forum!20210710_192305.jpg
 

Morgan60

Well travelled
Location
USA
Hello Tom, welcome to this forum from across the pond. Seven months and only 100 miles, you need more seat time my friend. This bike is also brilliant for small trips around town. Leave you car or larger bike at home and take the Himmy. Try it you’ll like it.😁
 

Andy131

Well travelled
Location
Manchester UK
Welcome.
I would take Morgans advice, for a couple of reasons, firstly the Himmy really does like to be run in properly, and you don't want to be doing that on a long trip, secondly the alternator regulator is pants, works well enough but when standing it oh so slowly drains the battery, so taking her out even for a short run every week or so will do you both some good.
 

tom_himalayan

Getting there...
Location
London
Hello Tom, welcome to this forum from across the pond. Seven months and only 100 miles, you need more seat time my friend. This bike is also brilliant for small trips around town. Leave you car or larger bike at home and take the Himmy. Try it you’ll like it.😁
Hi @Morgan60 and thank you for your message! Great to be part of the group.

I should add some extra info here. The bike is kept at my parents near Bristol. In the week I live & work in London and drive a Honda CBF125 to and from work every day. No congestion zone charges and 140MPG - it's fantastic!!
I am definitely planning to get out on the Himmy more soon. Last year was a bit of a write-off for various personal reasons but ready to attack 2022!
 
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tom_himalayan

Getting there...
Location
London
Welcome.
I would take Morgans advice, for a couple of reasons, firstly the Himmy really does like to be run in properly, and you don't want to be doing that on a long trip, secondly the alternator regulator is pants, works well enough but when standing it oh so slowly drains the battery, so taking her out even for a short run every week or so will do you both some good.
Hi @Andy131 and thanks for your message.
I have found out the alternator regulator is pants the hard way - returning to a fairly flat battery (11.5V) after 6 weeks left in the shed.
Now hooked up on a battery tender and hoping that I didn't do too much damage to the battery with it being flat for a few weeks. Do you think down to 11.5V will have done much damage?
On this note I looked to get a battery isolator. Ordered this from Amazon but struggling to squeeze it in on the -ve post as its all quite compact under the seat. Do people fit a shut-off switch and how do they do it?
item I ordered but strugling to fit: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07F75FGJM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1

On the topic of running in I am keen to get your thoughts. Seems there are a few schools of thought:
- Manual: nothing above 3k RMP (I think it was 3k from memory)
- Dealer who sold me the bike: "don't red-line it"
- A mechanic mate: If you want to maximise power output for later life then thrash her early during the running in period!

Interested in your thoughts on the above and what you would recommend??

Regards,
Tom.
 

Andy131

Well travelled
Location
Manchester UK
As it's the F1 fuse that supplies the rectifier, have you thought about putting the isolator either where the fuse is or in that line?
Pulling F1 is a temporary quick fix, my drain is 7.3mA so a week in the garage isn't going to leave me stranded, but any longer and I would pull the fuse.
I was very gentle at first running in and tried to keep below 3k - tried, but failed, certainly never got near the red line, but certainly briefly around 4.5k.
Went to the Bike Show in Birmingham and had a chat with one of the RE guys there, his opinion was to labour was worse than to rev, and constant throttle settings were really bad. So after that (400 mile mark) I avoided labouring, kept below 6k and avoided stretches of dual carriageway longer than a couple of miles, so that the throttle was never set at the same spot for longer than a couple of minutes..
At this point (600 miles) she is really happy at 55mph, and comfortable at 65mph, so that's were I vary the speed between. Not going to push it until I have passed the 1k mark, but she is obviously willing to go faster.

Back in the day (70s) I served my time at Gardner Diesels who made engines for trucks and boats, they were of the opinion that truck drivers (and boat owners) were never going to treat an engine gently as they had to earn a living, so EVERY engine was run up on a dyno for 2-7days depending on the engine type. They were run up gently to medium revs and gradually loaded up to maximum, while varying the speed, with a long run towards the end at maximum revs. So first oil and filter change were done at the factory. The engines were expected to come back for a refurbishment at a million miles, many made it a lot longer before they were seen again. Gardners no longer exists as their engines were expensive and the reliability meant that spares wasn't a big enough revenue stream.
 

tom_himalayan

Getting there...
Location
London
@Andy131
Good shout on the F1 fuse. That would be my quick fix for when I am taking the bike away from home and leaving it laid up for more than a few days I guess.
At home I am on the battery tender so no issues there.

My grandfather was a diesel mechanic and used to talk very fondly of the Gardner engines - as you say they did themselves out of a spares business by being too good!
 

Dreamer

Well travelled
Location
Isle of Man
Hi Tom, welcome from another recently joined newbie. I've not braved the Scottish rain yet on my Interceptor, but we had a great (dry) trip to Wales at the end of September on our bikes
 
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tom_himalayan

Getting there...
Location
London
@Dreamer
Wales sounds great! Which routes did you take? Any recommendations very welcome!
I need to do some trawling on the various threads as I am hoping there are a group of like-minded people keen to share moto-camping experiences...
 
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