What have you done to your Himalayan today (or yesterday, or this week ...)

[JimboDevon]

I hadn't realised quite how much stuff could hide in my blind spot until I did a couple of hundred motorway miles last week.
Fitted a pair of Hitchcocks mirror extenders this morning and visibility is massively improved, the difference is like night and day. I very much recommend this mod if you see a lot of elbow and arm in your mirrors and not much else!

 

[Laserman]

Did a few things to "Toto" this week. I got a good deal on a bike cover and it arrived on Tuesday. Upon fitting it to my bike I noticed I had a broken support tab on my left rear side rack. We have ace welders at my work, so I removed the support brace and unbolted the broken tab from it. Unbolted the rack, stripped the area around the break, and a co-worker welded the tab back on. I rattlecanned the weld with some gloss black and bolted it all back together after the paint dried.



The next day my left-side Grip Puppy finally gave up the ghost and tore off, so I decided to lace up some dark brown leather grip covers to match my SaharaSeats-covered saddle. The grips are still a little thin for my large hands, but these feel nice.



Yesterday I decided to install some "road pegs" I had lying around. I bought these for a long-done project awhile back and they had been sitting in a box until I rediscovered them recently. I figured I could mount them on my crash bar, but I had to shim the clamp so they would tighten up. These pegs have the option to fold up and rotate in almost any direction, but I mounted them in a fixed fashion.



Feels like I'm sitting on a quite-agile easy chair with my boots on these, but my knees do hit the boxes lol

 

[BruceH]

Did my first oil change.

On Two Wheels Ben's youtube video said it needed a 22mm socket. My 22mm 12 point was sloppy so checked an found that a 12pt 21mm fit more snugly, then for the heck of it found out that a 6pt 13/16" fit even better???

Oh well, at least its done, does sound just a touch quieter to boot so that's a good thing :^)

 

[Bikeguy]

Added a din socket to the left hand panel for easier charging.

 

[Yangonnerd]

Love these posts!
Thanks all for sharing!
Had my friends bike here for a while, same 2020 himi as I do, different color and 500km.
His FUEL GAUGE never worked. (We have our bikes imported from India to here). Checked under the fueltank and it looked like pic 1.
No idea what causes that.
Fixed it to pic 2 and all worked fine.

Secondly had my first flat tyre on my bike...sucked..had to walk for 2 hours in the pouring rain...(remember I live in the nowhere hills in Myanmar).

A bike shop helped me, but then dropped my bike...not great... eventually wheel replaced.
Drove a bit, everything rattled like crazy, thought the drop broke my bike...turned out after inspection, that he inflated the front tyre to 45psi...(20 recommended).... Lesson learned, do things yourself if you live here.
But look how interesting my tyre broke....

 

[MikeM]

turned out after inspection, that he inflated the front tyre to 45psi...(20 recommended).... Lesson learned, do things yourself if you live here.
But look how interesting my tyre broke....

Yeah overinflated tires make it rough. I think the front should be 27ish? 29 works perfect in mine. People here have started using rubber push on stem retainers. See my KLX photo.

 

[Yangonnerd]

Yeah overinflated tires make it rough. I think the front should be 27ish? 29 works perfect in mine. People here have started using rubber push on stem retainers. See my KLX photo.

What do those things do?

 

[MikeM]

What do those things do?

They replace the nut on the stem. People no longer tighten the nut either assuming they still run nuts on the stem. Helps avoid ripping the stem out of the tube.

 

[dabs]

They replace the nut on the stem. People no longer tighten the nut either assuming they still run nuts on the stem. Helps avoid ripping the stem out of the tube.

Are these a push on fit or threaded please and also do you retain the nut on the inside of the rim ? I dont know but suspect this is suitable for off road use when tyres may be deflated, worth consideration for road use, check my tyres and pressure each time i'm off out. Thanks.

 

[Laserman]

Been on vacation for 5 days, missed my Himalayan a lot! Before I went on vacation I noticed my front CEAT tire had developed ugly cracks on both sides of the tire between the 1st and 2nd tread blocks closest to sidewall. Also had been wearing funny for the last month, the tread blocks left of center were wearing on the trailing edge and not on the leading. This usually tells me something is wrong with the alignment, but I could find no fault. My CEAT tire is dated 39th week of 2021 so it's barely a year old! Shouldn't crack like that but the tire has always been quite dry since I bought the bike.



I had ordered a Shinko 705 for the front and it was waiting for me when I got back home yesterday. I decided to mount the tire myself early this morning, and after 2 hours of cussing, fiddling with tire spoons, and spraying soapy water everywhere I got it done. What a difference, the bike handles great! I should have replaced that front CEAT tire when I replaced the rear a few months ago :\



Edit: mileage is currently 10,600. The CEAT tire performed decent for at least 8K of those miles

 

[Haz Koenig]

I was going to wash my bike today but I decided that was too much work. Fitted mirror extensions instead.



RobC

Nice to see I'm not the only one that sticks out their tongue out when taking photos

 

[Yangonnerd]

I had a short holiday after years of being able to leave Myanmar, went to Thailand...Thailand has a RE factory...Thailand has official RE shops....Thailand is awesome. Bought some engine guards for about 1200THB ($35). Installed my lights on those since i had them on my handlebars before, which made it harder to see road bumps etc because of the angle the light would shine on them (nearly same as my eye height).
Ordered a headlight protector from China ($8) which was more for aestethics than anything else.

In the meantime, my ''dash display'' backlight has stopped working, will take the assembly apart to clean some connectors.

Am on 4800km's now, loving it very much. 5k oil change soon.

have a good day peeps.

 

[Yangonnerd]

Been on vacation for 5 days, missed my Himalayan a lot! Before I went on vacation I noticed my front CEAT tire had developed ugly cracks on both sides of the tire between the 1st and 2nd tread blocks closest to sidewall. Also had been wearing funny for the last month, the tread blocks left of center were wearing on the trailing edge and not on the leading. This usually tells me something is wrong with the alignment, but I could find no fault. My CEAT tire is dated 39th week of 2021 so it's barely a year old! Shouldn't crack like that but the tire has always been quite dry since I bought the bike.

View attachment 7820

I had ordered a Shinko 705 for the front and it was waiting for me when I got back home yesterday. I decided to mount the tire myself early this morning, and after 2 hours of cussing, fiddling with tire spoons, and spraying soapy water everywhere I got it done. What a difference, the bike handles great! I should have replaced that front CEAT tire when I replaced the rear a few months ago :\

View attachment 7812

Edit: mileage is currently 10,600. The CEAT tire performed decent for at least 8K of those miles

Goodness me! That front mudguard extention!! Me wants! where did you order it? (sorry if you mentioned where and i missed it)

 

[Andyb]

Talking of mudguard extensions….I used a piece of black 2mm abs that I heated up and bent to (roughly!) the right shape and bolted to the front of the front mudguard. Makes a massive difference - no more mud in my eyes and the front of the fuel tank stays clean.
And a DIY screen made out of clear polycarbonate sanded over. It sits below the instruments so if I ever go over the front of the bike I will not hit it. The original one gave me a lot of wind noise and I could imagine hitting the top edge with my head one day.
Andyb

 

[Laserman]

Goodness me! That front mudguard extention!! Me wants! where did you order it? (sorry if you mentioned where and i missed it)

Pyramid Plastics in the UK makes some fender bits for the Himalayan: 2 different types of rear wheel "huggers" and 2 additive extensions for the front fender. I have both the "beak" and "mudguard" extension on my front fender. I purchased them from Hitchcock's:

411 Himalayan

accessories.hitchcocksmotorcycles.com

I've also slightly extended my fender's width by installing heavy-duty edge guard all the way around the fender. This also cleans up the edges a bit.

 

[davidteachey]

View attachment 7402

New Baak silencer to make some room!

Himalayan BAAK Install

My other Himalayan is also a Jeep! '95 Wrangler - had it for 14yrs now. I love your Himmie's add-ons. I desperately need the mirror extensions like yours has. I'm not real tall. but my torso is, so the stock ones are too short for me.

 

[Bulldogfour]

Fitted a Booster Plug (ex Hitchcocks). Frustrating but patience wins the day. Just need to wait for rain and damp to stop before trying it out.

 

[Caspice]

After my last ride which included a long stretch of interstate highway I am tired of not being able to see beyond my arms and shoulders while riding the Himalayan.

I am not the biggest guy, yet with a chest measuring 52”, a shoulder width nearing the 2 foot mark, and a 33” sleeve length, I have some minor difficulty seeing behind myself due to short stalk of the stock mirrors. Most of my other bikes had bar-end mirrors which solved the issue but that style does not make a lot sense on the Himalayan (at least not to me).

Ordered a set of knock-off Double Take Adv style mirrors. Did not even bother installing after taking them out of the box. Just holding them up to the stock mirrors showed they were not a great improvement over the view provided by the stock set. Glad it costs me nothing to ship them back.

Not finding a lot of affordable options I decided to modify the stems on the stock set.

stock mirror


clamped in a bench vise


Applied ample downward force



After some gentle persuasion with a drilling hammer and a coat of plastidip



The mirror spread now measures 36” end-to-end.


I now have a mirror field of view that clears my arms increasing the ability to see what is coming up behind me in adjacent traffic lanes.

 

[Roy Gavin]

Mirror mod looks good, and saves $A 277- compared with double take's Oz price!
I have $17- Ali Express CE marked mirrors on 50mm extenders, gets half the mirror head out past the end of the grip which seems essential.
Did the 60,000 km service, tappets still rattling away happily so didn't touch them.
They went 40,000 km before they needed adjustments last time- Motul 7100 and keeping revs below 5000 helps a little here!
Rear spring on YSS shock seems to be sagging, or I am getting weaker as it seems increasingly harder to get it up on the stand.
Lost 20 lbs when had false teeth fitted and had to live on gruel for three months, probably makes a difference too!
Second set fork boots falling apart , while the OEM ones on my BMW are fine after thirty years/ 300,000 km!

 

[Caspice]

A$277 is about US$188. The DT Adv in the USA goes for $145. Either way, that is a significant cost that is better put to use paying for fuel.
My only expense other than a little time was a new can of Plastidip, which I needed anyway for other projects.

My modded mirrors provide a stable view at reasonable speeds. Went for a 185 km/115 miles ride in the rain today (New Years Eve) and the biggest issue was foggy mirrors when the temps dropped below 50 °F/10 °C.

On second thought - the biggest issue is my aging riding gear that gives up after an hour of steady rain and results in wet crotch syndrome.


Happy New Year everyone - my sincerest hope that we all have a safe, joyful, and fulfilling 2023.