Good morning everyone, The Himalayan got collected yesterday for a full refund under the consumer goods act stuff and hats off to the dealer from me speaking to them them apologising and agreeing within one week the Himmy was collected and I was paid same day so I was able to pick the Crf300 Rally up this weekend after getting lucky finding a canceled order.

About 6 hours driving to do now in the Rental Van to get her home. After what happened with the Himalayan's and the ktm 390s pdi or better to say lack of pdi I decided to van this one so I can go through it myself before jumping on and riding.

This is my 2nd Honda as I currently own a
CBR1000RR Fireblade which I've owned since new in 2010 back when superbikes were actually reasonable to buy.

Adventure bike wise I've had so far a
R1200gsa te, vstrom 1000xt, f800gs, suzuki vstrom 650xt (so darn good) ktm390 adv x2 one for me an one for dad both rejected with issues for a refund. Then a r1200gs te Rallye which was just to heavy for my shoulder, an finally the Himalayan which was rejected with issues for a full refund documented in previous posts if you are curious about that.

Really looking forward to seeing what life on the Honda has to offer plan is to ride her to 600 miles then can assess if she suits me or not before I go putting bits on. Which will be rally raid suspension at level 1 first and a seat concepts seat.

Plan is later on in the year to look at getting a Yamaha T7 to sit alongside it so dad and I can compare then we can decide whether to stick with the light is right approach or take heavier middleweight bikes on our trip for my shoulder though i can already tell moving the CRF300 Rally about and loading it it's so much easier like a Yamaha rd350lc


Thanks to everyone for the help and advice over the past few weeks.



So the Honda Motorcycles CRF 300 Rally.

First impressions, just so so light unbelievably light compared to the Himalayan an similar middleweight 200kg+ bikes or the heavyweight like my GS that I had. The engine is really good surprisingly punchy revvy and smooth it took me a few miles to get back into riding a short stroke engine after the longer stroke of the Himalayan then quickly my old two stroke riding style came back even though its a 4 stroke single the engine has a similar fun feel and you can really carry corner speed to much more than the Himalayan.

Very much looking forward to being able to really wind it on after run in, it was also such a difference just being able to hop on the motorway an it surprised me just how smooth it is at 60-70 could sit on that all day long. Just the slightest tingle in the bars but the grips are hard and thin.

It might not have the same emotional memory connection as the Long stroke but from a riding bike point of view I actually prefer it as I was riding quite a nice pace without feeling strained engine wise.


Now let's talk about the two elephants in the room the suspension honda motorcycles honestly what were you thinking ������ you can really feel the potential in the bike, yep its great being able to flat foot and personally I would have preferred less travel on the spec sheet and more usable properly damped suspension motorcycleadventuredirtbiketv called it right with the oinga boinga test haha! Nasa don't need rockets any more could just buy one of these to launch into space of the seat lol.

Oh an the seat ouch deffo needs a seatconcepts just gotta decide between comfort or comfort xl.

Next step is to sell a few things and buy the Rally raid level 1 suspension then I can look at a lightweight luggage and camping setup its all looking positive so far an I really can't get over how light it is.

First impressions though happy its a very different bike to the Himalayan an it's bringing out my older riding style in me from someone who used to do 2k Miles in a week on a 1984 rd250lc can see it's a bike I'm going to grow into riding.

Speaking of which has anyone used the Kodama protection rather than the upper crash bars from an ultra light point of view.




Here's the video from yesterday talking about the issues with the Himalayan and our thoughts the riding clip will be coming probably around Wednesday

https://youtu.be/12vh5n6gZD4

Hopefully if it all works out I'll be going to Norway Iceland and Morocco with dad both on 300 Rallys.

You removed your previous thread (although as a mod I can still read it) but I couldn't find the reason you returned the Himmy.

It would be useful to other HUBB readers for your previous thread to be reinstated so that others can learn from it.

__________________
"For sheer delight there is nothing like altitude; it gives one the thrill of adventure
and enlarges the world in which you live," Irving Mather (1892-1966)

double post

Hi Tim that's a very good point of course I'll post about it I'd prefer for the thread to remain deleted though I just had to get the rejection done from my point of view an I pulled it down as my opinion very quickly changed once things started going wrong, now that's all said and done with the Himalayan I can post up about what happened

I pulled it down as I couldn't stand by my initial opinion of the bike and didn't want that to influence anyone who might have just read it in part I also removed my youtube vids for the same reason as a few reached out saying they had bought the vstrom 650xt off the back of my vids when I had one and agreed with the assessment of it as a road based overland bike

I can also comment on the 390 adventure as well as we had x2 of those which got rejected due to issues again with the electronics at 147 and 269 miles which was the first time I'd ever had to do that which was very stressful on the Himalayan the dealer was much more professional understanding and apologised for the issues and within one week of me speaking to them i had a full refund, it's interesting to note that your contract when you buy the bike is with the dealer not the manufacturer.

I just couldn't believe I had to go through it a second time round.

Bike wise I've had the following bikes over the years



Had quite a few problems with the Himalayan covered it more in detail on the video as there's quite a bit of back and forth with my dad about what happened and his views on it all as it transpired as he's trying to decide what to get himself, and also on the ktms.


Let's start with the Himalayan. After the KTM Rejections I got an R1200GS TE but was struggling with the weight of it due to a shoulder injury I now struggle with so I was gutted when I had to trade that in for a lighter bike and based on online reviews I got the Himalayan aiming to just swap out the relays which I did the day I got it along with better bars and a seat as the original seat was no good.

The swingarm was seized from the factory which wasn't sorted at PDI, miss aligned front yokes, Miss aligned headlight (this was missed at the first service at a different dealer headlight was next to useless on the night time ride back) brake light switch was mentioned but parts availability is very hard to get with them, brake switch failed then I fitted a new genuine brake switch after some hunting to find one at a dealer that failed within 30 mins and nearly lead me to getting rear ended on an emergency stop so I drew the line at that and pushed for rejection which the dealer accepted within two days and agreed with and apologised for what happened.

They arnt a cheap bike any more at £5,050 (the Honda cost me 6,450 so not much of a jump any more) so decided to jump ship while I was able with all this happening some issues before and some post service Inc bits missed at pdi and first service that I rectified.

I drew the line with it once it started to risk a safety issue as from a personal point of view I started to question what else might have been skimped on within the bike when I posted asking about the rally on my instagram which is still up post wise one person replied saying that there gearbox had let go at 1200 miles. It's a shame as I really enjoyed riding it but it seems Enfield are ignoring issues like the poor relays that should be fixed from the get go.

Thats the Himalayan pretty much covered.

Before that we had two Ktm 390 Adventures which had quite a few major issues dad sold his gsxr 750 2009 which he had owned since new to go to Iceland with my initially we planned on taking the 390s as they seemed according to the reviews to offer the right mix of what we needed. The biggest problem was finding one to buy let alone test ride at the time.

Both 390s had issues with excessive condensation in the displays where it was beading down the entire display in mine and on a very cold day on the cat and fiddle I couldn't read it, dads had a stalling issue when changing down, his arrived with bad tyre valves which were going flat in 4 hours bikes had been pdi'd 3 days before. His had Corrosion on sections of the frame under the finish, on it from new, mine had a broken side panel, mine ran much rougher than dad's engine wise so we rejected them at 147 and 269 miles as ktm had no fix for the displays some people are on 3+ displays which are £800+ a pop. Dads bike wouldn't restart after a stall for a few mins an on one ride he was stranded in the outside lane of a dual carriageway with no hazard warning lights as ktm don't fit them and nearly got hit by a van so we sent them back for a full refund. Was a shame as they were quick bikes to ride.
The displays also are not covered by the warranty in the UK and that's mentioned in the warranty book.

Coming from the world of Japanese bikes it surprised me tbh as anyone knows I was absolutley in love with my vstrom 650xt but with the shoulder wanted to try something lighter especially after listening and watching Austin Vinces stuff

I was unsure whether to post about the issues as I got a fair bit of backlash and sarcasm on some of the facebook groups when I mentioned the issues I was having.

For me my motorcycles are my main form of transport and I don't have a car for the past 4 years I've used a Norton 650ss as a daily and through all the winters when I got the Himmy I took her off the road for a decoke so had to sort something fast when the Himmy started going wrong got insanely lucky finding the Rally as it was a cancelled order that got listed just as I got off the phone with the Enfield dealer.

Obviously I know everyone else's experiences could completely differ but I think it's important to cover some off the issues that they seem to be ignoring on them. They also wont sell you a service manual for the Enfields, I've got the up to date one on the way for the Honda from the US as they still print them out there.

Hopefully this will help anyone who's considering one of the three bikes I've bought I can't comment on the 310gs Chris Scott has some good posts up about that online though.

If anyone want's to know anything else ask away and I'll try and cover it hopefully this gives a bit of info on what can go wrong with the Indian built options. I believe the crf is made out in Thailand now so that should be interesting my t100c was made out there though an that was nice

Great lighter-weight travel bike there Steele - I'm sure you're going to have a lot of fun on it!

fwiw. I wouldn't bother with a climbing-frame of 'crash bar' tubes on that bike - they are not especially vulnerable unless you're a real clutz - I'd fit some strong back-bone hand-guards (Barkbusters are good, with their Storm shields for travelling), and perhaps consider replacing the OEM handlebars with a set of Fat-bars - either Renthal RC bend (#604), or some ProTapers to your preference*.

*note the Renthal RC (Ricky Carmichael) bend profile has more space for the grips/switchgear/levers than ProTaper's CR bend.

I'd also consider fitting some kind of strong (metal) skid plate instead of the plastic OEM panels if you're planing on riding in rocky terrain (Morocco etc) - some people simply chop the lower plastic fairing panels off the Rally model and fit an L skid plate, or there are metal 'over' plates for the Rally, but they do cost a lot more and reduce ground clearance further.

Finally, as you surmise - if you're planning on carrying any amount of luggage on these bikes, then the stock rear shock really does need replacing with something better/more stiffly sprung and with better [adjustable] damping too - and similarly once you've done the rear end, it will highlight how little damping there is in the front end too.

You mention you're considering the Rally-Raid LEVEL 1 set up, and I can wholeheartedly recommend that of course (I have it fitted to two of my own CRF300s) - not least as you surmise, there really isn't the need to have quite so much overall travel/high seat height if you're mainly all-terrain touring on this bike, but adjustable damping and preload are the two things which you will certainly appreciate, and in that regard I'd consider including their remote hydraulic preload adjuster on the rear shock too - it will pay dividends if you regularly swap between loaded and solo on these lighter weight bikes.

Looking forward to hearing where you take this new bike!

Jenny x

ps. if you want a little more info. about fitting the RR suspension, plus some other suggestions regarding parts and accessories which do work well on these bikes, I have a thread over on ADVrider*: Preppa-Pig[let] - where I catalogued my two builds, together with some ride reports from last spring and summer (2022) proving just how versatile and capable these 300s are. (*I trust Grant will let a link to another forum slide in this instance, not least as all this content makes up many of my HU presentations of course ;o)

Hi Jenny hope you are keeping well,

Thanks for taking the time to reply great help as was your reply to your build thread on the other adv site I wholeheartedly agree with what you said about your friend preferring the Honda 300 to the himmy, it took me a few miles to get my head back into gear but even though i'm running it in an not using all the revs the difference is marked between the two off them even jumped on the motorway and it was nice which is a relief as quite a bit of my riding involves that as I'm trying to decide whether to move to Scotland or to Devon

I'll make sure not to fit crash bars Jenny and just stick with the bark busters I'm gonna buy the fitments to convert my Himmy barkbusters to the Rally an the next thing I'm thinking off is a set of bars just gotta decide between the Renthalls or the Pro Taper as you say.

Do you know Jenny with the level 1 if the seat height remains the same as it's current static sag or is it -40mm as though the rider is sat on it and it stays at that height?

I'll make sure to get it with the Hydraulic preload adjuster, just fitted the Rally Raid Nav mount for my Zumo XT just looks so good I'm a geek for engineering stuff always appreciate a well made part.

I'll have a look into some skid plates, I wouldn't mind getting something that doesn't mean me cutting the fairings quite liked the b&b one in the Adventure dirt bike TV videos.

Always happy to help!

Regarding the LEVEL 1 (vs. their LEVEL 2) option - again, I trust this info will also prove useful for anyone else reading too who might have similar considerations/questions... The LEVEL 1 suspension is 40mm shorter travel than the OEM specification (210mm travel vs 250mm travel), however, because the OEM shock (and forks) are so softly sprung, the standard bike typically sags at least two inches the moment you pull it off the side stand and sit on it - and remains soft for the remainder of the travel. Once you've got a more suitable spring rate fitted with the RR shock, it doesn't waste that first two inches of travel, so the seat height is pretty much the same as the standard bike is when you sit on it, just with more support for the remaining travel.

Put simply, if you like the seat height the way it is when you're sitting on the bike with the stock shock, fit the LEVEL 1 and it will be essentially the same, just better sprung (and a bit easier to get on and off too, since the seat doesn't spring up when the bike is on the side stand).

Conversely, their LEVEL 2 (250mm) suspension essentially raises the seat by 30-40mm compared to the stock bike, since that initial travel isn't wasted the moment you take it off the side-stand.

I trust that makes sense?!

As for skid plates - its a tough call, although I can appreciate you might not want to cut any of the plastics of a brand new bike of course... That said, if this bike is going to be a travel tool - you could consider removing your original fairing side panels and the lower 'belly' bodywork panels, and just buy a second set of fairing side panels to cut/fit in conjunction with any number of metal skid plates for the L model?

fwiw. A number of people who have cut/removed the lower fairing portion say they prefer the air-flow and additional cooling for the engine (particularly if you're travelling in hotter climates), and less vulnerability of what are essentially cosmetic panels to replicate the factory rally-bike lower fuel tanks.

Something to consider I trust?

Let me know here or over there if there is anything else I can help you with!

Jenny x

Hi Jenny thank you again for such a great reply massive help and it's got my head round the suspension now. I'll go for the level 1 as it should help dad have a few goes as well so he can decide if he's following suite he's really enjoyed Austin Vince's stuff and his thought's on one of the podcast as did I about lighter bikes an I feel like it's such a huge difference in weight from the Himmy to the CRF300 Rally just so noticeable. The performance difference surprised me to considering I'm still running it in the engine is so peppy and wants to go already just feels like you don't have to force it at all an I'm only using half the revs at the moment.

One thing I did notice is the 5k rattle thing everyone goes on about from the clutch but coming from Norton's I'm used to rattly engines lol a tappy Norton is a happy Norton as they say.

That's a good point about the fairings Jenny they do look good cut as you say for the hotter countries that could be a good idea certainly something to consider x

Thought's on the CRF in the Smileys =

Its a great little bike !
done 8000 miles on my bike .... top tips..........
1 change oil every 2000 miles
2 use high octane petrol
3 fit an after market exhaust ( i used a leo vince )
4 keep the chain very well oiled !!
5 all these little things make it a lot more "peppy "
K

Thanks for the tips yep I always see oil like a tank of fresh petrol something I've done often on the Nortons an it's kept them really reliable, the life blood of an engine Reay

First ride on the Honda CRF 300 Rally really interesting riding it on my usual test route.


I got out on the Rally yesterday its given me quite a content feeling I'd say not overly giddy or excited like some bikes I've ridden (gsxrs and vstrom 650xt etc) or stirring emotions like the Himalayan did with it making me think to my Nortons.


Much more refined than the Himalayan though in many ways and I was going round the roads at a much quicker pace both cornering and on straights than the himmy which was nice for when on faster roads.


It's got such a nice package though good chassis(apart from the awful suspension) good level of comfort (apart from the seat) so same things the Himalayan needed sorting.


It gives that real content feeling that Hondas always seem go have like my fireblade which is good an why I've still got that nearly 13 years on.


Weirdly the best comparison that kept popping into my head was an rd250lc, very responsive to the slightest touch and just so so easy to push around.


A good chassis you can feel the potential in and the engine is very smooth even at motorway speeds.* which made a change from the Himmy just being able to jump on an do that while not using all the revs in 6th.


I'm obviously taking it easy with the engine not overly revving it an no full throttle but it feels like it's a fun bike to ride when you grab the horns so to speak, bit like an elsie which is what it put me in mind off, as they are around the same weight.


So easy pushing it around thats for sure.*


First job will be the much needed rear shock and a seat doesn't really need much more, forks eventually when funds allow.


Dads absolutely obsessed with how light the clutch is so up to now it looks like we could just be ending up with two 300 rallys dependant on how the run in period goes over the next week or so.


Plan is then to go straight up to Scotland on it.




Can see it being a great partner for my adventures.*

Sounds good. You may want to hang fire on the aluminium plate.

I have a plastic bashplate on my KTM 690 in Spain which I use extensively in Morocco. I bought an aluminium plate with the intention of fitting it, three years later it was still in the shipping box, so I sold it on. Most of my riding is on pistes (dirt tracks maintained by locals) so I've only bottomed the bike once and the plastic plate is still solid, ten years on.

__________________
"For sheer delight there is nothing like altitude; it gives one the thrill of adventure
and enlarges the world in which you live," Irving Mather (1892-1966)

Thanks Tim appreciate the advice always good to learn from those more experienced than I we never stop learning in life

Sorry to hear about your bad experience of the Himmie, sounds like the bike was just not put together right.
The 300 Rally is a great bike, I’ve ridden one on and off road.
Personally I don’t think the two bikes can be compared - the Himmie is not, what the Americans would call, a dual sport.

Just for balance my wife has ridden her Himmie from Canada to Patagonia, including 70% of the MABDR, plus well over a thousand miles of unpaved and very rough roads and the bike has been faultless. It may be heavier than the Rally but it carries it’s weight very low and has excellent traction for mud and sand - it’s low seat height is a big advantage in these conditions.
If a dual sport is like a small rally car, the Himmie is like a tractor - very different but just as capable.

Enjoy the Rally - I would definitely have one in my dream garage

Thanks flipflop, I love how we all have different takes on motorcycles an what's comparable or not always makes for interesting reading.

Had a good day out today continuing the run in on the Honda CRF 300 Rally. All being well I should have it finished by the end of next week. Unfortunately no gopro footage from today as none of the audio came out the wind was pretty darn wild.

A quick question for anyone who also has a rally and is 6'2" with a 32" leg what front screen have you found effective? At the moment I'm getting quite a bit of buffeting from it so wanna address that before it re does my neck injury.

Overall still really content with the lil Rally fun engine on the road. A different experience to the Himalayan an 390 advs we had.

An was a really nice partner in the rubbish conditions today. Once she's ran in I'll decide what other mods to do, I'm thinking seat concepts seat and a Rally raid level 1 suspension for the seat Height so dad can ride it to, while we decide what 2nd bike to buy for our big trip next year. Plan is to buy a t7 after the house move in the next 2 months then run them back to back and decide what to take.