The way round... with an Royal Enfield.
 

You know what... I'm really thinking about doing the way round, instead doing London-Everest, I would do Everest-London.

Get a flight to Mumbai (which is quite cheap from London), buy a Royal Enfield Bullet 350cc there, than, get the road to Everest, and than, come back home riding! I think it will be much more interesting, cheaper (don't need to ship the bike back and an Enfield will be much cheaper, easy to fix and definitely more classic to do such adventure than a Yamaha Tenere!).

What do you think about it folks? Do you know anyone who has done this before?

Cheers mates!

Joas

The great thing about Royal Enfields is that you can easily perform roadside repairs any time any place. The downside is that you have to perform roadside repairs any time any place. I distinctly remember talking to a couple who did something similar to what you're thinking about. They flew to India, bought two Royal Enfields and travelled around Asia. Both bikes lost their mirrors on the first day, they just fell off, and random parts just kept vibrating loose and falling off each day ;)

All joking aside, it's absolutely doable. You should be apt to do bike maintenance yourself because with a Royal Enfield you will have to sooner or later. It will get you back home though, no worries there.

If you have concerns about the Triumph, get yourself over to the Triumph RAT forum and ask around. I have a Sprint and no experience of the 800, but the word seems to be that modern Triumphs are very reliable indeed.

Tiger - Triumph Forum: Triumph Rat Motorcycle Forums

never been a fan of beemers, ever ? love the xt had 5 3 months ago bought a tiger 955 with a few glitches but getting them sorted triple motor is bullet proof as with the 800.
just been messing on it really only done 5000 miles in 3 months and it just keeps going, thought i would not make a distance bike but am inclined to think again ?
a few mods first getting the front wheel laced to a 21inch rim, just recieved hagon progressive front springs which will help the front handeling, found a place in stowmarket that will custom build me a rear dialiable shock ( about £300 ) think i am going to give it a go next year fancy London to everest - Nepal - South India ?

Just gone through this. In the end I bought a Wee-Strom, I need euro capable 2-up and efficient not RTW. If I did need RTW I'd have gone with the Ten. I'd agree with a lot of the comments above, but the big thing that put me off the Triumph in particular was the dealers attitude. There were actually less open to the idea of riding further than Starbucks than a BMW dealer I know from experience are a right bunch of "they all do SSSSSsssir" type idiots. They knew I'd ride the bike and didn't have a 3 month old R1200GS to trade (their showroom was full of those) and just weren't interested. They offered 75% of what Suzuki bought my Bonneville for against a new bike that would have been 50% more. If the too big, too new, too expensive Tiger did break I think you'd be better calling Japan for help than Hinckley and if you had a trade in you'd be glad of the extra petrol money.

The comments on the Bullet made me smile. The frequency of simple fixes in my experience is infrequent. Two clutch cables and a loose wire in two years, actually less time on the hard shoulder than some BMW's I've owned. If you can tune your mind to 30 mph instead of 45 and understand pushrods and carbs, this would IMHO really add to the Everest to London experience.

Andy

Sorry but this isn't true. In Europe the TDM has been one of the most popular bikes in it's category along with the Weestrom and it is rock steady reliable,as is the Wee. Bikes, with the odd exception, do not break unless there are inherent problems to the model. My last bike was a Transalp and you couldn't break one if you tried, as long as you maintained the thing. How many units have they shifted?

I stopped for a chat with a couple of V-Strom owners yesterday. One of the bikes was a 2005 model with 98,000 (158,000 km) miles on the clock. Nothing but routine servicing. I am in the market for something like this myself, and I was quite impressed, because the bike didn't really look cared for either, if you know what I mean.

I'd have to (partially) dispute this.

You can service practically anything on the bike with a very simple toolkit, but it's not the toolkit Yamaha give you - you can't even get the wheels out with it.

Otherwise, entirely agree with you.

Alright smartypants, you need a 23mm spanner and some feeler gauges as well, but otherwise my statement is correct. :rolleyes2:

That is why I added the word 'virtually' into the sentence.

If your route has any amount of off tarmac in it you would probably be better with a single rather than the multi's. I have no experience of the tenere but by all accounts it is a very capable travel bike and this is the bike I would choose from your list.

Another option would be a bmw Xchallenge. While it doesn't have the same tank range as the tenere as standard, the money you would save on purchase price would allow you to but either an Xtank or the Touratech auxiliary tank and give you cash left over for your trip. You also get a bike with better suspension and fuel economy.

I do like the Enfield idea though.

Plus a 14mm hex to remove the front wheel. :(
Why don't bike manufacturers provide a proper tool kit as standard?

My choice in order of preference would be
1. Tenere
2. F650GS single or Dakar
3. G650GS single or Sertao
4. F650GS twin
5. F800GS
6. 800XC
7.
8.
9. Bullet

If you want to buy a bike in India and ride it home, look at what the locals are buying, Honda Hero and the like. Only about 160cc but as fast as a 500cc Enfield and far more reliable.

we never got the africa twin here in oz
 

But we did get the varadero Honda,it's a thousand cc but ive had one for 11yr's and all ive replaced is chains /sprockets one set of fork seal's ,and a fuel lift pump(about $120 aus) so honda all the way for me .I agree the vibing handle bars on some bikes just ruin the ride.Ive owned a lot of yamaha's mostly good ,service seams to depend how good your local shop is.I have mates with triumph's mixed reports some very good some friday arvo bikes ,soon traded.best of luck with your choise,Noel

So why does every thread about X-Challenges I see on forums talk about upgrading the suspension then?

I am almost sure that you can't get out of India with a Enfield. I wanted to do it back in 2007, and I was told that you're not allowed to exit the country with it.

Has it changed?

I've got a Triumph 955i Tiger. It's 11 years old and has 50,000 miles on it.

I've never had a bike this old with so many miles, in such great condition. The build quality is very good and it just feels quality.

I've never had a more reliable bike and I've had 50 bikes in the last ten years.

If the new Triumphs are built as well as the original Tigers, then I'd be happy to take it RTW.