I own both a Himalayan and a CRF250l. Performance and quality wise ita pretty much a wash between the two. The big advantage for the Himalayan is its a purpose built travel bike, the honda isn't. Off road the Honda may have a bit of an edge but on all other roads there really isn't any comparison between the two. I've spent thousands on the Honda to try to get the Honda to do what the Royal Enfield does oit of the box, a simple economical all road travel bike.

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I did take the Micky out of the looks of the Royal Enfield when it 1st came out. Then surprise surprise a friend turns up at my place and he's bought one.

Now being a little bit bike mad to the point of obsessed and owning over 300 bikes ( not all at the same time I hasten to add ) I was looking forward to see what the new RE was all about

Later that day I had my 1st long ride on one.

First impression of it was far better then I thought it was going to be . The handling was quite good. I could not fault the riding position and I'm told that the bike returns almost 90 MPG.

If I had to describe what riding the bike was like I would say. It was like riding a bike with the brakes off a 1970's Harley Davidson. The front required a very firm pull to get it to work and the rear brakes were on full as soon as you touched them.

Handling was like that of a British 1940's Rigid bike in that there is little or no flex from the back end and the rear suspension was almost as harsh as riding a rigid .

The engine was smooth as was the gear change but pull back on the throttle and its very slow on the pick up . If you have ever ridden a 1980's Honda CD200 Benly you will know what I mean.

How it looks is in the eye of the beholder ... Some will love it some wont .

I'm sure like most new bikes there will be a few that have problems and most wont .

However the question is... If your budget for a Touring / Travel bike is between £3500 and £5000 is this the best bike to spend your money on ?

Happy Travels no matter what you ride.

I struggled to get Enfield parts in the UK. 5 year old bikes are fine, but a chain adjuster for a disc braked rear was impossible. Enfield UK were constantly claiming it was 4 weeks from India, basically ****off and ring back in a month. Hitchcocks didn't think anyone would need parts for a 2017 bike until 2020.

I made my own.

Andy