Royal Enfield Himalayan - yup, it's not a Honda!

[ST1100Y]

Then...**ALL THIS** happened.

Yep...
Had to cancel Sweden/Norway (did some domestic touring instead...), don't know what's it gonna be in '21 though...

 

[DirtFlier]

"JustPassinThru...Enthusiasm for the product, is worth a lot. It's what Honda lost, with the retirement and passing of Honda-san"

I've read that in many places for 30+ years and respectfully, it's mostly a large pile of cow dung. I lived and worked thru those timelines at the big H, both here and in Japan, so have a much better feel for it. Honda-San voluntarily retired in the mid-70s when he realized his ideas no longer fit those times and product markets. He passed away in the early-90s.

It's all too easy to blame the loss of one key person as the root of the problems faced by a company.

 

[Brillot2000]

"JustPassinThru...Enthusiasm for the product, is worth a lot. It's what Honda lost, with the retirement and passing of Honda-san"

I've read that in many places for 30+ years and respectfully, it's mostly a large pile of cow dung. I lived and worked thru those timelines at the big H, both here and in Japan, so have a much better feel for it. Honda-San voluntarily retired in the mid-70s when he realized his ideas no longer fit those times and product markets. He passed away in the early-90s.

It's all too easy to blame the loss of one key person as the root of the problems faced by a company.

Honda nosedived hard starting on the model years 1978 through 1982. Federal emissions requirements required drastic changes, many of those US models were "Junk" in my opinion.

I honestly started seeing a downtrend on Honda's model offering in the late '80s and early '90s. The introduction of metric cruises and sportbikes had changed the market focus in the US especially. There were many great bikes that were offered in Europe or the UK that never made it to US soil. There were also models that were ahead of their times and were overlooked at the time just to become sought after cult classics some years later.

In the last decade or so, there has been nothing to make me run out and spend my hard-earned money on having, the only exception was the NC700X. DCT was on the technological cutting edge and that's what attracted me to this model. The average price for anything worthwhile like an African Twin to a GoldWing is about $18k to 30k.

 

[Coyote Chris]

"JustPassinThru...Enthusiasm for the product, is worth a lot. It's what Honda lost, with the retirement and passing of Honda-san"

I've read that in many places for 30+ years and respectfully, it's mostly a large pile of cow dung. I lived and worked thru those timelines at the big H, both here and in Japan, so have a much better feel for it. Honda-San voluntarily retired in the mid-70s when he realized his ideas no longer fit those times and product markets. He passed away in the early-90s.

It's all too easy to blame the loss of one key person as the root of the problems faced by a company.

I am not sure what others are saying about Honda, or Honda-san , but I have nothing but respect for the company, and the man. And the Japanese vehicles in General.
Our experience has been 90 percent positive with all our Japanese vehicles and about 100 percent with Honda.
1983 Honda Civic Wagon. Went 250,000 mi with only breaks and cam belts.
2004 Honda CRV, made in Japan. I still have it. No repairs except brakes once in 150K miles. 16 years.
1983 Goldwing standard. Toured for 15 years on the bike. One rebuilt master cylinder.

2010 NT700v. Intermittant crank position sensor. Didnt stop the bike and I was able to replace it.
Love my 2015 VFR. Many VFRs over the past 35 years have had specific issues, like the now famous burned up stator/regulator. There are very few vehicles that dont have issues over the long term.
(Forgot the Honda generator I have...love it)

I could write a book about all the problems I have had with GM vehicles. No more for me, thank you.
Chris who used to work for the UAW.

 

[DirtFlier]

I will agree with Brillot2000 that the models in the early-80s had problems and most (or all) of those were related to having to pass more stringent emissions regulations, especially in CA. I don't recall the bikes in the late-70s being that bad. The Gold Wing in the early-80s was especially bad and it required to run on fast idle when cold for at least 5-min and if you tried to take off early, feathering the clutch as much as possible, the engine just died! Aside from those "driveability" problems, the other parts of the bike were still Honda so they worked fine.

I have a funny story to relate about my time working at Corporate Headquarters in So Cal where I often rode a different bike every few days. A friend's wife, Jo, was an avid rider and had a VF750S Sabre at the time. She asked "How do you clean all those fasterners around the final drive." I looked at her with a curious look and said, "Jo, I just go and ask for a cleaner bike." That's when she punched me.

 

[wphillips007]

As JQL said, “Itchy Boots” the Dutch girl purchased a 2015 CB500X (which is what I have) and took it around Iceland, Sweden and Norway once Europe started opening up. But once it started closing back down she’s now “stuck” in the Netherlands doing all sorts of interesting stuff including a day at the Dutch police motorcycle riding academy. While it’s true she is shipping her RE back, I gather that she has gotten use to a “powerful” bike and is not going back to her Himalayan. BTW, she has 630K+ followers on her blog and it’s growing by a couple of thousand every week.

 

[Hondafan]

Politics getting you down? Watch any episode of Itchy Boots and you will feel better.....and you probably will learn "something". Netflix should pick up her travelog.

 

[DirtFlier]

The first of the liquid-cooled Honda motorcycle was the 1975 GL1000 and it would be another 6 years before it was used on the '81 CR250 motocrosser, then again in 1982 on the V4 street bikes. The rift between Honda-san and his engineers was in the mid-60s.

He wanted (demanded!) the Honda formula 1 cars to be powered by air-cooled engines for the simplicity and lightweight. They were HATED by all the engineers because the reality was that they were always on the verge of melting down; in fact, one of the engines was infamous for fracturing the cyl head bolts at full song. The drivers said it sounded like a gun being fired right behind them!

At a race, one of the air-cooled cars F-1 overheated and caught fire. The ensuing crash & fire killed the Belgian driver and Kume-san who was senior engineer had to visit the driver's family and give them the terrible news. He quit in protest and took a year-long sabbatical, meanwhile all his cohorts lobbied Honda-san to consider liquid-cooling for not only the race cars but for the next series of production cars. He finally conceded and what they developed after a few years was the late-70s, CVCC Civic engine that was able to pass US emissions without any add-ons. Kume-san came back as part of that development team and he became Honda CEO in the mid-80s.

I don't think any of us will see another period in the US where motorcycle sales are off the map for more than a decade. And it's foolish to believe that a bevy of new models would recreate that situation here. The timing was just perfect in the late-50s for that cultural explosion to occur starting with the Cub 50 and that sort of same type of thing is happening in other countries (Brasil, India, Thailand, etc) now so Honda has to obviously aim at those markets with their 2-wheelers and by no coincidence, Honda has factories in those locations.






.

 

[Coyote Chris]

I will agree with Brillot2000 that the models in the early-80s had problems and most (or all) of those were related to having to pass more stringent emissions regulations, especially in CA. I don't recall the bikes in the late-70s being that bad. The Gold Wing in the early-80s was especially bad and it required to run on fast idle when cold for at least 5-min and if you tried to take off early, feathering the clutch as much as possible, the engine just died! Aside from those "driveability" problems, the other parts of the bike were still Honda so they worked fine.

I have a funny story to relate about my time working at Corporate Headquarters in So Cal where I often rode a different bike every few days. A friend's wife, Jo, was an avid rider and had a VF750S Sabre at the time. She asked "How do you clean all those fasterners around the final drive." I looked at her with a curious look and said, "Jo, I just go and ask for a cleaner bike." That's when she punched me.

Wow....I got my '83 as a leftover in the crate for $3000 in 1985. Rode it 15 years on tour. I guess I was too dumb to know it should have problems! LOL! (The Isuzu is the only vehicle over 50 years that I wish I had back. ) Low seat height with low CG due to engine horizontal and gas tank below seat made the bike a dream to handle.

 

[Coyote Chris]

As JQL said, “Itchy Boots” the Dutch girl purchased a 2015 CB500X (which is what I have) and took it around Iceland, Sweden and Norway once Europe started opening up. But once it started closing back down she’s now “stuck” in the Netherlands doing all sorts of interesting stuff including a day at the Dutch police motorcycle riding academy. While it’s true she is shipping her RE back, I gather that she has gotten use to a “powerful” bike and is not going back to her Himalayan. BTW, she has 630K+ followers on her blog and it’s growing by a couple of thousand every week.

Bike? What bike? I dont see a bike.....! (How you gonna keep them down on the farm? After they ridden a Honda?)


I follow ruriko and I STILL havent seen any bikes?????

 

[DirtFlier]

Coyote Chris - My guess is that your '83 GL1100 was a "49ST" model so didn't suffer with the cold start driveability of the "CAL" models.

 

[DirtFlier]

Since RE is from India, I would think they'd have many dealers in some pretty remote areas & underdeveloped countries. To me that is their bread & butter since they have a much tougher time selling in the US, Europe, etc., that is dominated by the major players.

And as I found in my travels in Africa & parts of South America, their idea of a franchised dealer is quite different than ours! The dealer might be a general repair shop fixing all sorts of different items.

 

[rc_heli_nut]

A lot of the "cold blooded" nature of the carbureted bikes of the 80's stems from the fact the makers were trying to meet emissions requirements of the day. As a result, the carbs were jetted lean, leading to cold start issues, surging, lagging throttle response, etc. My 81 Hondamatic 400 had these issues. At the other end of the spectrum, the NT runs flawless. Only EFI bikes for me going forward.

Brad

 

[DirtFlier]

I don't know about the "other makers" but Honda bikes left the factory much leaner than necessary because they were afraid the EPA would do a random test on a showroom bike and find it out of compliance. By just following the Lean Idle Drop procedures shown in the service manual, someone could make it run much better while still being in compliance. Unfortunately this required removal of the anti-tamper caps on the idle mixture screws so most guys skipped this and resorted to putting washers under the needles which didn't work as well.

 

[Hondafan]

Agree. I have 4 Honda's from the 80's. They have the stock jets and run perfectly, with just a pilot mixture adjustment. Rarely does an older bike need a richer needle or main jet. A worst case might need a one size larger pilot jet.

 

[Brillot2000]

Agree. I have 4 Honda's from the 80's. They have the stock jets and run perfectly, with just a pilot mixture adjustment. Rarely does an older bike need a richer needle or main jet. A worst case might need a one size larger pilot jet.

Over the years I encountered many Japanese bikes that had pressed-in non-removal idle jets. This insured that people could not tamper with the factory settings that meet the emission standards of that model year. These idle jets made it extremely difficult to clean out clogged passageways on a bike’s carburetor that had been setting for long periods.

 

[Phil Tarman]

When I had my '99 Concourses, a lot of C10 owners removed the anti-tamper caps and made an adjustment to the idle jets. I used the washer under the needle and never noticed a huge difference.