Fresh out of the service centre, the Himalayan felt like a new bike altogether. The Bear’s ride quality broke my heart (and back), but having the Himalayan put my mind at ease. With the tubeless rims, I didn’t have to worry about being stranded with a flat tyre on NH 66. Unlike my last trip with the Himalayan to Ratnagiri, I didn’t have a car to take my luggage to Goa. So, just like old times, my decade-old trekking backpack was mounted on the bike with bungee cords; and the bike’s provision to strap it made the process so much easier. Though I wanted to start at 4:00 am from my home to make it to Goa by lunch time, I delayed it by a couple of hours accounting for the poor performance of the LED headlight.
After I set off from home, I seldom felt the need to get off the bike. I have always loved the bike’s ride quality, but this time the feeling was amplified thanks to the work put in by the RE service crew. The shifts were slick, the braking performance felt better and the engine was breathing better. All of that tempted me to go faster and harder through the under-construction roads on the highway. To my surprise, even the joystick on the switchgear was working as it should.
Braving through the dusty, broken roads, and even rain for a brief period, I made it to Goa with enough energy to ride back to Mumbai, though we did that a week later in the company of Kartik and his 390 Adventure. While my ride to Goa was a rather relaxed one, the trip back was a fast-paced one. And even at constant triple-digit speeds, the Himalayan didn’t disappoint and I still can’t believe why and how I trusted those tyres to keep up with what I was doing. Now that I am back home, it is time to fi nd the cause of a rattling noise around the tank.
