Royal Enfield Himalayan UK, 3000 miles owners report. Warts n all

Here's an honest list of the pro's and cons of the bike so far:
First the pro's
OTR price is good,
Economical to run,
Good tank range over 200 miles,
Easy maintenance,
Good handling at sub 60 mph speeds,
A pleasant riding experience when back lane bimbling,
Low revving motor,
A nice burble sound from the exhaust,
Overhead cam engine a new design for RE,
Good ability to tackle off road and green lanes/ byways,
Looks a nice bike,
The luggage makes it very practical,
Good winter/all weather bike,
It's the motorcycle equivalent to a land rover,
Sofar it has been reliable,
Counter balanced engine has less vibrations,
Parts are cheap.
Gearbox is quite good and clutch is light,
The bike seems quite capable of long distances,
A good travel bike especially for the third world,

Now for the cons:
The seat is very soft and after a while you'll get numb bum syndrome,
The bike is quite small for an adventure style bike, maybe biased towards the Indian market,
The front brake lacks bite and feedback,
At higher speeds the handling becomes a little vague,
The engine is only 24 bhp and is not sufficiently powerful enough to keep up with motorway speeds, It will do it, but it feels like your flogging it to death.
The engine makes a clattering sound when pushed, and when pushed hard it just don't sound good. In Fact it's quite alarming and I worry that it may go bang....But it never has....not yet anyway!
I took the bike back for a checkup when I heard these sounds and was told,"It's a big single, air cooled and you will hear all sorts of sounds from them, it's quite normal".
The engine sounds have been the biggest negative for me personally. It may just be my bike, it may indeed be "normal" and a few other owners have also reported them. If it is abnormal then I am at a loss to know what to do next. I'll have to live with it I guess.
So I now only use the bike for bimbling and slower riding adventures where the motor sounds happier. I brought a second more powerful bike (Suzuki V strom 1000 for when I go on longer faster journeys and motorway travel)
Although the engine has a crankshaft counterbalancer, it still has some vibes especially when pushed.
Vibrations become more apparent when the bike revs over 5K rpm
Although the gearbox is good, I do occasionally hit a false neutral.

Видео Royal Enfield Himalayan UK, 3000 miles owners report. Warts n all канала Wiltshire Man