Long-term report: New boots for the Royal Enfield Himalayan

It’s been a busy few weeks for the Royal Enfield Himalayan. There have been plenty of motorway slogs and some decent shorter rides, too, and it’s given me a better ability to find out what this motorbike is like. But recently I decided that the standard rubber on the Himalayan wasn’t quite off-road-ready, which is why I’ve put on some more focused tyres.

You see, the Himalayan is billed as an adventure bike but the standard tyres it uses are more road-focused than adventure-ready. However, with a set of new Michelin Anakee Wild tyres, I figured that the Himmy would become a whole lot more off-road-ready.

It was a stroke of luck where I went to get them fitted, too. After searching for nearby bike garages, I put in a call to Mono Motorcycles, which sits just under 15 minutes away from where I live. After a quick chat on the phone, it became apparent that Mono had just become Royal Enfield’s first authorised service centre with a dedicated bay just for Royal Enfields.

Not only does Mono now manage the servicing and repair of Royal Enfields, but it felt as though they were primed and ready to put new shoes on ‘my’ Himmy.

I’m pretty happy changing a bicycle tyre, but when it comes to motorcycles, I’m in the dark. Fortunately, the Mono team made light work of stripping the Himmy of its old tyres and replacing them with the brand new Anakees. These Wild tyres are designed for us both on- and off-road but get a definite focus on the latter with a chunky lug pattern designed to key into the earth. £70 and a cup of coffee later, the tyres were all equipped and ready to go. Mono even kept hold of my old tyres so I could come and get them later, as they still had plenty of life left.

All sorted, the team let me know that the Himalayan was throwing up a fault code for the throttle, though I’d not noticed it during riding. They cleared the code and I headed off, and, so far, there haven’t been any issues. The service at Mono was fantastic and, to make things even better, they have two wonderful dogs that call the garage area home. If you live in the West Sussex area – or even further afield – it’s well worth checking out for Enfield-related problem solving.

How do the new tyres feel? On the road, there’s a surprising lack of impact. The most noticeable change is extra vibration coming through the footpegs, but I’ve been quite impressed by how well they corner on tarmac. I’ve had the chance to do a little bit of light off-roading with them, too and, as you might expect, they do a great job. From what I’ve researched online, the only issue could come from longevity, with these softer-compound tyres often wearing out much more quickly than your traditional road tyre.

It feels as though the whole bike has started to loosen up, too. As I’ve mentioned before, I’d really like some more bite for the brakes – both front and rear – but that’s my only real complaint mechanical-wise. The Sherpa engine feels smoother and more responsive than it did when it first arrived several months ago, and I swear it sounds better too, though that could be my imagination of course.

In all other areas, the Himmy continues to be as reliable as can be. It makes it even more of a shame that Royal Enfield has asked for it back, but it’s nice to know that I battled through a lot of the harshest winter months aboard this very trustworthy motorcycle.