Welcome to RevZilla Redline for April 2018.
I'm Spurge.
And here at RevZilla we've been listening to your feedback,
and that's why we're kicking things
off this month with a ride down here in Texas
on the Royal Enfield Himalayan.
We've got a lot of great questions
about this motorcycle.
So we figured we'd start off by answering
a few of those questions, starting with,
what are the highway capabilities of the Himalayan,
realistically?
Now, I was able to get this bike up to about 85 miles an hour.
Honestly, it doesn't feel comfortable there.
It feels much more comfort around 60 to 65 miles an hour.
So if you're looking at getting this bike
to be a highway burner, probably not the best option for you.
But if you just want to go explore back country roads,
this might be an excellent option for you to consider.
Now the other thing-- we're talking
about highway capabilities-- is the engine on this.
It was far less buzzy and vibey than I was expecting
from a single cylinder engine.
It doesn't really give you the old tingle in the butt
sensation until you're getting right up to the red line,
really pushing it close to that 7,000 RPM mark.
I have no faults with how comfortable this engine
is for regular riding.
We also had a question come through on ergonomics.
And I think a lot of times when people hear "adventure bike,"
they think tall, big, heavy, intimidating,
and this is really the antithesis
to any of those things.
Aly, our camera woman, was able to get on it,
and she's about 5 foot 4.
She was able to throw her legs over and get
both feet in the ground.
So I think for shorter riders, this might be something for you
to consider if other adventure bikes have
been too intimidating for you.
Now, coming up in this month's episode,
we do a lot of great stuff for you.
Alessandra's going to be hitting some wet weather
riding tips for those of you looking
to ride through April showers.
I will actually be coming back around
to talk to you more about the Royal Enfield Himalayan
from a reliability standpoint.
Then Lemmy's going to wrap things up with a shop tip,
and to give you a little more info
on what you can expect from Redline this coming summer.
I will check back in with you guys in a little bit.
Now, while Spurgey was out there tearing it up on the Himalayan,
I took a trip to Boyertown, Pennsylvania,
for Martin Moto's 8th Annual Modern Classic Show.
Now, if you read Common Thread, you know Spurgey and I are
both a huge fan of this show.
I personally feel this is one of the best vintage bike shows
on the east coast.
We're always really pleased to go there.
So I wanted to bring you back a couple of my highlights
from the show-- some bikes that I really thought were nifty.
And first up we have a '97 KTM Duke 620,
one of the very first factory supermotos.
It's also a bike that offers modern performance.
Sure, it's still got a kicker on there.
It reminds you that it is an older motorcycle.
However, you're getting very modern
performance out of this bike.
This bike was definitely the bike I most
wanted to ride in the show.
So moving on from there, there was
also a first gen Suzuki Katana.
How cool to see this thing.
Those of you who are old enough to remember when this bike hit
the streets know that the styling was super
controversial on this bike.
Nowadays it looks pretty tame, but it really
does speak to the fact that this bike
influenced a lot of motorcycles going forward, styling wise.
It was really awesome to see how well the design has held
up now, all the way to 2018.
Now moving on from there is another bike
that I really lusted after, and that
was a Victoria Bergmeister.
Now, some of you may not be familiar with that
make or model.
Victoria's a German brand.
Bergmeister is actually German for "mountain master."
It gives you an idea of exactly what
they had in mind for this bike.
This bike jumped out at me immediately,
simply because the engine architecture
utilizes a transverse V-motor.
The other cool thing about this bike
is the space race era styling is definitely evident.
Everything is sleek and streamlined on this bike.
They even covered up the carburetor.
It was just a remarkably styled motorcycle--
caught my eye instantly as soon as I walked past it.
Now I'd probably be remiss if I didn't mention
the big talk of the show, and that was a 1905
Reading Standard Thoroughbred.
This bike took home both the People's Choice Award,
as well as an Exhibitor's Choice Award.
This is actually the oldest known Reading Standard
motorcycle in existence today.
It was really cool just to see this thing.
It's an obvious link between bicycles and early motorcycles.
It hit you right in the face as soon as you walked in the door.
Really neat bike to see.
So if you've never been to the Modern Classics Show,
I would recommend that you mark it down in your calendar now.
For just a few measly bucks, you really are
going to a museum for a day.
You're going to see 100 motorcycles
assembled that you'll never see together again for as long
as you live.
Always a very good time.
Right now, let's go over and meet up with Alessandra
and we'll talk rain gear.
I'll be the first to admit that I used
to hate riding in the rain.
And it wasn't until I found the perfect combination
of wet weather gear and tires for my bike
that I realized it's all about comfort and confidence.
Now on the confidence end of things,
I recently upgraded my tires to these Pirelli Route 66s,
and it's really changed the way that I ride.
In fact, the first long trip that I took with these,
it was cold, it was wet, it was rainy,
but I still took the long way home simply because I
felt really good on my bike.
Now, when I was looking for tires,
I knew that I wanted a classic tread pattern
and something with better wet weather traction,
So I read a ton of reviews.
But there are a few other things that you
should really look for when you're shopping for tires.
If the idea of reading a jillion reviews
doesn't really appeal to you, there
are two terms you can keep your eyeballs out
for that will tip you off to a tire's wet weather performance.
The first one is silica.
Silica charged rubber compounds tended
to perform really well in both cold as well as wet weather.
The other word you want to keep your eyes peeled for
is siping--
siping are small slits made into the rubber surface of the tire.
They help the tire take water up inside of itself
and then eject it as it rolls over the pavement--
both lead to really good wet weather grip.
So bikes are one thing, but you want
to be equally as comfortable and confident in your gear.
One thing that you need to keep in mind
is that there are basically two options--
there's gear that has a waterproof shell,
and gear that comes with a liner system
where the waterproofing is on the inside.
For instance, when I know that I'm going to be in the rain
and I'm touring, I use my touring jacket
because the shell itself is actually waterproof.
But one thing to keep in mind is that when you have a waterproof
shell, it's also windproof, which means that it
can get a little bit hot.
So something you want to look for
is direct venting, like these pit zips
that I have on my jacket here.
Those vent directly to my body.
Now all of this holds true for jackets and pants.
However, if you're shopping for boots or gloves,
you should know those are kind of binary-
they're either waterproof or they are not.
Now, if you tend to do a lot of wet weather work,
you might want to do the same thing
that many motorcyclists before you have done as well,
is simply have two sets of gear.
Now thankfully, when it comes to jackets and pants,
you do have the options of a liner system.
Now personally I don't like using liners,
because it usually means that you have to pull over and zip
something into the inside of your jacket,
or remember to zip it in before you leave.
The upside though is that, if you do have a liner system,
you get to retain the look of the jacket,
keep those abrasion resistant materials
and reflectivity on the outside as well.
Now, it should be noted that you can make just about
any gear waterproof by using stuff
like this-- stowaway rain gear.
I tend to use this stuff very frequently,
and part of the reason is because this stuff doesn't
leave me super duper hot.
Gear with waterproof elements built right in
tend to trap in heat, and I don't really care for that.
Now, the downside to gear like this
is that I have to pull over to the side of the road
in order to actually get it on.
A lot of times I wind up a little bit wet
before I find an overpass to tuck it under when I'm throwing
on my waterproof stuff.
So stowaway gear is really best for those
just in case scenarios.
That said, if you don't have regular motorcycle rain gear
and you just have something like a parka
that you maybe had for years, that's another option
that you can stow in your bike.
For example, when I'm wearing my leather shot
I keep this North Face parka right in my sissy bar bag,
just in case.
One thing to keep in mind whenever you're wearing
something that's non-motorcycle specific
is that it's not as durable.
So for example, recently on a trip
I threw some cheap rain pants into my sissy bar bag.
And once I actually got out on the road, it started raining.
I put them on.
They didn't have any heat-resistant materials
in there to protect against my exhaust,
and they melted to the bike and it's been pretty tough
cleaning it up since then.
So that's just something to keep in mind.
Another critical piece of rain gear
we haven't really discussed thus far is the helmet.
Now regardless of where you stand on the law, or safety,
the reality is that a full face lid is simply the best
at keeping your kisser dry.
Now, if you tend to do a lot of wet weather riding,
you'll probably find that fog is a real issue.
So if you're looking for either a helmet or a face shield,
you may want to consider one with this set up here--
pinlock.
Pinlock is a method of attaching basically a face
shield for your face shield.
If you note along the perimeter of this face shield,
you'll see this line-- that's actually
a silicone gasket that's separating the two
plastic components of this.
It traps a pocket of air between them.
It acts a lot like a double-paned window
as far as keeping fog at bay.
Now if you don't want to spend the coinage,
you can simply do the low-tech thing
that I do all the time-- simply crack your face shield,
or just flip it open and the fog will dissipate.
So let me tell you about why Royal
Enfield has a bad reputation.
Over 50% of the questions that we've seen roll through
on the new Himalayan have to do with the quality
of the bike itself.
And that's because for the past almost 60 years,
Royal Enfield really hasn't made any changes to the processes
in which these bikes are being built.
They're using the same factories, the same toolings
as they've been since the company was brought to India
in the middle of the 1950s.
The problem there is that the rest of the motorcycle world
has passed them by, so their reputation
has slowly just fallen off.
I got a chance to have a conversation with the president
of Royal Enfield North America.
They understand that there's a negative perception here,
and there's two main ways that they're
looking to address this.
The first is with the actual assembly, the manufacturing.
Royal Enfield opened up two new facilities
last year-- a technology facility in the UK,
as well as a brand new manufacturing plant in India--
the third manufacturing plant to date,
and it's the most advanced of all the plants.
It's using new tooling, new tech.
And they're really working to slowly
innovate and update the Royal Enfield motorcycles
that are being produced.
But the second thing that they talked about that really
intrigued me was getting the bike to America, because it
used to be where the bike would come over and the dealership
was the first point of contact for that motorcycle.
They were the ones in charge of assembling the bike
and putting it together and handing it off to the customer.
And the real problem lie in the fact
that if you had a good dealership,
you got a good bike.
If you had a bad dealership, you got a bad bike.
There was really no quality control in the Royal Enfield
that you were receiving as the customer,
and Royal Enfield North America said that's just
not working anymore.
And about two years ago they opened up a pre-delivery
inspection center and the same techs assemble
the same bikes every day--
they go through the same 100-point inspection.
And that's a big deal.
The customer's perception of when
they get that bike fresh off the showroom floor
is slowly changing.
They really understand the fact that there's
a long-term goal here for the Royal
Enfield brand in North America.
And for me, I now get to go out and ride the Himalayan,
so we have an upcoming first ride review of this bike.
[RECORD SCRATCH]
I'm like right in here.
Those are tears of pain.
Feels like I've been on crutches my entire life.
I'm gonna go for some lunch.
You were expecting a video bike review on the Royal
Enfield Himalayan, well, the joke is on you,
because I have crashed--
Oh, god!
Oh, the pain!
Oh, I just-- I laid it down!
But fear not-- I've got plenty of seat time on this puppy,
and there will be a written review on Common Tread
that you can check out if you want more information
on the Royal Enfield Himalayan.
So in today's shop tip we're going
to discuss a simple yet daunting task,
and that's mixing up two-stroke pre-mix.
Now you may be watching this saying, Lem,
I don't have a two-stroke bike.
You still might want to hang in there though
in case you have, say, a weed-eater
or a chainsaw at your house--
process is exactly the same.
So it's really important that we get this correct, simply
because the lubricant for a two-stroke
is contained within the fuel.
You have to add the proper amount,
or you might be facing an early engine rebuild.
Now the first step in this process
actually isn't to do anything at all
except for hitting the books.
You need to find out what ratio your fuel
and oil need to be mixed at.
Older machinery uses often a 32 to 1
mix-- that's 32 parts fuel to 1 part oil.
Now, newer stuff like this KTM we're
going to be gassing up today often has a much leaner mix.
You might be looking at a mix ratio of, say, 60 to 1.
So it's important to find out exactly
what your manufacturer recommends
and stick with that guideline.
The other important thing is knowing
what to put in your motorcycle.
So if you have one of those older 32 to 1 machines,
something like this conventional two-stroke oil
might be just fine.
However, there are some bikes, much like this KTM,
that spec out a synthetic oil.
You want to make sure you're putting in the correct oil
to make sure that, again, you're not facing
that early rebuild scenario.
Now, before we get kicking here, I
want to talk about our gas can just a little bit.
We're going to be using this to fill up our bike today.
Now you can see here on the side of this,
this thing is actually graduated out.
We have a two-gallon mark here.
This is a good can to use this for, simply because there's
lots of room up above here so we can
actually add the oil in-- we're not going
to be overflowing the can.
Now, one of the ways you can cross-check
to that two-gallon mark when you're filling up
is also look at the dispenser.
Make sure that the two-gallon mark here roughly correlates
with the two gallons you should be getting out of the fuel
pump itself.
Also notice that I've labeled this can.
I think this is really important.
First we have the ratio on there--
60 to 1.
This can be important for those of you who might have
a weed-eater or a chainsaw sitting in the shed
next to your dirt bike.
You don't want to mix up the wrong ratio between equipment.
The other thing that's really important,
too, is also having the fact that it's
two-stroke marked right on there.
One of the most deadly things you can do for a two-stroke
is straight gas it-- that's not a good scenario.
Again, you're going to be looking at an early engine
rebuild.
So once we've got two gallons worth of fuel in our can,
it's time to add some oil.
To me, the easy way to do this job is with a ratio cup.
And a ratio cup has all sorts of information on it
that should make this job really, really simple.
So we're going to go to the two gallon column
because we're using two gallons worth of fuel,
and slide right down the ratios here until we hit the 60 to 1
line.
That's the amount of oil we're going to add to the fuel.
Throw the oil in the cup, drop it into your gas can.
Now at this point you're not quite done.
One of the things I like to do is to take some of that pre-mix
and slop it back into the cup.
Cap the cup, mix it around just a little bit
so you catch all that residual oil,
and then throw that back into your gas can.
From there you're going to want to take your gas can,
vigorously shake it up to make sure you disperse
that oil throughout the fuel, and
you're ready to rock and roll.
You're set to gas up your bike.
[COYOTE HOWLING]
[SNORING]
Psst, Spurge.
You hear that?
Did I hear what, Lem?
I just got to sleep, bud.
Did you put the hot dogs away?
What the hell are you guys doing in the parking lot?
We're testing.
Testing for what, a concert?
No.
We're testing camping gear.
You guys are idiots.
Buzzsaw and I already picked the best gear.
It's in the studio.
We are idiots.
In fact, we're idiots going on a camping trip.
Next time you see us will be in June,
and we'll be sleeping in the dirt
using the stars for a blanket.
That's right.
RevZilla's sending us out into the wild
to have an adventure-- specifically, to show you some
of the high jinks that Lem-Lem and I are getting
into on a regular basis.
And in fact, we're gonna reach out to you guys
and ask for your input.
What would you like to see Lemmy and I cover in future episodes
of the Redline?
So if you've got any really cool ideas,
send them over to Redline@RevZilla.com.
And as always, if you want anymore info
on any of this stuff you've seen,
cruise on over to RevZilla.com where
you can check out articles, videos, and our hot
takes on all things motorcycle.
We'll see you in June on the RevZilla Redline.
[SNORING]
[OWL HOOTING]
[COYOTE HOWLING]