Modifications I’ve made to my Himalayan

After 5,000 miles and the Himalayan is pretty much perfect for me. Where they weren’t, I made some tweaks to suit me.

This took half an hour to fit. Changing from the original 15t sprocket means that all the five gears are somewhat taller, but this allows for a much nicer on-road experience I’ve found
- Pros: Better economy, lower revs and vibration at motorway speeds. (RPM at 70mph drops around 600 from around 5200 to 4600)
- Cons: Higher first gear. Can be a stretch to fit on a new chain.
- Recommended? Yes, for all users except those who ride a lot of technical off road stretches where the lower 1st gear is most useful. Those riders may even consider a 14t.

A small generic clip-on screen extender. I tried the Puig screen but hated it, and the clip-on reduces buffeting enough for my 6’2″ lump.

The factory tuning for all modern motorbikes is very lean to meet emissions. Devices like the FuelX sit between the oxygen sensor and the ECU and change the signals to trick the ECU into delivering more fuel.
- Pros: Engine runs cooler and has a stronger “pick-up” in revs, especially at the lower end. It’s easily fitted and also easy to remove. (The Pro version has handlebar buttons to change maps, which require more fitment. I went with the Lite)
- Cons: Slightly lowered economy.
- Recommended? Yes. I didn’t have high expectations of this, but I did immediately feel and hear the difference. It’s a small gain - maybe 1 or 2hp, but worth the relatively modest price, I think.

Necessary to fit saddlebags or panniers. There are many available, but fall into two camps: Official Royal Enfield, or Copy. I bought a Copy from an Indian seller on Ebay, all of whom seem to be selling the same item.
- Pros: Easy to fit.
- Cons: Terrible quality! Initially the welds looked poor, and the metal thing. Within a year, one lower strut snapped off, having rusted through from the inside. I inspected the other and found it was also about to fail, then replaced both with some flat metal I had. After that, I lost an entire 50cal Ammo can pannier complete with all contents (Tools, spares etc) somewhere on the road one day. The top weld had snapped entirely. I spent a few hours making better mounts out of angle iron - these definitely aren’t going to fail!
- Recommended? No! The RE official item is probably better, but stick to branded pannier mounts.

Just a little plate that bolts onto the sidestand. This keeps the bike slightly more upright, but widens the footprint to stop the bike sinking on soft ground. Happy with this.

I ride year-round and England is not a tropical country. I consider these essential on any motorbike ridden here in the grey six months of winter.
- Pros: As easy to fit as they could be. Took a couple of hours, then another one to set up a relay to prevent me leaving them turned on after my ride.
- Cons: Ensure they don’t foul anything. I’ve seen these fitted so they can knock the kill switch off, or even lead to a sticky throttle.
- Recommended: Absolutely. Good value, well made, clear instructions. I use them often.

It’s a bar that screws into the screen mounting bolts and provides somewhere to mount a GPS or phone. I added a Quadlock mount to it for my navigation phone.

Not essential, just a bit wider than stock. I do like the OEM mirrors on the Himalayan, but even with extenders they didn’t see past my shoulders. These are slightly better, and very tough. Well made, but probably not worth the money in hindsight - you’re paying for the brand as much as the quality.

Don’t bother unless you need to replace the plug anyway, then it will last longer than most. And even then I’m not certain it’s worth the extra. There’s a lot of nonsense talked about this online about it improving MPG, smoothness. I didn’t detect any changes whatsoever.

Bolted onto the pannier frame. I like the look and they’re waterproof, very strong and durable.

Himalayans are known for wooden front brakes. These do make an improvement over the original pads, but there’s only so much pads can do. But they’re a cheap and small improvement if you don’t want to go down the expensive rabbit-hole of replacing the master cylinder and calipers.

The original CEAT rear wore out after about 4,500 miles. These have a slightly more aggressive tread, but both behave well on-road as and off-road as I ever go. The Kendas are wearing much better and should last 50-100% longer than the CEATs

Essential in winter as they keep the hands warmer! They also do protect against brush hitting your knuckles - although I maintain that if you’re hitting brambles and branches that hard, you should slow down to protect against the handlebar being snatched to the side!

I found this made no improvement to the comfort level at all and had just as much pain as the standard seat. I sold it on.

Hated this. Bendy, flexy and made head buffetting at motorway speeds even worse! Removed and sold.

Spent quite a long time fitting this, then discovered it emptied all its oil overnight without being touched. Removed.