Royal Enfield Himalayan 450 (PRE-PRODUCTION BIKE): can’t believe I’m riding it in India
It's a lot more powerful I don't know exactly how much horsepower this bike has Feels like, I have like, almost double the power I am ready Leh, Ladakh India Good afternoon Internet, it is 2 o'clock in the afternoon and welcome back to the channel Welcome here in Leh, Ladak. I returned to India and I am so happy to be back after I broke my hand You can still see where I broke it, um.. a little bit, there's a.. there's a bump there Which is uh.. not a swelling but it's actually my bone. But my surgeon said that, that will get less and less And um.. we took some pictures and the hand is fully healed So the only thing I need to avoid is falling on it again So that it will be my mission. But anyway, I'm just so happy to be back riding again
Because if you remember, when I said I was going to take my break from Africa I said I was going to ride in three different mountain ranges, in three different countries On three different bikes, so this is number three! This is the last mountain range, I am back in the Himalayas. Ah, I'm just so excited to be here again It's been 5 years since I was here And the reason why it's extra special is because the first time I rode here, was on a rental Himalayan, that I rented in Manali And I did a tour here, I rode through Ladakh I rode through Kashmir Jammu but I didn't have my YouTube channel yet So that never appeared on the channel, I only started my YouTube channel after I bought a motorbike in Delhi and then I rode to Myanmar So I am super excited to be back here And that this time I'm going to film everything Uh, I'm even more excited I think about the motorbike that I'm going to be riding Because it is so cool, it is so cool! I don't even know how to tell you this, um.. maybe it's a better idea that I just show you the bike So let's go Can I have..ten? Ten? - Ten? Thank you. Bye-bye So, are you ready for this? Without further ado It is the brand new Himalayan. And I'm saying Himalayan and not Himalayan because I'm in India and that's how everybody calls it here
So this is the new Himalayan, so if you haven't watched my season one and two actually That's where I rode the previous version and this is the brand new. But the thing is, the bike is not out yet So this is actually a pre-production. So it is just.. ah, it's such an honor to yeah, be able to ride this bike The coming weeks here in India. I am super stoked Now the thing is, because it is a pre-production and it's not yet out, the specs are still a little bit of a secret I mostly, do not know the specs. I know a few, but it's still a secret So at the end of this series, then enough time will have passed and I can talk about the specs And then of course, I'm also able to actually tell you what I think about the bike Because than I have actually ridden it So I've been in Leh for 2 days already, to acclimatize and uh.. also I took this time to set up the bike with my gear So I put my Mosko Moto set on the bike.. at the rear and then my tank bag
And then I kitted out the bike with my camera equipment You can see the red plates, that's because the bike is a test bike Um, and it's not an official one yet. So hopefully, I'm not getting any problems riding with red license plates I should actually take my tank bag off for a second See so this is how the tank looks like So I suppose the only thing I did was remove the rubbers on the pegs which I prefer for off-roading So I have a little bit more grip So normally, there will be a rubber here, but I took that one off So for me it kind of feels full circle, because 5 years ago when I bought my first Himalayan in Delhi and rode it to the Netherlands I was probably one of the first people to put such a big mileage on that motorcycle And take it half around the world and now I'm one of the first people to ride and test the new one So I'm just super excited. So I'm planning to leave tomorrow morning Hopefully, I'm acclimatized by then because Leh here sits at 3,500 meters altitude So it's really high and I flew here straight from the Netherlands So I really think this bike looks like Basanti 2.0 Basan2, if I would have to name the bike, I'm not going to name the bike Because yeah, I've now just been riding bikes that are not mine The Ducati Desert X, the KTM there, this bike they're all not mine So I don't want to give names and get too attached to motorcycles that aren't my own But um. yeah, I'm really excited to start riding this Basan2 And uh.. yeah, be back in the mountains The next morning..
I am ready! I am gonna wear my heated gloves which is going to be necessary 'Cause immediately out of Leh, I'm going to climb a lot Okay, squeezing my hand in a glove It's a little painful Ha ha ha Okay There we go! Let's see what this baby can do! Ha ha ha Oh, what a difference! What a difference with Basanti It's a lot more powerful eh I'll be heading straight towards the Khardung La Which is one of the highest passes in the world, motorable pass I should say I mean of course, there's higher passes but where you can ride. About the same altitude as Mt Everest base camp So to give you an idea, it's really high This navigation thing is awesome, I have never seen this before on another bike Basically, you cast a copy of your phone on the display of the bike But especially for me, it's really convenient because I left my navigation system in Africa Otherwise I'd have to mount my phone on the bike which I don't really like to do I'm riding to a place called Turtuk. And that is pretty much right at the border with Pakistan So I'm riding in Ladakh and this part of India, it's very close to the border with China And close to the border with Pakistan. Turtuk lies directly at the border with Pakistan And that is my destination for today, it's tiny little town and to reach there I'll first have to go over that really high mountain pass and then I enter a place called Nubra Valley So Turtuk lies at the end of Nubra Valley And yeah, it's gorgeous. I can already tell you that Heh heh heh Look at this Got some pretty cool views of Leh down there in the valley Wah You have permit? Yes, I have.. yeah..
I go up there? Yeah Plate number? Your bike number.. picture Plate number? You take picture of plate number Okay Bye Alright, that was the checkpoint Had to show my permit You have to get a permit to be able to ride in this area So I got that uh.. the day before yesterday in Leh I organized that, so all is good Getting to some serious altitude now I think the Khardung La is.. is over there I think that must be the pass I think I'm lucky that there's no snow yet, because at this time of the year, there could already be snow And of course, I was thinking I was going to be here a month ago But then I had to postpone it because of my hand So now I'm really at the end of the season, it's the end of summer And there's maybe two weeks left before there's snow on all the passes But so far so good Okay, so it's not fully paved Although, it must be such an effort to keep this road.. in good condition all year round 'Cause I suppose every winter it just gets completely destroyed again It's like a never ending story I think I'm getting close to the pass I think it's here actually If I remember correctly It's here Yes, Khardung La. Altitude 17,982 ft
5,480m / 17,982 ft How about that That was the mighty Khardung La! I made it It is not as cold as I expected, I really thought it would be absolutely freezing here but.. Today is actually, I think a slightly warmer day Because also in Leh this morning, it wasn't so cold as the two days before Well, the suspension on this bike is a lot better hey, than on the previous version 'Cause Basanti was sagging a little bit And uh.. had quite a soft suspension. This one is quite a bit stiffer which I like a lot I could actually even adjust it a little bit, because there are seven positions you can put the suspension And now I'm only at position three So I could even make it a bit stiffer to compensate for my luggage at the back which is a little heavier than I anticipated What a difference with Basanti It's a lot more powerful I don't know exactly how much horsepower this bike has As I told you I don't know most of the specs But they actually don't have to tell me the specs because I can tell it's more powerful Feels like I have like almost double the power Ha ha No need for off-road vehicles here Wah Wow! Look at the color of the water down there Oh, I don't know if you can see that, it's a little far away Wait until I come around the corner on the other side It's like this milky blue Can you see it down below there? The river is very low Here you can see a bit better The colors hey! Isn't this amazing? That's why I like naked mountains because you can see all the minerals and you can see all the colors If everything is covered by trees then all you see is trees But now look at all the different colors It's so beautiful Blow horn Okay I switched the navigation off because.. Actually.. well, first of all, I know where to go and second of all, there's only one road There's not much navigating to do here Some stupas Now you can see the river It almost looks like I just rode into a painting doesn't it? It just doesn't feel real Look at all the dunes, it's cool right? I have reached Changmar village One vehicle at the time. Well, I'm the only one
There's nobody here Okay, I can't say I really enjoyed that sound See, some sand here too Just like in Hunder I think Chule [Hello] Permit? Yeah I have made it to Turtuk I'm here Maybe here Hi. Morol homestay? Here? So I found a place to stay for tonight Let me show you my room. This is where I'm staying Nice big bed And I have an ensuite bathroom.. that comes with slippers
Ha ha ha So I found a place to stay for tonight. So I just wanted to walk into Turtuk Uh, just across the bridge on the other side of the water This is quite a fascinating town. The people here are actually Balti Um, which means that they are from Tibetan descent and most of their people live in the Skardu region of Pakistan So on the other side of the border. But there's a few villages on the India side as well
And so that means that people here are Muslim. So people greet each other here with, Salam alaikum And I just learned the word for hello in Ladakhi, which is chule But that doesn't apply here. So here it's, Salam alaikum So um.. but what I want wanted to show you is something called nangchung
I think it's nangchung and those are cold houses, because now I am at 2,900 meters altitude So a lot lower than Leh, and so summers here in the midst of summer, it's actually really hot here So people have invented some really ingenious refrigerators that don't need electricity And I suppose, right now that they still come in handy, because there's no electricity at the moment either So it's an old thing but it's also still very much in use This is the bridge Now I have to climb a little bit up towards the village So they grow a lot of apricots around here in the valley So everywhere you see, fresh factory apricots organic products Well, it looks like, partly they're already harvesting for the winter What a backdrop hey Look at all those crops, they look amazing The alleys are getting narrower and I think they are also keeping animals here because I can smell them I can smell some cows Wow, look at these flowers Look how tall they are Amazing right Oh Don't tease the cat Where's the cat? Are you okay? You're safe This way [Dutch] Nangchung is here right? This way? Oh Okay It's a bit of a maze Ah yeah, here it is Here it is Here are the cold storages behind these doors Ta ta! But it's locked Here's another one All of this is cold storage But it's locked We need to find key Who has the key? This way I stay here. Okay, okay Alright So here are the cold storages You have the key? They're coming, somebody coming? No No Ah, no key? We can look inside You can't break in Can we look though the.. Can we look inside Today is not the day for the cold storage We don't have the key It's okay Okay, I go this way It's okay, there's not really much to see anyway It's just a nice feeling to be inside and feel how cool it is But yeah, inside it's just stones and uh.. And probably like some baskets where they keep food and that sort of thing Now I need to find my way back. Where we go? This way I'm now, I'm lost No, I think I go this way I think I came from here but not sure Yeah, mountains are here I need to go this way Um so yeah, unfortunately I can't go inside but yeah, as I said there's not really much to see It's just a really interesting concept There is another one. And here, I don't need the key hey
Let's see Oh, it's tiny Ah! Ooh, ha ha. This is actually kind of bizarre because this one is really quite different from the other cold storages Because this is more a natural one And those ones were built with rocks But it's unbelievable, within a matter of 2 meters, I think the temperature dropped like 10° I don't know. This now, it feels like I am inside a fridge, it's dead cold And then I step outside.. and it's normal again So now I'm walking back via a different route so it seems But oh.. imagine living here I think life here is tough. I mean it's super isolated and winters are harsh, I think But in summer and weather like this, I mean So I'm back in my room. Um, the light just came.. electricity just came on at like 6 o'clock
But it already went out three times as well, so it's not very reliable So I'm quickly going to record this when I have light and I'm not sitting here in the dark Anyway, that was it for today. I'm going to end this video Oh, before I end it, let me show you on the map where I am And where I rode today This is my map of India, it was the best map I could find That gives you a good idea of the whole country So I am now here in Ladakh. So here is China, there is Pakistan and I left from Leh this morning And it's actually, not on the map but I basically rode through here And now I think I am right here, right here at the border with Pakistan So I did something like.. this So that was my first day. Uh, what can I say, it was amazing. I loved every bit of it The ride was awesome, uh.. the bike handled so nicely
Uh, it was just yeah, fantastic I don't know what else to say Um, this town, Turtuk is really quite a special place Um, so I also really just enjoy being here And yeah, just being on the road again, riding and then being in this amazing part of the world So yeah, I don't know what else to say Um, so yeah, that was it for today. I really hope you like this video If you did, please give me a big thumbs up. Subscribe down below and then I will see you in the next video [Interpreted translation:] Quick, quick *Checking if she is not here* [Interpreted translation:] Put my sunglasses on, you will lookkgood [Interpreted translation:] Put your hand on that new Himalayan [Interpreted translation:] She didn't notice
2023-10-15 15:27
