Why I replaced the chassis of my RE Himalayan without claiming warranty

While I was washing my bike, It came to my notice that near the footrest there is a crack which is extending back to the swing arm area.

BHPian winsto_keny recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Hi guys, Winston here.

I ride a BS3 Himalayan from 2016.

Coming back to my Himalayan. As i mentioned it is from 2016 which also means I own the first batch of Himalayan which had all the issues everyone has been mentioning about here in the forum. I got the bike when I was in my final year of my engineering. The bike has clocked a whooping 72k odd kms and I have had numerous memories with the motorcycle.
If you ask me are you happy with the bike, I would say ofcourse yes and I could not get that torquey engine else where in the same category and budget. During the free service schedules, I understood what kind of unprofessional brand RE is when it comes to customer satisfaction and understanding from customer POV or issues. They just never cared about their customers to be honest. So after the free services were done, most of the repairs and regular maintenance were done by myself. Except for the big issues where the magnetic coil would fail and wood ruf key had to be replaced. Such major scenarios I would get it done from RE. Believe me or not the vehicle still runs on the same clutch assemby from factory which means I have not replaced it in my entire 72k kms clocked on the motorcycle, Recently just for my satisfaction I asked the RE technician to take a test ride to find out if there is any issue with the engine and he said Engine is A class. Thats exactly what he said.

Now lets get to the main reason why I am making this post.

While I was washing my bike, It came to my notice that near the footrest there is a crack which is extending back to the swing arm area. Since there was no rust on the crack area I confirmed that this was developed very recently. That’s when things went hay wire in my life and I started looking up for solutions regarding this, I took it to RE knowing that they are not gonna do anything about it. Anyways I went there not to claim any warranty or get the chassis replaced for free, I am not interested in running behind for their empathy on my situation because I know for the fact that its not gonna happen nor do I want to waste my time on waiting for them to do something.

I straight away went to Service manager and an advisor came along with the SM to check. They started explaining about the warranty procedures and I stopped them half way to tell I am not interested in their warranty claim and wait a long time for it. I will pay for the chassis and I want to know in how many days will I get the bike in running condition, if I leave it right now.

A week to receive the chassis, 2 days to punch the chassis no and 3 days to swap parts to new chassis. Two weeks is the ETD given to me.

• Chassis cost- 22400(without the chassis number punched on it)
• Labour charge- 4500( additional 600 for getting the chassis no. punched)

I left the bike yesterday and paid 5000 as advance amount and made them order the chassis standing right there in front of them, because I dont trust them even a bit. Because of how I behaved with the SM and service advisor they themselves are following up with me and updating.

Thats how it is and I miss my bike as it is also used for my daily commute to office. That Himalayan is a part of my life and because it is not with me currently I feel the emptiness in my life. Some connections just cannot be explained.

I have been attending rider mania from 2017 and never have I had any sort of hiccups on the way and back. 90% of the rides are solo in the entire 7 years and except for the few like first Rider mania I tagged along a riding group from one of the dealership in Bangalore(I joined them only because I found them on my way) and another ride to Mangalore with the home boys which had different brands of bikes.

Overall experience with Himalayan is great but with RE as a brand – worst.

Maybe if Himalayan was manufactured by some other brand it would be respected more than how it is being treated now. But that bike is one of a kind if it had 0 issues. Ether ways it is one of a kind because of its rare and unheard issue. All thanks to RE. Attaching some photos of the ride to Goa Rider mania 2022.

Adios Amigos!. Winston signing off

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