For those who haven't read my words on the new Royal Enfield Himalayan 450, it is my new lord and savior. It is the breath of life, the word of God, my dark lord that inhabits my dreams. A motorcycle I daydream about on a regular basis. More so than even me dreaming about coming into money and never having to work again.
Why, because unlike winning the lottery, finding out I'm related to some long dynasty of wealthy royals that now gets passed down to me, or finding black gold in the backyard ala the Beverly Hillbillies, the Himmy is actually attainable in my lifetime.
But that wasn't really the experience the prior Royal Enfield 411 gave off. It was, and still is for the folks who have them in their garages, a mule. It just chugged along, not really caring to get anywhere quickly, and could barely hit the highway without endangering the rider. It'd get you there, but it was absolutely the tortoise versus the new Himalayan's more hare-like reality.
So when we came across this video from YouTuber 999lazer, in which he sets off to take a used Himalayan 411 that he picked up for less than $1,000, and then turn it into a dirt bike, well, we were more than skeptical. Who'd be insane enough to embark on something so foolhardy?
The idea is simple enough: turn the Himalayan 411 into a motocrosser so that he can race at the Weston Beach Race in England. But that's no small task, as the Himalayan ain't exactly a ready-to-rock dirt bike. Like I said, it's more a mule than a quarter horse, and the Weston Beach Race is definitely an area where quarter horses thrive.
According to the YouTuber, " We are attempting to transform this 411cc Royal Enfield Himalayan into a fully fledged motocross in order to race it at the world famous Weston Beach Race - the most hardcore, extreme dirt bike/motorsport event in the country! In this episode, we set out to find and buy an adventure bike for less than £1000, we set out a plan, establish our goals for the mission and the rules for the build before we hit the track on the Himmy to see how far away it is from a real MX bike. This is going to be crazy, wish us luck!"
The video then goes on to test the Himalayan against a proper dirt bike, a Yamaha YZ125, and sorts through all the problems they're going to have to overcome. "In all honesty, it was horrendous. I expected so much more than what I got out of it," said the YouTuber after testing the bikes back to-back, and coming to the realization that this build was going to be far harder than anticipated.
To that end, they set three rules for themselves, including that it has to look like a proper motocrosser, they can't go over budget, and obviously, it has to be done in time for the Weston race, which takes place October 3rd. But since we're in the middle of August, they've got some time.
Will they succeed? We'll have to wait and see, but that's a tall order to finish.
