Tested: 450 Himalayan 3000km review

After selling my Honda 300L, summer 2024 I was all set to buy Enfield’s new Himalayan 450, but in tubeless it cost well over £6k; 10% more than the more unusual CFMoto 450MT. so I went Chinese and didn’t regret it. I sold the MT after 8 months/7000 miles and, still Himi-curious, just got back from eight days in the Moroccan Atlas with a mate on a pair of Himalayan rentals, covering 2900km.
My MT was a bit juicy for a 450cc, plus I knew at first sight its size would limit solo off-road exploration, even with the low seat height. Luckily, I did loads of that the previous winter on the 300L for my new Morocco 4 guidebook from which I span off the Trans Morocco Trail. I missed my 300’s go-anywhere ability, even if crossing Spain was a slog. Could a Him 450 pull off both? We were here to find out. I was in Morocco with Jon. We last rode together in 2003 on Desert Riders out as far as the northern Tenere’s Lost Tree.

I also owned the Him 411 a few years back and loved its ploddy thumper vibe; my sort of bike for slowly exploring trails, despite the weight being similar to the new 450. But I did get it transported to southern Spain and back which meant that like the 300L, it wasn’t a true contender as an all-round travel bike.

In a line: Economical, but heavy for what it is, we both agreed the Him was better off-road than on, but wasn’t great at either.

• Carries its mass low which results in good tracking and stability
• Low seat height, and can go lower still
• The economy of my 300, giving up 600km range
• Stock, the minimally adjustable suspension is pretty good
• Optional tubeless wheels (ours weren’t)
• Feels better made– and fixed many of the 411’s shortcomings
• No low-speed fuelling issues!
• Stock CEAT road tyres have at least 18,000km in them (which is annoying)
• Almost don’t need bar risers
• Centre stand – some added weight is worth having
• Tail rack and tank bars; ditto
• Shock preload easy to access (but I didn’t)

• Tanked up, it’s heavy and feels it on the trail
• Saddle soon gets uncomfortable
• Needs softer grips
• ‘Screen’ does nothing useful other than offer mounting points for something effective
• Display selection is a bit tiresome, and always resets
• Should an engine crash bar bend that easily?

Review
There are a couple of places renting Him 450s in Marrakech now. Ours had around 15,000km and cost €65/day with worn-out stock CEAT tyres (despite me requesting good tyres in advance). So far, so Moroccan. But both bikes looked in great nick and my bike had engine crash bars. And I have to confess: what I thought was an ugly bike in late 2023 now looks pretty good, even with the naff graphics.
I checked for a toolkit and was amazed to find something resembling a 1970s BMW or MZ. Everything’s there (below left), including an adaptor nut to remove the front wheel with the rear wheel wrench. What a shame the rental shop didn’t think it through and import tubeless models; I’d have happily paid more. We borrowed a rear tube, expecting to need it. With the seats off, I also noticed the height adjustment pegs on the front saddle (below right). I left mine on high which is still pretty low.

One annoyance was the USB-C charging port under the handlebar mounts. I was hoping for a regular USB2/3. I suppose I might have tried to buy an adaptor in Marrakech, but luckily my Garmin runs for up to two days on a battery, so I made do.
Sorry, but I didn’t waste my time trying to make the display’s Tripper mapping app work, even had my phone been Android, as it uses inadequate (for Morocco) Google Maps and can’t run offline.
Lifting the bike off the side stand and turning the bars, with tank ¾ full, the front end felt incredibly heavy, and even getting it onto the centre stand took quite a heave. It was a sign of things to come. We were on our way to Anergui, about 300km to the east, tucked in a remote High Atlas valley.

On the road the Him’s brakes were fine; the rear perhaps over leveraged, but ABS sees to that. The dash was clear enough, but doesn’t save settings afaict, and unlike Jon, I didn’t bother getting to grips with it. My gear change was nothing special, the clutch a bit heavy and the screen little more than a console G-string.
Jon and I were initially underwhelmed: the power-to-weigh ratio didn’t add up. We realised later we were on Eco mode which reduces power in the bottom four gears, though we were rolling along mostly in the upper two. And does 40-hp actually need softer power modes, or was it just a ‘because we can’ gimmick? On top of that, while looking wide and feeling soft, the saddle got painful after less than two hours and would remain so. Had 15,000 rental kms done the foam in? It didn’t feel like it, and had been the same on my 411 which I adapted with neoprene slabs and a Cool Cover. Shoulda brought my Skivvies.
This was the only part of our ride on fast, straightish roads. Perhaps the vibration might have eased up, but with no screen and my wind catching Bell lid, I didn’t have the urge to push on beyond 100kph and hold it there. Jon was the same.

The last 40km into Anergui follows the precipitous Assif Melloul gorge (above; video below) with some big drops into the river you’d not want to attempt. Getting weary, I did overcook it a couple of times – perhaps the ABS led me astray.
I even managed to poke a hole in the toe of my ageing TCX boots (left) without anything clouting the bike, far less spotting a sharp rock. I know the pegs are low, and sliding forward on the saddle points feet downwards, but this was a first for me. The wide gearing felt fine providing you kept it above 3000rpm. First was a tad tall as usual ~6-7kph @ tickover? – but clutch slipping and grunt pulled it round steep switchbacks.

Ouaouizaght to Anergui via Assif Melloul gorge

On arriving in Anergui we both decided the Him was better off-road than on, but it wasn’t great at either. The weight – 200 kilos with the 17-litre tank brimmed – is set low and combined with the low seat height made the Him stick to tracks like glue, but it still took a fair amount of effort to ride. The barely adjustable suspension felt good, especially the cartridge? forks. I could’ve backed off the rear rings a bit to reduce chattering, but neither end bottomed out during our ride. Nor did the bash plate scrape. We checked the tyre pressures, and dropped them from 36 to 30psi.

At the Anergui auberge we met up with Simon on his nicely set-up, over-bored TTR315 (left), as well as a couple of Germans on an AT and a 901 who’d both just discovered the TMT. They’d got here via TMT Stage N which had just become accessible again after months, but not without a few fall-overs. By November 2025 Stage N was rideable again. Until the next big storm.
I rarely visit Morocco this late in the season, but was staggered by the size of tourist bikes used out here. Maybe they weren’t all piste bashing, but as it is, regular mountain roads are often missing the surface or capped with dried mudslides, so a giant Adv trounces a giant tourer.
Old Man Norden said he was on his Last Bike Adventure, recognising he was becoming a bit of a liability. ‘Get a lighter bike!’ and give yourself another decade, we all thought. Feeling the same loss of ability, that’s what I’ve done.

On Day Two a rattle became evident under load. It had probably done it out of the shop but now unplugged, I could hear it. Jon’s bike was fine and his gear change was better too: I traced the latter down to a loose lever. It took a thread-stripping amount of cranking to close up the gap with a bit of added soap.
Over the next day or two we prodded various bits to try and pin down the noise: cush drive looser than Jon’s; tightened my chain (centre stand – yay!); loose rad or crash bars? Nope. Eventually I placed the rattle under the tank and, as it didn’t get worse or affect anything, I left it. Probably like the previous customer and the next one.

Both Jon and I were amazed how well the rubbish tyres tracked on dry trails, providing we backed in appropriately. In that way the low CoG is a benefit; light bikes can feel skittish. But my new thin gloves didn’t agree with the Him’s hard plastic grips combined with the need to manhandle the 450. Weeks later I still have calluses on my palms. Along with the seat, this discomfort may have jaded our impressions of the Enfield.

Economy
Having covered nearly 400km since filling up, in the Ait Boumengueze valley and with 50km range showing on the read-out, we took on a couple of litres. By the time we topped right up at the Kelaa servo next morning, I recorded 26.6kpl / 75mpg with a lot of steep and slow trails. That was already better than my MT ever managed.
The next fill up after crossing Jebel Saghro off-road and recrossing back to Dades came in at 34.5 kpl or 96mpg. These match the impressive 450 figures I’d seen bandied about and add up to a potential 600km range. I read that Acerbis have produced a 24-litre tank for the Him. Why bother? The final fill-up back in Kelaa after crossing and recrossing the High Atlas was around 86mpg / 30.5kpl which was the average. This frugality was partly what had attracted me to the new Him. And unlike my CF Moto, the low-rpm fuelling was spot on, while briefly over 3000 metres – nearly 10,000′ – the loss of power was barely noticeable at the sorts of speeds we were able to ride at.

Arriving in Imilchil the next night after long road ride recrossing Saghro and the High Atlas, it sure felt nice not to have been pummelled. Is it the weight of the bike, or my advancing years? Probably the latter, as others manage fine.

My impressions waxed and waned, but in the end settled on wane. Not helped by the discomfort, the Him wasn’t fulfilling all my expectations and Jon, who rides a 690SM, was even less impressed. Even with inner tubes, I was rather hoping the Him could become my fly-in rental hack to save me running a bike in the UK, but without improving the comfort, it’s not for me – the bane of WYRIWYG rentals.
Were I to own one, I’d fix the saddle, change the grips, fit an actual screen and change the shock and tyres. That’s pretty much a regular list you’d do to any bike – unless it’s a CFMoto 450MT, of course!

Still, all this grumbling didn’t stop Jon and me having a brilliant last couple of days in the High Atlas. We recce’d a new start to Stage N out of Imilchil that dodges a sometimes troublesome gully, then winged it off the map to discover a fabulous 50-km off-road crossing of the High Atlas back to the Dades valley, peaking at over 3000m. You really need to set the bike on full-power mode in this sort of terrain; the day or so we wasted in Eco we’ll never get back.

I was expecting the Him to be my sort of bike – more Trail than Adv which is the way my riding prefs are going – with better economy than the 450MT but still with enough grunt to chug around steep switchbacks. I also expected the lack of frontal bulk to make it less cushy on the road while giving an impression of greater agility on the piste. But for me, along with the discomfort, the weight just kills any benefits. The former could be fixed but the latter is largely there to stay and only increases once the bike gets outfitted for travel.
Looking back at my 411 review, they’ve fixed many of the flaws and even made the 450 more economical and a lot faster on the road. Yet, perhaps because I improved my 411, as we do with all our own bikes, I think I got on with my old Him better than this rental.

It was great to have tried the Him 450 on the sort or terrain I like to ride. My replacement is waiting for me on a farm up north and is a bike I’m quite excited about. What could it be?

Preview: 2026 Morini 450 Alltrhike (Vettore)

Serow 250: fitting £90 fork emulators

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Serow Index Page

When I think back to my early travels, the idea of doing anything more than just jacking up the shock to carry the load never occurred to me. With suspension, it has to be pretty terrible for you to notice, and for that to happen – or for good suspension to show it’s worth – you need to be either riding pretty fast, or hammering over rough terrain. If you don’t do much of either or don’t have up to a grand to spare (or have good, fully adjustable forks) it’s not worth it. But for under £100 it is possible to improve a non-adjustable fork’s damping action. And my Serow could do with some of that.

Can’t be bothered to read another word, but still curious? Watch the 12-min vid at the bottom

On our H.A.T recce in Morocco last November (left), right off the bat the Serow’s front end was all over the place on stony climbs. Notably worse than other bikes I’d ridden lately. It never bottomed out and the back end wasn’t sagging, so I presumed it was a combination of too stiff front tyre and negligible damping, that inscrutable function which controls spring rebound.
‘Spend a grand plus taxes on a full, US-imported Cogent front and rear Serow set up‘ they said. ‘Night and day or your money back!’ Cogent also do a fork kit with drop in emulator valves, replacement springs plus oil for around $400. I didn’t need a new spring or oil, only valves, just to end up with better, but still unadjustable forks. Next stop were Race Tech Gold Valves for $230 (FEGV 3311). Still quite a lot with import tax and all, and unlike Cogent, you need to drill extra holes in your damper rods (a lot of added work). You’ll find much online chat about the pros and cons of Cogent vs Race Tech emulators. Like here.
Long story short, widely sold in the UK YSS also do a range of emulator valves for just 90 quid (below). They’re not gold, and I’d need to drill the rods but as I needed a new fork seal anyway, it seemed worth a shot to DIY, even though I’d never taken forks apart before.

I’d heard of emulators but wasn’t really sure what they were. Turns out they’re easily fitted valves which enable conventional, archaic damper rod forks to ’emulate’ supposedly superior cartridge forks (Cart-what? For another time).
The valve (above left) is a preload adjustable spring loaded plunger which sits between the fork’s fixed damper rod and the spring (right). As forks compress, oil is pushed through the valve, opening the sprung valve which is otherwise closed. Oil flows through progressively relative to force, compared to static conventional damping rods with just a couple of drilled holes. The vid below made similar Race Tech installation on an XT500 look relatively easy. If only.
You need a set matching the internal diameter of your fork tube. For a Serow it wasn’t possible to find that info online, and guessing from the fork tube outer ø is sketchy (I now know…). The best way to verify your fork tube’s internal ø is to undo a fork cap, lift out the spacer/spring, and measure ID with some verniers. On the Serow fork ID was ~30mm – not my 31mm estimate. The 31s got sent back for exchange but never made it. But by chance I found some next-size-down YSS 29s used on ebay for half price. Weeks passed by for all these fascinating events to work themselves out.

If it was only as easy as the slick vid below with a well lit and superbly equipped workshop and dinky music tinkling in the background. Whip out the springs, tip out the effortlessly unscrewed rod, pop in the new valves and reverse the rest before damping progressively into the sunset. My damper rods didn’t slip out nicely (and wouldn’t have easily dropped back in, either) so the entire fork leg needed to be disassembled.
Unless using drop-in Cogent valves, you need to get your hands on the damper rod because additional holes must be drilled for oil to pass unfettered up to the new emulator valve. A hex bolt at the base of the fork secures the damper rod inside the lower fork. They’re notoriously tricky to remove because it’s like trying to undo a bolt from an unseen uncaptive nut without any means of restraining the nut.

‘Get a rattle gun’ I was advised (left; pneumatic impact driver), to ‘shock’ the allen bolt from the damper rod to which it’s been seized for the last 15 years.
I have an 80-bar compressor tank and found a 25 quid rattler on ebay – ker-ching. But air gun shock therapy wasn’t working. The rod was spinning inside – as you’d expect. A ha, I thought, I will ram a whittled stick in the other end to stop the rod spinning, lock it off with some Moles (below left), then apply rattle. That worked – eventually, but on reassembly it didn’t, so I deployed the ‘broom trick’ I’d seen mentioned online. Same idea: slide it down the fork tube to press against the damper rod top, then pull the trigger. Long arms or step ladder needed. All this seemed a bit less faff than entirely reassembling the fork (as suggested in the vid) to add tension to the rod for removal/refitting.

Much faffing later (have I mentioned faffing yet?) I had the forks in bits by which time I realised I could have fitted the new fork seal myself, not at the LBS.

Emulator ringed alongside damper rod prior to drilling. Fork spring spacer up top

To maintain your fork spring effective length & vpreload (FSEL&P) and not void your insurance, you need to saw off the effective height of the valve’s body – about an inch – from the spacer tubes so it all fits back together again (below). A fairly easy job even I’d find hard to mess up.

Next job was drilling several extra flow holes in the damper rods which normally have just a couple near the bottom. Like much of the Serow, this is 1970s technology, maybe older, but I suppose it worked well enough. Additional holes allow the oil to move up to the sprung emulator valve which controls the variable flow. Another thing I learned: on Serow forks the drilled rods pass through a close-fitting nylon collar at some stage of reassembly, so any protruding burrs left over from the drilling will lock the fork action. Grind the rods smooth to slide through the collar smoothly, then clean off any remaining swarf with solvent.
By now Christmas had come and gone, so had New Year and there were already chocolate eggs in the shops and daffs blooming. But I was getting close and the forks now slid smoothy in and out, like they should. I did the ‘broom trick’ as mentioned above to tighten the rods back onto the fork leg with the air gun, and was so amazed it worked first time, I stopped right there and took the rest of the day off before another cock up kicked me in the nuts.

“Refitting is the reverse sequence to removal.” to quote M Haynes, and amazingly, only one bolt had escaped in the weeks it took to complete a one-day task. But let’s snatch a positive from this elongated fiasco (above ;-): I’d leaned all about damper rod fork internals. Having avoided fork disassembly all these decades, I can now see they’re not so complicated, at least old-style RWU forks. USDs, who knows, but it’s said that, apart from fork seal weepage, they’re more complicated inside but are often higher spec and have adjustment, so emulation maybe not needed.
Amazingly, a simple circlip appears to hold the two parts of a leg together. Undo that and whack the two sections apart like a Christmas cracker to get to the seal or damper rod. Along with rod loosening, refitting a seal without damage and without the correct slide tool is probably the hardest job.
Deciding on fork oil weight and volume/height is another opportunity to tie yourself in knots of self doubt. I found several values online for the ‘XT250’ until I realised just measure the volume of watery, brown swill which poured out of the non-leaky leg – 350cc. On reassembly I poured in just 300cc of fresh 10W, thinking it’d be easier to add more if something felt very off, rather than try and suck some out. The damper and emulator valve is surely be submerged in the oil full time. I think oil volume is more to do with how much air remains in the forks and it’s effect on compression. Less air = more compression.

By the time I reached this climactic peak of enlightenment, the Serow’s previous owner got in touch, enquiring whether I knew anyone with a Serow Touring for sale. Someone must have told her I was a serial bike quickshifter! With Morocco snowed out and me elsewhere this winter, a deal was made and a date was set. I topped up the leaky rear tubeless tyre and took the Serow out for one last ride along Purbeck’s flooded lanes.
The forks felt the same – fine on normal roads, as before. No great surprise. I’d need to find a rocky climb to see if the front responded any better, but right now what few local lanes I knew around here where probably knee-deep in mud or carpets of rotting leaf sludge. On these tyres? I don’t think so.

So I puttered merrily around the Purbeck Hills I usually cycle in the summer and tried to think what could replace the agreeable Serow. As I did so, the sweet aroma of mud thrown up onto the hot pipe took me right back to my earliest days dicking about on Surrey wastelands with ratty trail bikes (left).
What trail bike was as light, low saddled, semi-tubeless, economical, started on the button and came with racks and a screen? Probably my CRF300L a couple of bikes back, but look at the huge amount of spending and work it required to reach that stage. I guess that’s why these old Serows hold their value.

My 3 Innovations for 2026

Quick look: Rhinowalk 48L Saddle Bags

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IN A LINE
Inexpensive basic 500D PVC throwovers with more straps than the gimp in Pulp Fiction.

WHERE TESTED
Nowhere really.

COST & WEIGHT
£110 unused off ebay (from £140 new). 2900g est.

WHAT THEY SAY (shortened)
✔ EXCELLENT WATERPROOF: The motorcycle saddle bag is made of 500D PVC tarpaulin material, which is 100% waterproof and the most stand wear and tear motorcycle material. The roll-up design provides waterproof guarantee while supporting quick opening and closing.
✔ LARGE CAPACITY FOR DAILY NEEDS: Waterproof motorcycle bag is specially designed for those who like to travel by motorcycle, outdoor adventure. 2 side pockets with a total of 24L large capacity to meet your daily needs.
✔ STAND WEAR AND TEAR MATERIAL: Different from ordinary waterproof material, we use PVC tarpaulin as motorcycle bag shell material, which is stand wear and tear and suitable for daily use. High-density PVC resists dust and is easy to clean.

Cheap
Light
Simple
Loads of long strapping
Can mount low and forward with a rack
Inner padding may be OK without a rack

500D PVC is not particularly thick
May not survive heavy loads off road
Understraps for more external gear get in the way
Despite rackless claim, best with a rack in this XL size

REVIEW
Rackless side bags from the well-known soft luggage manufacturers have been a thing for years. It will vary from bike to bike, but without a rack they have to be mounted high, almost on the side of the seat (right), to stop them swinging about into the wheel or bouncing on the pipe.
For better handling on the trail, low and forward is the way I like to do it, like the Kriega OS18 resting on the pillion footpeg on last year’s 450MT. Sadly this rackless innovation went unnoticed in the biking world.

My Serow Touring came stock with light side racks (left). They’re a bit far back (like so many racks) but are just the job to support throwovers which would otherwise swing into the wheel or melt on the pipe. Without a rack you’d need to hang them high on the side of the seat to avoid swinging, but that means a higher mass; less good for handling.
I was eyeing up these Rhinos for a while and got a barely used XL set on ebay, at 24L a side. The rationale being I won’t need any other bags bar a tank bag (though I admit, many bags or pockets makes quick day-access easier). As one reviewer observed, they’re like a pair of giant socks, the upper part rolling down to clip down the sides and over the top

Lashing on was dead easy once you get your head round the mass of long straps. (Better too long than too short.) Over the seat, I removed the unnecessary padding sleeves and cinched them up through a loop in my tail rack with cam and clip plastic buckles I’ve not seen before. At the lower ‘toe’ end, another ridiculously long strap loops through the pillion peg mount, or is long enough to go round the main frame to connect back to a metal cam lock buckle.
As said, at the back my over-seat straps went through the tail rack to stop them sliding forward. But there’s another metal buckle at the ‘back ‘heel’ of each bag to do the same job. Use a loose strap supplied to cross and loop over the tail rack (or whatever you got) from one rear bag’s rear cam buckle to the other.
Instead, I used a knotted offcut from the front strap to lash this rear point to my rack to better support it all Once bouncing loaded up along the trail, the more weight you can take off the over-seat straps the better.

There are also some long straps for lashing more gear on the outside under the bags, like the tripod shown right. But unsupported, I can’t see anything staying there for long (or staying clean) on the trail. Molle webbing would be better, or a pocket. Or just lash on top where it’ll stay put.

The honeycomb padding on the inner surface (left) claims to resist 160°C and looks OK but once splattered with gritty mud will rub on your plastics if you’ve no rack. On the trail I was not expecting to carry more than 10kg in each bag which ought to make them last. But in the end Mosko Moto sent me some of their new Alpine R60s to try so I went with them and resold the Rhinos.

Serow Touring XT250 1000 mile review

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Serow index page

• Economy: often over 100mpg so 300km range from the 9.3-litre tank
• 19hp was never really an issue, even at 11,000′ (when it became 12hp)
• Looks good
• As light as you’ll get for a regular trail bike
• Windscreen frame enabled near eye-level Garmin mounting which made a difference
• Came well equipped with racking and TL rear wheel
• Seat is low
• Starts and fuels with no fuss whatsoever
• No vibration through bars or pegs
• Mosko bags did the job unobtrusively

• Something was wrong with the front end
• I’m too big for this bike and couldn’t stand comfortably (common issue)
• Seat (or pants) need added padding
• Some days the TL rear tyre lost air, some it didn’t
• Ultra basic and barely legible LCD display
• Bigger footpegs needed a longer shifter with big boots/feet
• Front TL Kenda Big Block too stiff for this light bike

Review
On reflection, I was a bit slack preparing my Serow. It ticked so many boxes and was a ‘XT’ after all, I assumed it would do the job, like most XTs do. But after 10 days on the High Atlas Traverse (H.A.T) I can see how it could be improved for off roading.
Ascending the first dirt track – one I’ve done many times on many bikes – I could feel something was wrong. The front end flapped around rather than tracked straight like the Him 450 I last rode. It took a while to work out it was probably a combination of too stiff Kenda TL tyre at too high psi, plus probably what’s left of decade-old fork oil.

They say 250 Serow forks in particular are not so hot, but I was fooled by them being firm (they never bottomed out). They also say a $400 Cogent spring, oil and valve kit fixes that and – as a Serow owner I know will affirm – add their $800 shock and you’re sorted.

I now see RaceTech (also in the US) sell just the cartridge emulating valves (left) for around $230 + all the usuals, while in the UK Brooks sell similar Thai YSS valves for £84. I’ve read of these emulators without actually understanding exactly how they work but after watching this RT installation vid, I get it. Seeing as the forks are apart for a new seal and gaiter, I gave the YSS valves a shot.
Back in Morocco, even once the front tyre was dropped to 19psi, a lot of energy was spent keeping this thing on line on the steep, loose climbs of the H.A.T. Luckily, minimal weight and the easy-going motor producing its own ‘traction control’ made this possible. And elsewhere the Serow was fine.
I have to say the rationalising above still sounds a bit thin. I’m sure I’ve ridden ill-damped and poorly tyred bikes before, but something – maybe rearward weight distribution or my weight overall? – was off, though I was nowhere near the 160kg max payload stated in the manual. I see one bloke fitted an ebay steering damper to his Serow. They do say pricey off-road dampers like the Scott are enhancements rather than there to disguise unstable steering. I dismissed the notion that the weight of the hefty front rack and screen were an issue (that wrapped cloth bundle below is only a 500g bike cover, fyi). Really, it’s got to be a grand of Cogent springing that transforms the Serow – just like a grand’s worth on the CRF 300L did the same.

Sorted, carb’d TTR350 was dynamically loads better but ‘only’ did 75mpg, and you can see how much taller it is

Still, it’s amazing how adequate 19hp turned out to be – especially when vanned all the way down to KM Zero! Even up in the H.A.T Death Zone where only hardy microbes survive, the XT was never left wanting, even if it couldn’t pull beyond first at 10,000′. All motors lose power at altitude, but I like to think it’s the reliably even fuel injection which makes the scant power effective.
This lowly output must have contributed to economy of up to 108mpg or over 38kpl. An all-time record for me. The worst was about 88/31 and the average was 98/34.7, though exact figures probably got muddied by village fuel top-ups.

A low-slung chariot. Dropping outriggers and getting on – no problemo

The soft, low-down power meant the gearing didn’t feel under any strain, though 1st to 2nd had a bit of a gap and a 6th would have been nice. The narrow rear Anakee Wild was well matched for the pace and load, and probably helped keep the mpg in three figures.

Near identical and new non-Euro XT250s are easily rented in Morocco, but have tubes all round.

Having ridden ABS for years, I think my once finely honed braking finesse has suffered. Part of the problem was I was so squashed up that, unless sitting right back and upsetting the ride balance even more, my feet point down so that accurately modulating the rear brake was more than my Sidi clad ankles could do. Well, that’s my excuse. Were the seat a lot taller the knee angle would open up, the bum would go back and the feet would level off. And though I rarely stand, when you need to you must, but even with the risers fitted the stoop was not sustainable. Higher bars would need longer cables – a faff. And along with the stoop, the suspension probably didn’t inspire confidence to stand up and attack (that and a very sore leg from a needless lowside).

Another ergo problem I’ve never had before was caused by fitting bigger pegs for better standing support on the boor soles. It reduces the peg to shifter space (below) which, with brick-like Sidi Adventures, makes up-shifting awkward. But it seems I’m not the first to notice this, and adjustable shifters are available (below right). My oh my it’s amazing what you learn after a few full days on the trail!

As noted on previous AMH project bikes, stock suspension is commonly only adequate and technically dead simple to improve, compared to a motor. But I think I prefer the feel of a low-comp but injected air-cooled engine over a CRF, just like I preferred the CRF over the highly strung WR250R. The Serow has a mellow donkey feel which suits my slow/remote exploring prefs these days.

Serow 19hp and 140kg; TTR350 29hp and the same; KTM 390 170kg and 44hp.

Shaky front end apart, the Serow fulfilled its intended purpose: an easy bike to manage the unknown trails of the H.A.T. It started on the button, fuelled cleanly and never missed a beat. In places on the H.A.T, last year’s 450MT would have too much to handle. But while it could be easily improved, the Serow’s still a bit small for me.

Quo Vadis
Quo what? A KTM 490 X or R perhaps? or I wonder if I should take another spin on a Himalayan 450, a bike I expected to like but didn’t. It’s certainly my size and has great range, but manages to clock in with nearly 50% more weight. Not much you can do about that and heavy bikes do take it out of you over a day on the piste (improved suspension might ease the beating). I may try and rent one again.

A more stupid idea is adapting Honda’s air-cooled and injected GB350S (above left) into a travel bike. Everyone seems to love this 21-hp, Indian-built Honda ‘Bullet’. But I can guaran-damn-tee, I won’t be able to stand up on that without apehangers. And while supposedly as economical as the Serow, it weighs 178kg. I’ve never actually seen one; maybe it’s also too small for me.
That motor’s been around for years but when hiding behind retro styling you can get away with a low output. So not much chance of them spinning off a soft Adv, like Triumph have done with the more highly strung Scrambler 400XC (above right). The XC is also tubeless but is only 10kg lighter than a Him 450, won’t have anywhere near the economy or range and costs nearly double the GB. Both are tubeless. How lucky we are to have all these choices.

	Morini Alltrhike 450	CF Moto 450 (Ibex)	BMW F450GS 420cc	Honda NX500 471cc, E-Clutch 2026
Price new UK	£5300	£5700	£7000	£7000
Dry/wet weight	190/204kg	183/195kg *verified	167/178kg	187/199kg
Seat height	33″/840mm adj	32.5″/825mm *adj	33″/840mm adj	32.7″/830mm adj
Tank volume	18.5L	17.5L *	14L	17.5L
Engine / power	P-twin 270° 44hp	Same	P-twin 135° 48hp	P-twin 180° 47hp
Service intervals	6000km	4500km	10,000km	12,800km
Pairable nav	Yes	No	Yes?	Yes
Adj seat and screen	Yes	Yes	Option?	No
Connectivity	USB	USB and USB-C	USB-C	Option
Centre stand	Yes	Option	Option?	Option
Wheels	18/21 spoked tubeless	Same	17/19 cast tubeless	17/19 cast tubeless
Suspension	USD KYB 41mm/ 208mm, fully adj Rear KYB 190mm, preload and rebound	Same	Fully adj, USD 43mm and rear. 180mm F&R	USD 41mm, shock preload only. 133/119mm F&R
Brakes	Disc F&R (rear ABS switchable)	Same	Brembo / ByBre Disc F&R with ABS	Dual front discs ABS

Adventure Motorcycling Handbook

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