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The BEST Mod for Himalayan 411 - Performance and tension free touring Aluminium Rims with Tubeless conversion Long term review
Posted on by Abhishek Daniel

Aluminium Rims – Best Mod for the Himalayan 411

The best and the most value for money mod I’ve done to my Himalayan 411 so far – Aluminium Rims. Here’s why.

After test riding the new Himalayan 450 and deciding to stick with my 411, I thought of putting in more money to improve Nino, my Himalayan. By now I had already installed performance mods like the BMC air filter, PowerRage exhaust, NGK iridium sparks, FuelX and the TEC cam shaft. I had made up my mind that anything that I add from now on would give me diminishing returns for the money spent and so I was cautious on what I spend next.

By this time I had come back from my trip to Rajasthan where in I suffered punctures twice. So next thing I was looking for tubeless conversion. I consulted Bhushan from TopGear Thumpers in Bangalore and he advised me to get the Aluminium Rims from the new 450 and convert it to tubeless as the stock steel rims fail fairly quickly in tubeless conversion.

So I got a pair of tubeless rims from RE and Bhushan converted the rear to tubeless and put a KTM 390 ADVs tyre profile Reise TourR to fit the new rear rim. Although I knew the rims were lighter, I wasn’t expecting much difference in anything. But the moment I took it out of the garage for a spin, my mind was blown!

The Aluminium rims make a hell lot of difference to the 411s handling. The bike feels a hell of lot lighter as soon as it starts moving, it becomes very flickable and easy to ride. It now rides more like an Xpulse. The initial pickup also improved owing to the reduction in the unsprung mass in the rear.

The bike felt so different in handling that I had to unlearn my 3 years of muscle memory in riding Nino and start learning the new and completely different feel of handling by riding slowly and steadily for a 1000 km at least. The bike is so damn fun to ride now. So responsive, so quick to manoeuvre and flick around the city traffic and on gravel road. On the highways at higher speeds, it’s still stable owing to the gyroscopic effect of the 21 inch front wheel but easily and effortlessly flickable when you want to quickly change lanes or overtake.

So far I haven’t noticed any cons to aluminium rims or the tubeless conversion using the way2speed solution. I installed a TPMS to monitor the air pressure and in the last 1000kms, it has dropped just 1 psi!.

Are the Aluminium Rims a value for money modification for the Himalayan 411?

Absolutely. I’d suggest every Himalayan 411 owner who’s not planning to upgrade their bikes for the next 2-3 years to swap their rims from the new 450 and you’ll be mind blown. The difference is night and day. Even if you don’t get any other performance mods, it’s fine. You aren’t missing out on anything great. But don’t miss out on these rims. Now take my words with a pinch of salt as this is the most expensive mod as well.

Cost of Aluminium Rims for the Himalayan 411

A pair of aluminium rims cost around 20k INR. Way2Speed conversion for the rear and front costs around 12k. The rear tubeless tyres from MRF or Reise costs around 3.5k for the rear. The Ceat Himalayan 450 front tubeless tyre costs 6.5k. Labour included it’d cost around 42k INR.

But I’d say its worth every rupee spent. Even if you don’t get the tubeless conversion, just get the aluminium rims and you won’t be disappointed. With the tubeless conversion, along with the handling, you’ll have less fear to venture out into the unknown.

Aluminium rims is by far the best mod and the most value for money mod I’ve done for my Himalayan. I’d 100% recommend it. You’ll be surprised what your Himalayan is capable of with those rims.

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