That is the problem in the SF Bay Area. Any dirt roads are either private or controlled by government agencies and reserved for the use of hikers, mountain bike riders or horseback riding. Powered vehicles of any kind, even electric-boosted bicycles, are not allowed and their riders subject to arrest in public opens paces. Therefore around here the Himalayan would be stuck on paved roads and would have to travel for over a hundred miles at freeway speeds to get to any interesting and legal dirt roads and would have to travel much further to get to single-track trails. 
The Himalayan is just not designed for hours of long freeway travel like that. What it needs is a larger engine with more oomph for the U.S. market, in my opinion.
This isn't the first time I've heard talk of upping the Himi to a twin, maybe slotting in some version of the new 650 engine. Still, I imagine its present thumpy little single has its very own virtues, like a Bullet, with more than enough all-'round talent to get a fellow with his tent and beans from Pacifica smartly on down around the trails-rich San Jose or Hollister areas to catch some
"ridin' dirty" of a weekend. Google Maps' "Avoid Highways" option will get you most pleasantly to your
happy places in no time.
As for me, I can't really make a virtue of necessity. The little "off-road riding" I've done wasn't ever really by choice. Having once lived in a Scottish farmhouse more than a mile from the nearest road and later grid-searching the boonies of the Texas Hill Country for dwellings for the U.S. Census, my knocking around the rocks wasn't ever really a "recreational goal". But fair play to those who do seek out the mud and slime. The Himi should get you there and home again on a tight budget. Why, in no time at all the wife will be hosing you down out back by the petunias before letting you set foot back inside.
"There are my headphones! Sweet!"
Topic: Very good Himalayan review (Read 5231 times)