ROYAL ENFIELD SLIDE SCHOOL
P88
Feature
While the bikes may seem like
they're better designed to hit
rugged mountains in India, the
Royal Enfield Himalayan actu-
ally provides a good base point
to learn dirt track fundamentals.
They're about one and a half
times the weight of a 450 single
and have less than half the mus-
cle at "around 25 horsepower."
As such, they are ultra-sensitive
to body position inputs for both
corner entry and exit, but equally
won't throw you too hard if you
get it all wrong, especially when
getting hard on the throttle.
I have done a bit of flat track
stuff in the past, so the style is
not totally foreign to me, but it's
always foreign if you're not do-
ing it regularly. My biggest thing
was trying to look and figure
out where I was looking. I could
get the motorcycle into a corner
pretty well, I was good on the
rear brake, but it's that transition
of getting the elbows up, turning,
and then pushing away from the
corner that was my weak point.
It's amazing what you can do with
your upper body and how you
can use it to turn the bike. This
is an extremely challenging sport
but hugely addictive at the same
time.
Lewis' coaching method is
calm and methodical, and I could
feel a few of his many lessons
starting to sink in with more laps.
I had far more fun on the Enfield
than I originally thought I would,
and I'd highly recommend check-
ing out the Royal Enfield Slide
School if you want to get your
feet wet in dirt track racing. CN
Despite the weight
and overall lack of
horsepower, the Royal
Enfield Himalayan is
an excellent base for a
flat track training tool.
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