Performance and Handling
The bump in displacement and the addition of a sixth gear truly work in the Himalayan 440’s favour. It continues to be a very relaxed motorcycle to ride in the city. Strong low and mid-range torque facilitate the bike with great tractability, and you can chug along at slower speeds in higher gears without much drama. You can be in third or fourth gear at 30-40kmph and the motorcycle thumps its way forward confidently. Even overtaking doesn’t always require you to downshift.
The clutch, although still heavy, is lighter than the 411 and doesn’t cause much trouble, even after spending a few minutes in jam-packed traffic. The gearbox is fine too, but you tend to come across occasional false neutrals between 4th and 6th gears.
It’s on the open road that the improvement in its engine performance truly becomes evident. The motorcycle doesn’t feel as stressed at 100kmph as before. The vibrations are much more in control and the mirrors don’t buzz violently. Even overtaking doesn’t require a lot of planning and you just need to go one cog down to pull ahead of slower vehicles while riding at around 100kmph. Well, the motorcycle doesn’t even mind 120kmph, but that’s where the limit starts to approach.
When the time comes to slow down, the front brake delivers a decent bite with a lot of progression. Even the lever feel is on the softer side and you need to pull it all the way in to stop in emergency situations. At first, the braking performance may feel a bit underwhelming, but it’s acceptable for a bike that’s also meant to be ridden off-road. You tend to start judging the bite point pretty well in no time. The rear brake, meanwhile, offers great progression and sliding the rear out off-road isn’t scary at all.
With a 1460mm wheelbase and 199kg kerb weight, the Himalayan 440 is a long and heavy motorcycle, and that shows in the way it handles. Switching lanes requires a bit of effort and it feels lazy while going around corners. And if your inputs aren’t measured around bends, the suspension does feel a bit wallowy. That said, if you keep your inputs gentle and take on the twisties at a calm pace, the Himalayan is still a fun motorcycle. In fact, the top-notch comfort and heaps of torque in the lower revs make it an engaging bike to ride up a mountain road.
