The upright seating posture gives you a good commanding view of the road ahead, with wide, flat handlebars giving you a great grip when it comes to steering. We have always been in awe of how well packaged the Himalayan is. On top of that, the knobby tyres do make the front feel a little wishy-washy if you get too aggressive in the corners - basically, it’s a little difficult to figure out what the front tyre is doing when leaned over. The large 21-inch wheel adds a lot of stability to the motorcycle, but it also means that steering it at speeds requires a bit of effort. It offers a supple ride with the suspension tuned to perform brilliantly in our conditions. On the other hand, the Himalayan’s long travel suspension soaks up the harshest of bumps. This is down to the vague steering (due to the large rake) and front-heavy nature of the motorcycle. But while it does turn in quickly, you cannot expect to throw it from one corner to the next easily. Of the two motorcycles here, the Dominar is the more corner-friendly motorcycle. It still is a bit too stiffly sprung with a quick rebound setting. The fat USD forks soak in the bumps well, but we are still not too happy with the rear monoshock. With a KTM 390 Duke-sourced front-end, the new Dominar 400 does offer a better ride. Preload adjustable monoshock, 180mm travel

Preload adjustable monoshock, 110mm travel The vibrations from the motor still exist, but have been curbed significantly. It also has an extra gear and slipper clutch, both of which help its rideability. You can run a gear higher into the bends which is not the case with the Himalayan.

Not only does the Dominar sit comfortably at 100kmph in sixth gear, but it also has enough drive to get going beyond 120-130kmph.

It is the happiest when you are cruising at 90kmph. However, it does struggle to get to 100kmph and does not like it much when you try to go faster. This, in turn, has helped in cutting down those heavy-hitting thumps of the old carb version. Also, thanks to fuel injection, the 410LS motor has a more linear power delivery now.

And although it might not be the more tractable option of the two, it certainly is the easy-going option. The power deficit of the Himalyan forces you to do everything that much slower. It is not surprising that the Dominar outclassed the Enfield in every department in our performance tests. 411cc single-cylinder SOHC air-cooled with oil-cooler

2019 royal enfield himalayan reviews