Thinking of trading my V-Strom 650XT for the new Himalayan 450 – need your thoughts!

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FreeAgent

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Hey folks,
New guy here on the forum 👋 I’m in my fifties and only got my motorcycle license about a year and a half ago. Since then I’ve been absolutely hooked — put just over 30,000 km on my 2024 Suzuki V-Strom 650XT already. It’s been a fantastic all-rounder: smooth, reliable, comfy for long rides, and great on pavement.

That said… I’ve always had the itch to explore off-road a bit more. Nothing crazy, just the lighter stuff — gravel, forest service roads, maybe some Backcountry Discovery Routes (BDR) next season. The problem is, every time I think about taking the V-Strom into the rough, I remember how heavy it feels when things get loose. Dropping it solo on a rocky trail doesn’t sound fun. 😅

So now I’m seriously considering trading it for the new Royal Enfield Himalayan 450 (2026 model). From what I’ve seen and read, it looks like a much more manageable package off-road — lighter, simpler, and that new Sherpa 450 engine seems pretty solid.

Before I make the jump, I wanted to hear from folks who’ve been there:
  • Has anyone here moved from a midweight ADV like the V-Strom to the Himalayan 450 (or something similar)?
  • How’s the Himalayan on longer highway stretches — still comfortable enough for a few hours at 100–110 km/h?
  • Any concerns about reliability or long-distance touring with the RE?

I know the V-Strom is a “forever bike” for many, and honestly, it’s been great to me. But I’m wondering if a lighter dual-sport might better match where I want to go next with my riding.

Appreciate any input or first-hand experiences — especially from other riders who came to this later in life and are figuring out the balance between comfort, weight, and capability.

Ride safe everyone!
 
I've ridden a V-Strom 650 for a season, but haven't ridden the new Himmie 450 yet, but it's on my test-ride list. Rode the outgoing version (411), it's a right old POS, quality-wise and handling-wise IMO. Heard good things about the 450, but most of it is from the moto press and they've been known to be paid shills.

On paper and depending on the source, it's about 25-35 lbs lighter than the V-Strom 650XT. May not seem like a lot and the question is, is it worth the $$$ to switch for that little weight loss and give up the smoothness of the Strom's twin-cylinder engine for a vibey thumper, especially for the paved sections of your ride? It really depends on where the weight is, whether it's high (bad) or low (better). Not only does that affect maneuverability, but also picking the bike up when its lying flat on the ground.

I've done several BDRs on my 250lb EXC500 and one on my 500lb DDX and unless you're riding with a buddy, I'd go with the much lighter bike. Not all BDRs are rated the same difficulty, and unless you're Chris Birch, I wouldn't attempt the SoCal BDR on anything less than a DR650/690/701. For most mere mortals, that's a plastic bike trail. By contrast, WABDR can be done on a R1250GS, and the MABDR can be done on a Road King, IMO...

My take on this is that there is no unicorn bike. What makes a bike good on the trails makes it bad on the tarmac and vice versa. If you're aiming for a one-bike solution, my advice is to be honest about where your focus is, and enjoy a great bike on that surface and live with a terrible bike on the other kind.

My buddy rides 90% trails, so he opted for the EXC500 as his one-and-only. Asphalt to him is just a way to get from trail-to-trail without having to trailer the bike. He's done dual-sport rides and suffers greatly on the pavement sections, but he kicks the ass of the 690/701 guys on the trails, and that's what he loves.

Also interested to hear from someone who's actually ridden a Himalayan 450 on the trails, and what the strong and weak points are.
 
Watch Itchy Boots on YouTube...she rode one around the world and has a great video on her overall thoughts...there's a dealer in Acton, Old Vintage Cranks, that I believe allow a test ride (at least they did back in 2016 when I was looking at them)...
 
Lightcycle said:
I've ridden a V-Strom 650 for a season, but haven't ridden the new Himmie 450 yet, but it's on my test-ride list. Rode the outgoing version (411), it's a right old POS, quality-wise and handling-wise IMO. Heard good things about the 450, but most of it is from the moto press and they've been known to be paid shills.

On paper and depending on the source, it's about 25-35 lbs lighter than the V-Strom 650XT. May not seem like a lot and the question is, is it worth the $$$ to switch for that little weight loss and give up the smoothness of the Strom's twin-cylinder engine for a vibey thumper, especially for the paved sections of your ride? It really depends on where the weight is, whether it's high (bad) or low (better). Not only does that affect maneuverability, but also picking the bike up when its lying flat on the ground.

I've done several BDRs on my 250lb EXC500 and one on my 500lb DDX and unless you're riding with a buddy, I'd go with the much lighter bike. Not all BDRs are rated the same difficulty, and unless you're Chris Birch, I wouldn't attempt the SoCal BDR on anything less than a DR650/690/701. For most mere mortals, that's a plastic bike trail. By contrast, WABDR can be done on a R1250GS, and the MABDR can be done on a Road King, IMO...

My take on this is that there is no unicorn bike. What makes a bike good on the trails makes it bad on the tarmac and vice versa. If you're aiming for a one-bike solution, my advice is to be honest about where your focus is, and live with a great bike on that surface and a terrible bike on the other kind.

My buddy rides 90% trails, so he opted for the EXC500 as his one-and-only. Asphalt to him is just a way to get from trail-to-trail without having to trailer the bike. He's done dual-sport rides and suffers greatly on the pavement sections, but he kicks the ass of the 690/701 guys on the trails, and that's what he loves.

Also interested to hear from someone who's actually ridden a Himalayan 450 on the trails, and what the strong and weak points are.
Click to expand...
Thanks for making those excellent points. I just came back from a 10000km trip riding Toronto to Los Angeles and back. My initial plan was to ride a segment of the Colorado BDR and a segment of Death Valley but once the bike was fully loaded with my hard pannier, tailbag, tank bag and crash bar bags, it became way too top heavy. Plus i was riding solo and prefer riding solo in the future. Another challenge was the lack of cruise control on those long interstates road and for my style of riding a cruise control will be a must on my next bike. Some guys in India were able to drop the Himi down to 176kg and there is another one in England doing the same and i am interested in this. Thanks again for sharing your thoughts.
 
ifiddles said:
Watch Itchy Boots on YouTube...she rode one around the world and has a great video on her overall thoughts...there's a dealer in Acton, Old Vintage Cranks, that I believe allow a test ride (at least they did back in 2016 when I was looking at them)...
Click to expand...
Thanks, i saw the video on the Himalayan and i was overall positive despite some electronic issues which i think can be rectified by adjusting the frame rate of your camera. I think the dealer in Toronto is closer to me but given the recent snow, it think i will go for a test ride next year unless we have some good weather before that.
 
As Lightcycle suggested, be honest with yourself on how offroadie you're going to realistically get as there's tradeoffs.
The 650XT is fairly chunky but with decent tires it'll easily do any forest service roads and doubletrack trails.
Once you start venturing offroad you'll quickly realize if you want to stay fairly vanilla with service roads or get hooked and want a more dedicated weapon.
 
FreeAgent said:
My initial plan was to ride a segment of the Colorado BDR and a segment of Death Valley but once the bike was fully loaded with my hard pannier, tailbag, tank bag and crash bar bags, it became way too top heavy. Plus i was riding solo and prefer riding solo in the future.
Click to expand...

To @Hardwrkr13's point, "off-road" is such a sliding scale of difficulty/gnarliness. It'll help your shopping to narrow down what that means for you personally.

At DV, I've done Titus Canyon and Racetrack Playa and they're very big-bike friendly routes - doable on a R1250GS. You don't need a Himmie 450 for those. But there are sections around Chloride City I'd be wary of tackling on a larger bike, especially solo.

Contrast this to COBDR. I've ridden a lot of the fun sections, like Engineer Pass and Cinnamon Pass, so I trailered the cheater bikes (500EXC and FE501) down. It would have been very challenging on a V-Strom. At least for me - I'm not the best off-road rider. This is mainly because of the limitations of the Strom's road-biased suspension. If you're shopping to replace the Strom with a Himmie450 to do those kind of trails, I'd focus on the suspension and ground clearance, not the wet weight when you're test-riding it.

FreeAgent said:
Another challenge was the lack of cruise control on those long interstates road and for my style of riding a cruise control will be a must on my next bike.
Click to expand...

I know some people will consider it a deal-breaker if a motorcycle doesn't come with cruise-control straight from the factory, but I think it's a shame if you pass over a great-riding and handling bike when there are both mechanical and electronic aftermarket solutions which can add cruise control to most motorcycles:


Example of mechanical CC: Atlas throttle lock
Example of electronic CC: Veridian Cruise for Himalayan 450

Even if a bike's handling is "good enough for now", you may realize your demands on the motorcycle were greater than you initially thought after riding it for just a short while.

It's much easier and cheaper to spend $20-$500 to add CC to a superior handling bike, than it is to spend $1000-$5000 on upgrades and replacement to suspension, wheels and geometry on a poorer handling bike, but comes with CC from the factory.

Just my humble opinion. There are *many* people with differing priorities and use cases with a different take on this.
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