Royal Enfield Himalayan 440 vs TVS Apache RTX 300: Price Comparison

The newly-launched Royal Enfield Himalayan 440 goes up against the TVS Apache RTX 300. The latter is a feature-packed and slightly more modern rival . Here is a look at how both the bikes compare on paper: 

Price 

All prices are ex-showroom, Chennai 

The Himalayan 440 is Rs 30,000 more expensive than the Base variant of the RTX 300. While the top-spec BTO variant of the RTX is Rs 5,000 more expensive than the Himalayan 440. 

Royal Enfield Himalayan 440 

The Himalayan 440 looks exactly like the older Himalayan 411. It gets a tall windscreen, a round LED headlamp, and an upright riding posture, giving it a proper adventure bike stance. 

The bike comes in 3 different rugged looking shades: Sela Black, Mustang Brown & Nelong White. If you are curious about them, take a closer look of these colours.

The bike is powered by a 443cc air/oil-cooled engine, which produces 25.4 PS and 34 Nm, and is paired to a 6-speed gearbox. It is a long stroke, low-revving engine that's expected to offer good low-end torque. This should come in handy while riding on off-road trails or filtering through traffic. 

It’s the same engine as on the Scram 440. From our experience of riding the Scram, the engine is tractable with a wide power band – thus frequent gear changes aren't necessary. We can expect the same from the new Himalayan 440.

The bike rolls on 21-inch front and 17-inch spoke wheels with tube tyres, giving the bike a proper adventure bike setup. It gets a long travel telescopic fork and a linked monoshock on the rear. The saddle height is quite accessible at 800 mm, while the ground clearance is 220 mm – enough to clear most of the obstacles, if taken on roads less travelled. The bike weighs 199 kg

On the features part, the bike keeps things simple. It gets a semi-digital console – an analogue speedometer with a digital inset that shows trip information, gear position, fuel gauge,  and more. Additionally, it features a USB type-C charger under the clutch to charge your devices on the go.

Safety features include switchable dual-channel ABS, where riders can turn off the rear ABS – a useful feature for those who plan to take the bike off-road.

TVS Apache RTX 300  

The TVS Apache RTX 300 is a large-looking, road-biased ADV, as compared with the Himalayan 440. The styling elements, such as the tall windscreen, knuckle guards and the slim rear section elevates the overall look of the adventure tourer. 

The motorcycle is powered by a 299cc liquid-cooled engine. It produces 36 PS at 9,000 rpm and 28.5 Nm at 7,000 rpm. That is 10 PS more and 5.5 Nm less than the Himalayan 440 – the peak figures also come in much higher in the rev range.  

The bike rolls on 19-inch front and 17-inch rear alloy wheels, signalling the bike’s  touring-focused setup. The bike is suspended on a 41 mm upside-down fork, and the rear is handled by a preload-adjustable monoshock. The BTO variant gets a fully adjustable front fork. Braking duties are handled by a 320 mm disc at the front, and the rear gets a 240 mm disc, which is an overall better braking hardware than the Himalayan. It weighs 180 kg, which is 19 kg lighter than the Himalayan 440.

It gets a seat height of 835 mm, which is much taller than the Himalayan, while the 200 mm of ground clearance is 20 mm less than the latter. 

The TVS Apache RTX 300 hosts a ton of features. It gets a 5-inch TFT display which includes Bluetooth connectivity, call/SMS alerts and turn-by-turn navigation. The top and the BTO variants get Google Maps mirroring and tyre pressure monitoring system (TPMS). The display can also store digital documents, which is an added convenience. 

The bike comes with 4 riding modes: Urban, Rain, Tour & Rally, which alters the power delivery according to the mode selected.  

On the safety front, the bike gets switchable dual-channel ABS and switchable traction control, which controls unwanted wheel spin on loose gravel surfaces. 

BikeDekho Says 

All said, both bikes make a strong proposition for people looking for an adventure motorcycle. Both the bikes will cater to different sets of audiences. The biggest difference between the two bikes is that Himalayan is more off-road biased as compared to the RTX, which is a more road-biased bike. 

The Himalayan offers a more utilitarian experience – tubed spoked wheels, no fancy electronic aids apart from dual-channel ABS, and mainly, its long-stroke engine with a punchy torque at lower revs. We’d suggest this bike if you plan to ride on highways and do some off-roading as well. 

The RTX 300 gets a more powerful liquid-cooled engine that makes its peak power quite high up in the rev range – makes it feel quite sporty. It also has a wide spread of features. With that, the RTX is more suited if you only plan to stick to well-paved roads, and maybe do some light, soft-roading. However, if you plan to get the most-equipped RTX, it’s going to cost you a bit more than the Himalayan, but a lower variant of the RTX is going to be a cheaper option. 

So it all boils down to your budget, and your intended use.