Royal Enfield Himalayan Mana Black 450 review

Royal Enfield Himalayan 450 Mana Black review

While the Himalayan 450 (Himi) has been available to punters down under for 18 months or thereabouts, I hadn’t had the opportunity to throw the leg over one until now. But plenty of Aussies have and have obviously liked what they saw! I’m told they’ve shifted close to 5,000 of them during that time, which is a remarkable effort for such a small market globally.

Royal Enfield Himalayan 450 Mana Black joins the line up

I’d ridden its main competitors, the CFMOTO 450MT and the KTM Enduro 390 R, at their respective launches; So when Trev offered me the chance to try out the newest variation of the Himi – the Mana Black – in the Victorian High Country, I shot my hand up somewhat smartly.

The goal here was to fill in the missing piece of the lightweight Adventure puzzle so I could give you my honest take on the segment that has really come to life in the past couple of years.

Ostensibly, the Mana is mechanically the same as the base Himi, albeit with a new Black livery, a rally seat, handguards, a rally rear guard and sideplates, a rear grab strap, and a handlebar pad; and it comes set up with tubeless tyres out of the box.

Royal Enfield Himalayan 450 Mana Black

The rest of the bike remains the same, so we’re talking:

• Single-cylinder Sherpa 450 cc engine that makes 40 hp and 40 Nm
• 195 kg kerb weight
• 200 mm of travel at both ends via Showa
• 230 mm of ground clearance
• Relatively low seat height of 860 mm
• 17 L tank good for a range of around 400 km
• Stylish retro vibes

Royal Enfield Himalayan 450 Mana Black

On paper, the numbers already look pretty good. But numbers can lie, or at the very least not tell the whole story. I’m not sure why, but it turns out I’d underestimated how good the little Himi is…

First Impressions

If you haven’t seen one in the metal and had a decent look at it, you might be surprised when you do. I reckon it’s one of those bikes that look better up close than in pics. Nicely proportioned, nicely styled, nicely finished. No, it’s not a bike with a build quality that’s off the charts, nor is it dripping with unnecessary bling. But the build quality looks more than solid. No complaints there.

There are some tidy-looking options available in the luggage department, too. Good sturdy racks and what appear to be decent-looking hard-cases, if that’s your thing – Making it quite the adaptable bit of kit. I reckon my rackless saddle bags would have fit on quite nicely…

I really like the retro vibes. It’s not trying to be something that it’s not. It’s an honest, no-nonsense, dual-purpose adventure bike. And between you and me, I’m starting to think I could have a bit of Scrambler type goodness in my life…

Royal Enfield Himalayan 450 Mana Black at home on any surface

Throwing the leg over showed the rally seat was nice and low. Easy flat feet on the deck make for more confident riders when you know terra firma is only a short dab away when things get a little tricky, so that’s a big tick.

Though I confess my eyes went straight to the OEM-fitted, somewhat road-oriented tyres and assumed we’d be sticking to fairly mundane gravel roads. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Turns out the boys had already dropped them to 20 psi, and we were aiming towards 4WD and logging tracks in the hills around Mt Beauty. Luckily, the tracks were dry!

Much fun was had in the hills and logging tracks around Bright, Vic

Born in the Mountains…

The ‘Mana’ element of the name refers, of course, to the famous Mana Pass in India. A challenging stretch of road that sits more than 5,500 metres above sea level. So it should have been no surprise that the Himi is a bit of a Mountain Goat…

That little single feels equally at home on the trails as it does on the road. It has an old-school feel about it that I like. Nice and strong down low and in the mid-range, it growls from the airbox when you give it full noise off the bottom too.

If this kind of shenanigans is your bag, you might be surprised how well the Himi handles it…

Get it up closer to the limiter, and it starts to rattle a little and let you know you’re about to hit the limiter. It doesn’t sound mechanically amazing up there, but it still punches hard enough to let you use those extra revs when you need to. Fuelling is damn near perfect throughout the rev range, and it’s all but un-stallable.

However, I noticed one scenario a handful of times. Occasionally, there is a tiny amount of throttle overrun when rolling off the gas. To be fair, most times it’s barely perceptible. But when you find yourself picking your way down a steep rocky hill and roll off the throttle to grab a little of that front brake, you definitely notice when the engine is still giving you a little when you’re expecting some engine braking to help pull the bike up…

That suspension was far more composed than I had thought it would be

That only happened a few times, and we’re only talking a very small amount of overrun, but it’s definitely there and is one of only two things I’d like to see addressed.

But back to the tyres. I certainly didn’t expect them to find traction the way they did up what were some pretty steep fire trail sections. It’s a reminder that pressure plays such an important part when getting rowdy off-road. Just remember to put pressure back in them before punting hard back on the sealed stuff (where it’s also plenty agile and composed).

River crossings proved no problem either, the little 450 having plenty of low down torque

The biggest surprise? Suspension.

The other element in finding traction came from what was arguably the biggest surprise for me: the suspension. Both ends. While not adjustable up front and only adjustable for preload in the rear, they’ve done a great job of tuning the Showa suspension. Really nice and plush at the top of the stroke, but with a surprising amount of control when under load towards the bottom.

It’s so plush and comfortable that I immediately assumed it was going to be too soft for anything remotely lively off-road. Not so. It will bottom out if you’re pushing the limits and launching hard off things, but ridden as I’d expect most riders would ride it ‘normally’, it has surprising capabilities.

El sendo picks out his landing spot…

That plushness allows plenty of weight transfer on climbs and descents, helping you find grip. I was reminded of the CRF300 Rally. That bike, while being very much undersprung for any spirited riding, will cruise up a tough, loose climb barely spinning a wheel, where other bikes will falter. Plushness can be an asset on technical climbing.

That really stood out towards the end of the first day, when I joined the lead Chas Hern and the sweep rider Josh Farrell, attacking some serious logging tracks. We were chasing some good sunset ridgetop drone footage and decided to go via climbs I’d not usually tackle on my own on Adventure bikes (bear in mind I do a lot of my riding solo, so keep a bit of a risk buffer up my sleeve). These climbs were about as gnarly as I’d want to tackle on a 200-odd-kilo bike.

And that’s when the second thing I’d tweak was highlighted. I found the gap between first and second gear was probably a little too wide in some off-road circumstances. It meant making a choice on some climbs between revving the ringer in first or lugging it out in second.

Some of the steeper climbs and water bars would have been easier with an ever-so-slightly-shorter second gear

The scenario in question was some properly steep climbs that have relatively sharp-edged water bars. You either have to go full send, keeping the revs up in second, launching reasonably hard over the jumps, which pushes the suspension to its limits, or choose a slightly slower pace at the top of first gear, hoping you can get back enough momentum out of each water bar to carry you through the next sections with low traction. A slightly shorter second gear would have made the climb a lot easier.

Coming back down those sections proved even more fun than going up. Those dual-purpose boots were reaching their limitations trying to control nearly 300 kilos of rider, bike and gear descending down steep, loose, rocky terrain – even with what is quite an effective front ABS system. There were moments when it edged into that ‘oh, I think we’re going a bit quick here’ territory.

The hills were indeed alive with the sounds of Mana Black

Some knobbies like the Mitas Enduro Trail XT Dakars I have on my Tuareg would have been awesome. Still, we made it down without incident. Didn’t crash. Didn’t die. Laughed about it later.

We did have a couple of bikes end up with holes in the radiators on the launch that led to overheating. Not surprising when you have a bunch of hotheaded journos pushing the bike to find its limits, riding as a group on rocky, shaley tracks. I’d suggest a radiator guard would help avoid that if you were planning on doing that sort of stuff often.

Royal Enfield Himalayan 450 Mana Black – A different type of liquid cooling…

No-nonsense All-rounder

From an electronics perspective. You get the essentials. Nothing more. No TC (and it’s really not needed), no cruise control, no heated grips. One simple button on the right-hand switch block cycles through ride modes – press to switch it to performance mode with rear ABS off, and you’re done.

Those brakes are decent, too. Both on and off-road. They showed no signs of fading and had plenty of feel in the dirt. Yes, there are better brakes out there, but these are more than enough.

And to me, that sort of sums up the Himi. It’s a bike to just get on and enjoy the ride.

I didn’t expect it to be as comfortable and easy to ride.

I didn’t expect it to be as capable off-road, given how comfortable it is.

I didn’t expect it to handle on-road duties as eagerly and confidently as it does.

I didn’t expect it to be such a good package overall.

More than capable on the tarmac, even with that big 21-inch front wheel

Is it as good an all-roads tourer as the 450MT with the twin cylinder? No. Not as comfortable and doesn’t have the weather protection, but I’d say it’d probably be easier for most people to ride off-road.

On the road, it was more than capable and sure-footed. Particularly when we upped the tyre pressures back up on day two from the 20-ish we had them set to for off-road. I can confirm that at 20 pounds, they will feel pretty hairy as they start to roll off the edge when pushed on the road 🙂

Is it as off-road capable and nimble as the KTM 390 Enduro R? Again, I’d say no, especially with some heavier springs thrown at the Kato to bring out the best from its extra suspension travel. But it’s possibly more comfortable and enjoyable when you’re at less than eight-tenths. Which is a lot of the time…

Standing position is comfortable and natural

Which leaves it as the solid all-rounder in the class. Reminds me of the Tiger 900 Rally in the mid-size class in that respect. And the Tiger is probably the bike I’d buy. If that’s not high praise, I’m not sure what is.

Ride away on a Mana Black for $10,490, complete with a three-year warranty backed up by a three-year roadside assistance program.

It’s the kind of bike that you can ride along, see something interesting and tackle it without fear

Mana Black hits:

• Great Retro style
• Solid overall package
• Surprisingly good suspension spec, plush yet controlled

Would be even better if:

• Could have a slightly shorter second gear ratio for tackling challenging climbs
• It has the occasional throttle overrun, most noticeable on descents as you go to grab the front brake
• As surprising as the OEM tyres were, throw some more aggressive off-road tyres on there, and it would level up noticeably

Royal Enfield Himalayan 450 Mana Black has won over another fan.

2025 Royal Enfield Himalayan Mana Black 450 Specifications

Royal Enfield Himalayan 450 Mana Black