New Delhi, Oct. 11 -- There is a particular kind of headache that arrives at 11,480 feet. I landed in Leh two days before the Himalayan Basecamp adventure festival, and by evening a jungle drummer had set up permanent residence behind my eyes. I could hear my own pulse as though it were being relayed through a stadium speaker. It took two days to acclimatise, which was just about enough time to feel up to watching Royal Enfield unveil the Himalayan 440.

The 440 is Royal Enfield's attempt to win back the buyer who wants an adventure motorcycle for a little less than the Rs.3.06 lakh price tag of the Himalayan 450. It is the return of the unpretentious Himalayan 411, the motorcycle that, when it arrived in 2016, gave a generation of Indian...