Suzuki V-Strom 250 vs RE Himalayan: 3 important things that I noticed

I did a little bit of off-roading and the V-Strom 250 felt a lot more confident than the Royal Enfield mainly because I had power on demand.

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My V-strom has run around 4,000 kms so far. Barring a few uncharacteristic mechanical issues I've faced with my bike since the beginning (written about in a separate thread), here are some thoughts.

1. I generally get around 33-34 kmpl riding in city traffic, on SHs and rural roads. I've never seen 40, but I've seen around 38 if I keep it to ~4k rpm. At a constant 7k rpm i.e. around 100-110 kmph on the speedo, the fuel average reading usually drops below 35. Going up and down hills at redline pace, I've seen it drop as low as 26.
2. My front brake pads are looking worse for the wear too. I'd estimate around 25% life left in them. This is surprising considering the lacklustre braking. But the rear brake pads are doing quite well even though I use the rear brake often, and to the point of the ABS kicking in. Surprisingly, the rear brake pads seem to be more expensive than the front. Approximately Rs 500 vs Rs 400 or so.
3. I've also ridden my bike for a fair bit without ABS (for troubleshooting mechanical issues on my bike), and was shocked at the lack of confidence from the front brake while riding fast. It felt like the wheel can lock up with no warning: one moment it was braking well and out of nowhere the front wheel is sliding. Had a couple of close shaves, but no falls luckily. I would recommend leaving the ABS on at all times, and praying your ABS unit never fails mid-ride. IMO, ABS on the rear wheel is definitely not a deterrent as far as going offroad is concerned, just a minor spoilsport.
4. IMO, the white beam of the headlight is good for riding upto 70 kmph on highways. Beyond that, you risk reduced reaction times, especially as it fades in the face of glaring high beams from the opposite side traffic.

I've also had the chance to ride this bike back-to-back with a 2017 carburetted Himalayan and felt it outdoes the Himalayan on a couple of important fronts.

1. The seat is spacious on the V-strom. You have quite a bit of room to adjust your position, while there's very little room to move around on the Himalayan. But to be fair, the Himalayan's seat material is nicer and softer than the V-strom.
2. The Himalayan lacks good throttle response, even while slipping the clutch. I did a little bit of offroading and the V-strom felt a hell of a lot more confident than the Himalayan, mainly because I had power on demand on the V-strom while slipping the clutch, but I had to wait for the tractor engine to do its own thing on the Himalayan. This was especially apparent while running them up and down rutted slopes. The V took them quickly and confidently, while I felt held back a little bit on the Himalayan. But it could be possible that the clutch was not in good shape on that particular Himalayan (it had run over 35k km).
3. The handling. I thought the V-strom was a slowpoke at changing directions. The Himalayan educated me with some context. The V-strom runs circles around the rigid Himalayan in terms of general manoeuvrability, and this is despite the steering stem nut on my V-strom being loose enough at the time to cause a fair bit of confidence-robbing oversteer. I suppose that should be no surprise considering the specs and engineering pedigree of both these bikes.
4. But points to the Himalayan for braking more confidently than the V-strom, despite the lack of ABS. People generally think the brakes on the Himalayan are poor, which says quite a lot about the brakes on the V-strom.

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