TRIUMPH SCRAMBLER 400X - First Ride Review - Park+

A few months ago, I had the opportunity to ride the Triumph Speed 400 and I came away pretty impressed with the bike. Now the blokes at Triumph, they decided to give us not one, but two bikes from the same engine and we have the Triumph Stambler 400X with us. This one will set you back by 2.63 lakhs ex-showroom, now that is 30,000 rupees more than the Speed 400. The question for the day is, why should you consider this bike over the Speed 400 or for that matter if you are shopping in the 400cc segment, sub-400cc segment. Now a lot has changed over the bike, so you have wider handlebars, the front wheel has grown in size, so has the disc brake and with all that changes, the weight of the bike has also grown. Now the question is, that with all that heft, what does the Scrambler 400X bring to the table? Before that, you're watching the Park Plus channel, subscribe to it, click the bell icon to stay updated to all the videos that we do. As for the task at hand, let's get scrambling. In terms of looks, the bike looks pretty much like the Speed 400, but a keen eye will reveal how rugged the bike looks. The company has not fiddled much with the overall design of the bike because it blends well with the elder siblings in the line-up of Triumph bikes. And that is a good thing, it looks rugged and that's because of the off-road credentials and the parts that come with it. So let's start with how the bike looks. For starters, I think it looks beautiful and it's also because of all the Scrambler things, all the Scrambler upgrades that this bike gets. To start with, what a wide handlebar, so the Speed handlebar is around 814mm and this one is 901mm long, that's how wide the handlebar is. And then we have 19-inch wheels up front and 17-inch wheels at the rear. The Speed has 17-inch at both. And the cycle path for the suspension remains the same, but we have 150mm travel, so that is a 43mm upside-down post, finished in gold, but again, 150mm of travel. And then we have, again, signature black powder-coated engine casing, it looks beautiful, it gives that premium feel. 30-litre tank with tank pads over here and the mid-section overall is so thin that you can, you know, grab it with your thighs and it inspires more confidence. And what's more inspiring is, confidence inspiring is, that the radiator has a grille, the headlamp has a grille, there's a sump guard to protect your engine from dashing and look at the terrain that I'm driving. So, even when you are going through obstacles or you know, you're trailing mildly and even if there's a rigorous off-roading, if you're doing that, these things, they come along and they give so much confidence in the rider. To be honest, I think I'm having a ball of a time and when it comes to seating, so the seating is also different for the Stambler 400X, so it's a two-piece seat setup and it's a ribbed seat, but the cushioning is so much better, so I don't remember much about the 400 seat, but I can certainly tell that the padding on the Stambler 400X is much much better than the C400 and so there's a stitching design over here, it looks very premium, the grab rails have also been done very differently, they are very sturdy and if you look at the exhaust, it's upswept and the design over here, see, you have metal plates, they look so rugged and of course, the footpegs here, they are serrated, so you can just pull out the footpegs, the padding on the footpegs and you can just pull it out and it will give you more grip and more traction with your boots, so overall, that comprises of how the bike looks in terms of, you know, what the bike has to offer, in terms of cycle parts, you have knuckle guards, you have nice stock mirrors and of course, the mudguard has also been done in such a way that there is no tyre huggers. Apart from that, you have small aluminium panels over the body, over here, over here and there's a Stambler badging and even on the left side, you have aluminium plating, now this gives bike a lot of premium feel that what the Stambler is all about and when it comes to the seat height, now that is a concern that people will be really thinking about because it's 835mm of seat height, so the speed is 790mm and this is how I look when I'm sitting on it, so right now, the footing and the ground is a little uneven but then again, let me tell you, it is not that of a deal breaker when it comes to the seat height, you can sit and you might be tiptoeing a little but then again, that seat height is also bringing a lot of ground clearance, now the addition of all those extra parts has added some depth to the Triumph Stambler 400X, so right now, this one weighs 185kg as opposed to 176kg to the Triumph Speed 400 and the ground clearance on the other hand because of the added suspension and everything else that the chassis has been tweaked to, the ground clearance is 195mm, so a typical SUV also offers around 200mm of ground clearance, so that inspires a lot of confidence when you are trail riding, when you are going through these big rocks because even if those rocks do come in contact with your engine, there is a sump guard which protects your belly, so I think in that way, the Stambler covers it all and gives you a lot of confidence to go off-roading, to go trail riding and I am now going to move to the part which is the heart of the matter, which is the engine and the performance of the bike, let's go. While I take in the sights of these guts, I'm going to talk about the performance of the new Triumph Stambler 400X, now at the heart is a 398.15cc liquid-cooled single-cylinder engine that makes 39.5bhp of power and 37.5Nm of peak torque, of that peak torque, 30Nm is available from the get-go of 3000rpm, now that's really low and what it helps with is, when you are actually, you know, mildly off-roading or you know, trailing, that power actually helps you get out of a tricky situation and over and above that, what helps with the bike is the 19-inch wheel up front, it gives you a lot of confidence and with that, the chassis has been tweaked as well, so the ground clearance now is 195mm and you also sit a little above the ground, so it's 835mm as compared to the 790mm of seat height, so when it comes to the power delivery, it's quite linear, it's very gradual, inspires a lot of confidence in the rider and one of the other things that inspires confidence in the rider is the new wide and tall handlebar, so it's very upright and it falls right to you, so you don't have to, you know, lean over, it's a very neutral place to sit in and it's a very neutral ergos of a riding triangle that is there and apart from that, when it comes to the suspension, so the suspension parts remain the same, it's 43mm upside down forks up front and an offset rear monoshock at the rear, but then, the travel on both of these, they have increased, so it's 150mm on both the sides and they are tuned in such a way that it's actually very supple, so when you are riding on tarmac, it soaks up and you know, all the potholes, all the undulations that you have on the road, you don't really have to navigate through them, but then when you are off-roading, it gives you a lot of confidence, it absorbs all the, you know, the rough surfaces, the rough terrain and it gives you a lot of confidence when you are riding the bike, when you're pushing it, you can, you know, trail out, the bike might fishtail a little bit, but then again, it still stays in place, it's very planted because the wheelbase has also increased, the rake is also a little steeper, so it gives you quick direction manoeuvres as well, the braking on the other hand, again, the disc brake has also increased, so that is a 320mm disc brake, it's an upgrade from 300mm that we have on the speed and here, we have a 230mm disc brake, which is the same on the speed as well, the braking again is a, it's very gradual, it's very linear, the bite is strong on both the ends, but it's not too jerky, so if you grab it, it has a kind of predictability, it inspires confidence in the rider. Talking about the vibrations of the new Triumph Scrambler 400X, to start with the footpegs, now this comes installed with a small rubber right at the hinge and the handlebar also has some added weight, what this does is that when you are pushing the bike past its limit, so let's just say, you're pushing it to 6000-7000rpm, the bike is vibration free, there are no vibrations on the footpegs and some vibrations may seep into the handlebars, but then again, they are very negligible, you really have to look for it, apart from that, the bike is vibration free, no matter how hard you're sending it, if you're being really unfair to the engine, then of course, there's going to be some vibration, but otherwise, it's vibration free and that kind of sums up, what the bike has to offer in terms of performance and rideability. The handlebars let you stand and ride comfortably on gravels, B-roads, trails, I would have preferred the torque a little lower on the rev range, but then I'm nitpicking I guess. The headlamp intensity seemed to suffer because of the grille I think, but that can be removed easily. The wide handlebar does not limit itself only to off-road situations, but it will equally help you filter through traffic very easily. Directional changes are quick because of the steeper rake angle and there is stability as well because of the longer wheelbase. The bike makes a strong case for itself because it builds up on the Speed 400 and offers more. It rivals the likes of the KTM 390 Adventure and ESG Scrambler to name a few. Now what I said about the Triumph Speed 400 when I reviewed it, was that it would be all the bike you would ever need, but Triumph has been kind enough to sweeten the deal with us with the Scrambler 400X, you have a tall and wide handlebar, 150mm of suspension travel on both ends and the same engine which has so much power, oodles of power throughout the rev band. Now, you still don't get Bluetooth, you still don't get turn-by-turn navigation, adjustable levers is something that I could nitpick upon, but then again, this is as sweet a deal as it could get and in my books, Scrambler 400X is something to go for. I'll see you on the next one, ride safe.