[gkrishn]

Originally Posted by MathanK

I have completed my second long test ride recently to know more about the heat & vibrations at higher speeds since I'm considering this as my 2nd bike for occasional weekend long rides, below are my observations.

How did you manage to get a long test drive and from which dealer please? Thank you.

1. Engine was damn hot & the fan was continuously pushing out the hot air during entire 30min ride. I felt significant heat upto my thighs throughout the ride, it was very uncomfortable & bothering.

This was my exact experience. Obviously the bike was subjected to back to back test rides. Also, Whitefield Road didn’t have much traffic when I was there but the fan was running full!

[antz.bin]

Originally Posted by JithinR

Are both your test rides done on the same test bike? Strange that not even the reputed journos or even our own review mentioned this lackluster performance at high speeds.

I had made a post covering vibration mentions by most publications a while back.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motor...ml#post5585930 (Triumph Speed 400 Review)

Regarding maintenance, the maintenance schedule says 16000km service interval. So can't say that the bike is not maintained.

Plenty of reviewers have mentioned top end performance issues and vibration. Varun Painter from Powerdrift keeps calling it an excellent *city* motorcycle. And it really is! It has a much better low end than the segment king KTM 390s. Better in-gear acceleration as well. But top end is not its forte.

[kap04]

I visited the showroom for a TD today and I enquired about the service details and approx cost. They said there would be a service initially at 1000 km and then at 16000 km. The approx cost might be at least 2.5k for the 1000km one and 3.5k for the others.

[lazyrev]

Originally Posted by gkrishn

How you managed to get a long test drive? and which dealer?

This was my exact experience. obviously the bike was in back to back test rides. Also, he whitefield road, when i was there, didnt have much of traffic. The fan was running full!

Strange that you guys felt that much heat and it sounded that loud for you. I had gone for a test ride at 11 am, it wasnt a cool day, and there were 4-5 people who had test ridden before me. The fan didnt turn on any time during the 8km test ride I did where I hit about 100 km/h max.

I really think it comes down to how much traffic you are facing and how hard the bike has been ridden all day long. The Pune showroom was doing about 200 test rides a day just in the first 3 days of the bikes arriving. I wouldnt be surprised if the bikes are struggling a lot to keep up with every guy wanting to hit 120 km/h within 2 mins of riding.

I am pretty sure that it with real life usage, it will be better than or at worst, like the KTMs in the cooling department. I personally feel that is a decent tradeoff for the performance. Comparing it to the 20-25bhp bikes from RE or Honda isnt really fair. We have to give some to get some.

[bullboy]

Originally Posted by lazyrev

It's nice that you have such a rule in Kerala. I dont think this exists here in Maharashtra and so the Triumph dealer in Pune refused to remove the 1.5k for handling and 600 for the registration (this will be in the tax receipt and is part of the RTO charge, he said). So in total I will be giving 2.1k after ex, RTO and insurance.

There is a detailed post on the same

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...ml#post5362146 (Delhi Transport Dept tells Dealers to stop "Handling Charges" SCAM. EDIT: Telangana and Kerala too)

[vzvish91]

Here's an interesting find!
In this video at timestamp 2:51 you can see some water/liquid dripping excessively from around middle of the bike.
I inquired about it, and the person who uploaded the video claims that this is normal in BS6 Phase2 bikes, the reason being O2 sensor places near header pipe which converts the (harmful)exhaust gases into water/liquid!
Doesn't sound right to me. Anyone here knows about it?

https://youtu.be/XMLTmyvHKRo?si=Jeqriz4K0UZ3_ErJ

[snappysam]

My close buddy was among the first 10000 to book the Speed 400. Triumph Kochi called him 2 days back to offer the TD for yesterday. So I tagged along with him to the showroom. T400 bikes looked gorgeous on the showroom floor. Loved the Red and Blue bikes the most. My friend intends to change his original choice of Black to the Red one. Paint finish is really glossy, it remains to be seen how long the sparkle lasts. Better get some Ceramic coating done on the tank (13 Litres) and side panels. Tank has retro looking caps with nicely sprung key cover. Handle bar has a silver powder coated finish which I didn't like. Switchgear is ok. Could not check out the headlights for throw. It looks striking though. Clutch and Front brake levers are not adjustable nor do they have break-off tips. So watch out during a fall. I guess these levers can be changed out for better designed ones. Indicators too are average. Didn't like their looks. Loved the rear tail lamp though.

Showroom folks were very welcoming despite had a modest crowd that was keeping them on their toes. Their positive attitude was a pleasant surprise. And it didn't end there - they offered me a test ride too, if I was interested. "Sure" I replied.

The sales advisor patiently answered all our queries. He even admitted to not know a few answers as the bike was new and information was tickling down.

On observing the Speed 400, few features that struck me was that the bike had a comfortable seat height for short-riders. I am 5' 6" and my friend is quite a bit shorter yet both of us could easily plant our feet on the ground while seated on the bike. Seating triangle was quite comfy too unlike my Duke 390, which incidentally is my daily driver, and will be comparing both bikes. Seat too is sufficiently wide and long with an adequate amount of cushioning. I dare say it will also be comfortable for better halves sitting sideways. Handle bars seems to be a tad wide which aids flickability. Loved the analog dials however lettering for tacho is small. I love my tacho so this is kinda bad. Plus it displays limited information unlike the Duke 390. No Bluetooth or Navigation. The clocks seemed to have a decent backlight. Throttle is Fly-by-Wire which has precise fuelling which is not so in my Duke 390. Now the big one: during the 3-4 Kms TD through a busy highway and some narrow side roads, the Speed 400 felt so tractable. The torque especially at low rpms was quite good and in that respect, trundling along our streets will be a piece of cake. Don't need to row through the gearbox. However twisting open the throttle brings in just about adequate performance. One begins the wonder where the 40 (almost) horses have gone. I was expecting it to be almost like my 2020 Duke 390. Nope. So if you like to blast from point to point, look elsewhere. And this is my biggest gripe. Why? Cause the suspension is almost perfect and well sorted out. Speed 400 is so flickable that a faster responding engine would've been nirvana. Triumph came so close. Why did you keep this bit away from such a good bike? Don't get me wrong - this bike is made for our city rides and probably also for our highway jaunts yet I feel that it almost dull top end will take away the excitement from longer highway expeditions.

Despite many others saying that the exhaust note is good, I found it to be sort of meh! It is not bad but doesn't seem to have any special character. The longish radiator has a guard which looks adequate however the coolant tank is right at the bottom below the oil sump. It is covered by a plastic shroud. Riders better beware, change it to a stronger metal one, Triumph sales staff assured us that a metal guard is available as an official Triumph accessory. Somehow I have this nagging feeling that the coolant tank is susceptible to damage. Cap for coolant top-up too is right at the bottom. Guess this should have been designed better. Lowest point on the bike is the catalytic convertor (SA could not confirm if this was a catalytic convertor or part of the muffler). Crankcase is powder coated which could easily be worn out from regular rubbing of feet.

Clutch is moderately weighted and progressive. ECU seems to be tuned for crawling at slow speed if you let the clutch out in 1st gear, even without any throttle input. Engine does not die out. Nice touch. Gearshift is much better than my Duke 390. Finding Neutral too is easier. I loved the shifts, didn't cause any mis-shifts during the TD. Brakes are good. Bite is not sharp though. I noticed a strange brushing noise coming from the front discs during braking. Actually heard the same sound from my friend's bike too when he braked. He was riding behind me on another Speed 400. (During TD one staff fron the Triumph dealership goes in front as a pilot. While 2 customers follows him on 2 different TD bikes. Nice arrangement - we are not allowed to overtake him nor fall too far behind, he needs to be able to monitor us in his rear view mirrors). Not sure why this sound emanates from the front discs - probably due to the bedding in process. Bar end mirrors has a good view and is free of vibrations at speeds less than 70 kmph.

Black 17" alloy wheels which looks as if it is built to a cost. Bike will come with either Apollo H1s or MRF rubber (don't know which ones). Apollo H1 Tyres on the TD bike came with Front : 110/70 R17, Rear : 150/60 R17, which felt very grippy on dry roads. Bike begs the rider to lean into corners. Didn't have the curves to do so unfortunately. But I could really go deep in while taking U-turns. Generally I use horns very rarely, just a small honk to warn erring motorists, so I not very big on how horns sound. Yet the one on Speed 400 is amongst the meekest horn I have ever heard. Decades back while riding a moped as a teen, is when I heard such a weak horn. If there is one accessory that needs urgent upgrade, it is the horn. My friend was heard asking if it was possible to fix a dual horn setup, I think they said it was possible.

In short, loved the bike. Would I replace my Duke 390 with the Speed 400? No. But if Triumph comes out with Speed 400 with a more peppy response - Triumph have my money, no questions asked

[lazyrev]

Originally Posted by snappysam

In short, loved the bike. Would I replace my Duke 390 with the Speed 400? No. But if Triumph comes out with Speed 400 with a more peppy response - Triumph have my money, no questions asked

Such a well-written review. Loved to see your eye for detail and your description of what you liked and what you didnt like. Even if I didnt feel the exact same way about the peppiness, considering I come from an RTR 160, I can totally respect your take on it.

I would also say that your take is sounding the most measured compared to the hundreds of upset/insecure comments I see on social media from owners of KTMs, REs and Dominars where they seem like keyboard warriors for brands. If nothing else, this bike has disrupted the social media conversation.

I am going to go for a duke/RC 390 TR tomorrow to compare it with the S400 that I have already booked. I know the speed suits my personality and needs/wants much much better but I want to feel what makes the KTMs such a beautiful work of engineering. I have only ridden the OG RC390 a few times. Any tips for me to look out for, so I get to feel the difference compared to the speed 400?

Originally Posted by vzvish91

Here's an interesting find!
In this video at timestamp 2:51 you can see some water/liquid dripping excessively from around middle of the bike.

I dont think what he is claiming is true. It looks like the bike has been recently washed. The tires are wet and so is the rear shock area. Doesnt seem to have been wiped down properly so water that is stuck has dripped down after it was put on the side stand. You can even see some drops of water away from the bike.

[MathanK]

Originally Posted by JithinR

Are both your test rides done on the same test bike? Strange that not even the reputed journos or even our own review mentioned this lackluster performance at high speeds.

May not be the same bikes since there was a week gap between first & second test ride, the bike odo was under 500km on the first bike whereas it was it close to 3K on the second bike. Surely it is very nimble, got strong power delivery & reaches triple digit speeds very quickly, but it is not smooth at those speeds, so I have my own doubt whether it can maintain study 110-120KM smoothly on highway. Probably we will get more clarity when the ownership reviews are out in coming weeks.

For me the biggest concern is the heat management as it was throwing lots of hot air to leg & thighs which made uncomfortable riding experience.

Originally Posted by JithinR

Perhaps the test ride bike was not well maintained.

Chances are there, but I'm not sure whether a bike can be so badly abused within in a week.

[MathanK]

Originally Posted by gkrishn

How did you manage to get a long test drive and from which dealer please? Thank you.

Keerthi Triumph, my bike have already reached the showroom for delivery, hence I have asked them for 30min test ride before proceeding with paper works. Now I have asked them to move my delivery to September. I will wait for ownership reviews from the initial batches & may be a another test ride at Khivraj Triumph before taking the final call.

[srvshaun]

After watching possibly every review worth watching, it was my day to experience the Triumph Speed 400 first hand. To set context, I have not been riding for the last 10 years. The last bike I owned was the OG Honda Unicorn. My daily drive is an Octavia 1.8 TSI (2018) and the last few cars I have owned were Ecosport and Polo. My total riding experience (mostly as a commuter) is 10+ years. I am 42.

So while I know what I want (I have reasonable experience), I clearly don’t know what to expect (I have been out of touch).

I was the first to reach the Triumph Whitefield Showroom at 9.45 AM. Mr Joshi from the showroom has been very warm in his interactions. The reason to be the first one for the day was to know, if I own this bike, when I cold-start it in the morning to go for a ride, what would it be like. I idled for a min and started riding with no intent to “check” any variables. It was to mimic what would it feel if I owned this bike and riding the way it would feel natural to me (i.e. not to test the tractability or to get the feel of the redline).

My experience:

• The bike looks desirable - and I didn’t find anything which felt like an afterthought for the price in consideration.
• The front-end / design of the bike even with its retro theme has a very modern feel to it. Triumph and Bajaj designers hit it out of the park for the budget they had.
• The handle bar was wider than I expected - but was easy to adapt to.
• The bike has an instantaneous response to throttle - which is a good thing and has minor downside. On lower gears when you turn the throttle after coasting (in a gear) - the bike tries to gallop - which made me hold the handlebar tighter than I’d like to.
• The exhaust note is pretty neutral - I’d not call it great, won’t call it poor either. It just exists
• By now we know, that the suspension is a big highlight - the roads in Whitefield of late are smooth - so it wasn’t expected to be noticed anyway.
• The engine seemed to have adequate power to never make you feel wanting for more in the city conditions - with a powerful pull at a constant rate (flat torque curve).
• I did not notice anything troubling my legs (in terms of heat) - I was the first rider anyway and deliberately so; to know for myself if heat is an issue and it wasn't for me
• But with all of this, my constant experience of overall lack of polish in the way power was getting delivered - which did not make the experience memorable for me. I did not feel like I have been missing out on this experience for a decade. To draw a product management analogy - Behind a great visual frontend - the backend seemed a bit raw. The backend has great hardware and specs but the architecture seems rushed.
• To put this in different words - everyday when I drive my car (Octavia 1.8 TSI) it gives me a sense of great excitement with the way she delivers her horses. It’s almost like poetry where you feel a great connection - and has been the case since I drove her first. I was clearly expecting the connection, which wasn’t the case.

  I clearly don’t know what to expect (I have been out of touch.)

Next steps:

• The test bike I rode had 500 odd KMs on the ODO - I will probably take another test ride after it’s first service when the Oil gets changed.
• I will hold onto my booking (amongst the first 10K customers) for the test bikes to put more miles (or KMs) so that I get a more realistic feel.

[sankarx2]

I visited Shaman at Andheri. In fact I went there to test ride a Trident. Liked it. Then next day they launched S400. I wasn't in touch with motorcycling news. So I didn't know that they have an upcoming launch.

While test riding the Trident, I also tried Speed Twin 1200. I liked how easy and light Trident was. And liked how well built Speed Twin is.

When they launched S400, I could not help but think that, maybe, Speed Twin and Trident were having an illicit affair and forgot to take precautions.

I booked the bike. Got the early bird discount. When invited I visited the showroom.

What I liked in the bike: 5 star build quality, look. Easy to ride. Ideal for city roads. Great suspension. Coming from z900 and monster, it didn't disappoint a bit. I will not take it to Ladakh. I will not take this to track. But I can do everything else with this. This is just perfect.

What I did not like: Now this may sound stretching it really too far. But I think it's time that we start expecting motorcycle manufacturers giving internet connected gps trackers and crash sensors. This will save lives. I think since I was ready to book a speed win or a trident, I would have been ok with a higher variant at a higher price with these features. Bigger and better brakes up front would have made me happy too. I didn't like the speedo console. The one they have on trident looks much better.

Heat: May be a 400 cc should not give away heat too much. I am not sure. I didn't find the heat troubling. But bigger engines heat much more. I think good heat dissipation means great thermal management inside the engine.

Salesguys at the showroom : They are good, well trained, a but in a rush due to the number of enquiries, but overall good. I didn't feel they pushed me too hard. But then I was a low maintenance customer. I think we should cut them some slack. This bike is a lot of value for money. So they have to process things fast to keep sales cost down. I would think a completely electronic buying experience would have made more sense. But the company chose to not keep everything online. May be there are bottlenecks at the RTO is the reason.

Top end performance and vibration: I don't know, I didn't try to push it beyond 100 kph. Upto 100 kph I didn't feel anything unusual. My z900 used to vibrate less. My monster used to vibrate more (or at least felt so). I am ok with how this felt since it's just 1 cylinder. I never pushed my Duke 390 to 9000 rpm. So I really don't understand this part. A high revving machine throwing up torque at 9000 rpm, is that a good thing? No idea.

I did consider RE650. I liked the reviews. Maybe I will get one in future. But I didn't like the fit and finish of the bike. Plus it's a bit heavy. Its an excellent product though.

The Triumph guys who worked on this are good, really good. They got almost everything perfect. The only thing that is to be seen is the reliability of this machine. If this machine is reliable, then other manufacturers will have to up their game.

[davelok]

I took a short test ride at Riya Triumph in Ahmedabad. It wasn't a very informative ride as it was barely 1km long, on a service road and a fork in the main road (SG Highway) with Saturday evening traffic. So no way to put the bike through its paces, except to check when it stalls.

The bike is easy to ride even for someone like me, who has given up riding a long time ago, is advancing in years, and isn't exactly fighting fit. Of course, I had to lean a bit more than I expected to, but I think I have some erroneous expectations for a bike like this.

It's a vibey bike, no doubt about that. It's not a bike that just purrs and pulls. It feels a bit harsh, and I don't like the way that exhaust sounds. However it wasn't unpleasant in the short ride. One would perhaps get used to it.

It's easy to steer, and even though I felt I was leaning a bit, I didn't really feel weight on my shoulders or wrists. So that's out of the way. Footpegs also don't feel too rear-set once you're on the go.

Gears slot nicely. The clutch isn't too heavy once you get on the bike. If you try to squeeze it while standing by the side, it will feel a bit heavy but that's not the right way to get a feel.

I managed to stall the bike while trundling slowly, in the third or fourth gear, but I guess I was thinking that it would behave like my diesel Duster. Again wrong expectations. At least it can be restarted with just the touch of a button unlike my Duster, which needs the key to be turned to off and then on again - immobiliser, you see.

I guess I could not cross 50kmph on the bike because of the short distance and traffic. However I am not sure because I kept glancing at the digital part of the console instead of the analog speedo. I wish Triumph had gone for a more digital console. The bar end mirrors are small but good, btw. The horn seems to be designed to be heard by the rider.

I didn't like the rear brake a lot. It seems to me that I had to press a bit further than I would like for it to start to bite. There wasn't much chance to test the front brake but it felt fine.

I checked the pillion situation by climbing onto it behind the person who took the ride after me. It's definitely going to be tricky for older / shorter / heavier pillion riders as the footpegs are set high. However it's not as bad a situation as the Yamaha Aerox 155 pillion, which my wife refused to even try to mount after checking out the rear footpegs.

Overall, the bike checks out for city rides. If I decide to get it, I might get handlebar risers when they're available, but it might foul the riding geometry a bit.

I saw someone ride the bike across the road, over some rubble and trench on the side of the road. Ground clearance seemed fine. I didn't get a chance to test the suspension because the stretch didn't have any big speedbreakers or potholes.

As of now, I'm not sure how good the bike will be for me for longer rides, especially with pillion. I need to decide over the next two days. On road cost for the first 10,000 is Rs. 265,xxx in Ahmedabad. This includes the standard engine guard, radiator grille, bar end mirrors, grab rail, saree guard, and plastic engine/sump guard.

[Blackbolt]

Well we test rode the bike today. I’m a beginner when it comes to bikes so took the test drive in compound grounds at Andheri - Mumbai showroom, while by brother who again is novice when it comes to bikes (must be riding after 25 years) took it on the road. It’s an easy forgiving bike and we both were happy with the initial experience.

Our booking was amongst the first 10k; so we were eligible for the 10k discount. Well we did bite the bullet (no pun intended) and bought the bike. It’s going to be driven occasionally on weekend; rides limited to within the city. Bike had been already allotted to us as per our pre-bookings; we are getting the bike hopefully in last week of August. Have requested home delivery of the bike �� being novice riders. The bike along with zero depreciation for first year cost us 2,79,073/- Accessories are not available yet for booking as communicated to us.

Will be a site with a “L” board on a triumph; please don’t laugh at me when u overtake me ��!

Cheers!

[Rajeevraj]

Had gone to Tusker Harley to check out the X440 and since Keerthi Triumph was close by, dropped in to check out the status of my booking. As per them, my delivery ( if I decide to go ahead) will happen around end of August or early September.

The showroom was packed and on an average , 10-15 people were in queue for the test ride. The Sales folks were busy coordinating the test rides. The test ride seemed to be a short one and most of it in heavy traffic. Would recommend to go to Khivraj Whitefield for a better test ride experience.

Saw around 50 bikes ready for delivery on the first floor. Apparently deliveries are starting Monday. Looks like some event is planned for the first set of deliveries as it was indicated in the form we had filled out earlier.

Anyways as discussed in detail, blockbuster product from Triumph and our roads are going to be filled with it soon. Those looking for some kind of exclusivity should look elsewhere.