[Senotrius]

@nasirkaka, did you check out the goosefits multiangle riser for the S400/S400X? Relatively cheaper than ROX at 4.8k INR. I'm looking at pivoted risers; the only other options are hyperrider pivot risers at 3.7k and chinese Amazon units at 899INR which may not fit 26mm handlebars.

[Oppanna]

Was in the market looking for a replacement/upgrade for my 2022 Xpulse 200 4v. Had couple of motorcycles in mind.

My primary requirement is office commute, weekend rides and occasional highway long rides to my native and back.

With Xpulse I was doing trails as well but then off late the trail riding had taken backseat and trails was not the primary requirement/deciding factor.

The list of interested bikes were

1. Scrambler 400X
2. RE Himalayan 450
3. KTM ADV -250/390

Visited Khivraj Triumph J P nagar today and had a worst test ride experience ever. This was not something I was expecting.

As soon as I entered the showroom the receptionist called someone and he was hesitant to explain about the motorcycle. I was clear that I am here to check out the scrambler 400x and he suddenly went away, asked someone else to attend me.

The gentleman took away all the details, filled a test ride form and said the bike is ready. Walked out of the showroom, the sales person tried one key on the test ride bike, it was a wrong key and then went back got another key and it worked.

The bike had some 10,000 kms on the odometer and he explained me that the basic controls and route for test ride. The bike was badly maintained. It had bent gear lever, bent brake pedal, left indicator broken, left side mirror was bent and was useless.

Nevertheless I went on the ride with my wife sitting pillion. The chain was making lot of grinding noise and feet was feeling all the vibrations. I could not even engage 4th gear onwards and the gear lever was bent and was fouling with the footrest at an angle.

Somehow came back and handed over the bike back to the sales person and as usual he asked me about the feedback of the bike.

Gave him honest reply and he was like the customer had put the bike down and it was damaged. I was like, OK, but why provide a damaged bike to a new customer? Isn't it hampering the overall experience of the bike?

He was like, Sir when do you want to buy the bike? I politely told him that the experience was really bad and with this experience how do you expect me to invest 3.47 lakhs ?

What surprised me is that why would a brand like Triumph provide such badly maintained bike for test ride?

While I understand that the test ride bikes are abused my expectations was that at least the bike should be maintained as per the spec and not something like mentioned above isn't it?

Anyways, my experience was bad and lost interest to check out the bike in another showroom.

[Funny]

Originally Posted by Oppanna

Anyways, my experience was bad and lost interest to check out the bike in another showroom.

You should test ride the bike at another dealer. Some of the dealers don't maintain their test ride vehicles but that shouldn't be a factor to disregard a well rounded product. This has become a norm these days, we generally have to visit multiple dealers for multiple rounds of test rides since the TR experience is not satisfactory at times and also to gauge the ride experience in different conditions (routes/terrains etc). Before going you can call and ask the dealer if their TR bike is in good condition for test ride else just call up another dealer.

To add, there could be X number of reasons for not having a good test ride bike, maybe the previous customer dropped the bike and the showroom didn't have enough time to get it fixed and don't want to turn away potential customers by not being able to provide a TR bike since it's gone for repair for few days.

[iamahunter]

Originally Posted by Oppanna

While I understand that the test ride bikes are abused my expectations was that at least the bike should be maintained as per the spec and not something like mentioned above isn't it?

Anyways, my experience was bad and lost interest to check out the bike in another showroom.

I would actually suggest you try the test drive and interact with some other dealers because, like you, I too had a not-so-good experience with one of the dealers in town. So, just to briefly tell you about my buying experience with the Scrambler 400, I checked with one of the big dealers in the city who was well known for selling Triumphs for many years. When I went there, I noticed that the staff who addressed the customers for the Scrambler and Speed were different—different in terms of their behavior, their attitude, and also noticeably looked less polished than the ones who were selling the bigger bikes. This could be just my perspective, but it was what I noticed.

However, coming back to the dealer experience, the bike itself was well maintained, probably a new one, and there were no flaws. But as I said, the staff was somewhat different and had an air of arrogance. This, in a way, made me lose interest in the bike. I don't resonate very well with the Royal Enfield brand, and I had very few options in this category.

A few friends helped me out by connecting me with other dealers, and eventually, I spoke to another dealer in the city. He was a small-time dealer, not a very big one, and didn't deal in many bigger bikes, but his attitude was very warm and welcoming. They offered me good pricing and also gave me the accessories installation free of cost, which the other dealer was charging for. Plus, while the other dealer didn't have accessories readily available, this guy did, so I went ahead and booked with him. My overall experience, from booking to delivery and even the service, was fantastic.

[AulusGabinius]

Originally Posted by AulusGabinius

No idea, honestly about how he did it, but the lights are brighter for sure.

Finally caught up again with this guy. He says he baked the headlight to soften sealant at 150 deg C in his home OTG, replaced the bulbs and then sealed it again with M-Seal Clear RTV. That took about two or three days to cure. Personally I'd just go with Mad Dog Scouts, since the whole procedure is fairly risky and will cost you approximately 10,000 bucks, mostly for the sealant. Not to mention the headlight getting potentially damaged.

[Senotrius]

Originally Posted by AulusGabinius

Finally caught up again with this guy. He says he baked the headlight to soften sealant at 150 deg C in his home OTG, replaced the bulbs and then sealed it again with M-Seal Clear RTV. That took about two or three days to cure. Personally I'd just go with Mad Dog Scouts, since the whole procedure is fairly risky and will cost you approximately 10,000 bucks, mostly for the sealant. Not to mention the headlight getting potentially damaged.

For the average rider, Mad-dogs are the way to go for sure. Doesn't help that Triumph themselves haven't released affordable aux lamps for the 400 series.

[nasirkaka]

Originally Posted by Senotrius

@nasirkaka, did you check out the goosefits multiangle riser for the S400/S400X?

I heard of this product for the first time from your post. I have had a ROX riser for about 7 years and keep using the same from bike to bike and it fits well as most handlebars are made of same 22mm dia tube.

I did have a look at the goosefits site and it most definitely looks like a piece which is pressure die-casted. Rox risers are machined from a premium grade billet of an alloy. A handlebar riser is subjected to great strain & stress forces especially when we stand and ride. When Aliexpress was available, there were lots of chinese replicas of ROX which were also casted. And some of them had issues of breaking/cracking as the force on these risers are sort of cantilevered.

Would definitely love to try the goosefits as it makes economic sense. May be on the upcoming 390 adv if stars align. Would do some research on user feedback just to make sure they are well built.

Originally Posted by Oppanna

What surprised me is that why would a brand like Triumph provide such badly maintained bike for test ride?

It is not just Triumph. I remember test riding the Honda CB500X at Indiranagar. Now that bike comes with a lot of goodwill and name but the test ride bike was in such a bad shape that I did not enjoy the experience. They would definitely loose potential customers with such badly kept bikes. Even RE maintains their test ride bikes in poor shape. I remember test riding the 410 Himalayan around 2019 at two separate showrooms and both had lousy bikes. More than customers, these test ride bikes are used and abused by the showroom guys who also take them home for weekend rides.

I test rode the scrambler 400X at khivraj, Electronic city and the bike was in decent shape.


SOME UPDATES ON MY BIKE

Post service couple of weeks back, it is not like the 'stalling' is completely resolved but it is reduced greatly. The rear brake which was also replaced has got its bite back. Its almost 80% of what it was. Bike is running fine without much issues.

RIDE UPDATE

Last weekend, went exploring some trails around Chhanarayapatna close to Hassan along with a friend who was riding a SX250. Sharing some pictures from the ride.



We left home around 5:30 AM and met up at the Nelamangala toll. The highway was full of traffic including a few large riding groups. Morning weather was cool and we did encounter thick fog for a breif moment.



Breakfast was early at a highway joint known for serving delicious hot Thatte (plate) idlis along with a cup of strong filter coffee.



Not very fond of the boring highway, soon we went off it, exploring the google map for less travelled route. We were plesantly rewarded by a nice lake with a railway track running along one side. And we were lucky enough to witness a train pass by.



Soon we reached the windmills. There is a temple at the top and also a decent road leading to it. But as we detest the tarmac, we stuck to the trails which was rocky and dry. Not very difficult but enjoyable nontheless.





This place is about 150 kms from Bangalore and it was almost noon by the time we reached. We could feel the harsh and strong sun and the feeling of summer setting in. The scene around was mostly dry and barren with hardly any trace of green.



The windmills are spread along a vast hilly area and are all connected with criss -cross of trails. These trails are dotted with a lot of stones the size of a small football and many of them are hidden in the grass around the center of the trail. We were unsettled by a few of them as accidently going over them and not landing right could lead to a fall.







From far, the scale of these windmills are misleading to say the least. They are simply humongous. We had a chance to see a few windmill blades kept on the ground and were simply amazed by the size and felt dwarfed. Each blade is so massive, one can easily walk inside it. We also noticed that it is made up of some sort of very light weight fibre with some alloy reinforcements. There was not much of wind so some of the mills were moving very slowly and some were still. We have all seen these these blades being transported on the highways, but kept wondering how were they carried to these places.



It was getting very hot and dry and time to call it a day. It is very important to carry good quantity of water for such rides as we get dehydrated very quickly on trails. We exhausted 4 litres of water between us in no time.
The ride back home was uneventful mostly comprising of NH75. All in all, a good outing and both the bikes performed fairly well.

[rishavch2104]

https://www.rushlane.com/triumph-scr...-12518427.html


Scrambler 400x with cross spoke wheels. Would be a great addition.

[nasirkaka]

OFF-ROAD RIDE REPORT

Took my 400X for some trail exploration last Sunday and here's sharing a short report with some pics from the day.

My friend, riding on a Vstorm SX 250, dug-up some trails on the google map around Chikkaballapur, about 60 kms off Bangalore. The days are getting warmer hence intent was to keep the outing short and sweet. Carrying enough hydration and some energy-bars, we set off early morning on the NH44.



Soon we went off the highway, looking for smaller roads towards the destination and were rewarded with some scenic countryside view. Hills covered in light fog in the background with pleasant early morning temperature.



Trails are plenty everywhere as long as one has an eye for locating it on the fly. My rider friend is good at it. We found some winderness away from the actual intended destination and went ahead to check it out.




Dry grassland leading towards some dense thickett.



It was still pretty early and there was some dark cloud cover as well. Great weather so far but we knew it would be short lived.



Ventured deeper where it started getting denser with increase foliage cover. There was not much of clarity on the maps as to if there was any exit.



Rode some more distance along a trench and the going started getting tough. we decided to return and head towards the original plan.



Some remaining fresh green patches among the dry and brown landscape were refreshing to the eye.



Back on the country road.





With some difficulty, we managed to find the starting point of the trail which we had come hunting for. It was through a narrow opening behind a small village. Like most, this trail also lead to a temple inside a forest, accessible by foot which we were attempting on motorcycles. The surrounding was tinder dry with signs of recent forest fire leaving black and charred landscape all around.



Jumping in joy.
The stretch comprised of forest sections followed by hillocks and rocky plains.
After crossing the temple, we venture deep trying to look for an exit.





The trail started getting a bit technical and unclear in many places. We had to get off the bike, walk for hundreds of meters trying to ensure if there was an exit, or even space to turn the bike around.



Also came across a nice opening in the forest which in monsoon would have a different charm. It was a rocky slope and going by the dry watermark, would be not less than a waterfall in peak monsoon.



Cooling off under the shade of a small tree, barely left with a few leaves.

With enough of adventure for a day, getting lost many a times, consuming all our hydration we decided to call it a day. Onward exit from the area was uncertain, sketchy and much technical forcing us to trace our steps back from the trail.

[RajeshKanna]

Hello everyone , my bike has 17.5 kms on odo, I use it for daily office commute and weekend trip once a month to Ooty, munnar kind of hill station and some other places if it's a one day trip. Had the second service done at around 15.3k on odo and the folks put in their prolube oil. Earlier had put in motul at around 6k on odo ,I had asked then to fully replace the coolant also but the service person said that the coolant is good to go and no need to change. Didn't stress more in it because i was thinking of putting some other branch coolant since I wasn't having much trust on their coolant. The bike's fan always used to be on almost all the time post initial 3-4 kms of riding. Has anyone changed the coolant to someother brand? Looked up on YouTube and one chennai voyager channel link came up wherein he said that the coolant change has resulted in much better hear management and fan wasn't coming on as often as it was before.

Also, the petrol tank itself was getting hot, i could touch and feel the heat upto the level of petrol, that means the petrol is getting hot , it's not only on day time but also happed during night. So the petrol is getting hot somehow , it happens after some 15-20 kms of running the bike continuously , ideally almost around the same time the engine gets to it's max heat if I could say. Has anyone else felt this? Appreciate the input on both of these. Thanks in advance.

[nasirkaka]

Sharing yet another ride story on the Scrambler 400X.

4 of us rider friends decided to explore some wilderness on our two wheels. There was a good mix of bikes including a Himalayan 450, BMW 310R, suzuki 250sx and my 400x.

Intent was to make the weekend count, leave early morning and return by afternoon as the days are getting warmer. Chosen location was yet another hillock with a temple at the top. The interesting bit about this hill is there are two routes to reach the top. One is a wider jeep trail which is fairly doable on bike and another route is a short-cut for the local villagers to walk up the hill to the temple. This is narrow path, steep and rocky and lined with thorny bushes.


We left home early morning, an hour into the ride and we were greeted with a beautiful sunrise.


Leaving the cityscape and getting onto the greener side.


We took a detour on the way as the google map enticed us with some green patch which we could not resist.




In reality, there was nothing green about the area. Nontheless, it was beautiful, dry and ochre everywhere. With tall dried grassland, autumn leaves coverin the ground and peaceful scenic view all around.




Going a bit deeper into the wilderness, the grassland transforned into a light jungle lined with not-so-densly spread tall trees.



All this exploring and riding around the area made us hungry and we exited the place looking for some place to fuel ourselves.


As we had ventured away from the main road, there were only small villages around and not too many options for food. We managed to find a small village restaurant, serving limited items on the menu. The food was not award winning but decent enough to fill up our growling tummies.


Post breakfast, we went towards the actual destination, the hill top with the temple.


Going up the hill, we took the normal jeep trail. It was in fairly decent condition and did not pose much challenge to reach the top. There was a small puja going on at the temple and the folks there were kind enough to offer us food and prasad. On enquiring about the other walking trail, we were told that it is difficult but we can try and attempt it on our bikes. We walked a bit on that narrow trail and were in two minds about whether to attempt that difficult path to go down, or use the regular jeep trail via which we came. Eventually it was 3 against 1 and we decided to give that narrow walking path a shot on out bikes.


Soon we realised that we may have bitten more then we could chew.
the trail was narrow, extremely bushy and littered with large and small rocks hidden undeer the grasses. The pictures do not tell the right story of how the place was in real.


Falls and slips were enevitable and many. Thankfully nothing serious and also thanks to the protective riding gear.


It was noon and sunny and we were loosing energy fast. We were carrying water but half way into the descent and we had exhausted all of it. It was hot and extremely tiring managing our bikes on the trail. Progress was extremely slow, we were falling, slipping but helping each other.


There were times where after a fall, we did not have enough energy to even lift oursleves up or the bike.


Our bodies were tired but spirits were still intact. With plenty of encouraging words and helping each other, we managed to slowly but steadily get down.


Overall it was a tough trail and challenged our mental and physical strengths. We were never happier to get back to civilization.

Some learnings from the day. Do not blindly believe on what others say or advise. Carry loads of hydration and energy bars, we never know what we may get into. Do not attempt unknown and potentially challenging trails unless there was 3-4 riders. Even in a pair, these rides can get tricky and dangerous. Learn to keep calm as these challenging times can affect our psyche making us over-react. Ride safe!

[OpenEXit]

Hi Fellows,
I plan to buy a Triumph for my daily office commute (40 km).
I believe Speed T4 is more attuned for city commuting. I test rode and zeroed in.
Now, someone is selling his Scrambler (8 months old, 10K clocked), and he has agreed to sell it at the price of a new Speed T4.

Is it a good deal? The on-road price of T4 is 2.4L approx.
How is Scrambler for city rides, as it is more for off-roading ( almost nil in my case)?

[Ratan Prabhu]

Originally Posted by OpenEXit

Hi Fellows,
I plan to buy a Triumph for my daily office commute (40 km).
I believe Speed T4 is more attuned for city commuting. I test rode and zeroed in.
Now, someone is selling his Scrambler (8 months old, 10K clocked), and he has agreed to sell it at the price of a new Speed T4.

Is it a good deal? The on-road price of T4 is 2.4L approx.
How is Scrambler for city rides, as it is more for off-roading ( almost nil in my case)?

If you have test rode and finalized the T4 to be your best suited motorcycle, please don't change your mind because someone is selling a used bike for cheaper rate. Nothing compares to the feeling of a brand new bike. Scrambler 400x is a great bike and can do city commutes well (maybe not as nimble as Speed400/T4 and if you are a short rider, Speed would feel more at home than Scrambler specially in city)

[OpenEXit]

Originally Posted by Ratan Prabhu

If you have test rode and finalized the T4 to be your best suited motorcycle, please don't change your mind because someone is selling a used bike for cheaper rate. Nothing compares to the feeling of a brand new bike. Scrambler 400x is a great bike and can do city commutes well (maybe not as nimble as Speed400/T4 and if you are a short rider, Speed would feel more at home than Scrambler specially in city)

I test-drove T4 yesterday and had a chance to compare Scrambler and T4 side by side. With its bigger tyre size, the Scrambler looks more imposing and intimidating and less city-friendly. In front of Scrambler, T4 looked cute and petite. Coming from a 125cc bike and a 100cc TVS Jupiter, I found T4 was hungry to be raved and abused.
TD was satisfying, and fortunately, the test vehicle has just returned from a 40-50-minute test drive so i could observe the heat from radiator. The heat was manageable.
Booked one on Friday, and delivery is scheduled for Sunday. Thanks for your feedback folks. Switching to T4 thread for delivery and ownership review soon.

[Piston_head]

The dealer mentioned that the Scrambler 400x in Volcanic Red has been discontinued but was unsure if a new color would be introduced.