[shivasuma]

After years of resisting the urge to buy a bike, I finally decided this would be my first 2 wheeler purchase in 20 years!!! The Bangalore launch is going to happen on Saturday and the bike will be revealed at 12PM. My only concern is the pillion comfort , which I hope is going to be good/bearable for atleast a trip of 100kms.

[imranstael]

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

No surprises from Triumph India on the pricing, Rs 6.95L is a good price but Rs 6.49L as an introductory price would have been absolutely irresistible. Triumph India has not been doing well sales wise and they need their new launches to boost up their falling numbers. The entry level Street Twin has steadily lost ground over the last few years and the Trident could be a game changer for Triumph India.

Triumph sells the Trident for 7200 GBP, which as shown by another poster is 7.3 lakhs INR. For probably one of the rarest moments in history, an automobile maker is pricing an imported vehicle for cheaper in India than their home country.

But of course people will still flood the forums expecting even cheaper pricing. Why stop at 6.49? Triumph should have priced it at 6 lakhs. How about 5 lakhs? How about they just give Tridents out for free to whoever asks for one?

And as for their service, it has already been demonstrated that they are cheaper than BMW, Ducati, Kawasaki. Only Suzuki and Honda are cheaper, a minority of manufacturers.

[neil.jericho]

Originally Posted by imranstael

But of course people will still flood the forums expecting even cheaper pricing. Why stop at 6.49? Triumph should have priced it at 6 lakhs. How about 5 lakhs? How about they just give Tridents out for free to whoever asks for one?

The number wasnt plucked out of thin air. It is based on discussions with several sensible and experienced bikers, both in the real world and on this forum. Since you asked about Rs 6.49L ex showroom, here is why (from this very own thread).

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Even in the UK - Ninja 650 KRT is priced at £7,045 - so the Trident is positioned only slightly above it.

That does point to a 6.5 lakhs pricing in India once again. Will really set the cat amongst the pigeons at such a price - hope Triumph doesn't get greedy.

Originally Posted by mohansrides

A price of 7.5 lacs on road would set the market on fire. I will be in line with a check book for sure.

Originally Posted by whencut86

Pricing it between 6-6.5 lakhs and touching an onroad price of 7-7.5 lakhs is an ideal price for this. This is not a entirely new engine warranting more R&D. They have made minor changes to existing engine.

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Considering the pricing in India for Ninja 650 is 6.24 lakhs and Versys 650 is 6.79 lakhs - Trident has to be priced at 6.5 lakhs IMHO.

6.75 is pushing it, but 7+ makes the Z900 at 7.99 lakhs look like a real bargain.

Originally Posted by narula123

If Triumph can keep it around that 6 lac ex-shw mark to begin with then they should see this sell pretty decently as not much to compete with in that price bracket barring the Kawi 650 twins. Price it beyond the 7 mark and you risk getting swamped by the well-placed Z900.

Originally Posted by bf1983

If Triumph prices the bike around 6.5l it will sound a death knell for the naked Z650. I can't imagine too many people choosing a run of the mill Z650 over this bike which given that its a mini Street Triple should be a real hoot to ride.

Hope that clarifies as to why Rs 6.49L was mentioned.

Originally Posted by imranstael

And as for their service, it has already been demonstrated that they are cheaper than BMW, Ducati, Kawasaki. Only Suzuki and Honda are cheaper, a minority of manufacturers.

The service quality from Triumph is also demonstrably worse in several cities, though fortunately, other cities have very good service centers. We have enough and more proof of this on the forum.

[Axe77]

Personally I think this bike is a half notch superior to the Z 650 (which retails at 6.20 odd ex showroom) and justifies a 70k odd premium over it.

Speaking of Z 900 pricing, I would also want to know what the on road comparison of Z 900 and Trident 660 is. Definitely the Z900 is superior to the Trident but if on road they are 1.5L odd apart, then that's a distinct price point. And the Z900 independently would also have to deal with competing with the Striple R.

So honestly if the pricing is Z 650 --> Trident --> Z900 / Striple R then that is a fair order of pricing hierarchy.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

The number wasnt plucked out of thin air. It is based on discussions with several sensible and experienced bikers, both in the real world and on this forum. Since you asked about Rs 6.49L ex showroom, here is why (from this very own thread).

Most, if not all of those posts were made last year soon after the global unveil. Here is what happened to currency rates afterwards -



Even in the Indian market - we need to rethink based on current prices. Ninja 650 is now at 6.54 instead of 6.24 back then, Versys 650 is 7.08 instead of 6.79 and Z900 is 8.34 instead of 7.99. All prices have seen a 30k'ish upward revision.

So Triumph's positioning at 6.95 now is closer to 6.5'ish lakh predictions made last October!

Also, that was all before the horribly atrocious pricing of the CB 650F which left a 2 lakh window for Triumph to play with!

[Porschefire]

Originally Posted by imranstael

Triumph sells the Trident for 7200 GBP, which as shown by another poster is 7.3 lakhs INR. For probably one of the rarest moments in history, an automobile maker is pricing an imported vehicle for cheaper in India than their home country.

But of course people will still flood the forums expecting even cheaper pricing. Why stop at 6.49? Triumph should have priced it at 6 lakhs. How about 5 lakhs? How about they just give Tridents out for free to whoever asks for one?

And as for their service, it has already been demonstrated that they are cheaper than BMW, Ducati, Kawasaki. Only Suzuki and Honda are cheaper, a minority of manufacturers.

Triumph India (TI) and it's dealers are struggling with their bikes making up the numbers in the inventory list rather than on the road. The Trident then is certainly a very important launch for TI. The pricing is rather good and will certainly bring footwalls to the showrooms.

If it were priced at INR 6.49L however, TI would've hit the ball out of the park and forced even the harshest critics of TI to sign the cheque. You and I both know that INR 6.95L introductory pricing will change soon and I expect it to retail at INR 7.5L-8.0L in a year's time if not less. Would it still be considered value then? I'm not so sure. This is the general sentiment Neil and others were implying.

PS: Don't forget, for probably one of the rarest moments in history, Triumph India was THE manufacturer to sell a detuned version of a motorcycle and dupe hundreds of customers. So, pricing a motorcycle less than other markets (INR 35K ex-showroom, OTR might be similar to global prices) certainly doesn't win any brownie points IMO.

[sukiwa]

Ownership review after 1000Kms from a British guy staying in Portugal, this would mimic ownership reviews on our forum and this review felt far better than other you-tubers(some fanboys). Same person also has another video on 7-day initial ownership impressions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KHxd6jM7Ho

[whencut86]

The bikes sold in UK are locally made. Can't compare that and convert to INR and say it is priced less than UK. It is priced at par with other bikes in UK doesn't mean it is priced less here. Even if you want to, the bike was launched in UK during October and the conversion rate that time would made the pricing to be 6.92 lakhs for this bike. We will get the ones made in Thailand as CKD and we have some sort of Trade agreement with Thailand which makes import costs/excise duties lesser than some other countries.

Originally Posted by imranstael

Triumph sells the Trident for 7200 GBP, which as shown by another poster is 7.3 lakhs INR. For probably one of the rarest moments in history, an automobile maker is pricing an imported vehicle for cheaper in India than their home country.

But of course people will still flood the forums expecting even cheaper pricing. Why stop at 6.49? Triumph should have priced it at 6 lakhs. How about 5 lakhs? How about they just give Tridents out for free to whoever asks for one?

The Street Twin in the UK costs 8200 pounds and the Trident 660 costs 7195 pounds and there is more than a thousand pound difference. The BS6 Street Twin was priced at 7.45 lakhs. So based on our earlier discussion in this thread and in other threads in our forum, the expected price was 6.49 lakhs owing to the price difference in UK and how it may translate to a lakh of difference in pricing here.
What Triumph did was launch the 2021 version of Street Twin a few days ago at 7.95 lakhs thereby jacking up the price of Street Twin by 50K. Now today they launched the Trident at 6.95 lakhs thereby maintaining the 1 lakh price difference (rough figure arrived from 1000 pounds difference and maybe excise/tax on that) from the Street Twin. The price screenshots were leaked accidentally by a Triumph executive a few weeks ago. So I was wondering if they wanted to price it at 6.95 from the start and so jacked up the price of Street Twin.

With their current service experience, what Triumph should have ideally done was either improve service centers and look more into resolving customer complaints and launch more products. As far as the experience in the various threads, only Pune Triumph dealer stands out from a servicing point of view and rest all have not so satisfactory reviews. So ideal pricing of the Trident with their current attitude towards customers should have been 6.49 lakhs.

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

The number wasnt plucked out of thin air. It is based on discussions with several sensible and experienced bikers, both in the real world and on this forum. Since you asked about Rs 6.49L ex showroom, here is why (from this very own thread).

Hope that clarifies as to why Rs 6.49L was mentioned.

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Most, if not all of those posts were made last year soon after the global unveil. Here is what happened to currency rates afterwards -

Also, that was all before the horribly atrocious pricing of the CB 650F which left a 2 lakh window for Triumph to play with!

I feel this pricing is acceptable to many mainly because the Honda 650 bikes were insanely priced earlier. The UK rates won't matter for us since we would get this from Thailand as a CKD. Triumph is only smart to make use of the earlier Street Triple engine to create a new segment based on that with a lesser pricing and not much R&D into engine development.

Personally been interested in this bike since the CBR650R became more sportier and the CB650R with upright seating position is priced at 8.67 lakhs ex-showroom. To add to the perspective, looking at options to convert either of these so that one can tour a week or two on these bikes though they are nakeds. Can remove the additional accessories when not being used for touring.
Also happen to see that we don't have the pillion grab handles as an accessory in Indian site but it there in the UK site. I guess we might need to wait for some more accessories and parts from the likes of Hepco & Becker, SW Mototech, R&G, PUIG, Barkbusters, etc to see if one can make this bike more touring friendly. If one can add side panniers about 40-60L capacity, a tank bag with about 15-20L capacity, a tail bag with a 20-30L capacity, a touring windscreen, a better belly pan for protection, radiator guards and a pair of hand/lever guards, then it is mostly covered from a touring perspective. We have the frame/engine guards, fork protection, belly pan and USB charger in the Triumph accessory list here. We don't even know if we can mount side panniers on this bike and don't see much mounting points for soft luggage at the back. If anyone comes up with side pannier mounting options on this bike based on the rear grab handle screw points, it is going to improve the luggage capacity of this bike by a vast measure.

The CB650R has got it all covered in this aspect from a touring perspective. Many 3rd party accessories available to convert it to a touring bike and many videos in Youtube on this. Touring windscreen from PUIG, Belly pan from PUIG or Ermax, Rear tyre hugger to avoid muck getting into back seat, hand guards from barkbusters, R&G engine guards, R&G radiator guards, Luggage options from Hepco Becher, Shad and SW Mototech and much more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QckxcHB0GzE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nYxiumLbc8

Pardon me for hijacking this thread into a comparison between Trident 660 and CB650R but just thinking aloud here. If only the CB650R was priced a lakh less and with all options available for converting that into a touring friendly bike I would have zeroed in on that one. But now have to wait for a few months to see if any of the accessory brands come up with options to convert the Trident 660 into a touring friendly bike. If so, then I am sold onto this one even with the pathetic servicing experiences we get to hear from Triumph but for that to happen Triumph Trident needs to be at 6.95 lakhs and not more considering the costs of accessories as well. If Triumph wants to keep increasing the prices on this one then they can kiss their chances of survival in our market goodbye with their current attitude towards customer grievances.

[Axe77]

Originally Posted by whencut86

With their current service experience, what Triumph should have ideally done was either improve service centers and look more into resolving customer complaints and launch more products. As far as the experience in the various threads, only Pune Triumph dealer stands out from a servicing point of view and rest all have not so satisfactory reviews. So ideal pricing of the Trident with their current attitude towards customers should have been 6.49 lakhs.

So let me guess - basically, they should have launched it with an announcement on these lines:

Guys - we were going to launch this at a pretty decent competitive price of 6.95 lakh. But given our current attitude towards customers, until we improve our service centres and look more into resolving customer complaints and until we launch more products, we have instead decided to launch it at 6.49 lakh. This is pan India except Pune where our service is good - there the bike will retail for 6.95 lakhs as we originally desired. Trust this pricing approach works for Team-BHP.
______

I mean - if you feel as a standalone matter that they need to improve their customer service that’s one thing. To backward work a price of 6.5 lakh for that reason is beyond logic. By that reasoning they should be selling Kawasakis at half their current price and giving away Skodas for free.

Originally Posted by whencut86

Pardon me for hijacking this thread into a comparison between Trident 660 and CB650R but just thinking aloud here. If only the CB650R was priced a lakh less and with all options available for converting that into a touring friendly bike I would have zeroed in on that one. But now have to wait for a few months to see if any of the accessory brands come up with options to convert the Trident 660 into a touring friendly bike. If so, then I am sold onto this one even with the pathetic servicing experiences we get to hear from Triumph but for that to happen Triumph Trident needs to be at 6.95 lakhs and not more considering the costs of accessories as well. If Triumph wants to keep increasing the prices on this one then they can kiss their chances of survival in our market goodbye with their current attitude towards customer grievances.

No highjacking here. It’s a perfectly logical comparison to consider between these two and not out of place in either the Trident thread or the Honda 650’s. And while I personally think the Trident trumps the Honda I can perfectly understand why many would still be swayed by the Honda. In CB form, it is absolutely gorgeous with a gem of an engine in its own right.

One thing is for sure - even at this price the Honda 650s will find their takers. And in the same vein you can be rest assured even if there is a marginal price increase on the Trident, I think it will equally find its own share of buyers. There is more than enough play left with the current Honda 650 pricing to allow Triumph that luxury.

[shaikhmimran]

Originally Posted by shivasuma

After years of resisting the urge to buy a bike, I finally decided this would be my first 2 wheeler purchase in 20 years!!! The Bangalore launch is going to happen on Saturday and the bike will be revealed at 12PM. My only concern is the pillion comfort , which I hope is going to be good/bearable for atleast a trip of 100kms.

Please do a TD and with a pillion before you choose. These motorcycles can be a bliss or a big pain if you get the basics wrong. Insist on a long TD if you need.

[whencut86]

Originally Posted by Axe77

So let me guess - basically, they should have launched it with an announcement on these lines:

Guys - we were going to launch this at a pretty decent competitive price of 6.95 lakh. But given our current attitude towards customers, until we improve our service centres and look more into resolving customer complaints and until we launch more products, we have instead decided to launch it at 6.49 lakh. This is pan India except Pune where our service is good - there the bike will retail for 6.95 lakhs as we originally desired. Trust this pricing approach works for Team-BHP.
______

I mean - if you feel as a standalone matter that they need to improve their customer service that’s one thing. To backward work a price of 6.5 lakh for that reason is beyond logic. By that reasoning they should be selling Kawasakis at half their current price and giving away Skodas for free.

I was just thinking aloud and posted what I felt about the pricing given the conundrum Triumph India are in. They are not even selling numbers close to Kawasaki and the steady double digit sales of Street Twins and Bonneville's is waning down in past few years. To add to that are the service center woes customers are facing regularly. That is why I feel that they should have priced this at 6.49 lakhs to bring in more customers into the brand, work on customer grievances and bring in a customer centric approach in service centers and sales would increase for them automatically. They can't survive selling only a few hundred bikes every year even with bare minimum dealers.

[neil.jericho]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Most, if not all of those posts were made last year soon after the global unveil. Here is what happened to currency rates afterwards -

Even in the Indian market - we need to rethink based on current prices. Ninja 650 is now at 6.54 instead of 6.24 back then, Versys 650 is 7.08 instead of 6.79 and Z900 is 8.34 instead of 7.99. All prices have seen a 30k'ish upward revision.

So Triumph's positioning at 6.95 now is closer to 6.5'ish lakh predictions made last October!

Fair enough. But as whencut86 rightly mentioned, the bike is being imported from Thailand and we have a free trade agreement with them. So the better comparison is with the exchange rate in Thailand. As we can see, its almost exactly the same between then and now.

I dont think we should get too bogged down by how the motorcycle gets to India and how it reaches the showrooms. Whether it is CKD, SKD, CBU, ABC or XYZ, what matters is the ex-showroom (and obviously on road) pricing to you and me. So far the local dealer hasnt shared the on road pricing of the Trident.

Also, there is an old saying - it doesnt matter which tree the mango is plucked from, it should taste sweet!

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Also, that was all before the horribly atrocious pricing of the CB 650F which left a 2 lakh window for Triumph to play with!

I think we are giving Triumph a bit of leeway due to this. Had Honda announced its pricing after the launch of the Trident, more of us would have thought that Triumph could have done a bit better. Its a good price no doubt, but it could have been better.

Originally Posted by whencut86

Personally been interested in this bike since the CBR650R became more sportier and the CB650R with upright seating position is priced at 8.67 lakhs ex-showroom. To add to the perspective, looking at options to convert either of these so that one can tour a week or two on these bikes though they are nakeds. Can remove the additional accessories when not being used for touring.
Also happen to see that we don't have the pillion grab handles as an accessory in Indian site but it there in the UK site. I guess we might need to wait for some more accessories and parts from the likes of Hepco & Becker, SW Mototech, R&G, PUIG, Barkbusters, etc to see if one can make this bike more touring friendly. If one can add side panniers about 40-60L capacity, a tank bag with about 15-20L capacity, a tail bag with a 20-30L capacity, a touring windscreen, a better belly pan for protection, radiator guards and a pair of hand/lever guards, then it is mostly covered from a touring perspective. We have the frame/engine guards, fork protection, belly pan and USB charger in the Triumph accessory list here. We don't even know if we can mount side panniers on this bike and don't see much mounting points for soft luggage at the back. If anyone comes up with side pannier mounting options on this bike based on the rear grab handle screw points, it is going to improve the luggage capacity of this bike by a vast measure.

The CB650R has got it all covered in this aspect from a touring perspective. Many 3rd party accessories available to convert it to a touring bike and many videos in Youtube on this. Touring windscreen from PUIG, Belly pan from PUIG or Ermax, Rear tyre hugger to avoid muck getting into back seat, hand guards from barkbusters, R&G engine guards, R&G radiator guards, Luggage options from Hepco Becher, Shad and SW Mototech and much more.

I agree to all the points you made prior to this in your post. I think the question of being able to convert the Trident into a touring bike is an excellent one and Im not so convinced that it will be an easy task. This is purely subjective and I could be 100% wrong, but if someone is looking at the bike for 90% regular use (city + Sunday breakfast ride + occasional day long ride) and maybe 10% touring, then the Trident could be a great bet. However, the more we add these imported parts to the bikes to make them more touring (or track etc) friendly, the more the costs start stacking up.

For more than the occasional touring in mind, the Honda might be a better option. I think I mentioned this earlier, but the Trident also appears to be a really small bike.

To my mind, for an out and out tourer in the middle weight segment, the Versys is a great choice. The CBR650 (BS3 / BS4) has also proven to be great trusted option for touring in India.

As always, it might come down to a battle of the heart, head and the wallet.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

Fair enough. But as whencut86 rightly mentioned, the bike is being imported from Thailand and we have a free trade agreement with them. So the better comparison is with the exchange rate in Thailand. As we can see, its almost exactly the same between then and now.

Ok, Thai it is!

Originally Posted by whencut86

But now have to wait for a few months to see if any of the accessory brands come up with options to convert the Trident 660 into a touring friendly bike.

Triumph officially offers the below accessories on the Trident 660-

Protection pack - Rs 35,219/-
Includes frame slider, engine cover, engine cover and fork protectors.

Technology pack - Rs 72,309.50/-
Includes shift Assist, connectivity module, USB charger, LED indicators.

As for luggage, the below items are on offer. Third party accessories are only a matter of time, no matter which bike.

[Axe77]

Originally Posted by whencut86

I was just thinking aloud and posted what I felt about the pricing given the conundrum Triumph India are in. They are not even selling numbers close to Kawasaki and the steady double digit sales of Street Twins and Bonneville's is waning down in past few years. To add to that are the service center woes customers are facing regularly. That is why I feel that they should have priced this at 6.49 lakhs to bring in more customers into the brand, work on customer grievances and bring in a customer centric approach in service centers and sales would increase for them automatically. They can't survive selling only a few hundred bikes every year even with bare minimum dealers.

Fair point but actually to give a slightly alternate perspective to the same numbers, I recall reading in some post that Kawasaki has approximately 26 dealerships across India while Triumph has approximately 12. Compare that to sales share, Kawasaki enjoys about 39% while Triumph enjoys 21%. So for their respective dealership spread, the sales are commensurate and comparable to those of Kawasaki.

Kawasaki’s numbers are with the presence of the 650 twins, a price and CC segment that was absent in Triumph’s armoury so far. With the Trident, I only expect this market share to grow given its attractive price point.

Triumph is actually making some fat profits I feel given that some of its best sellers are the Street Twin family (overpriced in my opinion so presumably good profits), Tiger - decently priced but again I am assuming carries healthy margins. Another decent seller was actually the Rocket which again even though well priced for its segment still attracts fat profits.

Triumph is currently occupying the third place in Superbike brands by market share. With Harley exiting (lets see how the Hero partnership plays out), I only see Triumph cementing its position even further. Honda and Suzuki are the only other serious contenders for market share and frankly neither of them is showing remotely the same kind of aggression in either range of products or attractive pricing. Honda in fact is clearly following a “bring limited numbers and sell at HUGE premium” approach - neither look like they’re going to (or even aspiring to) challenge Triumph / Kawasaki on their current dominance.

As for service issues, I still believe these are accentuated in a couple of locations and are not a pan India phenomenan (Team-BHP has sadly over-amplified this aspect unjustifiably as pan India for whatever reasons). Mumbai is every bit as competent as Pune. And many other dealerships like NCR are reasonably fine as well from my understanding.

The thread below gives the numbers from 2020 in detail from which I have cited some of the data above.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/super...torcycles.html (2020 Annual Report Card - Superbikes & Imported Motorcycles)

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

This is purely subjective and I could be 100% wrong, but if someone is looking at the bike for 90% regular use (city + Sunday breakfast ride + occasional day long ride) and maybe 10% touring, then the Trident could be a great bet. However, the more we add these imported parts to the bikes to make them more touring (or track etc) friendly, the more the costs start stacking up.

For more than the occasional touring in mind, the Honda might be a better option. I think I mentioned this earlier, but the Trident also appears to be a really small bike.

To my mind, for an out and out tourer in the middle weight segment, the Versys is a great choice. The CBR650 (BS3 / BS4) has also proven to be great trusted option for touring in India.

As always, it might come down to a battle of the heart, head and the wallet.

Fully agree with all the points above Neil. My gut feel too is the Honda will be a better size for touring. One fairly specific suggestion for @whencut86 / anyone else looking to see the Trident for touring. It’s worth trying to see how well the Kriega US-30 can fit on the back seat with the rider seated in comfort. If that bag fits well, then you could actually side mount two more US 20s (one on each side) to the US 30 mounted on the rear seat. It’s amazing the way those US series bags can fit onto each other and take luggage. 50 - 70 liters of luggage is more than enough for any kind of touring on a regular naked bike IMO. If it works, that’s your entire luggage solution in anything between 12 - 30k depending on how many Kriegas you need for your touring requirements.

[imranstael]

Originally Posted by Porschefire

If it were priced at INR 6.49L however, TI would've hit the ball out of the park and forced even the harshest critics of TI to sign the cheque.

I promise you, no matter what they would have priced it at, there will be people on this forum complaining that it wasn't 50k less. That's literally the theme of every announce post/thread ever made here.

Originally Posted by Porschefire

PS: Don't forget, for probably one of the rarest moments in history, Triumph India was THE manufacturer to sell a detuned version of a motorcycle and dupe hundreds of customers. So, pricing a motorcycle less than other markets (INR 35K ex-showroom, OTR might be similar to global prices) certainly doesn't win any brownie points IMO.

What motorcycle are you speaking of? Last time I checked Honda is the one selling a detuned Africa Twin here. And are now selling their products are irrational prices.

What most posters might not have considered is that perhaps Triumph isn't trying to beat everyone else at a numbers game, at any cost. There is a positioning that every brand seeks to achieve and that plays a large part in what makes them desirable.