NGC - Triumph Scrambler 400X

[bronzestar1]

Helped my youngest daughter get her first bike.  She's had her license for a couple of years now, doesn't have her own bike, so whenever she'd come to visit, she'd ride a Triumph Street Twin 900 I had.  This was before I got my '23 V7 and '24 V100 Mandello.  I think going from the ST 900 to the V7 would've been a bit much for her, to me the V7 is noticeably heavier, harder to manuever at slow speeds, and that trans is too clunky.  Picked this up from the dealer this morning, put about 60 miles on it. 

As one would expect, it's a nimble, good handling bike, and surprised me that it was able to keep up at freeway speeds (65-70).  This 400-single also has one of the nicest sounding stock exhausts on any bike I've had.  The suspension is on the stiff side, and the seat won't win any awards for comfort, but the 6-speed transmission is MUCH better than the trans in either Guzzi.  I'm 5'9" with a 30" inseam and can't flat-foot the bike at a stop, so she'll have to get used to either being on the balls of her feet, or leaning the bike slightly to the right so she can flat-foot her right foot, and have the left foot on the peg and shift lever ready to go.  This was their last '24 model, so it was discounted down to $4900, she's going to get a pretty good bike for the money.  I'm hoping to get it down to NC within the next 30 days so she can start riding it.  Until then, it's all mine!

I have a 15-tooth front sprocket for it (comes with 14T), and have a tail-tidy on the way.  I'm going to hold off on installing the 15T sprocket until she gets a chance to put some miles on it.  The 14T sprocket seems fine for riding around town, and the way the bike is geared, she can't keep it in first for too long, so she'll get a lot more experience shifting from a stop.   











     

[twowheeladdict]

Not sure it is the transmission on the V7, but instead the shift linkage that is clunky. 

When I changed to Sato Racing rear sets with bearings in the linkage the shifting became very smooth.

[tommy2cyl]

I bought the same bike and took delivery of it a year ago.  I am on the other side of the age curve and am going through the lighter is better life shift.
The suspension does free up some with miles.  Rally Raid has options if you want to pursue.  The engine is an absolute jewel.  I wanted a back roads
bike to just go out and explore and chill.  I find myself cruising between 50 and 65 most of the time.  Funny how smaller displacement bikes put you
into a different paradigm.

[kennneee]

Last year I decided to sell my R1200 GS and get a ligher bike. I bought a Triumph 400x. Added the larger front sprocket and a bunch of other farkles. Absolutely love the bike. So light and nimble and surprisingly punchy for a 400cc bike. I did go on an extended ride with a friend and he was on a 1250GS. Most of the ride I was able to keep up except on one hairy passing situation when I hit the rev limiter. This bike is a keeper. That said, after thinking I was done with heavy touring bikes I just bought a V85TT. Different horses for different courses. Thinking I was pairing down the stable I can't seem to have fewer than 3.  I think you picked a great bike for your daughter.

[bronzestar1]

"...Funny how smaller displacement bikes put you
into a different paradigm."

Riding the 400X gives some truth to the old saying, "it's more fun to ride a slow bike fast, than a fast bike slow."  I bet this 400X would be an absolute hoot to ride in some tight twisties! 

[Wfm333]

The 400x was on my top 5 to test. The V7 stone got in the way of the demo. I previously test rode the street scrambler 900 and found it quite soulless , although it was stock, but I definitely had enough power for me. I didn't know I wanted a Guzzi. Never heard one , seen one or sat on one. By chance I saw one for sale, love ked the look and once I sat on her, fired her up and tooker for a blocky that was it. I dismounted and made an offer immediately, that's how alive this bike made me feel. I'm interested in scrambler builds .
How do you guys find the 400x power delivery, torque and soul factor compared to the Guzzis?
Glad your enjoying this little pocket rocket!

[tommy2cyl]

The 400x was on my top 5 to test. The V7 stone got in the way of the demo. I previously test rode the street scrambler 900 and found it quite soulless , although it was stock, but I definitely had enough power for me. I didn't know I wanted a Guzzi. Never heard one , seen one or sat on one. By chance I saw one for sale, love ked the look and once I sat on her, fired her up and tooker for a blocky that was it. I dismounted and made an offer immediately, that's how alive this bike made me feel. I'm interested in scrambler builds .
How do you guys find the 400x power delivery, torque and soul factor compared to the Guzzis?
Glad your enjoying this little pocket rocket!

My long haul bike has been a  V 85 for the last 6 years.  Both the MG and my 400 X give me what I want out of a motorcycle which is first and foremost a
motor that makes me smile every time I fire it up.  They compliment each other very well, but the V 85 seems to be getting heavier for me by the season.
Both bikes also make me turn around and look at them at the end of the ride.  Garage appeal.  Makes for a nice duo.

[bronzestar1]

"...How do you guys find the 400x power delivery, torque and soul factor compared to the Guzzis?  Glad your enjoying this little pocket rocket!

There's no real comparison regarding power delivery and torque against my V7 or V100.  The 400X is a revvy little thing, and if you keep shifting it along, it'll get up to highway speeds in no time.  But it's also content to motor along on the surface streets at higher or lower rpms, rider's choice.  It's a torquey motor as well (combined with the gearing), considering its small displacement and only having one cylinder.  The "soul factor" is highly subjective, but I don't think the 400X does any disservice to the Triumph name.  I don't think it has as much "character" as either of my Guzzis, which are instantly recognizable by the big cylinders sticking out the sides, along with the shaft drive.  But that little bike is high on the grin and fun factors, and is considerably less expensive than a V7, with a much bigger dealer network for service and parts.         

[JJ]

I think the Triumph 400X Scrambler and Sport 400 are great little bikes!   My buddy in Prescott just bought a Sport 400 and he loves it!

While researching my next bike, it was my 2nd choice, but I thought a "twin" would be better all around so I bought a 2025 Moto Morini Calibro 700.  I have owned / ridden five (5) Guzzi's so I wanted something different this time.  It's a great little bike, light and nimble with 68HP, 6-speed and a belt-drive.
More ride impressions coming as the weather improves.

[slopokes]

Only two bike U need..

[bronzestar1]

Update:  after putting a few more miles on the bike, to include some freeway time, I'm going to change that front sprocket to a 15T.  You have to quick shift the bike to get it to accelerate at a decent pace, and a 15T front sprocket (stock is 14T) will allow the engine to run several hundred rpms lower at freeway speeds.  Not that I plan on spending a lot of time on the freeway on this bike, but a 15T front sprocket certainly couldn't hurt at this point.   

[bronzestar1]

Installed the 15-tooth sprocket.  The original 14-tooth has the rubber bushing on both sides, the 15-tooth doesn't, not sure if it makes a difference or not.  Hardest part was removing the OEM sprocket, ended up using a claw hammer to finally break it loose.  Next hardest part was installing the new one.  Since it's larger, I had to get more slack on the chain, ended up with 5 dots showing on the alignment bars.  When I tightened it back up, it was just starting to cover the 3rd dot.  Took it up and down a couple of the aisles at my storage unit, and I could tell the difference right away.  I could stay in first gear, where before I'd have to shift to second.  It doesn't feel as stressed as before, so my guess it'll be a little more relaxed when going thru the gears.  I watched a video where a guy had a speedo app on his phone, and was comparing it to the indicated speed, and the difference was around 7 percent slower.  So an indicated 75 was actually going 70.  At least I'll know I'm going a little slower than what the speedo says! 

OEM 14-tooth sprocket with the rubber bushing:




15-tooth sprocket on the left, OEM 14-tooth on the right:




15-tooth sprocket installed:

[antmanbee]

You will be getting tickets. The speedo will show you going slower than your actual speed with an increase in front sprocket size.

[mechanicsavant]

What twowheeladdict said . I disassembled the shifter linkage on both my V7’s & lubricated all pivots . I even drilled a small hole into the lever pivot so I could use a needle greaser in there . Big difference!

[bronzestar1]

You will be getting tickets. The speedo will show you going slower than your actual speed with an increase in front sprocket size.

Shoot, these gearing changes always got me confused.  So by going with a bigger front sprocket, when doing the same rpms as before, I'll be going faster than the indicated speed, yes?  Okay, change 1, don't go faster than the posted speed limit and I should be good (I'll be doing 7 percent higher, which shouldn't draw the attention of 5-0)...

[SIR REAL ED]

Shoot, these gearing changes always got me confused.  So by going with a bigger front sprocket, when doing the same rpms as before, I'll be going faster than the indicated speed, yes?  Okay, change 1, don't go faster than the posted speed limit and I should be good (I'll be doing 7 percent higher, which shouldn't draw the attention of 5-0)...

You might want to check your speed first with a GPS ap.  In the olden days, most motorcycle speedometers were quite optimistic.  A speedometer that indicated 60 mph at an actual only 53 or 55 was pretty common.

Which is why so many guys said their stock Kawasaki Z1 would do 150 mph!  Cause the speedometer said that 135 mph is really 150 mph!

7% faster at 55 mph is only 59 mph.  Perhaps NC Dan may confirm, but my experience is 10+ mph over gets attention from Johnny Law, and anything under that is too common to bother with.

If you do get pulled over, just say:

"Sorry officer!  I'm an old fart!  This is my daughter's bike!  I'm not used to all this horsepower!  Once i got above 45 mph, I got a woodie!  First time in years!  I was afraid that if i slowed down, it would go away!!"

In my experience, police officers love those attitudes!!

NC Dan may confirm or deny.....

 

[antmanbee]

Shoot, these gearing changes always got me confused.  So by going with a bigger front sprocket, when doing the same rpms as before, I'll be going faster than the indicated speed, yes?  Okay, change 1, don't go faster than the posted speed limit and I should be good (I'll be doing 7 percent higher, which shouldn't draw the attention of 5-0)...

What helps me figure it out is remembering my 10 speed bike as a kid and how changing the gears on the front sprocket to the bigger gear would make it harder to pedal, but changing to a bigger sprocket in the rear made it easier. There were a lot of steep hills where I grew up. But now in flat Florida a one speed is all I need.

[DoubleGuzzi]

..The speedo will show you going slower than your actual speed with an increase in front sprocket size.

Nope. Speed sensor is at the wheel, not the sprocket.

[antmanbee]

Nope. Speed sensor is at the wheel, not the sprocket.

If the speed sensor is at the wheel then any sprocket change, front or rear will have no effect on the speedometer.
I don't know how Triumph designs it. I was going by the OP stating it would not be accurate anymore which would indicate it was not reading from the wheel.

[SIR REAL ED]

Should be a great bike for any person who is not speed obsessed!

A sub-400 lb bike with less than 40 hp on a twisty road is always fun.

Even more fun when your riding buddies on their bikes with 100+ hp sport bikes can't believe you are keeping up with them.

"Obviously, you are using less than 35 horsepower..... cause I haven't hit redline even once today......"

That is a great price also, about the same price as a Kawasaki KLX140 or a Beta Explorer electric bike!

I like the fact that Triumph resisted the current trend of putting a 3.5" front wheel and 4.5" rear wheel on that bike!!! 

Narrow wheels = light handling!

[bronzestar1]

Installed the Dart mid-size tinted windscreen the other day.  Pretty simple, but the bracket isn't as "robust" as the Triumph one.  Haven't ridden the bike with it on yet, so we'll see how it does.  I noticed there was a good amount of wind blast when going freeway speeds, so hopefully it'll reduce or redirect some of that so it's not as noticeable. 



 



 

[SIR REAL ED]

Installed the Dart mid-size tinted windscreen the other day.  Pretty simple, but the bracket isn't as "robust" as the Triumph one.  Haven't ridden the bike with it on yet, so we'll see how it does.  I noticed there was a good amount of wind blast when going freeway speeds, so hopefully it'll reduce or redirect some of that so it's not as noticeable. 



 

Looks good!  Very Ducati Monster-esque!

[rocker59]

Nope. Speed sensor is at the wheel, not the sprocket.

Yeah, I thought all the new ABS-equipped bikes use the wheel speed sensor from the back wheel for speedometer input.

[twowheeladdict]

Update:  after putting a few more miles on the bike, to include some freeway time, I'm going to change that front sprocket to a 15T.  You have to quick shift the bike to get it to accelerate at a decent pace, and a 15T front sprocket (stock is 14T) will allow the engine to run several hundred rpms lower at freeway speeds.  Not that I plan on spending a lot of time on the freeway on this bike, but a 15T front sprocket certainly couldn't hurt at this point.   

I'd be interested to know if fuel economy changes. 

[bronzestar1]

Installed the TEC tail tidy this afternoon, looks MUCH better:

Before:




After:

[SIR REAL ED]

Huge improvement!!

[bronzestar1]

The OEM front fender was cracked, and the dealer already has a replacement on the way.  I couldn't wait, so I installed the high-mount front fender kit, with the fender extension.  Looks weird from the side, but looks the part head on.  I'll just keep the replacement fender with the other parts I'm collecting!





I will give the dealer an "A" for effort though on the bandaid fix to the cracked fender:

[bronzestar1]

Installed a set of engine guards.  Ordered these from eBay, shipped from India to the States, took about a week.  Fit perfectly, but I added a bunch more washers than were included in the hardware kit.  No instructions, so I'm wondering if the correct position for that cross bar is up like pictured, or if it should be down?  I originally was going to put it down, but it was a little too close to the fender for my liking. 

[rocker59]

I imagine that in the down position, that crossbar would contact the fender/tire under heavy fork compression.


Up looks like the correct orientation to me, but you may want to make sure of clearance at home before going out on the road.

[bronzestar1]

I imagine that in the down position, that crossbar would contact the fender/tire under heavy fork compression.  Up looks like the correct orientation to me, but you may want to make sure of clearance at home before going out on the road.

I'm trying to be "scientific" about the position of that crossbar, and now that I think about it, the correct position should be down, not up like I have it.  In the up position, there's nothing for it to protect.  In the down position, it'll be a barrier between the lower part of the fender and the radiator guard.  I looked at other images of engine guards, and on the lower engine guard kit, there's a bar that goes across the bottom that connects the two sides, similar to this bar with the bend in it.  No such bar on the upper engine guard kit.  I'll flip it down next time I'm at the storage unit.