With Scrambler X and Speed, Triumph Makes Motorcycles Accessible

• Triumph Speed 400 and Scrambler 400 X arrive in 2024 at what promises to be a very affordable price.
• While they’ll be big sellers in India and Asian markets, they’ll also bring new, younger, and some returning riders into the fold here in the US.
• Just under 40 hp with a wet weight of 375 pounds promise fun performance.

Triumph motorcycles will be accessible to a much wider range of buyers next year when the all-new Speed 400 and Scrambler 400 X models go on sale here in 2024. US prices won’t be announced until closer to launch, but considering that the current lowest-priced Triumph, the Trident 660, stickers for $8595, expect a truly manageable monthly payment to go with your freedom.

The two bikes are all-new, Triumph says, including the frames and engines. The bikes were designed and engineered by both Triumph and India’s Bajaj. Wait, who’s Bajaj? It’s the world’s third-largest motorcycle maker and the second biggest in India. India knows motorcycles, too, with a market that can exceed 20 million units in a year.

In 2016 Bajaj signed a deal to develop small-displacement motorcycles with KTM and continues to manufacture sub-400-cc bikes for the Austrians. Five years ago, it signed another deal with Triumph, both makers seeing the enormous market on the subcontinent and beyond. The first fruit of that relationship is what you see here, a pair of 400-cc single-cylinder bikes that will go on sale in India just after you read this, and in the rest of the world, including here in the US, by early 2024.

The engine comes from the all-new TR-Series with fuel injection, liquid-cooling, and dual-overhead cams operating all four valves. It incorporates a finger-following valvetrain with what Triumph says is a low reciprocating mass and DLC coatings to reduce friction. A ride-by-wire throttle controls output of 39.5 hp at 8000 rpm and 27.7 lb-ft of torque at 6500 revs. Triumph promises “…capacity defying performance” from this “free-revving yet tractable engine.” While it’s liquid-cooled, it wouldn’t be a Triumph without those cooling fins on the block.

A torque-assist clutch reduces lever effort and should further help attract new riders. That’s mated to a six-speed gearbox that Triumph says “…delivers light, precise gear selection with ratios perfectly spread to make the most of this characterful and torque-rich engine.”

Both the Speed 400 and the Scrambler 400 X will get their own chassis, with a bolt-on rear subframe and cast-aluminum swing arm. Seat heights are 31 inches on the Speed and 32.9 inches on the Scrambler. Suspension tuning is likewise tailored to each bike’s intended use, but Triumph promises they’ll offer “…famously easy, agile, and dynamic handling.” Both models come standard with traction control and ABS, both of which can be switched off.

A single front disc—300mm on the Speed and 320 on the Scrambler—and a single rear disc provide stopping power. Wheelbase on the Scrambler is slightly longer and front wheels are likewise tailored to use, with a 19-inch front rim on the Scrambler and 17 on the Speed.

Triumph says the two bikes will join its Modern Classics lineup along with the Bonneville, Thruxton, Speed Twin, and Scrambler lineups. Triumph says it was responsible for the Scrambler class, “creating a whole new motorcycle category that others then proceeded to follow.” Likewise the original Café Racers that came in the 1950s emanated from the Bonneville T120.

It certainly is an iconic brand. Marlon Brando rode his own Triumph in The Wild One, Steve McQueen (via Bud Ekins) rode one almost all the way over a double barbed wire fence in The Great Escape, Elvis rode a ‘68 Bonneville on screen, James Bond rode a Scrambler 1200 in No Time to Die, and both Tom Cruise and Chris Pratt have ridden them in movies. Who doesn’t want to be as cool as those guys? All that’s waiting is an affordable Triumph. And here are two of ‘em.

Is it time you got back on a bike? Tell us your two-wheel lowdown in the comments below.