SCRAMBLED VOICES

Two cool bikes that claim to do it all. And an ending you may not see coming

- Kartik Ware

I have a graveyard’s worth of bones to pick with these two bikes. It’s not their fault, of course; it’s never the bikes. However, diluting a term so elemental to the world of motorcycles is rarely a good idea. The unbroken march of concrete jungles and the inability of riders to get away from even some of ‘it’, let alone ‘it all’, mean that we now have scramblers made for the crowded voids. Are these good motorcycles? Yes, in their own respective rights, I absolutely believe so. But are these really scramblers? That’s a touchy topic and a losing battle for this pair. But first, let’s find out what the Royal Enfield Scram 411 and the Yezdi Scrambler have to offer.

Cool looks, good on-road performance and moderate off-road capability are the three promises this pair keeps. That last bit is quite all right, too, since not everyone is an expert on Earth’s most natural surfaces. Visually, however, it’s the Yezdi that fully lives up to its name, with the Royal Enfield falling short, a bit like its name. The Scrambler you see here is kitted out with the full list of options: the headlight guard, the flyscreen, the hand guards, the engine guards and the tiny tail rack. Even without them, the Yezdi looks pretty cool and scrambler-y. The Scram, meanwhile, has its only option on offer, the Tripper navigation pod. It looks like a Himalayan after a trip to a swanky mall, which is no bad thing, either.