TRIAL BY FIRE

If the Speed 400 looks like a Triumph, is built like a Triumph, and rides like a Triumph, it must be a Triumph? Let's find out.

- SHIVANK BHATT

Moments after Bajaj-Triumph dropped the literal price bomb on the competition with the brand-new Speed 400 in India – and once we had all picked up our proverbial jaws off the floor – it was time for us journalists to get back to work. The job was to find out if this new made-in-India, made-for-India cut-price Triumph motorcycle is actually a Triumph or a Bajaj in a colonial outfit.

What’s the catch or compromise here? How have they done it? We were desperate to find out. So, the very next day after the launch event, we hit the road with what is now the most-affordable Triumph motorcycle in the world. And here’s what yours truly has learnt…

SCALED-DOWN CLASSIC

The Speed 400 draws inspiration from Triumph’s heavyweight modern classics, the Speed Twin 900 and Speed Twin 1200. Except for the size and the lack of a parallel-twin motor, the Speed 400’s design is almost identical to its bigger brothers. Elements like the round LED headlamp, stubby proportions, sculpted fuel tank, bar-end mirrors, golden USD forks, signature Triumph monikers, dualtone paint options, blacked-out engine casing, finned cylinder head, upswept exhaust, and LED taillamp, all come together beautifully to make the Speed 400 a true scaled-down Triumph modern classic.

While the styling is spot-on, the fit-and-finish and attention to detail are even better – in fact, the Speed 400 is as good as any other Triumph in this aspect. Be it the paint finish or the switchgear quality or the general touch-and-feel of the components, Bajaj and Triumph have done an extraordinary QC job here.