Upgraded from a Pulsar to the Triumph speed 400: 8 quick observations

I had test ridden the RE Classic 350 about three months ago. Like the HD, the Classic felt heavy and difficult to manage for my usage. So I dropped it and continued looking for other options.

BHPian CuriousMagpie recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

It’s been almost a week now since my bike was delivered. Here are some observations from my perspective after following this thread for a while now:

Hyderabad showroom

• Hyderabad’s Retro Triumph seem to be relatively good, compared to the ordeals being experienced by folks in Bangalore and Pune. However, even the Hyderabad showroom appears to be quite overwhelmed by the recent surge in customers as I didn’t always find someone to talk to. Apparently they delivered just around 1000 bikes in last 10 years (until June ’23), but delivered more than 1000 bikes in the past couple of months! I appreciate them, despite the tired but welcoming look on their faces.

• I got the bike delivered within a week after paying the full amount – I was skeptical of paying the full amount without looking at the allotted bike first, but after checking with some others it seems that’s how they operate.

• I didn’t face any issues with color change (red to black) and registration name change (to spouse name – so that we pay less road tax). The staff politely cooperated and made the changes.

• A new showroom seems to have opened recently at Gachibowli (beside Biodiversity Park), but the one at Banjara Hills is slightly more accessible for me so I continued my booking and got it delivered from there itself instead of trying to get it changed to the Gachibowli showroom.

• Our office parking is quite tight, so I asked for a center stand (it’s mandatory in our office parking lot). However, there’s no mention of the center stand in the accessory list. The salespeople had no idea about it either. However, they said they’ll hopefully have more details in a few weeks once the accessories are available in the showroom. No accessories are available right now.

• Apparently we should book service appointments via the “Triumph India” app, but it doesn’t work on my iPhone Mini! The salespeople made note and said they’ll get it resolved soon, but it’s still broken.

• The maker in RC is “Bajaj”, as others have noted.

Overall experience with the showroom staff for any of the process such as test ride, delivery, etc. were largely uneventful, which is good.

Competition

I had booked the HD x440 on the day it was launched (couple of days before Triumph/Bajaj launched Speed 400). I checked out the HD x440 to cover all the bases before making the decision. The x440 was not available for test ride until last week so I just sat on it when I visited the HD showroom (at Kavuri Hills) and immediately realized that’s not for me. The rectangle display in circular console and wires on the right side of the handle felt so ugly. The seating posture didn’t feel comfortable for me, especially for majority city riding. The additional weight was another big factor. HD/Hero launched the x440 before Speed 400, but hadn’t even begun test rides! They recently rolled out online booking for test rides, but all slots are always full! I thought I’d get to test ride the x440 before Speed 400 delivery, but that was not meant to be. I’ve no qualms though. Just sitting on the display bike was enough for me to be convinced that it was not meant for me. The sound is perhaps signature Harley, but I prefer Speed 400’s sound better since it blends more into the traffic without attracting much attention. I’m yet to cancel the HD x440 booking, which I’ll do soon.

I had also test ridden a RE Classic 350 about three months ago. Like the HD, the Classic felt heavy and difficult to manage for my usage. So I dropped it and continued looking for other options.

I feel Triumph/Bajaj has launched Speed 400 just for me – it’s such a perfect upgrade from my current bike!

Regarding the bike

• I got MRF tires, but I didn’t feel anything different. Out of the 10 bikes delivered that day, only 2 had MRF and the rest had Apollos.

• I only received an extra key and couple of lock fobs in the kit. I saw someone posting that they received more items. The key is programmed to work with the bike and apparently worth 5000, so we need to protect and maintain it well!

• As most people have mentioned already, I too noticed the wild fluctuations in DTE (Distance To Empty). I’m hoping it’ll stabilize or be fixed after first service next month.

• The seat doesn’t seem to be a perfect fit (you’ll notice if you try to pull up the seat at the front/rider’s end). It’s not really a concern since no one ever pulls up the seat that way! Most of the other bikes that were up for delivery had the same behavior so it’s not a defect.

• I currently own a Pulsar 135 LS. So, Speed 400 is definitely a significant upgrade. I was advised not to go too fast for a while, so I haven’t tested its limits. For comparison, I’ve hit 120-130 kmph on the Pulsar when I traveled from Chennai to Bangalore in around 7 hours – so you can imagine how much I pushed the Pulsar  However, I pushed it so hard only once in its 13-year existence.

• My current usage is 99% city driving. Overall, I’ve found a lot of things well thought through in Speed 400, although some folks had concerns about them. For example, I felt the wider handle with bar-end mirrors instill a lot more confidence and provide better control. Also, the sitting posture is great for city riding, especially with a pillion rider. A lot of controls are automated so that the rider focuses on the drive. For example, the auto-headlight, ABS, traction control, no kick-start, no reserve fuel knob, etc.

• Some places where I park my bike aren’t safe, so I got the color changed from red to black since black didn’t seem to stand out. It was corroborated during my drives in the past week – the only times people noticed my bike were perhaps when they noticed the yellow TR board.

• Despite all the good stuff, I do have some concerns (some of them mentioned by others already). Most significant is the display console – it could be so much better by making the analog dial smaller and converting it to a tachometer instead of displaying the speed, and the digital console could show more info instead of having to press the “i” (info) button to rotate through so many times. I’m so used to seeing the DTE, Odometer and few other details without having to toggle through.

• Apart from that, I also wish the pillion foot-pegs could be slightly more separated from the rider foot-pegs so that pillion’s feet are not touching the rider’s legs. Also, I wish the inner mudguard was extended to cover a bit more of the rear tire – perhaps that might make the bike look a bit ugly, but that’s just from my experience with other bikes.

Overall, I’m quite impressed and feel like buying this has been one of the best decisions.

To conclude, I’d like to thank the members of this forum and especially those who have posted actively on this thread. The wealth of knowledge and advice is awesome

Read BHPian comments for more insights and information.

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