Distinguished Gentelman's Ride

The new Triumph Speed 400 is here. It checks all the right boxes on paper but can it live up to those expectations when you get in the saddle, read on to find out

- Dipayan Dutta

Rajiv Bajaj very eloquently quoted Willie Sutton when asked why he had set his sights on the Royal Enfield market share “You rob banks because that’s where the money is!”. But it doesn’t end there. If Money Heist taught us anything it’s the fact that you need a concrete, lucid plan, executed to perfection. Bajaj’s plan is very much in motion, on these pages, born of the brand’s most recent partnership with Hinkley, the longawaited small displacement Triumph for the world is here, the Speed 400. Triumph wanted a disruptor and Bajaj delivered one, with a price tag that comes in under their flagship, the Dominar 400.

Visually, Triumph wanted to distil the essence of its modern classic range into a more compact package that carries forward the aesthetic of its siblings. On that front Bajaj has absolutely nailed it. The design is derivative of the rest of the line, yes, but it is very hard to say no to a 400cc with the visual aesthetic of a middleweight twin. And if the devil is in the details, the Triumph Speed 400 is freshly dipped in holy water because the quality is unparalleled. And I’m quite pedantic when it comes to details, irrelevant things like weld seams matter to me. Speaking of that are above the curve, the quality of paint used is seriously premium, each layer is painstakingly painted over the base layer for the motif on the tank and it’s exceptional. Would it be insane to say the quality on the 400 seems to be a tad above what you get on the 900?

1. A digital analogue instrument display is easy to read and neatly laid out, one could wish for a slightly bigger tachometer. 
2. The side-slung exhaust looks good and has quite a nice sound.