[al90]

So while we were enroute to Trivandrum , we spot the 2 new upcoming RE bikes. The Scrambler 650 (Of which we managed to get a pic) and the Scram 450 (sadly it appeared too suddenly and we were looking at it tying to figure out which bike it was that we couldn't get a pic)

The Scrambler 650:
This seemed to be completely production ready if am not mistaken, we were clocking about 120 since the road was open, and the moment he spotted us taking a pic he sped up, and disappeared am very confident that he was clocking 140+ considering the speed that he disappeared and that's expected of the 650 engine we dint bother chasing him for his and our safety. (I have cropped and sharpened the image as best as i could).



The Scram 450:
Now this one cam at us out of the blue, right after we crossed the scrambler 650 maybe about 1-2kms ahead we spotted another bike initially i thought it might have been the shotgun or another scrambler 650 from afar but as we got closer it became obvious that it was the Scram 450. Key pointer on that were :
1. The brake light and indicator were lifted from the Himalayan 450, no separate brake light. The same new LED headlamps that RE has been updating on its 450+CC bikes.
2. The Exhaust was much more flatter and was done in black it didn't look like the ones in spy pics which have been going around in which they are the same as the Himalayan 450.
3. The unmistakable confirmation of it being the Scram 450 was the ride height, riders seating and the unmistakable sherpa 450 engine.

So am all exited seeing these 2 on the road, waited an entire year why not wait a bit longer, I guess i might end up waiting forever.

[al90]

Thank you everyone for all your wonderful insights and inputs and bearing with my stubborn requirements.

I have finalized and gone ahead with the Scrambler 400X and have officially completed the booking formalities and completed the payment, all that left to do is the PDI and take delivery, which should happen in the coming week or so.

The final push that I need came from the showroom itself, post all of your recommendations in reached out for a longer TD and I had requested for a TD for 30-40 mins, but the manager at Srijai Triumph instead suggested to keep the vehicle for an overnight TD, which came as a surprise since no-one of the other showrooms denied a TD over 20 mins.

So I took the Scrambler 400X on Wednesday 6:30pm and returned it the next day at around 10:30am, this helped me take the bike through the heavy Chennai traffic, managed to check if 3 of us would fit on the bike. And thank my lucky stars I encountered the worst traffic conditions that I could possibly encounter.

Some key takeaways of the TD were :

1. The bike did heat up which is expected for such a machine, but the surprise was that heat was really manageable, nothing too uncomfortable but nothing too forgetful, you knew that the engine was hot.

2.The showroom had 2 Scramblers, one in Red with the suspension set to the hardest and the one in olive green with the suspension to the softest, considering the road condition for my use case. I picked up the latter with the softest suspension, and I was impressed, it handled undulation and potholes like a breeze, where smaller bikes slowed down, I could muster on without any issue.

3. This brings me back to my issue of strained hands and keeping my kid in the front. No strained hands as long as my knees were hugging the tank grips, but when my boy was in the front my legs had to be spread to accommodate him, leading to strained hands also causing trouble with pressing rear brakes and pain in the foot since they weren't fully on the footrests. Safe to say he would no longer be sitting in the front.

4. The home minister loved the bike since on the rear seat she was towering over traffic, and the seats and suspension was really comfortable for her, the only concern raised was that she would like to have a backrest to manage the sudden push back on accelerating while overtaking which the showroom said can be fitted since they have been doing it for a few vehicles already and the also did show me some pics of removable back rest with luggage racks from 3rd parties. I will hold off on this until the 1st service since the one they showed me requires removal of the existing grabrail, and I would prefer to have something which doesn't require that removal.

5. The handlebars were super comfortable but I would have liked it another 5cms higher and towards me, but again this could be cos of me switching to a newer bike and also a completely different format, so will hold off until the first service so that I can confirm if I really need them or if its something that would go off once I get into the correct riding posture and get used to the bike.

Again thank you all for all your wonderful inputs & suggestion and a special thank you to all those who tried to knock some sense into me as well. Prabhu from Srijai Triumph also gets a special thank you from me for the incredible customer service.

This pic should give you an idea of the road conditions in my area along with the TD vehicle.