Singles club: under the skin of Triumph’s new 400cc singles

Back in late June, Triumph Motorcycles announced an assault on the rapidly expanding low-capacity singles market, revealing the 398cc Speed 400 and Scrambler 400 X, to be built in collaboration with Indian automotive giants Bajaj.

With Triumph opening the order books in India on July 5, more than 12,000 pre-orders flooded in virtually overnight– a figure equalling 14% of total global sales in 2022 and trashing their previous sales totals in the country of around 1000 a year.

Bikes will begin to become available in the UK early next year and will face off against KTM’s recently revamped Bajaj-built 390 Duke, BMW’s G310 range (built by Indian giants TVS who own Norton) and a fleet of air-cooled Royal Enfields that look set to expand again soon with the introduction of a new Bullet range.

To find out whether Triumph have the edge in an accessible, yet aspirational portion of the global motorcycling market, we sat down with Chief Engineer Stuart Wood at the firm’s Hinckley HQ to discuss the new engine…