So you do the math: 200kg, 180mm of suspension travel, low front guard, motocross track. What could possibly go wrong? You’ll know from the pictures the bike was the Royal Enfield Scram 411, the company’s new variant on its Himalayan platform, and the machine is a little ripper — or overweight nail, depending on your point of view.
When I was swinging through the bitumen curves of the Gold Coast hinterland, it was a ripper. When I was fighting the heavy front end through a rock-hard rut, my opinion wasn’t quite so flattering. But it’s testament to Royal Enfield’s confidence in the bike that the company was happy for a bunch of bike journos to be let loose around the natural terrain track at Queensland Moto Park.
I came away thinking the Scram could be a good thing for an adventure rider to own as a second bike, for those considering getting into the adventure bike scene, and for novices to get their skills up on before moving to a bigger, more powerful machine.
Royal Enfield sees it as an inexpensive machine for someone looking for something versatile — commuting, weekend rides, dirt roads and even customisation. It’s also a great platform to build a retro-styled scrambler for dirt track and off-road events like Dust Hustle.
WHEN THE HIMALAYAN CAME OUT I WONDERED IF IT WAS THE UGLIEST MACHINE ON THE MARKET.
A FEW YEARS LATER
