Triumph has introduced a new motorcycle, the Tracker 400, into its Indian product range, that will share the top space with the Thruxton 400, which is the most powerful two-wheeler in the company’s 400 series of motorcycles. The Tracker 400, which makes 40ps of peak power and 32Nm of peak torque would retail for ₹2.46 lakh at the showroom. It has been configured somewhere between a sports bike and a classic with a riding position not as committed as on a sports bike, but not as upright as a classic. The intention is create a machine that can serve up the best of both worlds.

Triumph has also downsized the engines its ‘400’ series of motorcycles to 349cc to take advantage of the lower GST of 18 per cent as compared with 40 per cent for motorcycles with engines bigger than 350cc resulting in on-road price reductions up to ₹21,500. This change has been made to the Speed T4, Speed 400, Scrambler 400X, Thruxton 400 and the Scrambler 400 XC models. The ‘400’ bikes will now cost between ₹1.95 lakh at the showroom for the Speed T4 to ₹2.90 lakh for the Scrambler XC.

However, the 400cc motorcycles will continued to be manufactured in India for the export market. Besides, Triumph has retained the ‘400’ nomenclature of the motorcycles even though it does not now match the capacity of the engine. Triumph has tried to keep the power delivery characteristics close to that of the 400cc engine, although with the shorter stroke now the tendency was to lose out on torque. Triumph says with the changes there has been a fuel efficiency gain of around 10 per cent.

The reduction in engine capacity has been achieved with a number of alterations. The crank shaft has been altered for the shorter stroke and a balancer unit has been added for smoother top end feel. The combustion chamber has also been redesigned to maintain the compression ratio. The valve timing and the camshaft are new too so that the engine can recover power and torque even after the capacity reduction. An enlarged intake duct tries to help provide good mid-range punch. The throttle mapping has been done more aggressively to keep the bike responsive.

Triumph, in India, is part of Bajaj Auto’s Probiking operation that also includes KTM and Husqvarna. Speaking about new models, Dinesh Kulkarni, vice president-Probiking, Bajaj Auto, said that the company is currently going to stick with the 350 platform.

KTM, whose adventure bikes have found a good following, also has the 390, which is attracting higher GST in the current taxation scenario and the market buzz is that it is going to get a capacity reduction as well along the same lines as Triumph.