It’s a rebel with a Royal badge – the new Scram 440 replaces the Scram 411, but retains the older motorcycle’s design and character. We rode it on the streets of Goa.
Why the 440?
The Scram 440 is a significantly improved version of the Scram 411 (now discontinued). It’s a strategic move that fixes the mechanical limitations riders had with the 411 platform, while keeping an affordable, air-cooled option in their line-up below the premium Himalayan 450 or Guerrilla 450.
How’s the design?
Barring the ‘440’ sticker at various places, the design remains the same as that of the Scram 411 – an authentic scrambler motorcycle.
Is it better?
The biggest limitation of the Scram 411 (and the original Himalayan 411) was its 5-speed gearbox – at highway speeds above 80-90 km/h, the engine felt strained and vibrated excessively because it lacked a sixth gear for cruising.
The Scram 440 has a 6-speed gearbox. This allows the engine to run at lower RPMs at high speeds, making it a more capable highway tourer than the 411.
Power has been increased from 24.3 bhp to 25.4 bhp, and torque from 32 Nm to 34 Nm. These numbers appear tiny, but the power delivery is smoother, and the top-end performance is far better due to the new gearing. I rode it on Goa’s new elevated expressways and it was comfortable even at speeds of up to 110 km/h.
A thing I loved about the bike is that it retains the beloved characteristics of the original Himalayan engine – torque, simplicity, and low seat height. Its low-end torque is perfect, and it pulls effortlessly at low speeds in high gears.
Another change is that the Scram 411 had spoked wheels with tube-type tyres, making a puncture difficult to fix. The Scram 440 has tubeless tyres, and thus you can ride for quite a distance even if tyres get a puncture.
Is it affordable?
It is positioned quite strategically. With the launch of the liquid-cooled Himalayan 450, the 411 platform became obsolete, but Royal Enfield knew that there was a market for a cheaper, air-cooled engine, and so instead of killing the platform, they evolved the 411 into the 440 (it’s actually 443-cc).
But why not Scram 450?
There was no need of it – and there were limitations also.
Need: Royal Enfield already has the Guerrilla 450 scrambler motorcycle, and so a Scram 450 would have impacted sales of the Guerrilla.
Limitations: To fit the 450 Sherpa engine into the Scram platform, engineers would have had to design a new chassis from scratch. The Scram/Himalayan 411 has a cradle frame where the engine sits inside the metal tubes, but the Sherpa 450 engine is part of the frame. They simply bored out the existing engine and gave it a new gearbox, which has made it far better than the 411.
What about pricing?
It’s priced from Rs 2.23 lakh to Rs 2.31 lakh, making it far more affordable than the Himalayan 450 (Rs 3.06 lakh to Rs 3.37 lakh), and somewhat cheaper than the Guerrilla 450 (Rs 2.56 lakh to Rs 2.72 lakh). Buy it if you enjoy low-end torque and occasional highway runs. Otherwise, there’s the Guerrilla 450 that has explosive performance.
