The 4 days old Triumph 400 swingarm breaks within 560km reading on odometer while riding on smooth tarmac returning from Solang to Manali
Triumph India is on the verge of expanding its global presence by launching affordable single-cylinder motorcycles in partnership with Bajaj. Speed 400 and Scrambler 400X are the first launches with Thruxton 400 in the pipeline. In a rather shocking turn of events, a 4 days old Triumph 400 has had its swingarm broken in two.
4 Days Old Triumph 400 Swingarm Breaks
Esteemed motoring journalist Jeremy Clarkson once introduced an old Toyota Corolla hatchback as the world’s fastest car. Sure, it only had a 1.8L petrol engine and no modifications at all. Reason was, it being a rental vehicle. He further elaborated that said rental car had 140 bhp from the moment he started the engine till the moment he crashed it.
We mention this reference because the 4 days old Triumph 400 with a broken swingarm is a rental vehicle too and this particular incident seems to have happened in the hands of a client. Owner of said Triumph 400 is Abhinav Sood, who runs a motorcycle rental business over the past 10 years with over 130 motorcycles in possession.
Of these 130, 8 motorcycles are from Triumph and only one of them has had swingarm breaking issue. Abhinav Sood explained on their Facebook post that motorcycle in question had clocked just 560 km on the odometer in 4 days of ownership. This is normal mileage for a rental vehicle.
He further explained that this incident happened on a smooth tarmac while returning to Manali from Solang and was not an off-road situation. Mr Sood further claims that the motorcycle was not abused at all and there is nothing that hit this swingarm to break it. He did mention a sliding situation where this motorcycle seems to have fallen and caused this.
Spare parts availability of Triumph 400s is very difficult
Owner Abhinav Sood raised concerns for safety of his clients who often go to challenging spots in Himalayas like Zanskar, Sach Pass and Ladakh. Many of his clients usually carry luggage and even camping equipment and the swingarm breaking issue puts him in a difficult position to rent out Triumphs.
Triumph uses the same cast-aluminium swingarm on both Speed 400 and Scrambler 400X. The latter is designed to take on beaten paths. There must have been robust engineering on this swingarm to test Scrambler 400X’s hypothetical jumps and landings along with sustainability in harsh terrain where Scrambler 400X is advertised to go.
Bajaj Auto Official Response
“The incident concerning said customer has been brought to our attention by our service centre. Upon our internal investigation, it has been noticed that there has been damage to the bike that seems to have been caused a severe accident upon not observing black ice, resulting in extensive damage to 10+ parts. Safety of riders is ensured & is paramount at Triumph. The service centre has further confirmed that the necessary spare parts are being dispatched urgently to ensure the vehicle is fit to ride at the earliest. All necessary support required is being offered to the customer. Any claim of non-availability of parts is untrue.”
