Royal Enfield is one of the most exciting manufacturers I follow at the moment. The new owners who took over a few years ago have really revitalized the brand that only operates in the A2 segment with the 350, 411, 450 and 650 platforms. They are by no means power hogs, but most models are catching up in completely different areas. The Scram 411 was launched in 2022 and became almost as popular as the Himalayan model that was built on the same engine platform.
The older model had a 24 hp air/oil-cooled engine and a 5-speed gearbox, an absolutely super bike that has a wide range of uses and creates buckets of driving pleasure. Like the 350 models of Royal Enfiled, these models are just deadly charming and fun to own, provided you don’t have to have 150 hp and a payment commitment of 300,000 da! The 411 version of the Scram has a fantastic amount of good things about it but was and is a little under-mortorized. I was therefore quite excited when I saw that it now comes as a 443 cc and water-cooled version with a 6-speed gearbox. But I was a little too quickly disappointed when I saw that it doesn’t have the same power output as the new Himalayan model (40 hp and 40 Nm). On the Scram model, much less power is extracted, one and a half hp and a couple of Nm and it was a disappointment. I can almost be led to believe that they have only extracted what they need to compensate for the new EOURO 5+ requirements and this adjustment certainly does not meet my expectations!!! I know the older model very well, have not driven the model, but know that this will be very good. Here you get a lot of driving pleasure for the bed. The new model has a 19 ” front wheel, while the predecessor had 21″, it has a slightly shorter front damper travel, but these changes ensure that it will be a little stiffer and probably a little more fun to drive. The damping on the predecessor was very good and I don’t think the marginally shorter damping travel on the 440 represents any kind of drama in terms of handling.
The Scram 440 has a new water-cooled engine, a softer clutch and a 6-speed gearbox. The power output is extracted in the mid-range and the new gearbox provides shorter gear intervals that are guaranteed to feel crisper and at the same time quieter at high speeds on the highway, for example. The ergonomics are absolutely brilliant and personally I’m a big fan of the CEAT tires that RE uses. Really good tires that are both soft and nice and durable. The steering geometry is both fun and festive oh the model carries tour loads very well. So despite the marginally higher power output, I have great faith that this will actually be even better and in a year or two we will hopefully also see the Scram come as a Himalayan version 40 hp and 40 Nm. I really hope so. But either way, it’s going to be exciting and I’m really looking forward to driving the charmer in the spring. We have faith in this.
Text: Ole-Andreas Isdahl
