I picked up my Scrambler 400X at the beginning of April, I just crossed 600 miles. Other than my concern about metal flakes in the oil on the first change, I love the bike. It is not perfect, but if it holds up and the metal particles were just a manufacturing anomaly, I'll be very happy.
I live in Western Colorado, USA, the I wanted a "gravel bike". I considered various Adventure bikes, but I liked the price tag on the Scrambler as well as the way it looks. I wanted something mostly for the huge networks of gravel roads we have around here, from nicely graded and flat, to very steep, rocky and gnarly. I really don't care for the gnarly or I just would have bought a dual sport, but I want to be able to get up to the mountains on reasonable double track roads, and to ride the desert as well. I've put about 400 miles on gravel. Other than the ride home from the dealer, I have avoided any road with a speed limit over 45MPH.
I've done some fun riding. The Scrambler works great on mild 4x4 roads, and any normal "gravel" road. You must keep your speed down when riding rocky terrain. The suspension is just too stiff to do anything other than just bounce from rock to rock in babyheads, unless you are in first gear, 10MPH or under. If you walk the bike, it does great. First gear is low, and the fuel injection allows you to go almost to idle without surging or dying. Throttle response from idle isn't going to scare you, but it does pull decently. Engine braking going down steep, rocky terrain is interesting. The bike seems to sense that you are going down with the throttle shut, it will give very little engine braking for the first few seconds, then it seems to shift into shutting down the fuel delivery and the engine braking is really good. There is definitely something in the engine mapping there.
The brakes are a mixed bag. The Anti-lock works well, but you really want to go into off road mode if you are on a steep 4x4 road. Otherwise, if you lock the brakes, especially the rear, the ALB cuts in and you are basically left with no rear braking and very little front. You can argue all day long about anti-lock brakes on gravel, and I will give you that on a FLAT road with a pretty hard surface, they are worth leaving on, but in deep gravel, on mud, or on steep downhills, you had better learn threshold braking with ALB off, because you are going to be very disappointed grabbing a handful of front and standing on the rear, as you careen down the steep road or trail with the anti-locks chattering away. There is a reason they allow ALB to be switched off. The traction control is another story. If you roll up to a steep loose uphill and have left traction control on, you will be fighting the traction control up the hill. You need to spin the rear in some situations. You just do.
The tires work pretty darn well in all conditions except mud, where they are worthless. Thankfully, I avoid mud, so it is not an issue.
Now to the not so good: I have had many times now that I get the feeling of the rear tire going flat after 10-15 minutes on a rough road or trail, while going at a good clip. The rear shock overheats and the damping pretty much disappears. There is a little oil canister on top of the shock, and I have checked it a few times when I had that flat tire feeling, and it is too hot to hold my hand on for more than a few seconds. It is definitely a weak spot. The fork is fine, I think mostly because it is so damn stiff it barely moves. It is awesome on the highway, but more compliance and travel are necessary to really call the Scrambler an "Adventure Bike". It works OK off road, again, you have to keep your speeds way down in the truly rough stuff.
One major bummer is that the turning radius is an issue. The fork simply does not have enough lock angle, and the wheel base is long. Get ready to do a lot of Austin Powers turn arounds. I had two instances where I took a road to the point where it was just too rough to continue, and getting the 400lb bike turned around was a major PIA. Both times I had to dismount because the road was off camber, and it kind of sucked.
If I had written this yesterday, I would have ended here with 4.5 out 5 stars, but I changed the oil today, 614 miles, and it was full of tiny metal particles. Obviously this is concerning. I'm going to change it again at 1600 miles, and if the oil and filter look like they did this time, the bike is going back to the dealer and we will be having a serious conversation.
I live in Western Colorado, USA, the I wanted a "gravel bike". I considered various Adventure bikes, but I liked the price tag on the Scrambler as well as the way it looks. I wanted something mostly for the huge networks of gravel roads we have around here, from nicely graded and flat, to very steep, rocky and gnarly. I really don't care for the gnarly or I just would have bought a dual sport, but I want to be able to get up to the mountains on reasonable double track roads, and to ride the desert as well. I've put about 400 miles on gravel. Other than the ride home from the dealer, I have avoided any road with a speed limit over 45MPH.
I've done some fun riding. The Scrambler works great on mild 4x4 roads, and any normal "gravel" road. You must keep your speed down when riding rocky terrain. The suspension is just too stiff to do anything other than just bounce from rock to rock in babyheads, unless you are in first gear, 10MPH or under. If you walk the bike, it does great. First gear is low, and the fuel injection allows you to go almost to idle without surging or dying. Throttle response from idle isn't going to scare you, but it does pull decently. Engine braking going down steep, rocky terrain is interesting. The bike seems to sense that you are going down with the throttle shut, it will give very little engine braking for the first few seconds, then it seems to shift into shutting down the fuel delivery and the engine braking is really good. There is definitely something in the engine mapping there.
The brakes are a mixed bag. The Anti-lock works well, but you really want to go into off road mode if you are on a steep 4x4 road. Otherwise, if you lock the brakes, especially the rear, the ALB cuts in and you are basically left with no rear braking and very little front. You can argue all day long about anti-lock brakes on gravel, and I will give you that on a FLAT road with a pretty hard surface, they are worth leaving on, but in deep gravel, on mud, or on steep downhills, you had better learn threshold braking with ALB off, because you are going to be very disappointed grabbing a handful of front and standing on the rear, as you careen down the steep road or trail with the anti-locks chattering away. There is a reason they allow ALB to be switched off. The traction control is another story. If you roll up to a steep loose uphill and have left traction control on, you will be fighting the traction control up the hill. You need to spin the rear in some situations. You just do.
The tires work pretty darn well in all conditions except mud, where they are worthless. Thankfully, I avoid mud, so it is not an issue.
Now to the not so good: I have had many times now that I get the feeling of the rear tire going flat after 10-15 minutes on a rough road or trail, while going at a good clip. The rear shock overheats and the damping pretty much disappears. There is a little oil canister on top of the shock, and I have checked it a few times when I had that flat tire feeling, and it is too hot to hold my hand on for more than a few seconds. It is definitely a weak spot. The fork is fine, I think mostly because it is so damn stiff it barely moves. It is awesome on the highway, but more compliance and travel are necessary to really call the Scrambler an "Adventure Bike". It works OK off road, again, you have to keep your speeds way down in the truly rough stuff.
One major bummer is that the turning radius is an issue. The fork simply does not have enough lock angle, and the wheel base is long. Get ready to do a lot of Austin Powers turn arounds. I had two instances where I took a road to the point where it was just too rough to continue, and getting the 400lb bike turned around was a major PIA. Both times I had to dismount because the road was off camber, and it kind of sucked.
If I had written this yesterday, I would have ended here with 4.5 out 5 stars, but I changed the oil today, 614 miles, and it was full of tiny metal particles. Obviously this is concerning. I'm going to change it again at 1600 miles, and if the oil and filter look like they did this time, the bike is going back to the dealer and we will be having a serious conversation.
