Mitch Lees: 0:10

Good day guys. It's Mitch Lee here again, the host for the a DB podcast. I am with Jeff Braco, our endur editor today, and we are talking about the Triumph Enduro range that's just recently been launched in Australia and they are available pretty soon, I'm pretty sure, from dealerships if not already as we do this pod. Jeff went down to Victoria for the launch and it was wet and muddy and cold. But that is always the case with Victoria in, in winter. So we wanna know what the bike was like to ride. So if you hadn't had a chance to read the latest mag issue 5, 5 2 of a d, b and everything that Jeff thought of him, you can listen to it right here And now. Jeff, tell us, let's start with where did they take you? What were the conditions like, all that kind of stuff. Give us an idea of the launch.

Speaker 2: 0:56

yeah, try been new to the offroad world, had us down to a place Bonnie Dun in Victoria called Star of the Glen resort, I think it was called epic Property. They focus a lot on Harding Dro there, and they just love riding bikes, so that was pretty cool. We had an absolute deluge of rain the night before. It was ridiculous the amount of rain we had the night before and they hadn't had rain there for months. And so they were telling us that was the first rain we've had in age, but it felt like it hadn't stopped raining there forever. And I woke up in the morning and it was a bit overcast and it was freezing cold. I'm glad I took my jackets down. And we were out all day and so we had the two 50 and four 50 there. I started off in the morning in the two 50 and went jumped to four 50 off for lunch. And the terrain. If you're a New South Wales guy, the terrain is similar to like sunny corner out in the back of Portland and stuff like that. So quite hilly, quite rocky. Just gumtree Forest everywhere and yeah, it was really slippery, but I think if we had it anywhere else, we wouldn't have been able to ride because it was so hilly. But all the water down at the bottom. And yeah, I was pretty excited because I've I've always been like a, for some reason, whether it's from my racing or whatever, I've always gone back to the KDM, but i've been very intrigued by the fact that they have alloy frame KYB and then the euro sort of style motor. So I if you put two and two together, it almost looks like a, an Austrian bike with a Japanese frame and suspension. So it's a really nice hybrid mix if that's what you look at it just purely on paper or you look at pictures, whatever. And that was exactly how they felt. I was. Pretty damn stoked with these bikes. To be honest, I was, I didn't, I had high hopes and I was, as soon as I hopped on it, I rode around. I was like, feel stable, good power feels comfortable. Like it's just, I gel with it right away. I think if they do it right and they, they have a really good crack at, I think they try and grow bikes, they're actually gonna be a very competitive package. Not even just for racing, but just trail riding as well. That was super easy to ride, super easy to manage. And overall I know we had people saying, oh, compare em to this. Compare em to that. I didn't really have anything to compare it to'cause we were just riding triumphs on the day. But in all honesty, like I was super comfortable straight away. And I think of the 10 journals that were down there as well, every one of us said the same thing, man, these are just. Really nice and comfy to ride. And just, we had a really broad spectrum of riders from a couple of guys are fairly new to offroad and we had a couple of pro guys there as well and all of us jelled with the bikes really well. And it was a really good time. And they put on a good show and the star of the Glen Lodge put on an epic feed for dinner, for lunch. And we were having like. Ridiculous lunch out in the middle of the bush and a crazy pole around a fire. It was it was a good time.

Mitch Lees: 3:36

That's cool. Yeah, a lot of people are gonna want you to compare. We've, we get this a lot, a bike that we're riding at a launch, which is an isolated bike to a. A bike that they may have ridden or we've ridden in the past. And it's hard for us. We've, it's always important for listeners to understand that we try not to compare bikes. We're riding at a launch to a bike that we might have back home because we dunno what that bike back home is gonna feel like in these particular launch conditions. So we wait until we do shootouts or we do comparisons between the bikes when we can get the bikes into our own shed before we start comparing them. But. All that being said, like you just said at the start there, the Triumph TF two 50 E and the TF four 50 E look on paper, I guess because of the frame and the suspension, similar-ish to a Yamaha. Now we know that Yamaha's in the two 50 and four 50 capacity have a lot of power. You can, they're very tuneable, but they have a lot of power where whereabouts is the triumph power in the two 50 and the four 50 and even compare them to the motocross triumph. Two 50 and four 50. Are we talking aggressive and hard to hang onto in the bush with the big tramp, four 50? Or is it actually quite mellow, usable?

Speaker 2: 4:44

No, it's going back to the comparing thing first, like people, it's funny because I get the, if we go to a launch or go to a shootout, people think that we go there and just, all we do is just tune the bikes to how we like it and, for me, I'm the, quite the opposite. I will hop on the bike and I move the levers. I level out the front, the brake lever, the clutch lever, set the rear brake lever. And I barely touch a click all day. Because for me it's more important about how the bike comes outta the crate, because 99% of the people that are gonna buy these bikes. They don't look at clickers, they're diss on them. It's just they just wanna ride. They don't care about the fact that, oh, some of'em probably don't even check sag. I know I don't. Don't check sag every ride. So for me, it's about just how that bike is on that particular day. And then when we do a shootout, then we can compare. You know what I mean? And trust me. Shootouts when you got seven bikes, 10 bikes. If you want to come and give one of'em a go, come and have a go at it.'cause they're hard work. They're awesome, but man, they're hard work. But no, going back to the bikes the two 51st of all had really good power. I was actually really surprised. Two fifties, super powerful, obviously. And then the other two fifties in the class, a little bit, not slower, but just, they're just mellow and easier to write. The trium felt right in the middle. It had really nice talk off the bottom, and it then it felt like it actually revved and was quite, you couldn't write it mellow or you could write an aggressive. And then the four 50 was exactly the same. Really strong power off the bottom yet. Really linear delivery so you could just make it work. And because we had such super slippery conditions and we also had the standard FIN Michelin tire, it's, yeah, Michelin rear tire, but we're riding on Shay gnarly wet hills, tree roots everywhere. Like literally just had a hundred mil of rain the night before. And the bikes were actually really good. They were. Really super easy to manage. And yeah, like there wasn't that many people getting stuck on the hills. There was some getting stuck on the hills because it was so slippery. But mate, once you got stuck, if you got stopped on the hill, you could just, just the bike would just not flame out or anything. It would just crawl out of the, crawl out of the hill, crawl out of the creek bed, whatever. And and then when you gave the four 50 a hand throttle, it was fast, it was. It was nice. It was just a nice power, like mellow. If I got if you got tired, I feel like you could manage it. Yeah. Yeah just nice. Everything about it was nice. That's the best way I could put it. Just easy to do, easy to handle and like inspiring for like most riders out there. See BA I'm 30 fives it was I think a very well-rounded package.

Mitch Lees: 7:19

Yeah. That's good to hear about the four 50 then because. Like my struggle personally as a, clubby level rider who just rides in the bush is that big four fifties, they lurch a bit. They've got probably too much power for people like me. I'm big too. I'm a hundred kilos and I don't need a four 50. They lurch a bit and then, when you're trying to turn'em through the trees they can sometimes feel top heavy, even if they're not. But that's just because the bike, you wanna breathe on a throttle and just wants to go, so that's good. That wasn't the case with the four 50, it was actually more manageable than probably most four fifties. You talked a little bit.

Speaker 2: 7:53

I think if you, I think if you were to put it in the shootout, because I was actually thinking about it when I was riding because we did the four 50 shootout quite, it was pretty fresh in our memory. And for example, like the Yamaha four 50, like if anybody's written, they're fast. Four 50 is easily the fastest spike in the class. And it's also the firmest spike in the class because, and that's what Yamaha. Sort have gone that way. They sell a lot of them, that's what people want. They want the fire road, they want the fast, blah, blah, blah. And then you hop on the Austrian bikes and they've come a long way because they've got the twin chamber of forks and stuff like that now, so that the, they're a bit more usable. Same with the Gasca not gas, the the, and the sheko. All, every one of them has like good forks now. And so yeah the sits, it's. It's in there, like it's not left behind. It'll jump in, hopefully get another four shootout next year. And it's in there it's probably podium contention for sure, for me. Wow. And yeah it's a good thing.

Mitch Lees: 8:51

And you mentioned too before the flame out issue on some fuel injected four strokes nowadays, I remember there was some bikes European bikes in particular that we rode maybe especially 5, 6, 7 years ago. I know they're still doing it today, where they, we'd send up the wrecks at fuel tor and he'd tinker with the ECU just to get the thing to stop bo flaming out when you chop the, just to be cleaner. Yeah. Like you'd chop, I found if I chopped the throttle just to hop over a logger to go. And bog and you'd end up over the handlebars. Yeah. None of that Or would do, so fueling was good? No.

Speaker 2: 9:20

Yeah, no, that was, there was no issues there for me. Same like the hydraulic clutch, all that of stuff. Everything was good. I've heard that they've had gearbox issues in, in some of the motocross bikes, but far out, like in aro bike, you shouldn't have that problem. But as far as I, from what I could understand, all that stuff was different anyway. Like they, like I said in the videos I was under the impression that was just gonna be. Two 50 motocross, four 50 motocross, eight an inch rear wheel, big tank. But yeah, the actual, the different, the list of differences was very sizable of different gearbox, obviously six speed gearboxes and that sort of stuff, and different crank mass and yeah they've. Dedicate, I'm pretty sure even the exhaust doesn't fit the motocross, the duro because it's different. Maybe even some of the plastics are different as well, which is a bit of a punish I guess, if you were to have one of each or whatever. But like it's cool to see them actually go that far into it. Swing arms are long run Duro bikes. I think Fork Springs are lighter. Yeah, they went into it. It was cool. And they got a lot, they got more coming too, which was pretty cool. So we had, we, we had a meeting, we had a Skype thing with some of the developers and the engineers and Triumph, and I asked a few cheeky questions and they gave away a couple little answers here and there and whatever. But again, much like the Ducati thing, that's these new brands, they're just getting started. It's cool. It's really cool to have those different options.

Mitch Lees: 10:38

Yeah, you had the Triumph TF two 50 X at our Motocross Shootout at the end of 2024 and it podium for its first ever year in shootout. So we know that they produce a pretty impressive bike, which is cool. So we're very excited to see what these Indus do in a shootout scenario. You mentioned as well just before about some mapping options and bits and pieces. We know that these bikes come with the map switch on the handlebar. What are your options with like mapping? Where do all those buttons, what are the buttons do on the handlebar?

Speaker 2: 11:09

So there was a mellow map and aggressive map. A quick shift off, quick shift option, I think a traction control. So there's four button. And I think from memory, I rode the standard, more aggressive map, even in the wet the traction control, I don't really fiddle around with that stuff too much because for me, traction control's all, in the clutch and that sort of stuff. So I don't, you my traction control is, you feel the bike out, as you, I don't really need to, whatever. But yeah the maps were, the maps worked really well. The mill map was nice in the mud, but I still just like that, that little bit of explosiveness of the, a more aggressive map, I think now that I'm 36 going on 37, that might start to change. Might start to lightower suspension, but, no, it was the, everything about it, the air bars, the switches could be a little bit flim, not flimsy, but they're quite big. Which is understandable. It's a brand new manufacturer. There's little things like, KDM and all those brands have had, what, how many years developing just little switch blocks and just little things like that. Those are the things I think will get, refined and whatnot. Air filter access is just off the side simple and easy and just little things like that. Like it was quite simple. The only thing that I was a little bit skeptic about was everything's a as, as a talks bit. So for me, that can get a little bit, eh, like it's, whereas the other ones, as either eight, 10, whatever, whereas the triumph is everything's talks bit. I think that could be a little bit risky here and there. Just if they fell it was mud or that sort of stuff. But other than that, like honestly I was, yeah, I was pretty stoked on it to be honest.

Mitch Lees: 12:48

Okay. And last little couple of questions then. Let's talk about suspension. We haven't really talked too much about suspension. Do you think it's suspension out of the crate? Is it better suited for races or for clubby? Do you find it soft or firm and give us a weight range of people who would suit it straight out of the crate? Speed range.

Speaker 2: 13:08

Honestly, like one of my, I'm 85, so probably what, like 90 ish with all my gear on and the suspension was. Pretty awesome for me. I was really happy with those. It they didn't really have any special test loops all the bikes feel, every bike feels amazing when you go on a trail ride.'cause you're only hit that section once, like you never actually feel it out or whatever. So I made a little bit of a test loop and it had a couple of g outs and whatnot, and I could just charge into'em and it, the bike stayed perfectly straight every time. So the bikes definitely are suited more towards. They behave better when you go faster. But still they work really well when you're trail riding, but they respond. Yeah they definitely respond good at pace as well. So I think to get them the most out of these bikes you wanna ride'em a bit faster. But again, we will trail riding them and. If I didn't get sore hands or nothing like that. So it's a very broad spectrum of rider capability. I reckon. I think it's, again, like I think you can just, everybody can enjoy them, whereas again, like if I go back to the, like the Yamaha is firm for trail riding, and so that's probably more suited for like a hundred kilo guy. Whereas the gas is soft. So that's more suited to a trail guy or whatnot. But I think this again, like sits right in the middle. Like it's quite an aggressive. You can get aggressive on it, you can just ride'em regularly. And I think it's a really good balance. And I'm a big fan of KYB I don't know what it is. They're just something about'em. They just they stay settled. And so that for me was a big, that's a big thing. Like I, I wanted my bike to feel the same every time I ride it, sometimes you can get on the bike and oh, that did a bit of a funky thing or whatnot. But, no, I was pretty happy with the suspension of the trial for sure.

Mitch Lees: 14:49

We always ask you this question. Give us the three things you probably would change or modify, whatever it is. If you were to get one tomorrow in the garage,

Speaker 2: 14:58

I would probably chuck a set of proper tires on it. They're good, they're stock fi and tires are good, but we don't really need them over here. Probably put in. A set of, I like nine, nine, the rental triple nines are low bars. So I probably put a set of them on and maybe put a exhaust on it or something like that. Or maybe just get it again, you could probably maybe play around the mapping or whatever to try and get it a bit more I don't know, a little bit more, but overall I was, yeah, pretty impressed with it all. Just I, question, asking questions about the warranties and what's that gonna be like over here and try it. They were pretty on board with it all. They said, yep, we've got a good, we've got a good system coming and all that sort of stuff. And I'm sure there's, as with all brand new things, I'm sure there's going be gremlins here and there, but you b on the bike deep down, you have to know that there is something,'cause it's a brand new product, I'm willing to take the risk. If I was to buy, I would happily buy one. And yeah, if something was to happen like that sort of stuff, that's just. Part of development. So

Mitch Lees: 16:01

yeah. Yeah. There's always, like you said, there's always gonna be potential for teething issues with any brand that's bringing a new genre bike, discipline bike into the country. But the good thing is, I guess is Triumph have a very large dealer network and they're very familiar with parts support.'cause they've been in the road game for decades and the adventure game too. So they've even had, they've got a little bit of experience there off road with the adventure bikes and obviously they've had now a year and a half of motocross bikes out there. Yeah, that's good to hear. And it's interesting that. A lot of the time you're a grade pro tester and rider. And to hear you say that you wouldn't really make any major suspension modifications, is it probably a credit to the triumph that, like you said, it's so broad in its suspension capabilities. We discussed already that no one needs more power. Nowadays these things produce enough power, so for someone like you, to be able to say the power's fine. The suspension's fine is probably a really big tip of the hat to triumph. Last thing I'm gonna ask you then, because you just touched on it before. You mentioned that there, there may be other models coming now, triumph have also behind closed doors mentioned other models coming. Is there anything that they said at the launch that maybe the public don't know?

Speaker 2: 17:04

He was like, he was the, I can't remember what the guy's name was, but he was on the Skype. He was on Skype, and he was like, oh, your questions. And I was kinda like, oh, and I just, I looked up at him and I said, oh, three 50. And he just looked at us and just, you could just tell like you. Obviously something's coming and in all honesty, like for me now, I still love riding, but I just, I don't have time to be as fit as I want to be. Like up here still knows how to go fast and to enjoy it, but like the arms and the body, just the fitness is not there anymore. So three fifty's a great capacity for me. And I honestly think if they were to bring out a three 50, I don't think they could. Sell enough of them. Like I, I think it would be an unbelievable bike. I've said that to Yamaha as well, and I'm pretty sure 99% of Australians said that too. But yeah, they, I wouldn't be surprised if there's a Trium three 50 coming soon, whether it's 12 months, two years, whatever. I think it would be a really good thing. And like I said, they, I don't remember if they said anything about two strokes or not, but I'm not gonna start that rumoring like that. But the, and their focus at the moment is this two 50 and four 50 and they just, they wanna grow. And, if they keep doing, keep building this sort of stuff and having a good system and, good support network and lots sort of stuff, then they're gonna do that. There's, it's expensive sport now and so people, they don't wanna buy it, they don't wanna spend. 20 grand on a dirt bike and have to spend five grand suspension. So if you can spend what, whatever, I know, 18 and half or something like that, I think maybe, and then you can just ride it. It's pretty good.

Mitch Lees: 18:38

Yeah. So yeah it's competitive pricing, especially like you said, if you can just walk out the door with it and go into the bush and either race or trail ride it, that's. It's impressive'cause there are a lot of bikes nowadays that you just gotta buy hand guards for to start with and you've gotta buy a bash plate and all this kind of stuff, and you're like it's the bush. So it's good

Speaker 2: 18:54

that they, yeah, there's, there is nothing worse. There is nothing worse. And I know it sounds like, burst floor problems, but no hand guard than an Enduro bike is just criminal. It's yeah. You're ride along and this tiny little

Mitch Lees: 19:06

twig will take you out front break. Yeah. Touch your front break, go over the handlebars, break your finger. You could do anything.

Speaker 2: 19:13

I've seen it plenty of times.

Mitch Lees: 19:15

Yes. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 19:15

Yeah.

Mitch Lees: 19:16

Yeah. That's cool. All right, mate, thanks for the time again that those triumphs sound awesome. It's cool to, it's cool to hear that they're not just a, a motocross with a smaller rear wheel and a headlight. They do have so many. New Enduro specific parts on them, and they've actually, had to fabricate whole new parts. Like you said, the swing arm. It's not just a wide ratio motor, it's a new gearbox. So yeah, different crank, everything. Like

Speaker 2: 19:38

it's, everything. It's, it blew my mind. I was like, oh, I didn't, I was like, oh yeah, cool. They're gonna just that whatever. But no, they've. It's different. Everything's different. It's different. Clutch. Like different, yeah. They went, they've gone to town, which is pretty cool.

Mitch Lees: 19:52

Yeah. And I think it probably goes to show that they're serious about it and then they're gonna give it a good nudge. And the cool thing is I think like personally, I would take some confidence into buying one because. They've been around for long enough that they're not just gonna disappear tomorrow with the one attempt they had for a year, which we have seen from other parts of the world when they attempt to bring a bike in and if it doesn't work well, they, that they don't really care if they turf the model the next day because they have only spent the last 12 months developing it and they don't have a reputation to uphold. So Triumph has a reputation to uphold and they have a huge. Business that backs them and has been doing so for decades. So it's exciting and I'm keen as mustard to get one in and amongst some shootouts or at least some comparisons with the bikes that did well in our shootouts in the last couple months. Yeah. So we'll be doing more of that, guys. Stay tuned. We're gonna put these triumphs up. Every kind of capacity bike we can find and see how they go. Jeff will be our man to put'em back to back. So yeah, stay tuned for that. But thanks again, Jeff, for your time and we'll catch up with you for another review on a bike.

Speaker 2: 20:51

I love it. Send me wherever you need to.