The Royal Enfield Scram 440 came out of nowhere, and Royal Enfield have done some serious engineering on this bike while upgrading it from the Scram 411, as it now sports a six-speed gearbox. Even Suzuki couldn’t do that when they were upgrading their legendary DRZ400, but Suzuki does make a bike in India, which posts very similar power and torque figures while costing nearly the same—the Suzuki V-Strom SX, also called the V-Strom 250 in some markets. Interestingly, there is yet another motorcycle in that sub-2.2 lakh price range—the Yezdi Adventure, which recently received a host of updates. So we thought that all three bikes cater to the touring clientele while possessing different degrees of off-road cred and costing nearly the same, so why not compare them to see what’s what?
| Powertrain | Royal Enfield Scram 440 | Suzuki V-Strom SX | Yezdi Adventure |
| Type | Air/oil-cooled, SOHC, single-cylinder engine | Oil-cooled, SOHC, single-cylinder engine | Liquid-cooled, DOHC, single-cylinder engine |
| Capacity | 443 cc | 249 cc | 334 cc |
| Power | 25.42 hp @ 6250 rpm | 26.5 hp @ 9300 rpm | 30.3 hp @ 8000 rpm |
| Torque | 34 Nm @ 4000 rpm | 22.2 Nm @ 7300 rpm | 29.84 Nm @ 6,500 rpm |
| Transmission | 6-speed | 6-speed | 6-speed |
In terms of the powerplant, all three motorcycles go about it in different ways. The Royal Enfield Scram 440 opts for simplicity in the form of an air/oil-cooled, SOHC engine, while the Suzuki V-Strom SX has one of the few oil-cooled engines in the world, and the Yezdi Adventure opts for a full liquid-cooled engine with DOHC, thus developing the most power here. However, when it comes to torque it’s a different story, as the Royal Enfield Scram 440 churns out an astonishing 34 Nm from the old-school, long-stroke thumper motor. The Suzuki V-Strom SX is the least potent of the three in terms of torque (though it develops a little more power than the Scram 440), but it makes up for that in its power-to-weight ratio.
| Dimensions | Royal Enfield Scram 440 | Suzuki V-Strom SX | Yezdi Adventure |
| Kerb weight | 196 kg | 167 kg | 198 kg |
| Seat height | 795 mm | 835 mm | 815 mm |
| Wheelbase | 1460 mm | 1440 mm | 1465 mm |
| Ground clearance | 200 mm | 205 mm | 220 mm |
| Fuel capacity | 15 litre | 12 litre | 15.5 litre |
The Suzuki V-Strom SX is lighter than the other two bikes by orders of magnitude, clocking in at just 167 kg, compared to the 196 kg of the Royal Enfield Scram 440 and the 198 kg of the Yezdi Adventure. However, it also has the absolute highest seat height in the present company, which makes it less accessible to the vertically challenged. On that front, it is the Royal Enfield Scram 440 which is the most friendly, with a roadster-esqué 795 mm. The Yezdi Adventure trumps the other two in ground clearance, though, making it clear which one is the most serious off-roader among the trio. The V-Strom’s road bias comes to the fore yet again in the form of a smaller fuel tank, robbing the riders of the range on the highways, however, it may return much better fuel economy in the real world due to its smaller, more efficient engine, thus offsetting the tank capacity by some margin. The wheelbase difference is negligible between the Scram and the Adventure, and the V-Strom with its shorter wheelbase should prove to be more nimble than the others.
| Suspension and tyres | Royal Enfield Scram 440 | Suzuki V-Strom SX | Yezdi Adventure |
| Front suspension | 41-mm telescopic forks, 190 mm travel | 41-mm telescopic forks, 120 mm travel | 41-mm telescopic forks, 200 mm travel |
| Rear suspension | Preoad-adjustable monoshock, 180 mm travel | Preoad-adjustable monoshock, 120 mm travel | Preoad-adjustable monoshock, 180 mm travel |
| Front Tyre | 100/90-19 | 100/90-19 | 90/90-21 |
| Rear Tyre | 120/90-17 | 140/70-17 | 130/80-17 |
| Wheel type | Wire-spoke, optional cast alloy | Cast alloy | Wire-spoke |
The agility of the Suzuki V-Strom SX can also be chalked up to the suspension travel, or lack thereof, as it only has 120 mm of travel at both ends, thus making for a poor experience off-road, while the other two bikes have proper long-travel suspension. Furthermore, the V-Strom doesn’t have wire-spoke wheels even as an option, while the Yezdi Adventure goes in the opposite direction and ditches alloy wheels entirely. The Royal Enfield Scram 440 splits the difference with two different variants, one comes with alloy wheels and the other with wire-spoke rims. Bothe Scram and the V-Strom run a 19/17 inch front/rear wheel setup, but this is where the Yezdi Adventure makes its trail-friendliness evident, with a proper 21-inch front wheel. Rear tyre sizes are slightly ironic though, as the widths are inversely proportional to the torque outputs, which in reality should be the opposite.
| Price | Royal Enfield Scram 440 | Suzuki V-Strom SX | Yezdi Adventure |
| Ex-showroom | Rs 2,08,000 (spoke), Rs 2,15,000 (alloy) | Rs 2,16,000 | Rs 2,09,900-2,19,900 |
The price is the main reason we brought three very different bikes together for this comparison, and the differences are marginal, with the cheapest variant of the three bikes separated from the most expensive variant by a margin of just Rs 11,900, which wouldn’t likely to be a deciding factor once EMI payments are considered. What will be, though, is what the customer wants, and if someone is in the market for something different, then they have three distinctly different flavours of the same essential motorcycle type to choose from in this particular price range.
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