Enduro21 tests the all-new Triumph TF 250-E and TF 450-E enduro models at the media launch in Spain – KTM thought they had trouble lately; they’ve definitely got trouble now.

People are asking a lot of questions about Triumph’s new 250 and 450 Enduro models. Enduro21 readers are top of the list (thanks to everyone who got in touch), wanting answers, but also rival manufacturers, dealers, and basically everyone we speak to wants to know: what are they like?

Questions need answering, and that’s exactly what we headed to Les Comes off-road park north of Barcelona to do.

What are they like, will there be a 350, what about parts, availability across the world, are they just motocross bikes… this is just a sample.

There’s already lot of noise on the internet right now, and a lot of gushing videos floating about, but we’ve tried to get down to the nitty-gritty and answer what really matters on Enduro21 as Triumph makes the bold first steps into the fussy and demanding world of enduro.

Fully formed and on the money

Let’s not beat about the bush. When a manufacturer introduces a new model – in this case, two ground-up new bikes – it’s not uncommon for people to say, “It looks great, but I’m going to buy one next year when they’ve sorted any problems out.” Our answer to that is:

A) Don’t wait.

B) Don’t wait.

Five years in development with not just multiple world champions at the helm like Ivan Cervantes and Paul Edmondson, but all levels of riders putting the bikes through every kind of off-road conditions, has served up two fully formed enduro bikes.

These machines are fully formed, and after a long day testing, our conclusion is they don’t feel like a first attempt at making an enduro bike – they feel like they’ve been around for years.

70% enduro, 20% MX and 10% hard enduro

The testing programme (as much as the people behind it) is the reason. Everyone we talked to about their five years of development said it didn’t just include all the durability testing to destruction you’d expect from a manufacturer for engine and parts life.

Paul Edmondson, chief among them, explained they also spent hours and hours doing things like pushing them up hills, boiling the motors, and frying clutches. 

It included hours on motocross tracks, not just to stress test the engine and chassis components, but to repetitively land hard off big jumps to see if the back light broke or the dash failed.

All in the name of making sure these bikes didn’t get signed off from the factory in any way unfinished. The enduro bikes are partly so much later than the motocross models (which have been out for a year or more now) because of this additional testing and for that Triumph deserves top marks for doing their homework.

That obviously extends from decisions to not just give the enduro models the best equipment from the get-go, like KYB suspension and Brembo brakes, but also to make sure the settings for all of the above worked in real enduro conditions.

Add to that the task of making sure engines were rock-solid, that engine mapping and fueling were perfect, and crucially, that the parts supply chain was in place at the same time the bikes will be in the showrooms.

450s are the new 350

Something of a burning question from Enduro21 readers is: “Will there be other models?” Specifically, will there be a 350? The answer: yes, but not yet.

Getting two fully formed enduro bikes out of the Hinckley factory, growing the dealer networks, and concentrating on the nuts and bolts of spreading their bikes across the different major markets – Europe first, followed by America, Australia, and in the future into Asia – is enough, they say.

We heard talk of a bigger capacity 510, as well as the most likely 350 model, though they wouldn’t say anything on the record or confirm this. Triumph are fully aware of the value and popularity of middleweight bikes in enduro, so the model range will grow.

What about a two-stroke?

In one word: no. It’s just too much trouble to start from scratch and go down the path of a fuel-injected two-stroke, which would meet the high standards they set themselves with these two 4Ts.

Starting from scratch with the off-road project was a big undertaking, but not so big in the engine department when you already make four-strokes. Starting to make a two-stroke power unit and be on the money is a whole different ballgame.

Enduro and motocross developed in parallel, not hindsight

“This is not a motocross bike and it doesn’t have a motocross engine,” Triumph’s enduro bike project lead, Scott Lanzi, explained in the media presentation.

Because the MX models came first, the temptation is to think the enduro models played second fiddle. But they explain the off-road project was conceived as a whole, developed in tandem, and only because of needing to market one before the other did they go with MX first.

Why the 250 and 450 capacities? Simply because they are established categories in racing – especially motocross – and that made more sense.

Ride to find the difference

More to the point, it is clear they are also not just motocross bikes with an extra gear and different suspension when you ride them. Though the main frame is the same on Triumph’s MX and Enduro models, the reality is these two TF-Es were developed distinctly for woods, rocks, and trails.

As well as the light, handguards and 18-inch rear wheel, it includes different cams and cranks for 30% more torque and 90 hours service life, different airbox and intake, 10mm longer swingarm, 22mm longer rear fender, bespoke transmission, different engine mapping and suspension… we could give you a list, but it is very well explained in a video Jonny Walker made with Lanzi.

Triumph Enduro versus MX models – What’s the difference?

Easy 450

Getting to ride the 450 first on this test in some unbelievably slick conditions (after overnight rain) didn’t make the confidence cup boil over, let’s put it that way.

A 450 for enduro is not for everyone but when you jump straight on a bike, feel comfortable immediately, ride without having to make any changes to bar position, suspension, or feel like something is not right then surely that is as good as you can hope for with a new bike?

Triumph’s pre-ride presentation to “deliver a perfect package for anyone to ride” felt like one of those things they always say, and we definitely took it with a pinch of salt.

But from our experience on this test, and talking to the wide range of riders present and in a pretty broad set of conditions, Triumph have achieved that difficult task of blending an engine and chassis which will feel good to almost everyone who rides them. That’s high praise when you think about it.

Calm down

The 450 was so good and so nice to ride both as a trail bike and in the enduro tests, it almost made the 250 feel like a poor relation when we rode it all afternoon. Things felt frantic on the lighter 250 until we got out of 450 mode and bedded into the agile and eager-to-rev 250’s ways.

With a KYB suspension technician on hand, it made sense to pay him a visit, and a couple of clicks to control the compression, plus a sag set to 40mm, calmed the 250’s handling for a few flying laps of the enduro test.

The handlebar position and shape, footrest, seat, and riding position is comfortable and familiar – almost like they have designed them to hit the sweet spot between different bikes on the market.

Walker taking the 250 to Erzberg

The feel from the frame is somewhere between steel backbone and aluminium twin-spar, which you could easily argue means it has the best of both worlds. There’s a stiffness to the chassis when you are hitting the harder, faster tracks too, but there’s definitely enough feel and subtlety in it to tackle hard enduro – we’re not surprised to find Jonny Walker is going to ride the Erzbergrodeo on a standard 250-E this year.

As much as anything else this is where you can see Triumph has done things their own way, and not “copied” other manufacturers as some critics would hold to them. 

Engine and power delivery

From a more down-to-earth POV, the throttle response was almost flawless, and the pull through the gears is strong, even on the 250, which has more mid-range than you might expect and goes on to rev for days (12,500rpm anyone?).

By contrast, it is not hard to be won over by such a flexible 450, with its lovely spread of torque power that lets you sit in third gear all day long.

You obviously notice the difference between the handling, but at 114kg versus 117kg (fully fuelled weight), there’s not a great deal in it when you’re on the pegs in terms of handling. The difference is the 450 feels more planted and weighted in corners, while the 250 is agile, very controllable, and eager to go anywhere.

No flame out

We found no issues with cutting out and stalling at low rpm or “flaming out” and only stalled a bike twice all day – once stamping too hard on the back brake sliding into a sudden, really tight turn in the trees, and a second time with traction control and the softer map two turned on a technical, zig-zag hard enduro climb trying to keep the 250 too low in the revs and in second gear.

Again, the emphasis from different test riders on how hard they worked on ironing out these kinds of common issues (on other manufacturers’ bikes) bears fruit when you are out on the trail and riding in the real world, making mistakes and basically not riding like a professional.

Map options

Engine mapping is meaningful if you select the different modes. In truth, we tried the softer map for trying’s sake, plus the traction on or off because standard full power modes felt great.

But both are useful tools depending on your needs from a bike, and certainly other people on this test said they preferred the softer maps on both bikes because they made them easier to ride.

Some people mention the size of the left control cluster of buttons, but it honestly didn’t even register during our day riding, and we trust Edmondson when he says these parts were tested to destruction.

Reliable, benchmark components

It feels like we don’t need to talk too much about the brakes, suspension, tyres, and so on. The whole point of Triumph choosing to fit OEM standard parts like Brembo, KYB, Galfer – along with fans, handguards, sump protectors, and details like easy-access air filters – is because we expect them as a given on a quality enduro bike. It would be more notable if those elements weren’t there.

The only thing we’d make a point of noting for the record is the clutches felt heavy. It is very possible the amount of riding we were doing was partly a reason, plus being more used to a two-stroke clutch lever pull lately. But the left forearm had a bit of a workout on this day of testing.

The new Michelin enduro tyres as standard are good – better than the OE fitment on some enduro bikes, that’s for sure – but after a day riding, the jury is still out on these compared to the older Michelin Mediums.

Quashing Triumph’s beardy bloke image

Maybe “beardy bloke” doesn’t translate too well across Enduro21’s global readership, but think of Triumph motorcycle owners and what do you think of? A 55-year-old man with a larger waist size riding a big street bike, which he can only just manage to swing his leg over and definitely can’t do a full-lock U-turn on?

The whole enduro and motocross project is led by people who ride off-road, and though the headlines are grabbed by stars of enduro and motocross, the reality is all their experience has gathered data alongside average riders too.

The whole project was conceived to take a slice of the off-road market but also, partly, to attract a new set of customers – whether they’re using beard oil or not.

Where can you buy one?

Triumph dealers are, for the most part, large, glitzy showrooms. The street bike market demands that scale, like car showrooms. But we all know – and so do Triumph – that off-road dealers are a different breed and can easily be selling hundreds of bikes a year out of a two-room back-street shop.

That’s all part of the programme for Triumph, who told us they are working on that now. It’s a little complicated in different parts of the world where dealer franchises are more complex, but for those of us in Europe, where the local bike shop is a mecca, expect to see these bikes popping up – at least as the network grows.

Parts ready

On a similar note, Triumph told Enduro21 the parts supply chain is ready as soon as the bikes are ready, which is to say, it’s ready already. They know it’s no good having bikes for sale which people take out riding on the weekend, break a lever or fender, and then can’t replace it on Monday morning ready for next weekend. You should be able to do this easily online.

Enduro21 verdict

What are you going to say? That Triumph made two good enduro bikes? Of course they did. Did we expect them to be this good for a first attack on this fussy and demanding off-road discipline of ours? No.

All the right parts fitted as standard, the powerful but very rideable 450, the agile and free-revving 250, chassis’ and handling which is the definition of “neutral” and “controllable” – it all translates to two enduro bikes which are hugely capable.

From docile trail riding to trying as hard as we could in enduro test conditions, both TF-E models carry a feeling of confidence and familiarity.

Triumph Racing has already proved itself in enduro with Jonny Walker in SuperEnduro and Mikael Persson in EnduroGP both on the podiums. Now they need to prove themselves anywhere and everywhere in the world as these production bikes roll out. The proof will be in the pudding – but on this evidence, they should find it pretty damn easy to do that.

If KTM thought they’ve had trouble lately they’ve definitely got trouble now.

We made an onboard video on both bikes on the tests 

Photo Credit: Chippy Wood + Andrea Belluschi