Weird Flex: An Oriental “Lambocati” 400 Maxi Scooter

The Tairong TR400 has a Huracan badge plus six stickers on each side for added horsepower! 

Words: Soham Mayekar

Ever met someone with an identity crisis? Well, here's a scooterised version. The Chinese two-wheeler manufacturer Tairong has launched the TR400 in their home country at CNY 23,980 (about INR 2.72 lakh). 

The maxi-scooter definitely looks up to the Ducati Panigale, and has decided to look like one, at least from the front and the back. Full score in the looks department. Now, as you move towards the sides, you'll notice a whole bunch of stickers on the apron cowl! We sure hope each of them adds 5PS. Move a bit further back and you see the masterpiece: the Huracan S badge. Now it suddenly wants to be a Lamborghini. Did two different teams work on this? We may never know. 

But what we do know is what it packs. A 359cc, 4-valve, water-cooled engine that puts out 28.55PS at 8200rpm and 26Nm at 7000rpm. Those are pretty decent numbers, putting it only slightly behind the Honda Forza 350’s 29.2PS and 31.5Nm, which was revealed overseas back in 2020. Those numbers also lead to a claimed top speed of 128kmph. All that power is put down using a 140/70-R14 rear tyre, while on the front is a 120/70-R15. Deceleration is delegated to twin petal discs on the front and a single disc brake on the rear wheel, along with ABS. 

Suspension duties are handled by an inverted fork and gas-charged rear shocks. The fork tube and the shock’s gas canisters are finished in gold for a premium look. Rounding things off, err... rather sharpening them, is the sporty-looking end can.

There's a fully digital instrument screen that displays a whole bunch of parameters - fuel level, odometer, time, speed, engine speed and temperature, and even battery voltage. That's not something you see so often these days. You also get a keyless ignition.

Other noteworthy features include an adjustable windscreen, heated grips, adjustable handlebar, backlit switchgear, and an all-LED lighting system. With a 186kg kerb weight, it’s 2kg heavier than the Forza 350, and the modest 730mm seat height would mean shorter riders shouldn’t have any problem. Its 165mm ground clearance should give you enough confidence to tackle our infamous bad roads without any worry. The TR400 can be had in red-white, grey, silver, blue, and white paint schemes.

• Weird Flex: This Ducati Diavel’s Chinese Clone Gets a MASSIVE Rear Tyre!
• Weird Flex: This Fat Bob Has Skipped Breakfast
• Aprilia SXR 160 Road Test Review

While the specs and features are fairly decent for a scooter for its class, we wish Tairong came up with its own unique design language for its scooter. This would have given the scooter its own identity.

Two-wheeler manufacturers are slowly testing the Indian waters in the maxi-style scooter segment, with just the Aprilia SXR 160 in the 160cc segment, followed by the Aprilia SXR 125 which goes up against the Suzuki Burgman Street. (PS: The Burgman is set to go all-electric. You can read about it here.) As for the proper European maxi-scooters, they will still take some time to land here.