Official: Mash X-Ride 650 Trail

Mash’s existing X-Ride 650 Classic already ticks plenty of boxes when it comes to classic scrambler looks but with the new X-Ride 650 Trail the French brand is upping the stakes in terms of off-road ability without sacrificing the style.

Hitting UK dealers from October at the same £5,599 asked for the Classic, the X-Ride 650 Trail adds bigger wheels – 21 inches at the front and 18 inches at the rear – instead of the 17-inch rims of the older bike, along with revised suspension to boost the bike’s ground clearance.

Like the Classic, the Trail’s rims are finished in gold and there’s no change to the bike’s bodywork. However, the updates go deeper than that.

The forks are new 43mm units by Chinese brand Fastace, with adjustable compression and rebound damping, and along with the larger front wheel they raise the X-Ride 650 by around 30mm, pushing the seat height up from the Classic’s 860mm to a tall 890mm.

At the back, there’s a new swingarm and revised rising rate linkage to the rear monoshock.

The brakes of the Trail are also more in keeping with its off-road intentions, with switchable ABS and a smaller 280mm petal-style front disc gripped by a two-piston caliper instead of the Classic’s radial-mount, four-pot stopper.

Power comes from the same 644cc, air-cooled single – a design that’s loosely related to the old Honda engine that appeared in the Dominator many years ago – with a claimed 39.3hp at 6000rpm. That air-cooled simplicity might not make it the most powerful engine in the capacity class, but it eliminates the complexity and weight of radiators, water pumps and vulnerably pipes and hoses, adding to the X-Ride’s rugged appeal and helping it to a 167kg dry weight. Despite its old-school design and roots, the engine meets Euro 5 emissions limits.

For the Trail, the motor is fitted with a different high-level exhaust system to the Classic, with a single end can instead of its sister model’s dual pipes to help save weight. At a claimed 67 mpg, the 11-litre (2.42 gallons) fuel tank should be good for a range of around 160 miles.

Equipment includes LED lights and a built-in USB port, and Mash promises a two-year unlimited mileage warranty on parts and labour.