New Mutt Stravaig Wants to Get Muddy on a Budget

Mutt Motorcycles will likely be familiar to you as the quirky brand that creates small-capacity retros, scramblers and cafe racers. Well, this week they announced a new bike in the form of the Mutt Stravaig.

The bike is a bit of a departure from the rest of the Mutt range, which has been until now comprised of 125 and 250cc machines. At the bike’s heart is a 401cc, DOHC liquid-cooled parallel twin-cylinder engine. It’s a relatively punchy little unit too, producing a claimed 36bhp at 8,500rpm, and 23lb ft of torque at 6,500rpm. The engine is topped up by a healthy 19-litre fuel tank, and while the press information doesn’t disclose any MPG figures, some finger in the air maths has us thinking it should be good for around 200 miles between fill-ups if ridden frugally enough.

The chassis of the bike comprises a tubular frame with an adjustable upside-down fork at the front and a monoshock tucked up under the seat at the rear. The front brakes are decent-sized radially-mounted four-pot calipers and a single disc at the rear. Weight-wise, the new Stravaig comes in at 215kg ready to ride and has a maximum load of 180kg for rider, passenger and any luggage. Oh, and the bike comes straight from the dealer with rugged-looking removable panniers and top box and some crash protection bars around the engine.

One area where the bike sets itself apart from some other lightweight adventure bikes is on the technology front. Mutt states the bike is equipped with a “cutting-edge touch screen” although there is no mention if that is a TFT or an LCD. It does mention that it allows for on-screen navigation, though, and it gets a tyre pressure monitoring system, both of which are not a given in this class. The final element of the cockpit of note is the inclusion of an adjustable screen, although handguards don’t seem to be fitted as standard, which is a bit of a shame given the high level of the rest of the spec. The bike also gains spoked tubeless tyres.

As mentioned above, the bike is Mutt’s first foray into the lightweight adventure bike sector, and that’s a busy little place to be dipping a toe. Fighting it out with the Stravaig are bikes like the Honda NX500 (£6,829), the KTM 390 Adventure (£6,599), the BMW G310 GS (£5,890), and the Triumph Scrambler 400 X (£5,795). Based on quoted prices the new £4,995 Mutt Stravaig 401 looks good value, although as a relative unknown in the sector, the new bike will need a big dollop of ability, and decent build quality, to have a chance of holding its own.

If the heady heights of 36bhp are a little too much for you (or your licence) there is another option within the Mutt range, the CBT-compliant Stravaig 125 which comes in at £3,495.

The bike is expected to be in dealers across the UK this month, more information can be found on the Mutt Motorcycles official website.