Triumph Scrambler excels as a street bike
DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. Is function always better than form? Certainly, we’re told it is. We’re admonished — often to little avail in these hedonistic times — that substance should always triumph over style and how something performs is more important than how it looks.
The corollary to that axiom is that, if your style promises a specific performance, then you better deliver it. And yet ….
The hottest trend in motorcycling right now is the street scrambler craze. Manufacturers — Triumph, Ducati and, most recently, BMW — have rushed pseudo desert sleds to market, looking to capitalize on the hipster love of yesteryear. Knobby tired, high-piped and fork-gaitered, their images scream Steve McQueen as loudly as they can.
In most cases, however, those high pipes, semi-knobby tires and even bash plates are about as functional as front-wheel drive on an SUV. The resultant desert sleds — Triumph’s Street Scrambler, BMW’s R nineT Scrambler and Ducati’s entrylevel Scrambler — are barely more motocross ready than a Gold Wing.
In other words, with the possible exception of Ducati’s recently introduced, er, Desert Sled version of its supremely popular Scrambler, function has followed form. But that might not be such a bad thing.
Completely rev amped for 2017, Triumph’s Street Scrambler may be the most complete motorcycle in the Bonneville lineup. And despite its stylistic promise, what it excels at is being a down-toearth, everyday street bike.
Now powered by the same liquid-cooled, eight-valve parallel twin that propels the Street Twin and Cup, Triumph claims 54 horsepower from its 900-cubic centimetre engine. That might not sound like much, but it’s a healthy 18 per cent more than the outgoing air-cooled 865-cc version.
More importantly, thanks to that smidgen more displacement and a healthy increase in compression to 10.55:1, there’s 59 pound-feet of torque available at a low(ish) 2,850 rpm, up substantially from the 44 lb-ft (at a much higher 5,100 rpm) that its predecessor boasted.
It may not be the 1,200-cc torque monster of the new Bonneville Bobber, but neither is it as anemic as its predecessor. And, no — because I’m already anticipating your next question — the T100 engine won’t fit into the 2017 Scrambler’s frame, as newly stout as it is.
Newly invigorated it may be, but the Scrambler doesn’t really need its new traction control system, But since Triumph converted to ride-by-wire throttle, the extra electronics were easily added. You can switch it off, but that might not make losing traction any more likely; the 150/70 R17 rear tire, knobby or not, offers more traction than the aforementioned 54 horses can overcome.
More important is that the power delivery is so user friendly.
The big twin’s 270-degree crankshaft not only minimizes vibration but also spreads out the parallel twin’s power pulses for smoother power delivery.
As an added bonus, combined with the high pipes’ fairly gruff exhaust note, the offbeat firing order lends the Street Scrambler a certain brutish authenticity.
Adding to those bona fides is that the new Scrambler — now costing $11,600 for 2017 — is eight kilograms lighter, 60 millimetres shorter, and has a steeper 25.6-degree rake than the outgoing model. The combination makes the new Scrambler feel lighter than its 206 kg.
One will never confuse it with a lithe motocrosser, but if you’re looking for a light-handling street bike, the new Street Scrambler fits the bill. Throw in a lowered seat height — 790-mm from terra firma versus the previous model’s 825-mm — and you have an easy-to-ride big twin.
It will even navigate gravel roads and the occasional grassy knoll better than a pure street bike, thanks to dirt friendly Metzeler Tourance tires and an off-road friendly 19-incher in the front. I managed a traipse through the sand near Daytona Beach’s famed North Turn pub (where the Daytona 200 used to start when it was an actual beach race).
That’s not to mistake the new Triumph for an enduro or even a modestly capable adventure bike, but it will give the Scrambler just enough bona fides to convince the intended audience — hipsters looking for a retro desert sled motif to match their periodpiece facial growth — a modicum of authenticity.
Indeed, that’s the new Street Scrambler’s greatest appeal.
It is perhaps the most visually convincing of all the new retro scramblers, a faithful reproduction of the bikes that once made Steve McQueen and Bud Ekins household names.
Underneath all those Baja-inspired accoutrements, however, beats the heart of a supremely capable street bike, albeit with just enough mud and ruts authenticity to claim at least some function along with its form.