Modern scramblers
Ducati’s new Scrambler Desert Sled, Triumph’s Street Scrambler and BMW’S R ninet Urban G/S X promise retro off-road and cool tarmac action. But which one actually delivers?
“We’re not just going scrambling, we’re going so far off-grid, we’re wild camping”
TYPICAL,” SAYS JIMMY. “You wait absolute ages for a cool, retro off-road bike, then three come along at the same time.”
Jimmy, Chippy and I are enjoying the traditional pre-ride routine of finding a home for luggage on the bikes which, in this case, is bulkier than the usual big-pants and toothpaste because each includes a tent, groundsheet and sleeping bag. We’re not just going scrambling, we’re going so far off-grid, we’re wild camping. If you can’t use a scrambler to have a mini-adventure, you may as well buy a road bike.
As I bungee-wrestle my overnight accommodation onto the Triumph Scrambler’s tiny pillion pad, I concede Jimmy’s got a point. Consider the comprehensive mining of biking’s back catalogue and the reanimation of oldschool styles for today’s rider – from café racers to retros to roadsters to customs – and it’s surprising the most obvious of reboots has been largely avoided: the scrambler. Yes, there was Triumph’s 2006 Bonneville Scrambler, plus the niche Moto Morini Scrambler and, at a push, Moto Guzzi’s V7 Stornello – but it’s only in the last few years the industry has taken the idea seriously. Ducati’s brand-within-abrand Scrambler range kicked the revival off two years ago and BMW’S retro R ninet Scrambler followed last year. However, in 2017 Europe’s gone scrambling mad with Triumph’s Bonnie-based Street Scrambler, Ducati’s Desert Sled (the most scrambly Scrambler yet), and BMW’S second off-road R ninet variation, the Urban G/S.
And what a handsome trio they look; a crucial part of a scrambler’s appeal. All three machines are well-styled, well-built and well-finished with outstanding detailing. The BMW is a modern take on the early 1980s R80G/S Paris Dakar, with
the same red seat, blue/white tank, nose cone, fork gaiters and off-road mudguard. And it works. Sparkly aluminium paint on the bars, bar risers and yokes seals the deal.
Ducati’s retro off-road heritage dates from the 1960s and the single-cylinder Scrambler built for the US. The only styling hangover on the new Desert Sled is the characteristic deep seat; the Sled’s gold rims, funky throttle cable and red cross on a red pinstripe tank teardrop have got 1980 Yamaha XT written all over it – so much so we’ve barely finished loading luggage and made it to the nearest filling station before Chip labels it a Yamacati. The name sticks.
Triumph’s heritage is obvious; Meridan’s TR6 Trophy (the bike Mcqueen made his Great Escape on) won numerous American scrambling and enduro titles from the mid-’50s to the late ’60s. Ironically, the bike was nicknamed the ‘Desert Sled’. And the modern Street Scrambler, while very different under the skin (water-cooled and fuel injected, for a start) makes a good show of honouring the original.
“They put the ‘Bling’ in ‘Scrambling…” says Jimmy, groaning at his own joke as we fill up with fuel. The BMW easily wins on tank range, with a 17-litre capacity and 53mpg meaning more than 160 miles between stops. The Ducati has a mere 13.5 litres but claims 56mpg, while the Triumph has a weeny 12-litre tank but does 74mpg. Both the Italian and the Brit bikes run on to a fuel light after 120 miles.
Fuelled up and away, we’re heading for a long loop around the Lincolnshire Wolds before finding what we hope will be an empty space on a beach somewhere near Mablethorpe to spend what could be a stormy night. “It’s okay, I’ve read up on the internet about camping rules,” I tell the other two confidently. “As long as we pitch up below the high tide line, we’re allowed to camp on a beach.” “What time is high tide?” asks Chip. “Er, around 4am.”
We set off. The Triumph leads the way across the Fens towards Boston, parallel twin thumping pleasantly for all its 54bhp – nearly half the claimed figure for the BMW and well short even of the 72bhp claimed for the Ducati. It’s not a highly potent engine and clearly the weakest of the group, but it’s feisty enough in the first few gears not to feel gutless. Overtaking at 70mph takes planning and the Street Scrambler can leave the rider on the wrong side of the road for longer than is healthy if
“It’s okay; I’ve read up on camping rules on the internet”
you get ambitious over 80mph.
“I find it a bit placid, but I like that about it,” says Chippy. “It also sounds nice,” he says of the Street Scrambler’s gentle, off-beat, 270°-firing-interval whump. And it looks nice when you ride it too – the rider’s-eye view includes the narrow waist at the tank showing off header pipes and the motor’s fake air-cooling fins. And a nice retro detail touch is the analogue speedo needle; although obviously not cable-driven, it flickers slightly as if the cable’s fraying. With digital input, it surely can’t be unintended, which means someone thought hard enough to add it.
“Well, they didn’t think enough to angle the clocks properly,” says Chip. “I couldn’t see the display at all when the sun was behind me; the angle is wrong and the reflection bad. They should be anti-glare or adjustable.” No-one said it was easy in the retro scrambler design department.
But when corners appear, the Triumph conveys itself with typical Hinckley aplomb, making the very most of a limited budget for effective springs and puny twin-pot, single disc brakes. Steering is light and neutral, low-speed balance is wonderful for tip-toeing through traffic, and the motor’s ebullience at low rpm guarantees traffic light success. Well, it
would were the clutch not so incredibly light; a genuine one-finger job. It’s so light it’s easy to stall until you get used to it.
The Triumph also has sod-all ground clearance, dragging pegs barely off upright. To save metal, we divert onto a three-mile gravel byway I’ve spotted, open to traffic. As we dive off-road, the Street Scrambler kicks up a cloud of dust and, even though it’s not immediately clear how to turn its rudimentary and invasive traction control off, the rear Metzeler Tourance sprays along happily, crashing into craters, bottoming-out the short-travel suspension and feeling as if, yup, that’s about the limit.
We stop when Jimmy yelps alongside on the BMW: the Triumph’s high-level cans have burned a hole in my waterproof bag and melted my mattress/airbed. Damn.
“What’s the Triumph’s suspension like off-road?” asks Jimmy as I readjust the luggage. Soft as a soft thing melting on a superheated high-level exhaust.
It’s not the only soft thing on the Triumph. “That is the worst seat I’ve ever sat on in my life,” says Chippy, who has prior knowledge. “It’s so soft – after 80 miles you’re in absolute agony.” I can tell he’s right – even though the Street Scrambler has a lovely, balanced riding position, the seat is definitely the weak point and flattens out too soon.
In contrast, the BMW’S seat looks hard and narrow – and it is hard and narrow – but lasts a good half a day longer than the Triumph before weight needs shifting.
The BMW is the outsider in this group; with 109bhp it’s far and away the most powerful, it feels as if it weighs the most (whatever the spec says), it’s got the longest wheelbase, the most extreme riding position (with a long reach to the wide bars) and it costs the most – over £11,100 in retro trailie G/S X mode, with added heated grips, LED indicators, wire rims and TKC80 tyres. It’s an odd-ball that feels more out of place off-road than either the Triumph or the capable Ducati.
But it’s not out of place on the road. The engine is a big, boomy affair, pounding forward with a typically flat-twin chuff; the ‘old’ air-cooled motor still rocks the bike to the right as the crank spins to the left (a trait the liquid-cooled flat twin engine in the ‘modern’ BMW range negates with its reversed, anti-clockwise crank countered by a clockwise, contra-rotating clutch). And, with conventional forks instead of the modern GS’S Telelever, there’s a direct, natural feel to the steady, even handling – all of the three bikes have good ride quality, but the Beemer is the smoothest over road bumps.
“And it’s fast,” says Jimmy. He’s not wrong – the BMW gets an indecent lick on, easily having the Ducati and Triumph’s pants down on any stretch of road. It’s a deceptive speed too – it only feels significantly faster than the others when it’s slaying them. The rest of the time, the motor is content to smoothly bop along, feeling mechanical and interesting even at the back of a group. The six-speed ’box is positive up or down, and the brakes are
“The Triumph’s cans have burned a hole in my waterproof bag”
stunning. “Best here by a mile,” says Jimmy. “They’re simply phenomenal,” he says – which of course, they would be with twin discs up front.
“Great riding position,” says Chip. “The bars are very wide – at first I thought they’d be too low, but they aren’t.” Still, off-road the BMW takes commitment to hustle along quickly, but it’s good for larking about on for five minutes, or until you’re exhausted after only two.
We bomb across the Wolds, stopping for coffee and cake in Horncastle, then looping over the top of Cadwell Park circuit to drop down through Cleethorpes and along the east coast as far as the village of Saltfleet. It’s here we plan on camping the night.
I take the Ducati for the last stint, and it comes highly recommended by Jimmy and Chip on all fronts. For example, its riding position: “A great seat, the best here,” says Chip. “You can really squeeze the Sled with your knees because it’s so narrow. I like that,” says Jimmy. And the clocks: “Simplicity wins,” says Chippy of the single, offset dial – even though all the bikes have just one and Triumph wins on authenticity. Styling? “Gold wheels, white and red – you can’t beat that,” says Jimmy. “And it’s got great performance in the engine; plenty of go, very smooth and very charismatic. It’s the best of all worlds.”
The Sled has a much taller riding position than the other two, thanks to longer-travel suspension (200/200mm v 125/140mm for the BMW and 120/120mm for the Triumph), plus that big, old fat seat. Consequently you’re more exposed, face copping windblast and beard erosion. You
didn’t really want that artisanal stubble anyway, did you? But the Sled’s not uncomfortable until a few hours and a couple of hundred miles have passed.
And they’re fun while they’re passing. The Ducati’s 72bhp is enough to propel the Desert Sled with haste, and its zip on the road is accentuated by the bike’s skinny form, with the least weight and a relatively high, off-roady centre of gravity for agile, flip-flop steering. It’s easily the best-handling of the three: “It’s softly sprung, which makes it feel plush to ride on, but it’s well damped too, in the corners,” says Jimmy. Chippy agrees: “The Ducati’s suspension is very supple.”
And, as we arrive at our beach home for the night, survey the expanse of sand with precisely no-one about, then nip off for a quick play, the Ducati is also easily the most capable off road for exactly the same reasons. “It might not be the easiest bike for a novice rider though, because of the seat height,” says Chippy, watching Jimmy slew about on a barely controlled BMW Urban G/S X. “And for someone slightly nervous, the Triumph is much more manageable.”
I pose a hypothetical as we pitch tents: after today’s couple of hundred miles, which would we chose for a blast to the south of France? “Triumph,” says Chippy instantly. What, even with that seat? “Okay, with an aftermarket seat fitted. It’d be the most relaxing to cover big miles.”
Jimmy plumps for the BM: “It’s got the biggest tank range. There’s not much between the G/S and the Triumph in terms of riding position; the Triumph is a bit more natural while the BMW spreads your arms a bit. The Desert Sled has higher bars, and although it’s not uncomfortable over a day’s ride, I reckon taking it on tour would probably get very tiring.”
And tired is what we are. And hungry. As Jimmy, Chippy and I huddle round a disposable barbecue, grilling sandy sausages and crunchy meatballs – tents up, sleeping bags down, and hoping that the tide doesn’t come up this far after all – we consider the ride that brought us here and deliver a verdict.
“The Ducati is also easily the most capable off road”