A Bike Less Ordinary
Urban commuter with dirt-bike looks Classic parallel twin engine
“Surprisingly different and easy to get on with”
THE FINAL TAKE on the Street Twin family(for now) takes its styling from the 1964 Bonneville T120-TT models, built for America’s flat-track-with-jumps TT dirt series (and for Evel Knievel to jump Caesar’s Palace). So it gets the obligatory high-level pipes, bash plate (plastic...), dirt-oriented tyres and spoked wheels, the higher seat, and the taller, longer-travel suspension.
Err, except the seat’s only 10mm higher that the Street Twin and it doesn’t actually have longer-travel suspension – just the same 120mm of travel as the Street Cup. The frame is different from other Street Twin incarnations but it’s bracketry not geometry - the Street Scrambler has removeable pillion footrests and different subframe fittings. The engine’s also slightly different as tucking in the headers meant shaving a lump out of the right hand barrel’s fins.
So it’s mostly a styling job. It does have a slightly taller front end and lazier steering geometry though, courtesy of that taller, 19in front wheel, which also indirectly accounts for the extra seat height. Yet the result is surprisingly different from the other Street Twin-based models and incredibly easy to get along with. The riding position feels natural (though taller riders may be cramped) and it’s beautifully balanced, so low-speed handling is absolutely superb and it’s great in traffic.
Out on the road it’s just as easy - swing from bend to bend in whatever gear you like, change line if you need to and feather the brakes a bit without upsetting the bike’s composure. If you really push it, it starts to get a bit vague but it’s still neutral, forgiving and offers plenty of feedback.
A lot of that is down to the Metzeler Tourance tyres which are so much better than the Pirellis on the Street Twin and Street Cup that getting the pegs down is child’s play. They’re flexible too, which flatters the non-adjustable suspension. In fact, ride quality is surprisingly good. It does have the same tendency to crash over big, hard-edged bumps as the Street Cup though it’s a bit less noticeable, thanks to the more upright riding position. That’s somehow a bit less forgiveable, though anything with off-road pretensions should surely be able to cope with the odd pothole without jarring your forearms.
It certainly coped with a little bit of mild off-roading: a watersplash for photos and then a couple of miles of gravelly, slippy trail over the hills back to the tarmac. Realistically that’s more off-road than most Scramblers will do in their lifetimes but,
even so, it’s nice that you can turn the traction control and ABS off to let it all hang loose on the dirt.
On the road both systems cut in smoothly and unobtrusively, if a bit early – but that’s what you want to save you if you hit a diesel spill on your commute. Some riders grumbled about the all-new Nissin front brake but I think it’s perfectly matched to the bike. It’s set up to give power but with a fair bit of lever travel, which translates as good feel at the lever rather than a big on/ off switch. Anyway, there was enough power to get the ABS working even in the dry, so that’s enough for me.
Gearing is the same across the Street Twin range - so is on the tall side and designed to make you use the low-down torque rather than revving out all the time. Mostly it’s a good compromise but I think there’s a case for fitting lower gearing to the Street Scrambler to make it more eager to dive for gaps in traffic.
The current gearing does work well for economy, though. Triumph is claiming vastly improved fuel consumption over older Bonnevilles - up to 75mpg, which would give you a very handy 170+ mile range even from the Scrambler’s titchy 12-litre fuel tank.
This is a good-looking bike but I can’t get away from the price. Go for the £9000 two-tone red option and it’s a massive £1500 more than a base model Street Twin. It is definitely a better package but I’m really struggling to see exactly where all that extra cash has gone. But then I’m probably looking at it the wrong way. Triumph say most buyers won’t be laying down cash but will be taking out finance – so if you put down a couple of grand deposit you can ride away on a Street Twin for £89 a month or a Street Scrambler for twenty quid more. Twenty quid more - suddenly it all makes a lot more sense.