Triumph Scrambler

I really want to get excited about the BMW R1200 GS Adventure and I’m sure I will. With its amazing on-road and off-road credentials I can’t imagine I will ever find myself wanting another bike if I buy one.

But it’s not a Triumph Scrambler.

Somehow the Triumph Scrambler gives me something like butterflies in my stomach. I have a longing for this machine that I just can’t understand.

I would have to fill it up every two days or less for my daily commute.

It has no fairing to snuggle up behind on wet winter rides.

But still I want one. Badly.

It could be the sound.  It could be the look.  It could be that it’s British.  There is something about the Triumph Scrambler that has really got under my skin.  Now, like an itch you can’t scratch, I can’t get rid of the feeling in the pit of my stomach that says get one.  The voices in my heart (if not my head) are even saying get one.

“The Triumph Scrambler has to be one of the best looking motorbikes ever made”

The feel on your arms as the torque kicks in is like nothing else you can imagine.  Certainly the pull is strong enough to pull you into your nearest Triumph dealer and almost strong enough to pull your credit card out of your wallet.

I read the specs on the Triumph website and I might as well be reading something written in German (I can’t read German).  It says something like “The twin balancer shafts provide civility and refinement. 90% of peak torque is maintained from around 2500rpm…”  This means absolutely nothing to me.  What I can tell you is that the ride is amazing, the bike works like an extension of your body and people stop and stare (sometimes with open mouths).

“It’s certainly a bike you would consider trading some of your vital organs for”

I was in a market town in Norfolk recently on a loan Scrambler from Norfolk Triumph and a gentleman engaged me in conversation and congratulated me on a quality restoration job.  He simply could not believe that the Scrambler is a modern bike.

Conversations like that only serve to make the warm feeling in your stomach feel warmer still.

I might not be Steve McQueen as I criss-cross the country in my own version of the Great Escape trying out the finest sausage makers.  But on a British Classic like the Triumph Scrambler, inside my helmet, I can at least pretend to be.

2 thoughts on “Triumph Scrambler

  1. I have owned a Triumph Scrambler since March 08 and have to agree that it is a fantastic bike. I have been sorely tempted by the new Tiger 800 and others since,but know that people would walk straight past my new bike to stare at a Scrambler. It has its faults for sure, but has the sexiest looking Chrome exhaust system ever to grace a motorcycle – and is easily the cooliest of the Hinckley Bonneville family. Unless you are ‘wafffer thin’ the suspension is a bit bouncy, but can easily be sorted. No one (not even Mr McQueen)is ever going to attempt to jump an Austrian border fence on it because of its weight – in fact it is sooo good looking that not many will ever see any mud at all. The power is set about right for the handling limits of the bike, but is enough to give me a grin on the B roads that I seek most sunny days when i get her out.
    The great thing about a Scrambler is that everyone likes it. Harley and cruiser owners like it (mine has lots of added chrome engine cases etc.), Classic bikers do mistake it at first for an ‘oldy’, and best of all no one expects you to race them on it. The last point is the best one. You can ride fast. Very fast – but never feel that you should be racing the full leathered GSXR rider that is all over your mirrors. And so you can ride on looking cool, relaxed, and enjoying the trip without having prove anything – to anyone.
    Triumph have achieved so much in the last 20 years, and have a bike for all tastes. The lure was too much for me to resist – and if you want a retro bike that reeks of quality I cannot recommend anything better.

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