Trailrider
Bachelor Dog
Scrambling back
Michele Lupini-Classic Car Africa
Scrambler. That word says it all.
It takes me back to my early high school days - to 1974 when we went as we always did on a Sunday evening to watch a home movie at one of my folks' pals' places.
Remember those, home movies? Someone would hire a projector, a short ('The Persuaders', 'Kojak' and the like we were otherwise immune to - there was no TV those days so we got our series thrown in with a main feature...) and three reels of that feature movie they'd swap through a pair if intervals initiated by the loose film end slapping around the projector. And everyone would come from far and wide to watch together...
Up until that particular evening at Dave's place, the old men had been dabbling in the brand new superbike boom - the Honda Four had arrived and the breakfast run - that started at an old Mobil garage at a country junction called Fourways and sped out to Harties - spawned, with those CB750s scrapping with Guzzis, BMW R75s and the occasional Ducati.
'On Any Sunday' would change all of our Sundays forever. By the time the last reel had slapped to a finish, the order of the day was 'where do we buy scramblers?' The okes were so taken aback by that Steve McQueen flick featuring US Six Day Enduro legend Malcolm Smith, that by the very next Sunday each had acquired very their own 'scrambler'.
My dad popped down to Midmacor and bought himself a Honda XL250, two of his mates got Yamaha DT350s from Tiger and one or two others were a little more adventurous and found an Ossas, a Bultaco and a Montesa. They'd meet at our house in Bryanston, ride down to the river, hit the trail and head out for hours.
Soon the trail was opened from that river to include several hundred kilometres and by the time I started riding with, a year or two later, it'd developed to an awesome network. We were not alone - scrambling had taken off like a rocket and literally everyone was riding - so much so that the papers cottoned onto it and promoted big rides out.
On those rides they'd wear long rods, jacket and a 'pot' - RG or Sidi boots were a few years off and body armour something they wore in Star Wars... The bikes too, were basic â?? yes they'd evolved to lighter, nimbler machines, but the next few years would revolutionise the scrambler â?? it 'd develop into the dirtbike it is today - swept along by a dirt riding craze fuelled by that mad movie.
Forks gained leading axles and shocks were laid down in the search for more suspension travel and a faster, easier ride. KTM, Maico and Husqvarna became the bikes to have and they all got ever lighter with plastics replacing tin tanks, fenders and covers. Then the single rear shock followed, as did upside down forks, disc brakes and water-cooling and the dirtbike literally grew up out of the scrambler...
Today you ride a nimble rocketship, you dress like a Star Wars soldier in trick lightweight clothes, chest protector, neck and knee braces and the rest, trailer the bike forever to find a trail that's most likely a never ending chicken run (remember that old Syringa Spa back straight of whoop-de-dos? Well think of that for 120km...) Those days of a warm jacket, a helmet, a basic old scrambler and pretty much total freedom to ride where you may, seemed an awfully distant memory.
Until I recently rode Triumph's Scrambler, that is...
Now Scrambler is a retro-modern throwback to the days even before that On Any Sunday boom - to when dirtbikes were off-road versions of street machines with knobbly tyres, jacked-up suspension and swept-up exhausts and it took me straight back to the roots of my obsession with dirtbikes. I still ride whenever I can â?? I have a KTM 450 and a BMW R1200 HP2 and we get out every other weekend.
But Scrambler took me right back to the beginning and I loved every second of it. I left my Star Trooper get-up at home and found an old open face for our ride, my formal leather jacket, jeans and tackies, just like 1974!
I found Scrambler pleasant enough on the open road - can't just head for the river trail around the corner these days - and revelled in the rattle of its tuned twin pipes, overrun backfiring and stable manner. It's quick enough - its a 900 twin after all and its five-speed box is easy, its disc brakes front and rear (a quantum shift over old scrambler drums) impressiveâ?¦
We rode our planned soft off-road route and found Scrambler to be plush if a little soft as it brought back just how difficult those old bikes were to ride on dirt. Then we decided to ride a piece of one of our favourite local trails we're still riding from the old days.
Surprisingly I felt quite at home on the trail on that old school machine - clearly there's a quantum divide between the Triumph and a modern dirtbike, but still I really enjoyed and appreciated the challenges of riding a machine that's skipped three generations. The cheers and interest the bike got from folks out there on their Sunday ride as it appeared out of the bush on arriving at the Daytona Dirt Riding Club complete with period dressed rider confirmed my sentiments - it isn't too often that a real piece of riding tradition appears out on the trail...
The Triumph Scrambler pretty much captures that old school magic. It's a fine commuter and is a pleasure to ride - no it isn't lightning fast or super nimble, but it has great character, makes a cool noise and possesses a striking presence.
And no, it isn't a state of the art dirtbike, but it'll take in the occasional trail with ease while transporting the sentimental old school rider probably some way beyond his roots. And that's what's so great about this retro-modern Triumph - Scrambler stands alone in saluting dirt riding's forgotten roots...
https://motoring.iafrica.com/classic/747109.htm
Michele Lupini-Classic Car Africa
Scrambler. That word says it all.
It takes me back to my early high school days - to 1974 when we went as we always did on a Sunday evening to watch a home movie at one of my folks' pals' places.
Remember those, home movies? Someone would hire a projector, a short ('The Persuaders', 'Kojak' and the like we were otherwise immune to - there was no TV those days so we got our series thrown in with a main feature...) and three reels of that feature movie they'd swap through a pair if intervals initiated by the loose film end slapping around the projector. And everyone would come from far and wide to watch together...
Up until that particular evening at Dave's place, the old men had been dabbling in the brand new superbike boom - the Honda Four had arrived and the breakfast run - that started at an old Mobil garage at a country junction called Fourways and sped out to Harties - spawned, with those CB750s scrapping with Guzzis, BMW R75s and the occasional Ducati.
'On Any Sunday' would change all of our Sundays forever. By the time the last reel had slapped to a finish, the order of the day was 'where do we buy scramblers?' The okes were so taken aback by that Steve McQueen flick featuring US Six Day Enduro legend Malcolm Smith, that by the very next Sunday each had acquired very their own 'scrambler'.
My dad popped down to Midmacor and bought himself a Honda XL250, two of his mates got Yamaha DT350s from Tiger and one or two others were a little more adventurous and found an Ossas, a Bultaco and a Montesa. They'd meet at our house in Bryanston, ride down to the river, hit the trail and head out for hours.
Soon the trail was opened from that river to include several hundred kilometres and by the time I started riding with, a year or two later, it'd developed to an awesome network. We were not alone - scrambling had taken off like a rocket and literally everyone was riding - so much so that the papers cottoned onto it and promoted big rides out.
On those rides they'd wear long rods, jacket and a 'pot' - RG or Sidi boots were a few years off and body armour something they wore in Star Wars... The bikes too, were basic â?? yes they'd evolved to lighter, nimbler machines, but the next few years would revolutionise the scrambler â?? it 'd develop into the dirtbike it is today - swept along by a dirt riding craze fuelled by that mad movie.
Forks gained leading axles and shocks were laid down in the search for more suspension travel and a faster, easier ride. KTM, Maico and Husqvarna became the bikes to have and they all got ever lighter with plastics replacing tin tanks, fenders and covers. Then the single rear shock followed, as did upside down forks, disc brakes and water-cooling and the dirtbike literally grew up out of the scrambler...
Today you ride a nimble rocketship, you dress like a Star Wars soldier in trick lightweight clothes, chest protector, neck and knee braces and the rest, trailer the bike forever to find a trail that's most likely a never ending chicken run (remember that old Syringa Spa back straight of whoop-de-dos? Well think of that for 120km...) Those days of a warm jacket, a helmet, a basic old scrambler and pretty much total freedom to ride where you may, seemed an awfully distant memory.
Until I recently rode Triumph's Scrambler, that is...
Now Scrambler is a retro-modern throwback to the days even before that On Any Sunday boom - to when dirtbikes were off-road versions of street machines with knobbly tyres, jacked-up suspension and swept-up exhausts and it took me straight back to the roots of my obsession with dirtbikes. I still ride whenever I can â?? I have a KTM 450 and a BMW R1200 HP2 and we get out every other weekend.
But Scrambler took me right back to the beginning and I loved every second of it. I left my Star Trooper get-up at home and found an old open face for our ride, my formal leather jacket, jeans and tackies, just like 1974!
I found Scrambler pleasant enough on the open road - can't just head for the river trail around the corner these days - and revelled in the rattle of its tuned twin pipes, overrun backfiring and stable manner. It's quick enough - its a 900 twin after all and its five-speed box is easy, its disc brakes front and rear (a quantum shift over old scrambler drums) impressiveâ?¦
We rode our planned soft off-road route and found Scrambler to be plush if a little soft as it brought back just how difficult those old bikes were to ride on dirt. Then we decided to ride a piece of one of our favourite local trails we're still riding from the old days.
Surprisingly I felt quite at home on the trail on that old school machine - clearly there's a quantum divide between the Triumph and a modern dirtbike, but still I really enjoyed and appreciated the challenges of riding a machine that's skipped three generations. The cheers and interest the bike got from folks out there on their Sunday ride as it appeared out of the bush on arriving at the Daytona Dirt Riding Club complete with period dressed rider confirmed my sentiments - it isn't too often that a real piece of riding tradition appears out on the trail...
The Triumph Scrambler pretty much captures that old school magic. It's a fine commuter and is a pleasure to ride - no it isn't lightning fast or super nimble, but it has great character, makes a cool noise and possesses a striking presence.
And no, it isn't a state of the art dirtbike, but it'll take in the occasional trail with ease while transporting the sentimental old school rider probably some way beyond his roots. And that's what's so great about this retro-modern Triumph - Scrambler stands alone in saluting dirt riding's forgotten roots...
https://motoring.iafrica.com/classic/747109.htm
