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The Great Escape
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Triumph Scrambler 900
Don Williams
09/01/2006
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Photography by Kevin Wing
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Recapturing the elusive past is often a risky business,
whether it is skinny dipping into romantic waters with an unrequited high school
crush at a 40-year class reunion, or acquiring that long sought after motorcycle
you lusted for during your undercapitalized youth. The collision of hazily
distorted memories with the unflinching starkness of current reality is an ugly
accident not so patiently waiting to happen. Perhaps it is a wiser choice to
pursue a contemporary item that possesses the essence of your memory, rather
than the original object of your affection.
 RIDING STYLE
Helmet: Bell Tracker
Goggles: Scott USA HiVoltage
III
Jersey: FMF Racing
Gloves: Tour Master Deerskin
Pants: Levi’s 501
Original
Boots: Sidi Joel Robert Replica (Click image to enlarge)
Just as the risks often outweigh
the rewards in personal nostalgic excursions, these same dangerous consequences
can befall a motor company hoping to tap an ancient gold mine for one last
mother lode. Destined to be niche machines, as they will rarely play
successfully to a young audience, brands from Japan, Italy and England have all
tried to capture the spirit of eras past, with varying degrees of success.
 Due to the inherent “soul” of European motorcycles, retro bikes from across
the Atlantic Ocean often do better in the marketplace than their cousins on the
west side of the Pacific. One only needs to look at the affare di amore we
relished with the Ducati SportClassic GT1000 in our last issue and compare it to
the Kawasaki W650’s nearly instantaneous entry and exit from dealership
floors at the turn of the millennium. (Click image to enlarge)
Although the current makers of
Triumph motorcycles are not the same Meriden, West Midlands gentlemen
responsible for the bikes that they tap for modern classics, the machines
manufactured in Hinckley, Leicestershire, indeed capture the historical aura of
the British marque. Most recently, that presents us with the Triumph Scrambler
900 to consider.
While no direct ancestor sired the Scrambler moniker, the
865cc air-cooled twin unmistakably brings to mind the Triumph Trophy TR6C 650 of
the late 1960s and early ’70s. The TR6 series, of course, is more than just
another lineage. Not only did Bud Ekins use the bike for his epochal jump in The
Great Escape (doubling for Steve McQueen), but these versatile motorcycles were
often converted to off-road use by southwestern Americans, earning the
affectionate moniker, “desert sleds”, and by easterners who entered their
Trophys in enduros. McQueen and Ekins competed in the 1964 International Six Day
Trials on a pair of TR6s in 1964. In fact, the new Scrambler 900 is associated
so closely with McQueen that number plates with #278 on them (McQueen’s ISDT
digits) are available from Triumph as a factory option.
 Is the Scrambler
900 the same do-anything machine that defined the TR6C? Triumph answered that
question for us when I, in a fully deadpan voice, informed them that we planned
to strip the lights off the Scrambler, slip on some full knobby tires and enter
it in an AMA District 37 desert race. After a long pause, we were asked by
Triumph to keep the Scrambler on the pavement, as it is not a dirt bike, despite
the promise of its appearance. Weighing in at over 450 pounds sans liquids, and
suspension travel less than half of that of a modern desert racer, Triumph need
not have worried that we would compete off-road on the Scrambler—it is clearly
not suited for the task. Or is it? (Click image to enlarge)
Despite Triumph’s directive to keep the
Scrambler out of the dirt, we quite simply could not resist the temptation to
pretend, for just an afternoon, that we were Steve McQueen of 40-odd years past.
As it turns out, the Scrambler is a much better off-road bike than Triumph
apparently wants you to know. We dropped the air pressure in the semi-knobby
Bridgestone Trail Wing tires to 20 psi and did some light trail riding—which
meant jumping the Scrambler (substitute Ekins’ feet for our inches) and getting
a little sideways in the loose stuff. In many ways, the Scrambler is a
more-capable off-road bike than many so-called “adventure” bikes. Thanks to
the dirt-worthy Trail Wings, wide bars and no view-blocking fairing, we were
able to easily traverse some fairly technical trails. Certainly, we kept it from
rocks and thick brush, as we didn’t want to damage the “street only” bike, but
that absolutely did not stop us from having a great time off-road. Triumph calls
the Scrambler a road-only modern classic, but we know better!
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