A day of Scrambling
The beemer was in the shop for the 50K service and the guys were running a little behind so I jumped at the chance to give the new BMW R9T Scrambler a burn home.
I've loved the R9T since it was just a concept and seeing it come to fruition and even do well sales wise is great. But alas a behemoth like me dwarves a bike like the R9T.
So I was glad to hear BMW were bringing out a scrambler variant. Especially with a seat height raised a few inches, knobby tyres, simplified dash and the list goes on.
Of course it had to be Melbourne's first 30 degree day when I picked up the scrambler, wearing my full adv kit out. Needless to say the city crawl was hot and boring.
Once out of the city I was finally able to give the oil cooled 1200 a little bit of a kick in the nethers and to my surprise......... not a lot happened.
On paper the oil he'd boxer pumps out 110HP but in reality it not only feels asthmatic, it also sounds like a glorified moped. Its pretty gutless.
Its very bare bones, no throttle by wire, no quick shifter, heavy clutch lever, tiny turn signal switch I could go on.
Comfort wise I wasn't expecting great things and my ass did feel numb after about 30km. But surprisingly the seat (despite being hard and narrow) wasn't all that bad. Its a lay-z-boy compared to a husky SM610 saddle.
Of course with Metzeller Karoo 3 tyres fitted I couldn't not give the scrambler a squirt in the dirt. It did not disappoint. Sure it was a bit of a slouch on the pin but the softly sprung suspension and slightly intervening traction control and ABS meant I could push an untested rig in the dirt with scary levels of confidence. 120kmph on loose dirt on a 600km old bike that I'd been riding for less than an hour.
Once I'd given it a good seeing to offload I changed my style for the twisty mountain roads home. Suddenly it was much more enjoyable, and the only difference to riding it prior to venturing off-road? I was flogging it.
The riding position was a bit ass about for me, my legs didn't feel overly tucked up but my arms and wrists were tilted forward enough to be uncomfortable (I certainly felt my broken wrists after a hours riding) but not enough to be aggressive meaning when I was giving it the hammer and tongs I was comfortable in my crouch with my elbows bent enough to allow a bit of movement.
The suspension could have done with a few turns on the pre-load but I made due with the occasional bottom out. Perhaps that means that the r9t version would be stiffer with less suspension travel and thus more fun for me. Who knows I'll have to take an r9t out.
The bike feels like a cafe racer with knobby tyres, despite the bars not being low enough for that real cafe racer crouch. This means off-road its kind of hard to stand on the pegs and shock absorb any large bumps.
I was glad to hand back the keys and within a few feet from the dealership settled right back into my GS Adventure that really has been one of the greatest motorcycles i've ever owned.
I have no doubt the scrambler will sell well to the urban hipster chai latte drinking poser motorcyclist crowd who'll unfortunately never see the real fun that can be had on one of these in the dirt.
Until next time
I've loved the R9T since it was just a concept and seeing it come to fruition and even do well sales wise is great. But alas a behemoth like me dwarves a bike like the R9T.
So I was glad to hear BMW were bringing out a scrambler variant. Especially with a seat height raised a few inches, knobby tyres, simplified dash and the list goes on.
Of course it had to be Melbourne's first 30 degree day when I picked up the scrambler, wearing my full adv kit out. Needless to say the city crawl was hot and boring.
Once out of the city I was finally able to give the oil cooled 1200 a little bit of a kick in the nethers and to my surprise......... not a lot happened.
Its very bare bones, no throttle by wire, no quick shifter, heavy clutch lever, tiny turn signal switch I could go on.
Comfort wise I wasn't expecting great things and my ass did feel numb after about 30km. But surprisingly the seat (despite being hard and narrow) wasn't all that bad. Its a lay-z-boy compared to a husky SM610 saddle.
Of course with Metzeller Karoo 3 tyres fitted I couldn't not give the scrambler a squirt in the dirt. It did not disappoint. Sure it was a bit of a slouch on the pin but the softly sprung suspension and slightly intervening traction control and ABS meant I could push an untested rig in the dirt with scary levels of confidence. 120kmph on loose dirt on a 600km old bike that I'd been riding for less than an hour.
Once I'd given it a good seeing to offload I changed my style for the twisty mountain roads home. Suddenly it was much more enjoyable, and the only difference to riding it prior to venturing off-road? I was flogging it.
The suspension could have done with a few turns on the pre-load but I made due with the occasional bottom out. Perhaps that means that the r9t version would be stiffer with less suspension travel and thus more fun for me. Who knows I'll have to take an r9t out.
The bike feels like a cafe racer with knobby tyres, despite the bars not being low enough for that real cafe racer crouch. This means off-road its kind of hard to stand on the pegs and shock absorb any large bumps.
I was glad to hand back the keys and within a few feet from the dealership settled right back into my GS Adventure that really has been one of the greatest motorcycles i've ever owned.
I have no doubt the scrambler will sell well to the urban hipster chai latte drinking poser motorcyclist crowd who'll unfortunately never see the real fun that can be had on one of these in the dirt.
Until next time
Your comment about "the urban hipster chai latte drinking poser motorcyclist crowd" reminds me of my first dual-sport ride in Colorado's San Juan Mountains (infamous for their old, dirt mining roads).
ReplyDeleteFilthy and grinning big from a day of riding rocky dirt passes of around 13,000 feet, I on my F800GS rolled into Silverton, Colorado for something to eat. Next to me stopped a well-groomed and fragrant fellow--also on an F800GS--who started bitching about having to "camp" alone the night before in a hotel room because his riding buddy had "found a girl", and then he said, "I hear there's a dirt road at the end of town--we're thinking of taking it"... I wanted to just up and punch him in the face.
For too long early on I felt that I didn't belong on my GS, that I wasn't really using it. But that dude--that dude had no business being astride that ride.