Streets Ahead

Triumph started the whole street scrambler thing in 1949. We try out the latest incarnation and the classic original.

- Alan Cathcart

Triumph re-ignited the fashion for street scramblers in the modern era with the T100-powered 865cc Scrambler of 2006. More recently, we’ve seen similar machines from Ducati, BMW and Moto Guzzi, but with their new-for-2017 900cc Street Scrambler, Triumph have taken the genre to another level.

The new model is based on the 900cc Street Twin introduced a year ago – the first step in the company’s comprehensive overhaul of its Bonneville twin-cylinder range. While designed and developed in the UK at Triumph’s Hinckley base, it will be manufactured at the company’s three factories in Thailand.

Costing £8900 upwards in the UK (including 20% VAT), depending which of the three available colours is chosen, the new Triumph is more expensive than the entry-level Ducati Scrambler Classic by £368, but less costly than Ducati’s more rugged new £9395 Desert Sled or the much more powerful BMW RnineT Scrambler with its £10,550 starting price.