Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/762384
S C R A M B L E R C O M P A R I S O N T E S T P42 SHOOTOUT and down our canyons and dirt roads just like when they were the real deal, nearly 50 years ago. But what exactly is a scram- bler? Do you just throw a set of off-road tires on a bike and that's it? Well, not exactly. scramblers, or rather scram- bling, is the forefather of moto- cross. Before motocross was essentially its own sport, riders of the 1940s and '50s would front the gate on the same bikes they rode to work on, mainly big British singles like Matchless, AJS and Triumph. The bike had to be a jack-of- all-trades, and riders would flat track, road race, and scramble all on the same steed. By the end of the '60s, scrambling had given way to what we now know as real motocross, and these bikes went back to what they were originally intended to be—roadbikes—and this is from where each of these four bikes on test can draw its heritage. So for our 2016 Scrambler test, we have BMW's brand- new R nineT Scrambler, Ya- maha's equally new SCR950, Moto Guzzi's Stornello V7 II and the motorcycle that argu- ably (re)started the scrambling trend, Ducati's Scrambler Icon. We asked Triumph to participate in this test with their Scrambler that began life way back in 2006, but they de- clined as they'd just launched the Street Scrambler at EICMA and didn't want to wheel the old model out one last time. Rennie Scaysbrook Job Title: Cycle News Road Test Editor Age: 34 Experience: Riding since the age of three, racing since eight and street riding at 16. Rides and races anything and everything as part of being a Road Test Editor. Has a strange love for Vegemite. Lost a fight with the Armco at Pikes Peak this year. Kit Palmer Job title: Cycle News Editor Age: 55 Experience: Started riding motorcycle at eight; first time on a bike didn't go well but he loved it anyway. Considers himself a dirt-bike guy but rides on the street nearly every day. Raced motocross for many years until he caught the enduro bug (then the hare and hound bug, then the hare scrambles bug...) Bottom line, if it has two wheels, he enjoys riding it. Sean Finley Job title: Co-owner of Cycle News Age: 47 Experience: Riding since his parents bought him a Honda MR50 at age five. Racing since age 14 (if you count three wheelers and quads) but followed that up with a lot of years of motocross and off-road racing. A lot of ADV miles including two-up trips with his wife. Jesse Ziegler Job title: Co-owner (the good part) of Cycle News Age: 39 still! Experience: Started riding dirt bikes at five, raced his first motocross race at 17 and has been evaluating motorcycles full-time as a magazine editor since 2005. Arguably has too many ideas of what the perfect motorcycle is. Also has the cutest daughter in the world. THE TESTERS