2017 TRIUMPH STREET SCRAMBLER
FIRST TEST
P86
THE BOYS THAT
STARTED IT ALL
HAVE GIVEN
THEIR VENERABLE
SCRAMBLER AN
UPDATE FOR THE
FIRST TIME IN
OVER 10 YEARS.
WE HEADED TO
SPAIN TO SAMPLE
THE GOODS.
BY RENNIE SCAYSBROOK
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY TRIUMPH
Back Road
Rider
T
rends are usually spot-
ted by one person long
before anyone else
catches on. If you happen to
be in that fortunate position,
it is your duty to make good
of your finding, to ensure that
you're the benchmark for oth-
ers to follow.
Triumph found itself in
this enviable position a small
lifetime ago in 2006. On
the back of a custom scene
barely out of diapers, Triumph
realized the world was chang-
ing and the onward march of
technology was spawning a
section of riders that wanted
stuff from a time long before
even their parents were able
to ride.
The arrival of the Triumph
Scrambler in 2006 thus en-
sured Triumph had a corner
of the motorcycle market all to
itself for the best part of eight
years. And it was only when
Ducati came along in 2015
with the beginnings of their
massive Scrambler range—
which is now bordering on
the absurd considering they
have a motorcycle called the
Scrambler Café Racer—that
the rest of the world's manu-
facturers thought getting a
scrambler on the books was a
good idea.
But the king may rest no
longer. Triumph needed to hit
back in the scrambler stakes,
and they had the perfect
platform in the new Bonneville
Street Twin range.
Part of a three-bike attack
on the retro segment that
seems to fit Triumph like an
old glove, the Street Scram-
bler sits alongside the Street
Twin and the recently-released