By PETER THOEMING
29 May 2006

Every generation makes its own heroes, and is formed by them in turn. Often they are actors – well, film stars, which is not necessarily the same thing. Now I don’t want to complain, but we Baby Boomers didn’t get all that many celluloid heroes with real staying power.

James Dean was gone as soon as he arrived. Marlon Brando died an overweight embarrassment. Lee Marvin just kind of… faded away. Humphrey Bogart did all right, I suppose, considering that as far as I know he never rode a bike… but the one film hero who stayed true to his image to the end, and whom we remember at his peak, is Steve McQueen.

And how do we remember him? On a Triumph.

Well, now you can be Steve McQueen, for fourteen grand plus on-road costs. All you need is a Triumph Scrambler, and a good lot of cool. Unfortunately, at our age that cool may be harder to get hold of than the fourteen big ones…

Triumph calls the Scrambler ‘a "do anything, go anywhere" kind of bike, inspired in part by the relaxed culture of sunny California…’ for riders who ‘share the view that motorcycling is great fun, socially acceptable and a liberating experience. Crucially though, they aren’t interested in riding fast and are not motivated by performance or other benchmark figures,’ according to Triumph.

The bike the company is offering these riders has an 865cc, DOHC, eight-valve, air-cooled engine which uses a 270° crank firing interval for a smooth and torquey power delivery and, incidentally, a great exhaust note. It has the classic scrambler look with a tubular steel cradle frame and long-travel suspension front and rear, gaitered 41mm telescopic forks and twin chromed spring preload-adjustable rear shocks. High, wide handlebars and high-set footpegs look good and authentic and help with control and low-speed manoeuvrability. The wheels are spoked, of course, and wear lightly-knobbled tyres. The Scrambler has a reasonable dry weight of 205 kg but looks and feels lighter. It also feels lower than the specifications would suggest, partly because the seat does not spread the rider’s legs very much.

Ah, that seat. It looks retro enough to be scary, flat and thin and not at all the kind of bum-pamperer we’re used to today on bikes like BMW’s GSs or even the Japanese dual purpose bikes. Strangely, however, and surprisingly it is quite comfortable; certainly a lot better than the meat tenderisers that you get pretending to be seats on some of the harder-edged dual purpose bikes from firms like KTM.

Which brings us to a bit of a difficult subject. Looking at the bike, and reading Triumph’s own ideas about it, would suggest that this is really a poser’s bike. It’s all about the way it looks, and the way you look on it. Except it’s not.

The running gear, especially the suspension, might be a bit ‘dirt lite’, but that lovely engine and the competent configuration make this a genuine dual purpose machine. It’s certainly up to the kinds of things you can do on most of the equivalent (if there is such a thing) Japanese bikes. So the looks don’t tell the whole story; there’s steel behind them.

A substantial range of Triumph Factory accessories will be available for the Scrambler, ‘to enhance its looks as well as adding functionality’. Don’t you love the way factory blurbs are written? Can you imagine going into a bike shop and saying: ‘Mate, I’d like to enhance the functionality of my Trumpy, okay? Gimme one of those bash plates.’

Accessories include that very bash plate to protect the bottom of the engine, a wire headlamp grille, tachometer, handlebar brace and a single seat and rack. There are even number boards for the sides, just the thing for those relaxed Californians when they want to show how tough they are, really, under all the fake tans.

I applaud Triumph for building bikes like this, but sometimes the publicity runs away with the reality a little too much – ‘The Scrambler,’ the press blurb goes on to say, ‘like its forbears, has a distinct look, feel and personality all its own.’ Well, at least it would if it wasn’t a copy of those forbears.

Never mind. No matter how you want to look at it, the Scrambler does offer an escape from ‘the hum drum [sic] of every day’, as the factory claims, and you won’t have to work on it every weekend the way you did the originals.

And seriously, seriously, all you need to do is lean on the handlebars the way Steve did in that iconic photo, and there you are – you are Steve McQueen, at least for a little while. I’ve tried it in one of my old grey marl t-shirts and it even worked for me. If that isn’t worth a few bucks I don’t know what is.

And, you know… I wonder whom the current generation will remember in a few years’ time the way we remember McQueen.

Brad Pitt? Yeah, right…

AT A GLANCE
Model: Triumph Scrambler
Price: $13,990 (plus on-road charges)
Warranty: Two years, unlimited distance
Power: 41 kW at 7000 rpm
Torque: 69 Nm at 5000 rpm
Engine: Air cooled parallel twin, 4 stroke, DOHC, digital ignition
Bore x stroke: 90 x 68 mm
Displacement: 865 cc
Compression ratio: 9.2:1
Transmission: 5 speed, multi plate wet clutch, final drive by X-ring chain
Suspension: Front, 41 mm telescopic fork. Rear, twin shock absorbers, adjustable for preload
Dimensions: Seat height 825 mm, dry weight 205 kg, fuel capacity 16.6 litres, wheelbase 1500 mm
Tyres: Front, 100/90 19. Rear, 130/80 17
Frame: Tubular steel cradle
Brakes: Front, 310 mm disc with two piston caliper. Rear, 255 mm disc with two piston caliper.
Top speed: 160 km/h
Colour/s: Caspian Blue / White, Tornado Red / White.

BIKE NEWS SNIPPETS

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