![]() “The Scrambler is a way of thinking about motorcycles. “It’s not just a motorcycle,” said Christiano Silei, vice president of sales and marketing. But by 1975, the company decided to head off in a more street- and racing-performance-bike-oriented direction, the benefits of which are still with us today in the form of some of the best road bikes ever made. In 1971 there were even 125, 100 and 50cc models. By 1968, there were Scramblers of 450cc, 350cc and 250cc displacement. ![]() While you wouldn’t try the ISDT on this, it seems like you could still have a lot of gravel-spewing good times here.ĭucati had a model called the Scrambler as far back as 1962. (What a life awaits the Scrambler owner!) While we would have liked to have tried it out in some dirt, none was offered on our supervised ride. Nonetheless, their promotional stuff shows male models riding over dirt and through streams to be greeted by squads of female supermodels. Though handlebar positioning is reminiscent of a dirt bike, Ducati says dirt is not this bike’s intended habitat. ![]() For passing we always tried to keep engine the speed at 5,000 or a little more, where the power really came on. The double fuel injectors and two valves in each cylinder were tuned for torque, Ducati said. It seemed happiest cruising at 4,000 rpm but still pulled from a grand lower than that. The big engine is smooth and fairly quiet we never did manage to shift by sound, and had to keep scanning the retro-round tach to know what the engine was doing. We learned to slide the inside foot back on the pegs in corners. Leaning into corners, our inside foot hanging toe-first like a dirt-biker, meant we were scraping our boot toes pretty easily. San Jacinto, from sea level in Palm Springs to over 6,000 feet up on the mountain and back, provided plenty of paved curves to carve. True, motorcycles are fun no matter what kind you’re sitting on, but the Scrambler exemplifies the easy-access, thumping happiness that brings a grin to the grille of any rider - whether a beginner or a seasoned veteran. The tubular steel trellis frame is also similar to current Ducatis, but it's been made somewhat narrower for the Scrambler.Īt $8,495, the Scrambler is a relatively inexpensive throwback to the fun simplicity that was what motorcycles were all about. Peak output is 75 hp and 50 lb-ft of torque, more than enough to push the 410-pound bike around. But with new 11-degree, two-valve heads, it gives what feels like more torque down in the low and mid-ranges, as opposed to more high-strung, modern road racer engines. The 803cc 90-degree air-cooled V twin is derived from the old Monster. The Scrambler looks like a big dirt bike, with high handlebars and with a rider’s stance not unlike an old enduro. Starting in March, the Ducati Scrambler can take you back to your youth while offering technology that will make the whole experience rather pleasant. But carburetors, lousy shocks and not much engine output wasn’t so fun. Now people are thinking, “Dang, that was fun back then.” Yes, it was. No one wore a helmet and no one had a full set of leathers, but somehow everyone (well, mostly everyone) made it through that decade unscathed. If not, you might be emulating them right now because you think they “looked cool.” That being said, I already have space in my garage to accommodate this little retro bike, so I, along with a lot of other riders I presume, are waiting with bated breath for the global release of this bike.You remember the ' 70s, right? Heck, you might have even lived through them. However, the manufacturer is expected to announce global availability of this model this summer. It gets a six-speed manual gearbox, giving it a top speed of 56 miles per hour.Īs of this writing, CFMoto offers the Papio XO series exclusively in China. Like its two older siblings, the XO-2 is packing a 126cc, air-cooled, fuel-injected, single-cylinder engine with 9.4 horsepower on tap. Performance-wise, the Papio is sure to be a hoot to ride. It also rolls on burly knobby tires shod on small alloy wheels, and it gets an inverted front fork and preload-adjustable rear monoshock. It gets a similar dual headlight but ditches the half-fairing for a more scrambler-like aesthetic. Just like the XO-1, the XO-2 is also built around a neo-retro approach. Having said that, CFMoto shows no signs of slowing down with its Papio model range, as it has just pulled the covers off the latest version, the XO-2.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |