Hello, As middle-age health issues make mountain biking less feasible, I am venturing into the powered two-wheel world. In two weeks I take the MSF class. I've ridden ATVs in the military but never a motorcycle. My daily driver is a stick shift, and I enjoy manual transmissions. I am tall, 34" true inseam wearing cycling shoes, so the taller Scrambler models have drawn my attention. I look forward to reading through this site. Dan
@Dan Zulu Welcome to the family. Yes the Scramblers are great machines. I also find the 400x is great so worth a try as well. Do keep us all in the know in what you decide to do.
Welcome! Good luck with the purchase decision. Ensure that you invest wisely in protective clothing if you haven't done so already. There are some beautiful places in WA to ride; we just returned from a month there, include Route 20 into North Cascades National Park. Lots of stunning views in the "Alps of the US", as they call it!
I completed the two-day basic rider course today. The BMW 310 training bike was much too small for me, and had a touchy, almost erratic throttle. I passed anyway. I also sat on the instructors' personal bikes. What I learned is that the seat height statistics don't tell me much. What I'm trying to do is generate more vertical space in between pegs and seat, not necessarily ground and seat. Cruisers appear to get long horizontally, but my hips would still tighten up from all the flexion. Do the Triumph Scramblers have seat height mods available? My limited Google searches did not find one.
I don't know a lot about Scramblers, but Tigers are pretty popular (dual-sport) that seems to have a vertical seating position. I have a Sprint GT which positions my heels under my hips and a little forward lean (I'm 6'1"). I fashioned 25mm dropped pegs and added 25mm handlebar risers to ease the flex. Then I bought a 2013 Trophy SE. I can sit on the Trophy all day without any stiffness! The seat adjusts up about 30mm (+/-) and the foot position is ahead of your hips. It's like sitting in a chair! It is a heavy bike at 662 lbs wet, but that is easy to get used to.
Hi Dan, what I've found is that it is less about the seat height and more about the seat width so slim seats mean you have more seat to ground but in terms of seat to pegs it may be that after market adjustable pegs is the answer for you as well as a taller bike like the Tiger 1200 GT Pro at 850mm
taller/aftermarket/reupholstered seat with more padding is an option though a little pricey adjustable / highway foot pegs are another, less expensive inflatable or gel seat cushions a la airhawk or amazon, fastest and cheapest. I have an amazon inflatable seat cushion that was maybe $30 bucks, extremely easy to install/take off, very compact to store, and gives me another 1-1.5 inches to my foot pegs. As a taller rider (6'2" 190lbs) it was a game changer. Admittedly, it looks a little dorky, but alleviates pressure in my hips and rear, which keeps me in the seat longer. Plus if it defects I'm not gonna be bummed about the money spent or time it took in install/remove
Thanks everyone. Today I paid for a 2012 Tiger 1050 SE ABS. Now I'll search for any known weak points on that model.
@Dan Zulu Well done Welcome again to our family and forum. Just read a mail where the rectifier seem to be hidden away behind one of the side covers and hard to get to where as the item should be as cool as possible. Do hit the upload a button bottom right and let us all see your new toy.
I have not taken any glamour photos yet, but here's it sitting cold after rolling off the delivery trailer: It fits me very well. The throttle is also far smoother than the erratic one on the BMW 310R that I used in the training class. The Pirelli Scorpion STRs have plenty of tread, but are 2021 vintage so I may replace them due to age. As soon as I get the registration submitted I'll start riding it.