Scrambler Is A 900 To Heavy?

Hope you get a response - saw your previous post but cant comment as I’m not your stature or have any knowledge for the BMW or Scrambler. Was sorry to hear you have been unwell, but glad you sound to be on the mend (been their myself, nine years in remission now)

 

The triumph 900 twins are not what I would call light, they feel light enough when moving but they are fairly weighty machines. The scramblers exhaust will push your leg out a bit too making the ground a little bit further away. Really fun bikes though! Ever considered the Trident 660?

 

Another left field suggestion would be a Honda CB500F I was finding the 900 Street Twin a bit heavy for my old bones. I bought a secondhand CB500F and found that, even though it only has 47bhp that is perfectly adequate for todays roads. I have a similar inside leg measurement to you and find that the Honda is easy to manage. Go and have a test ride on one, you may be pleasantly surprised!

 

Have you considered the new 400s? There’s a scrambler version on its way.

 

Hi Martin and welcome

I’m tall but can relate to wanting a lighter bike in my more senior years. The Scrambler 900 is a lovely bike but I agree with Andy regarding the Trident 660 or even a Tiger 660 based on your situation.

I also have a XSR700, which is light and a great every day bike but the seat is quite uncomfortable for long journeys.

Cheers

Geoff

 

Mines not a scrambler just a 900 street twin but carries its weight quite low down so appearing lighter than what the scales say.
With a low seat height the bike can do a variety of tasks and today even did a bit of greenlaning



Edit.
More pics and story of this on what have you been doing with your Triumph today thread... or something like that

 

I have a Street Scrambler and at 220+kg would agree it's no lightweight but does carry it's weight very well and can be thrown around the back lanes with aplomb although it's still a good deal lighter than the ZZR at 260+. The Husaberg is half the weight of the SS and feels like a heavy bicycle on the road comparatively but can still be a handful off road and I'm quite tall and 100+kg. I'd agree weight is an important factor when choosing a bike. Many bikes can hide their weight very well on the move but when pushing one round or picking one up off the floor, dead weight is dead weight.
I remember being hit from behind on my 3 month old Z1300 while waiting at a roundabout back in '83 and it was pushed from underneath me and fell over. I jumped up, grabbed the bars and the seat and lifted it straight back up onto it's wheels. I reckon adrenalin played a part here but at almost 300kg I doubt I could do that again today!

 

As @Pegscraper said weight makes a massive difference.
At the end of a hard day off road, even a sub 100 kg offroad bike gets too heavy to be picking it up, yet again!
In fact a sub 70 kg trials bike can end up feeling heavy.

How some of these manufacturers expect to get away with selling 200 kg + bikes with any remote chance of serious or regular offroad usage, even if only in a marketing sense, really does make me laugh.

When are we going to get back to 150kg bikes which were quite possible in the 1980's/90's?
So much for advancement!

I had one of these back in the 1990's and they were only 131 kgs then.

 

I don't honestly believe Triumph have any serious off road intentions for either of their scrambler range, especially the SS. The 1200 is more capable but still way too heavy IMO, more dual sport with the on road bias that brings. Talking big bore road bikes, my 1986 1000RX was 267kg wet, about the same as the ZZR which has a 40% bigger engine, plus ABS and electronics/ECU's etc. My 1991 FZR1000 was 236kg and considered light at the time for a bike in it's class until the Fireblade came along at 206kg with (almost) the weight of a 600 and the power (not quite) of a 1000. The 1998 R1 also moved the game on with class leading 1000cc power pushing 192kg. I remember a quote from one of the bike mags (can't remember which), who tested the Fireblade at the time, which said, " to make a light bike you don't want lots of carbon fibre or lightweight alloys, you want lots of nothing"!
Trials bikes are in a weight class of their own. I had a towbar mounted bracket on the back of my Escort, back in the 80's, onto which I could easily lift my TY250.

 

@Pegscraper your quoted figures illustrate my point well, early 80's bikes were heavy and then heading towards the R1 they progressively got lighter. Then around 2006 everything seemed to slim down quite significantly but the weights are now creeping up not down.
Regulations have a big part to play as abs in itself made 5 kgs difference on my Honda CB1000R ( you could at one time buy it with or without).
Even a 650 twin are now around 200 kgs and they're not exactly powerhouses.

Surely less gadgets and lightweight down to earth bikes, so stripped back to essentials,
have a good market potential.

 

Even the CCM Spitfire, a stripped out minimalist 600cc single cyl machine, weighs in at 142kg, not sure if that's wet or dry. The RC213VS, Honda's limited road going edition of their race bike tips 170kg dry and, curiously, 160 with the "power kit" which adds another 50bhp. The modern regs requiring ABS, much tighter air and noise pollution emissions undoubtedly play a part here. Things like rider "aids" a decent seat, pillion accomodation and perhaps most important of all, a realistic on road price will all add weight. Race series have minimum weight limits and the tech is there to undercut them easily with exotic materials but titanium this and carbon that isn't an option for big volume road bikes.

 

Been through much the same scenario, but not for health related reasons like you. I am 5' 7" and 80kg 29" leg
As i approach my 3 score and ten, was using a Guzzi Breva 1100 a few years back and found it top heavy and a bit high in the saddle, manouvering was a pain but loved the bike, tried a few others and settled on a Speedmaster 865, loved the low seat height and centre of gravity, but not the lack of power. It got totalled and I made a stab at a 2016 Bonnie 1200,
I find I can move it around just as well as those mentioned and a VFR800 i had for a short while.
Swinging my leg over (the bike) was getting harder with age but the bonnie seems a doddle now guessing its because I like it so much and therefore try harder.
So hoping the 900 with lower seat will suit you just fine.

P.S. just booked up for LeMans 2024 next April if I'm still around

 

Hi Martin,
chiming in here with another vote for the Street Twin. They come in stock at 198kg dry so already under 200kg (as opposed to a 200kg+ "scrambler".). I'm on a gradual mission to increase the power to weight issue on mine and bought (but yet to fit) the TEC 2-1 kit. The stock system weighs 9.5kg, the Tec 4.3kg, a weight saving of 5.2kg bringing the dry weight down to 192.8kg. I also changed the stock battery, a Yuasa YTX12-BS weighing 4.2kg for an excellent YTX12-BS Shido Lithium weighing 0.9kg! (I thought they'd forgotten to put it in the box when it arrived!). That's a further reduction of 3.3kg so the bike now at 189.5kg. I could go on.. TEC does do the kit for the Scrambler 900 with a small modification (https://www.tecbikeparts.com/product/tec-2-1-cafe-full-stainless-exhaust-system-for-triumph/) so if your heart set on that particular bike that offers some weight saving and I'm sure there other options out there that could shave a little more off too. There is of course the new option of the Triumph Scrambler 400x that comes in wet at 179kg! https://www.triumphmotorcycles.co.uk/motorcycles/classic/scrambler-400-x/scrambler-400-x-2024 . I think it's a peach personally. Best with all explorations Martin.

 

Reading what your weight now is I think you might struggle with a 900, especially as you have said you have to push it up an incline. You have said that you aren't a fan of singles, and I know it's not a triumph, but have you considered a used CCM Spitfire Six/Tracker ? They are only 140kg dry, 600cc and allegedly are 54bhp so not ageat deal away from a used scrambler

 

I am 100kg....6ft tall....but 70 years old.....so not as strong as I was....I can manage my 900cc T100 ....but at 55kg I could see you struggling.....do you not have anybody at home to help you park up your bike.

A trial run will soon tell you.

Good luck...hope it all works out.